Today’s digital landscape is filled with countless voices all vying for the attention of the same target audience.
However, there are a few select bloggers who have defied the odds and managed to generate an unprecedented surge in popularity within an exceptionally short period.
These remarkable trailblazers captured the hearts and minds of audiences, generating huge readerships, and leaving their competitors wide-eyed in awe.
What sets them apart? What are the hidden factors that propelled their blogs to remarkable heights while others struggled to gain traction?
This is what this case study will reveal.
When it comes to online marketing and audience engagement, six invaluable principles have been instrumental in the extraordinary success of these exceptional bloggers.
Through in-depth analysis and examination of their methods, we will unveil their secrets and reveal the transformative power of these principles.
These are:
- Harnessing the Power of Forums
You will see how being active on forums led to the extraordinary success of one of these bloggers. You too can leverage the immense potential of forums to attract traffic, nurture a loyal following, and establish yourself as an authority in your respective niche.
- Leapfrogging to Triumph
You will see how another of these bloggers leapfrogged over other successful content marketers, effectively avoiding conventional barriers and claiming the position at the top as a magnet of amazing volumes of readers.
- Leveraging the Twitter Advantage
It has been said over and over again! Twitter is a tool that can help you build an amazing volume of followers within a short time, as long as you know how to use it to your advantage.
One of the bloggers that we will examine used these 280-character messages to skyrocket his readership in no time at all.
Read Also – 105 Research-Backed Tips to Get More Followers on Twitter
- Unveiling the Influencer’s Secret
There is power in engaging influencers if you want to get from 0 to 50,000 followers in less than a month. Yes! One of these bloggers did just that, and we shall examine the steps he chose to see how you can follow in his footsteps.
- Building a Web of Connections
Getting connections to other bloggers can rapidly bring you followers, within a short time.
In this case study you will see practically, how a blogger used the art of acquiring backlinks from websites within his niche, unraveling the strategies he used to construct a digital ecosystem that amplified his content and propelled his visibility.
Read Also – 20 Top Bloggers Share Their Blogging Success Secrets
- Mastering the Outreach Revolution
Unlock the key to launching a blog’s journey to greatness as these exceptional individuals adeptly employed blogger outreach to establish vital connections, gain valuable exposure, and pave the way to unrivaled success.
In this amazing case study, we will analyze the extraordinary successes of 7 remarkable bloggers, who unmasked the power behind these 6 principles, making their mark on the blogosphere.
You will be inspired, informed, and forever, changed, as you see how these principles were key to their unrivaled success.
With these real examples, you might be inspired to get cracking and use any or all of these principles to reach unimaginable eights within your niche.
Some of these bloggers are well known in the blogosphere, while some of them are not, but have earned a mention here due to their ingenious methods of traffic generation.
You will see some really incredible and outrightly odd ways of getting traffic, and you will see some that you are probably aware of in theory.
Read Also – Proven Strategies to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 250% (2023 Updated)
Peep Laja is a master when it comes to the art of generating massive numbers for a blog, within a very short time.
He generated a whopping 40,000 unique visitors to his blog within its first month after launching.
How did he do it?
By using three simple, yet unique strategies.
- Writing Fantastic Content
- Promoting his content on social media
- Dropping the names of popular and authoritative bloggers in his content.
Writing Fantastic Content
Before launching his blog, Peep deep some in-depth research and he found out that the content that had the most links was over 2,000 words in length, and it also had plenty of images, lists, and videos.
He, therefore, started by creating content that had all these characteristics.
These were not the quick-fix content that someone can come up with in a couple of hours. On average, Peep would spend about 8 hours creating each of his blog posts.
Promoting Content on Social Media
Like every other successful blogger, Peep was quick to see that search engines would not deliver him the large number of followers that he needed within the first month of launching his blog.
He, therefore, promoted every blog post that he created on social media.
According to Peep, these are the social media platforms that gave him the huge numbers that he generated:
- StumbleUpon
- Hacker News
Thanks to the fact that he took a lot of time and energy creating his blog posts (6 to 8 hours researching and writing them), his posts were quickly picked up by influencers and shared online, which gave his plenty of additional exposure.
