guest post by Kelly Diels
In November, I rebranded and relaunched my blog. I screwed up, I suffered, I sniffled, I refuted the advances of a pervy tech wizard. And I thought: I’d better track my results to see if this was worth it. This better have been worth it.
It was.
On November 10, my Alexa rank was 1,082,076.
Two months and one day later, it is 173,556.
So, in just two short months (and one day), I raised my Alexa rank by almost one million places.
In three months (in the screen shot above, look at the bottom right figure of 1,766,896), my Alexa rank increased by almost two million places.
How’d I do it? I’m so glad you asked.
Once you get past the first set of ingredients – have a seriously small and unpopular blog – the recipe is simple. It simply requires a ridiculous amount of work and a bit of creativity.
Still, I’ve itemized and analyzed what I did differently in the last two months just so I could whisper sexy blog secrets in your ear.
Here is a list of my torrid confessions.
1. Write unique stuff
Yes, this is just another way of saying “write great content! great content! great content!”. There’s a reason everyone says it, repeatedly: because it works.
I admit it. When I started blogging, I was a wannabe. I wanted to be Steve Pavlina, Darren Rowse or Yaro Starak.
Now, I just wannabe myself. I’m lit-on-fire for the written word, I have big, ballsy opinions, I’m in bed with surprise, and I love to love. That all shines through in my transparent and sometimes pulpy posts. I know the blogging and business-writing rules and alternate between obeying them and breaking them with abandon. It is roller coaster writing, to be sure, but it seems to be a ride with an lengthening line up.
The lesson: be you, write you, and write wild and free.
2. Get your great stuff out there
In two words: guest post.
I don’t have a commenting strategy – or maybe I do, but it goes like this: don’t really do it, unless profoundly moved or delighted by the post or am crushin’ on the writer and you know who you are – so guest posts are almost exclusively how I get in front of new audiences.
Guest posts bump up my traffic significantly. In the last two months, the single greatest driver of my traffic was, you guessed it, ProBlogger. There was even one day when I had two guest posts up on both ProBlogger and Write to Done.
That day was a good day.
(That day was the day I started making money – but that’s another post, entirely.)
You know who I blame for my promiscuous guest-posting?
Josh Hanagarne, World’s Strongest Librarian. He encouraged/pushed/nagged me to guest post, but I was too timid. (Really. I was scared. What if people said no? Rejection is not my thing.) When coaxing me to approach other bloggers failed, spectacularly, he took a new approach.
He demanded a guest post from me for his site. So I sent him one and his people loved me up. It was like rolling around in a meadow full of daisies and puppies and then a unicorn slid down a rainbow and gave me a cupcake. Magic.
Then, after more encouraging/pushing/nagging from Josh, I wrote a guest post for Darren Rowse at ProBlogger. Of course, I didn’t submit it for ten days until I got exasperated by my own cowardice, cursed myself out and straight-up courted that fearsome dragon – Rejection – by pressing send.
Darren accepted it in something like 15 minutes and made nice virtual noises. Later, he said he’d publish as much as I could send him. That was all I need to hear. I sent him A LOT.
Suddenly I had confidence and started sending pieces all over the place.
And my blog grew. So did my traffic.
The lesson? Guest posts work predictable magic on your blog. Go forth, guest post, bewitch and bedazzle.
And have big, strong, nagging friends.
3. Write more, more often
I used to post new pieces 1-3 times a week. Now I post 5-7 times a week. I’ve simply developed a habit of writing every night. It is sometimes painful, almost always exhausting, I’m wasting money on cable I never watch, Facebook misses me something fierce, and I have very nearly stopped dating.
(Very nearly. Not entirely. If I stopped dating, what would I write about? I romance in the name of research. THAT’S HOW MUCH I LOVE ALL OF YOU.)
And then there’s Twitter. I’ve written 322,560 words on Twitter, which is basically a novel in Tweets.
Oh. That just made me a little sad.
But other than that twinge – I could have written a novel in the time I spent Tweeting, oh yes that stings – I’m ecstatic. I’m having so much fun. I’m seeing results.
And my blog is growing.
The lesson? Don’t worry about statistics. Worry about quality.
I didn’t set out explicitly to raise my Alexa rank. I set out to improve my blog, light my writing on fire, and make a lil’ love to my people (and find more of them). And, as a result, my blog took off and took my Alexa rank with it.
You can do it, too. Please do.
And then tell me all about it on Twitter, where I still won’t be writing my novel.
_____________________
Kelly Diels is a wildly hireable freelance writer and the creator of Cleavage, a blog about three things we all want more of: sex, money and meaning.
Thanks for the tip Kelly. I dont’ really pay much attention to rankings, but I do appreciate the tip about guest posting. Interesting concept!