As an added traffic generation measure, he ensured that he converted as many unique visitors as possible, turning them into subscribers of his newsletter. Remember the saying that states “The Money Is In The List”.
Read Also – You Can’t Go Wrong – 40+ SEO Experts Share Their Secrets to Content Optimization Success
Listing Popular/Authoritative Bloggers
Peep Laja understood two simple but effective truths about the blogging world and the people within it:
- Whenever someone hears the sound of his or her name, it is like the sweet sound of music.
- Bloggers, Entrepreneurs, and Twitter Influencers have extremely large egos.
His blog posts were filled with mentions and references to popular and influential bloggers, and then he would reach out to them via email and Twitter, letting them know that he had mentioned them in his blog post.
The result was just as he had expected. The blogging bigwigs sent tweets to their following with links to the blog posts where they were mentioned. This gave Peep Laja additional exposure for the blog posts.
Using these three techniques, Peep Laja brought in more than 40,000 unique visitors to his blog within the first 30 days after launching his blog.
LESSON LEARNED
Make sure that you write well-researched, long-form content that is absolutely amazing and captivating.
Make sure that you are promoting every blog post on social media, perhaps in groups that share interests with the content that you create.
It will augur well for you if you positively reference or mention influencers and other huge bloggers, and then let them know that you have mentioned them.
Alex Turnbull is the founder and CEO of Groove, and he managed to increase the unique traffic visiting his blog by 12,024%; All without spending a single coin on advertising.
That is a very huge increase in traffic, and you definitely want to know how he did it.
The technique that he used may seem rudimentary, but it is very effective.
Groove had spent a lot of resources in building relationships with influencers. These then became the perfect launch pad for this amazing explosion in their traffic statistics.
How did he manage this amazing feat?
This is what he says in his blog post entitled, “How We Increased Our Traffic by 12,024% with Zero Advertising”.
- Find some content that has performed exceptionally within your niche
- Head on over to BuzzSumo and then enter the URL of these content pieces into the search box.
- Click on the “View Sharers” button, and then scroll down to get the list of influencers who have shared these pieces of content. Also, take note of those who have shared similar content.
- Now reach out to these influencers and ask them if they would be interested in sharing some of the interesting content that you have on your blog.
LESSON LEARNED
This is a version or variation of the skyscraper technique. This is one simple, and effective way of increasing traffic to your blog.
When it comes to traffic, there is perhaps no other writer who launched a blog and garnered the huge volume of readers he got on his first day – a whopping 4,379 visitors on his first day alone.
Read Also – Jon Morrow: How to counterpunch life
For this case study, we shall examine an article that he wrote in his earlier days, entitled:
“The 7 Dumbest Mistakes You Can Make When Launching a New Blog”.
This blog post was controversial, perhaps because it went against the rules of launching a new blog, but it received a large viewership and generated hundreds of comments.
He highlights the main mistakes that people make when they are launching a new blog, in an effort to show them that forums are the place to go when you want to generate a large volume of readers within a short time.
Let us look at the main points (or mistakes, as he calls them) of the blog post, and then get amazed at how he ties it all together.
Mistake Number 1 – Trusting in SEO
Jon highlights the fact that it takes a lot of time for a page to get to the higher ranks on Google. The time can be weeks or even months.
He highlights the fact that unless you have the backing of backlinks from authority websites within your industry, then you will have a huge challenge when trying to get to the number 1 slot on Google.
He says that SEO should be a long-term strategy, and it will not help you get a lot of visitors within your first month of operation.
Mistake Number 2 – Trusting the “Valuable Content” Myth
Many new bloggers get really excited about creating “Valuable Content”.
However, no matter how “Epic” your content may seem, it will not, on its own, gain you the high volume of readers that you are targeting, within the first month.
Jon Morrow highlights the valued tenet that says, “A successful blogger should spend 20% of their time writing content, and the remaining 80% of their time selling or promoting the content”
Mistake Number 3 – The Storytelling Myth
It is a fact! People love reading stories.
However, you would have to be a superb storyteller and tell a truly extraordinary story when you are launching your blog, to get a large number of people to visit your website, and even then, it will not bring you 50,000 visitors within your first month as a blogger.
Mistake Number 4 – The Blog Redesigning Myth
People will not care what your blog looks like, as long as it is readable. Very well, blog aesthetics will play a part in keeping your existing readers, but not when it comes to getting a large number of readers at that the start.
People simply want to know if you have the answers to their needs.
Mistake Number 5 – Writing on a Daily Basis
Writing on a daily basis will not change your visitor statistics if you do not have traffic.
Mistake Number 6 – Being on Social Media for Several Hours Every Day
You can indeed get a lot of visitors when you use social media to promote your blog content, however, it is quite easy to be distracted on these platforms. Secondly, if your target audience is in small numbers on these platforms, your numbers will not change significantly.
Mistake Number 7 – Relying on the “Traffic Snowball” Effect
New bloggers usually believe that over time, their visitor numbers will grow exponentially (The Snowball Effect).
Jon says that this may actually work against you, as time goes by. Even those blogs that have become very successful due to the Snowball effect will take several months before they can attain hundreds of numbers, but definitely not 50,000.
So, if none of these “magic” bullets work, what should new bloggers do to get huge amounts of traffic within their first month?
In the wise words of Jon Morrow, all you have to do is LISTEN TO YOUR AUDIENCE!
In order to listen to your audience, you should spend more time on forums. Take time to also read the comments that your target audience makes on popular blogs.
Get to know what their problems are, and then take time to feed them the solutions that they crave.
Getting to know your audience on Forums is a tried and tested way of getting more traffic to your new blog.
LESSON LEARNED
Over the years, Jon Morrow has worked with hundreds of novice bloggers, and he has come to understand why some of them explode to popularity, while others lag behind, and sometimes give up.
He narrowed it down to one very crucial factor – Listen to your audience.
The best place to listen to your audience is on relevant forums.
As you will see in the next part, another successful blogger, Mathew Woodward, echoes the sentiments expressed by Jon Morrow.
Mathew Woodward launched his blog on 3rd August 2012. His unique visitor traffic statistics had risen to 2,125, by 2nd September. From there, the number of people visiting his blog grew exponentially.
One thing that we have to point out before we move on, is the fact that Mathew Woodward also believes that forums are a great resource when you want to build steady and increasing traffic to your blog or website.
Read Also – Matthew Woodward: An Award-Winning Blogger and Affiliate Marketer
For Mathew, the traffic-building strategy that he came up with was truly simple but effective. It was based on two simple techniques:
- Create Awesome Content
Yes, Yes, it contradicts what Jon Morrow says about the content you create at the start of your blog, but this one has worked for Mathew. He believes that your readers need engaging and resourceful content from your blog.
- Answer Questions on Forums
Like Jon Morrow, Mathew Woodward believes that answering questions raised by your target readers on forums will bring you a lot of traffic.
He says that this works on several levels:
Answering questions in forums will drive traffic to your blog
Since you can use links with the “Dofollow” characteristics, then you will be getting link juice flowing back to your blog.
With great answers, you will establish yourself as an expert in your industry, and your name will be well-known on the forum.
When you carefully read forums, you will have an insight into your target readers, and what their needs are, and you will be able to give them appropriate solutions, which will turn them into loyal followers of your blog.
Mathew’s favorite tools for finding the best forums are Omgili (“Oh My God! I Love It!) and Boardreader. This way he can find places where his target readers are bound to be.
When using these tools, all you have to do is use your target keywords, and you will relevant forums discussing issues related to these keywords.
You can also seek forum threads on Google by using string searches, such as those shown below. They must have the keyword that you are targeting.
“Powered by Phbb” + [your keyword]
“Powered by vBulletin” + [your keyword]
“Powered by SMF” + [your keyword]
“powered by IPB” + [your keyword]
“powered by PunBB” + [your keyword]
Whenever you come across someone who has a question, that could be answered by content that you have created on your blog, then write a short note, such as the one shown below:
Hello,
I saw you raised a question about [the problem]
I recently posted a blog post that directly answers your question, and it could be of immense help to you. [Add your blogpost URL]
Let me know if it was of help to you!