But what about Guest Posting?? Is that a good thing to do? :) :)
Awesome. And funny. Thanks.
Excellent advice Kelly.
This post is really interesting. I must consider guest posting myself!
Thanks for the information. Creating a fantastic blog is a challenge… thanks for the tips!
http://alittlegreat.blogspot.com/
Great Post and Thanks for the details. It seems to always come back to solid content and syndication of post. Another great way to do this is to re-write your articles and put them on you blog. It increases your post rank and your Alexa rating over time.
Thanks Darren good stuff man.
All the great writing, guest posting and tweeting has no influence on your Alexa rank unless those coming to your blog have the Alexa toolbar installed…simple fact.
Oh yes!
I can relate to this so much as I am on the same journey and have gone through similar lessons as you.
Right now, I am focusing on guest posting, which seems to be key to get yourself out there. I have done one so far and I am looking to do at least 12 this year (hopefully more!)
Then there is the ongoing debate of posting frequency. I write three times a week and comment every day. It seems to be working. I don’t think I could do more than 3 posts a week, or maybe I just don’t want to :)
Congrats on your achievement! I am sitting somwhere in 700k as far as my rank is concerned, but I am going up!
Woo hoo!
Best,
Tomas
Great, another ranking for me to worry about. I keep thinking how it’s going to take me 10 years to get my pitiful little outdoor survival blog above a 0/10 on Google PageRank… now I hear about Alexa. Greaaaaaaaat. :D
All kidding aside, great article and I can’t wait to start tracking my Alexa ranking and seeing what I can do to improve.
-Romadant
Good job! I actually took Indyposted.com from 27 million to currently 95,000 in three months, with a ton of daily content, it’s one of those things that you either hit a stride with or don’t.
So basically you boosted your alexa ranking the same way you would boost the popularity of your blog.
nice advices
Great post Kelly!
Here,s my list of ways to boost your Alexa ranking:
1. Write quality contents
2. Guest posts
3. Adds an Alexa rank widget on your website
4. Install the Alexa toolbar
5. Write about Alexa
6. Create an Alexa category on your blog
7. Encourage others to use the Alexa toolbar
Nick
I think that’s the biggest piece of advice anyone could have in any aspect of life, don’t worry about the stats but the quality. It’s who you are not what you’re numbers are. Easier sometimes said than done.
Thanks for the tips Kelly. I too think that posting regularly can improve alexa ranking.
LOL – Loved this post….I’ve been staring at it for so long….I almost saw that same Unicorn sliding down the rainbow.
When i’ve got a few more posts up, I will try and guest post somewhere, but I must admit I have that same scared feeling.
Never mind – definitely gonna give it a try in February.
Kelly, good to see you again on Problogger and I hope Darren keep having you often. I read your first guest post here and scooted over to Cleavage to have a look. You were ranting about your daughter’s style of dressing…
I want to guest post and every time I come up to a post by you, I want to do it so much more because you say it’s okay to be afraid and to worry and to feel I’m not good enough; it’s okay and to just send in the post anyway.
I don’t have big, strong, nagging friends but you’ll more than do.
How much is a strong alexa rank worth?
Beyond just making progress in your Alexa raking, I’d say these are all pretty great pieces of advice in general for growing your blog. I guess the main lesson I’ve learned after doing plenty of contract blogging and social media management for other developers is that it’s amazing how much of the success in this sort of thing has to do with persistence. Lots of people simply give up too quickly before discovering whether there is a real audience for them out there or not.
I find myself in a similar situation. I haven’t started to guest post and I do a lot of blogging on a daily basis. I honestly just don’t have the courage yet to do it but this story has inspired me to peek out and see what I can find.
thanks n fingers crossed
I truly believe that a lot of new bloggers (myself included) know it takes hard work to get recognised. And maybe they are aware of some of the technology out there to help them.
I think a lot of the problem is people are too scared they’re not going to make it and therefore they simply give up and quit chasing the dream.
Money will come in time with experience and failure. Knowledge will come when you don’t give up.
Fail a bit and get some experience and use that knowledge (not giving up here) to help people out and later on make some money.
Write and promote as the infopreneur says and add guest posting as well.
Wonderful post, I have done some of these tips and really worked for my blog, I am posting 7-9 posts a week!
Great job listing what is important. Write original stuff, get it out there and write more and more often. I don’t check my alexa ranking that much anymore. I did when I first started blogging as I guess most do. I guess you could say I was obsessed with it for a while. Now though I just try to create content and not worry about my ranking.
Unique and frequent post is the key… social media involvement follows. Thanks for the tips…
Hey Kelly – great post, and it drove me to your site! :)
I’m trying to get in the habit of writing every day, and experiencing many of the emotions you’ve indicated. I’m hoping that if I build it they will come, but either way I should end up a better writer in the end.