All the best
[Your Name]
Mathew would spend a minimum of one hour a day replying to questions raised on forums.
And when he published a new blog post, he would spend a minimum of 4 hours promoting the post on forums.
Due to this simple method, he was able to raise his visitors to more than 2,000 within his first 30 days.
LESSON LEARNED
It takes quite a long time for organic traffic to have a significant change in the number of unique visitors your blog will get.
When you are launching your blog, you need to get fast results and drive a large volume of traffic to your site.
The one strategy that will never fail you is to hand out in forums and reply to the questions raised by the people in your niche.
Employ this technique when starting out and get a lot of traffic to your blog, build a loyal following, and stamp your authority within the industry.
It would be a crime to talk about increasing traffic without referring to the amazing feat that was done by Brain Dean way back in 2013.
His article, “Link Building Case Study: How I Increased My Search Traffic by 110% in 14 days” (Last updated in 2022) has turned out to be a classic when it comes to the topic of link building.
Read Also – Brian Dean, Who Is Respected Globally For His Advice on SEO
Every blogger worth his or her salt knows that backlinks are crucial when it comes to establishing domain authority (DA). Having a powerful domain authority is important when you want to get to the number one position on Google and other search engines.
However, it is not guaranteed that when you create exceptional content, you will automatically get high-quality backlinks. No, you have to get out there and search for them.
This technique was christened The Skyscraper Technique, by Brian Dean. It is quite a simple technique, but very effective in getting quality backlinks.
Let us breeze through the steps of the technique.
- Find existing content that has a high number of quality backlinks
- Improve the content by 200% or 250%
- Approach the people who have linked to the original content, and ask them if they would like to link to your improved version of the same.
Step 1 – Find Existing Popular Content
Let us assume that you are launching a blog about “Mountain Bikes”.
Browse over to Google, and then type in the target keyword that you want to use in your blog post, e.g. “The Best Mountain Bikes”.
All the articles that are shown on the first page of your Google results will definitely contain a high number of top-quality backlinks.
Open up one of the pages, perhaps the one that appears in the 3rd position, copy the address from the address bar and paste it somewhere like Notepad.
Now browse over to any backlink checker, a few of the best are Ahrefs, Majestic, and MozPro.
If you use the free version of MozPro, navigate to “Open Site Explorer”, and then paste in the URL that you had copied before.
Now click on “Search”.
You will then be given a list of the links that the content has, and the different domains they are coming from.
Now proceed and hit the “Request CSV” button and then download the report which will include the links and their domains.
Open the report using Microsoft Excel, and the only information that you will need will be found in the first column, which shows the different domains that have linked to the content in that original blog post you opened.
If the niche is not crowded, then you will find a few domains linking to the blog post, but if it is crowded, you will get a lot more.
Step 2 – Make the Content Way Better Than The Original
The next step is to go ahead and create similar content to the original but make it much, much better.
As Brain Dean says, “You are going to slap another 20 floors onto the skyscraper” hence the name Skyscraper Technique.
When you have finished improving the content, thereby increasing the size of your skyscraper, then it will be the only one that people will see on the horizon.
There are three ways in which you can carry out this feat:
- Update the content adding more recent facts.
- Make the content longer and deeper.
- Design the content better, in terms of flow and structure.
Assuming that the original content had 1,000 words, then go ahead and make it 2,500 to 3,000 words. You must make sure that the content that you are writing is filled with relevant, quality information, rather than fluff.
You can carry out further research to make the new article address issues to a deeper level than the original post.
It will pay to go the extra mile. Make sure that you not only overdeliver on quantity but also quality.
Now you should realize the huge opportunity offered by this technique. If you look carefully at the high-ranking content on Google, you might be surprised to find that most of it is outdated.
Brain Dean noticed this and took advantage of it, to his benefit.
Another way to improve existing content is to deliver it in a better and smarter flow and structure. The original content may be cluttered, and have little images or other media formats. Simply present it in a better structure and flow, and add better images and videos.