Thanks for the motivating words.
Travis
I know, I know, it is kind of tedious advice: guest post, guest post, guest post.
But it works.
Leo Babauta of Zen Habits grew a brand-new blog to 100,000 subscribers in something like 18 months by guest posting promiscuously.
He’s not the only one. If you get your stuff out there, and it is good, they WILL come.
Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project put it well, recently: “ubiquity is the new exclusivity.”
And for those of you who are struggling to write every day, two bits of advice:
1. Ease into it. Add one more post per week, each week or every two weeks. Then maintain. Then add another. Or write a marathon of pieces every weekend and schedule them.
2. Solicit guest posts for YOUR blog by other bloggers. That’s a day off. Phew. AND: your traffic will bump up on those days, too, because that blogger will blog and tweet about guest posting on YOUR site.
Oh. I think another post is a-brewin’.
@Srini – you knew me when??? You know me NOW.
I’ve never really understood the importance of Alexa numbers but without that, I enjoyed your post. My blog has grown enormously recently and I’ve been struggling to get guest authors/posters.
Just knowing that you’ve done really well at something you love is inspiring
I completely agree with the points.. Writing unique content really helps in improving alexa ranking :)
it’s not about increasing or (growing) my alexa rank but it is growing my BLOG! That was truly powerful!
Quite a magical article. Well written, executed and delivered by the promiscuous guest writer. I really loved your idea of building a content rich blog just like yours. You are truly a gem of a person. Keep writing and enlightinening us with your profound experiences in the area of blogging, sex, money and meaning.
Thanks
As an aside: you can improve your Alexa rank massively by building backlinks to your site. For bloggers, using the tips and strategies in this post will naturally attain you links and love from others.
If you have an affiliate minisite then you’ll need to stop being lazy and build some serious, quality links to boost your Alexa.
Personally, I’m into Cleavage, not Alexa. But, whatever floats your boat…
Kelly, your advice is sound. Publish great content and the rest will take care of itself. Your writing style is entertaining as well. You’ve made me consider trying to guest post on other people’s blogs as well!
very useful
thank you.
wow.. thanks for the great tip. Alexa rank is very important for any webmasters.
Bravo!! That is an amazing acheivement, and I’m sure your blog would probably be even better than it originally was from all you’ve learned, is it?
Nice post. I guess the third point “Write more, more often” is the crucial one. Especially for the beginners. You just can’t miss on this one.
Certainly guest post is the main reason of this Alexa booming. But however once you build the reader followers than every posts of yours will give you increase in readers.
You can double it or triple it with maximum number of posts.
Your post is very inspiring. I’ve started asking to guest post on certain blogs in my niche and have reaped similar rewards. Sending articles to directories has been eclipsed by guest blogging in my opinion. Many are using article marketing, but not many are sending content to other related blogs. Go figure.
I just love this post, it’s so true! I am working on being a better blogger this year and so excited that it appears my hard work is paying off too!!
Well written!
It’s always encouraging to hear a motivating story like this. I believe passion and effort plays a big part in your success, and another important point is that you manage to overcome your fear and go all out, which I applaud you for that. Whether Alexa ranking could be an indicator of success, I think as a blogger you’ve shown us a good example. Continue to blog and inspire!
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Oh, Kelly…you make me love you even more! You made me say the “L” word in a public forum no less!
Again, nicely written and very inspiring. More congrats to you!
Another thing I’ll add is loading the Firefox Alexa Plugin helps tremendously! I dropped my ranking by 30,000 in just a few weeks (no joke).
I might have to adopt that line ….It was like rolling around in a meadow full of daisies and puppies and then a unicorn slid down a rainbow and gave me a cupcake…..awesome.
Kelly: you take a subject that’s been done to death all over web-land, insert your voice, and POOF! It’s new and fresh and interesting and helpful. THAT’s the lesson for me and for anyone who’s afraid they might run out of content.
haha…that was awesome. well written & insightful!
You’re my hero Kelly. =)
Another great example of how writing targeted quality content can help your traction in your filed of passion.
Thanks,
Sharel
Interesting post.
My suggestion is that you could have trimmed it down by about 40% with some good copy editing.
With tons of material to read everyday folks are usually skimming and looking for the meat. I’m in the process of revising my articles and doing that myself ;o)
As for Alexa – is that worth anything much these days?
I believe keywords on Bing, Goggle, Yahoo etc. are more important but that may be for traditional sites and not for bloggers?
Yes! I absolutely agree with you that content is the more essential thing in blogging. For me, no other trick that better than writing a quality content to promote our blog.