However, even when trying to improve on the design and presentation, do not copy the original content. You have to roll up your sleeves and do some research, and write something new that improves on the original content, then deliver it in a better design.
The best use case is to use all three techniques; add more content to the original, make sure that the information is updated, and then deliver it more cleanly and smartly.
Step 3 – Reach Out
It is now time to bring out the CSV, reach out to the domains that linked to the original blog post, and then reach out to them, informing them of your improved version, and asking them if they would like to link to it.
The research that led to the creation of the CSV is very important since it gives you confidence in the following:
- These are the people that run a site within your niche.
- These are people who will definitely be interested in your new and improved version.
- They have already linked to similar, yet outdated content (the original)
Visit the URLs in the CSV, get the email address of the owner, and then send them an outreach email such as:
Hey [Owner’s Name]
As I was browsing through some articles about [keyword or topic] I came across this page [insert the original URL]
I noticed that you have linked to this particular page.
I just wanted to let you know that I have written a similar post. It is similar to [original URL], but it is updated and addresses the topic to a deeper level.
It might be worth our while to mention it on your page.
Either way, keep up the good work!
Thanks, and cheers.
[Your Name]
Read Also – Maximizing SEO Through Linkable Asset Creation: An Ultimate Guide with Inspiring Case Studies
LESSON LEARNED
This skyscraper technique is unique in that it leapfrogs over a piece of content that is already doing well and is on the first page of the search engine results pages.
The fact that it is on the first page, means that there are a lot of people linking to it.
If your content is updated and improved, then it will definitely trounce the one that is in that position, and you may begin appearing on page one, thereby bringing you tons of visitors within a short period after you launch your blog.
Several bloggers have risen to fame due to using the skyscraper technique.
Some of these include:
Try it out and see your traffic increasing in leaps and bounds.
Eli Seekins is a freelance content creator, and you are probably wondering what he did to deserve a mention in this case study.
Well, Eli used a single, yet powerful technique to move traffic on a page from 56 views to more than 1,000 in a SINGLE DAY!
In just a single week of employing this technique, Eli was invited, as a freelancer, to write 6 different guest posts, without having to pitch the owners of those blogs. It seems like the owners had to pitch him!
So, what is this technique?
The technique is called Blogger Outreach, and when done perfectly, it is a powerful tool.
Here is how you can go about it:
Step 1 – Compile your target list
Come up with a list of your favorite influencers who operate within your industry. There are the people whose connections, authority, and/or expertise could help drive tons of traffic to your blog.
You do not have to be selective when it comes to choosing these influencers, because you are not actually going to contact any of them.
Amazing, right?
Step 2 -Compile your blogger outreach list
Compile an Excel or Google Docs spreadsheet that has eight columns. Columns one to three should be labeled Name, Website, and Email respectively.
Leave the fourth column empty
Columns five to eight should be labeled Follow, Comment, Share, and Email respectively.
In the first three columns, enter the information as dictated by the label. Columns five to Eight should only be marked with a tick when you have finished that particular action.
Step 3 – Get to know some popular bloggers
Take out the hit list you created in the first step, visit these blogs, and check out the latest and most popular blog posts. Make sure that the posts are not older than 3 days, and at worst, not older than a week.
Go down to the comments section, and then write down the names and websites of everyone who has left a comment on the blog post.
Step 4 – find the email addresses
Now go to the address of the commenters, and try to find their email addresses. You can probably find these on the About page, Contact Page, Work With Us Page, or even the footer section of the site.
If you do not find an email address for the commenter on their sites, you can subscribe to their newsletter, and when they send you one, you will get their address that way.
As a last resort, you can copy and paste the link that they have on their contact form.
Step 5 – Make contact
You should first follow the commenter on a social media platform like Twitter.
Go to one of the recent posts that you identified, and share it on Twitter. Then go back and leave a comment on that particular blog post. You should make sure that the comment is insightful and adds value to other readers.
It is now time to write an email to the commenters. Here is what you should include in the email:
- Let them know that you are a fan of the blog where you saw their comment.
- Let them know that you noticed they left an insightful comment on that blog post and it caught your eye.
- Add a small paragraph letting them know about a recent blog post that you posted.
- Ask them to give you feedback on your post.
- Let them know that you really enjoyed a recent post that you read on their blogs.
- Let them know that you were so impressed by the blog post that you shared it on Twitter.
And that is all that Eli Seekins did.
LESSON LEARNED
Now this may seem like a sneaky way of getting traffic to your blog, but in the blogosphere, you have to claw your way to the top.
This technique is not targeting the influencers, but the people who are commenting on these blog posts. It pumps their ego to know that a simple comment led to someone reading their blog post and even sharing it on social media.
They will return the favor by sending your blog posts to their readers, and you will gain a ton of traffic.
Henri is another successful blogger worth mentioning in this case study. He makes his living online, and he has talked about the 5 techniques that he used to grow his subscriber base from zero to 1,012 in 101 days.
However, before we get deep into the 5 techniques that he outlines as his special methods, there are some caveats that he mentions. Two major mindsets can really play tricks with your head and hinder your efforts of starting a successful blog.
There is an ocean of information on the internet about how best to drive traffic to your blog, and it can sometimes become overwhelming to beginning bloggers; you do not have to cover all the methods in order for you to succeed.
There are novice bloggers who tend to unendingly search for the “Silver Bullet” for traffic building. There is not a single one.
The best way is to pick on 2 or 3 strategies, and then stick with them. It is not about getting the right strategy; it is about perseverance.
That said, let us examine the five strategies that Henri used to build traffic on his blog:
Create RELEVANT Content
Before you can start promoting your blog, you must create content for it. Take the time to visit forums where your target audience resides, and then read about their pain points.
Next, take time and write 5 exceptional blog posts that address these pain points. These should be enough to jumpstart your blog. You should keep writing exceptional blog posts in order to keep your audience interested.
Write Comments
Look for the forums where you are most likely to find your target audience. Leave comments on any forum post and add links back to your blog posts. Make sure the comments are helpful so they do not look like spam.
Article Marketing
Henri started off by writing short 300-to-400-word articles which he would publish on EzineArticles.
Today, you must be very careful when you are doing article marketing on such sites. Google will penalize you if you violate the duplicate content policy.
Social Connections
Yes, promoting content on the right social media platforms will bring you a lot of traffic. Henri however advises that you start with a single platform in order to avoid getting overwhelmed.
Guest Blogging
Henri says that guest blogging has brought him the largest number of followers among the five techniques mentioned here.
However, he continues to say that you must have quite several high-quality posts on your blog before anyone can allow you to become a guest blogger on their site.
LESSON LEARNED
Depending on your niche, some of the most rudimentary traffic generation techniques can work to your advantage. This is especially great for unique niches, where a lot of promotion is not required. This way, you will not feel overwhelmed when using these 5 techniques that Henri has used.
Key Takeaways
This case study has examined some techniques that were used by prominent bloggers, and a few surprising ones, to get a large amount of traffic to their blogs within the first month or so after the launch.
Every new blog will face a challenge when it comes to generating traffic.
SEO will take a very long time to be effective when it comes to generating traffic.
You simply cannot wait for that long.
This is where you can implement some of the techniques, which have been tried and tested, and see which ones can bring you the most traffic.
Here is a 30-day Plan that you can implement to boost traffic to your site.
- Listen to your Audience – Go to Forums and see what pain points your audience is experiencing, and then see how best to solve them.
- Create Powerful Content – It is worth the effort to use the skyscraper technique to leapfrog over blogs that are already on page one of the SERPS.
- Answer Forums Questions – Apart from listening to their pain points, try to answer questions that they may raise, and leave a link to your blog posts.
- Become Active on Social Media – Follow the main influencers in your industry. Share posts that are relevant within your industry. Connect with other bloggers in your industry.
- Actively Seek Backlinks – Go out and invite qualified people to link back to your website
- Become Serious With Blogger Outreach – The Eli Seekins case study is one you should not ignore.
- Mention Influential Bloggers – Add names of popular influencers within your blog posts, and then let them know you mentioned them. There are chances that they will share that blog post with their readers.
