If there is one thing that I learned in 2012 it’s simply put:
Content Marketing Works!
Good quality content marketing is essential to the growth of any small business in today’s business landscape (see How to Quit Publishing Bad Content by Copyblogger).
What you see above are my insurance agency’s actual traffic stats year over year (2011 vs 2012) September 1st to December 13th…
…and yes that is a 467% increase in traffic.
Technically, if we’re rounding it’s 468%, but who cares about such trivialities?
Not me…
Definitely not me…
Well, to be honest, I guess I do kinda.
I’m actually seriously freakin’ stoked about the growth our insurance blog has seen over the course of 2012.
The growth you see in that chart above makes me feel NOT crazy. I’m not crazy with all this content marketing and social media marketing and email marketing stuff… It works.
If you package all that up and call it “Inbound Marketing”… Well looking at our traffic stats from 2012 I’d say that inbound marketing works and it works for any small business.
Content marketing can work for YOUR small business and here’s how… {Tweet how}
There are 5 keys to growing your blog traffic:
- Consistency
- Focus
- Strategy
- Outreach
- Failure
If you attack 2013 with these 5 key principles in mind and you will see similar success…
…I absolutely guarantee it.
Let’s look at each a little deeper in order of importance to growing blog traffic:
1. Consistency
A lot of the blogging purists having been preaching blog less frequently and focus on quality more. This is not bad advice. However, for the average small business blogging maybe once or twice a month… maybe… you need to get your ass blogging.
You need content and you need it badly and you need a lot of it and trust it doesn’t all need to be Shakespeare…
By the end of 2012 I will have published 200 blog posts on my insurance agency in one year.
That’s 3.8 blog posts a week.
You want to know why Google is beginning to love my insurance agency’s blog?
We always have fresh content…
…and Google rewards fresh content.
2. Focus
How do you produce 3.8 blog posts a week?
Got to have focus.
You have to be dedicated to task of producing fresh content.
It’s kind of like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when Harrison Ford is trying to get the Holy Grail… He finds himself standing in front of what appears to be a bottomless cavern and he’s asked to “Believe” and step out into the abyss.
You must believe in content marketing…
Guys like Marcus Sheridan and Mark Schaefer and Tom Treanor and Danny Brown… They’ve shown us the way and now it’s our rite of passage to follow in their footsteps.
But you must focus.
3. Strategy
If you want to seriously grow blog traffic there can’t be an “Shooting from the hip.”
Every piece of content must serve a purpose.
Every piece of content doesn’t need to serve the same exact purpose, but a purpose none the less.
Consistent, focused content marketing that follows a thought out strategic plan is the MOST powerful small business marketing in existence…
Where too many of us go wrong (myself included on occasion) is producing content just to get something out there.
Big… big mistake.
Yes consistency is important and No your content doesn’t need to be worthy of the New York Times but it must fit in with and add to the purpose of your blog.
Otherwise you’re confusing your readers and more importantly you’re confusing Google.
Use a tool like MindMeister to help you build out a content strategy.
4. Outreach
In personal/professional opinion, for whatever you feel that is worth, after search traffic, there is no single greater source of consistent traffic then guest posts and contributing to other blog communities in your niche or related to your niche.
To sources that I reached out to this year were PropertyCasualty360 (an online insurance trade publication) and Small Biz Trends.
Contributing to these two communities has allowed me to share my expertise and insight with a larger, more diverse market than I could have ever reached with my insurance blog alone.
The links I get back to The Murray Group website are great for SEO and provide a consistent, month-in-month-out direct traffic source.
I will without a doubt continue to contribute to both communities as often as I can and hopefully find a few new communities to contribute to as well.
I highly recommend you try and do the same in your niche.
5. Failure
Though it’s listed as #5 this could easily be the most important aspect of my insurance blog growth in 2012.
Don’t Be Afraid to Fail!
It’s going to happen.
You’re going to put 5 hours into a YouTube video and then no one is going to watch it…
You’re going to write a blog series that no one is going to read…
You’re going to run a contest that only your Mother is going to enter…
You’re going to ask for feedback and get silence.
The Murray Group blog grew 467% year over year and I’d say easily 50% of what I did was a failure…
…but failure didn’t yield the growth, it was the other 50% of what I did that ended up rocking shit.
Even Seth Godin can’t be certain every action he takes online is going to be a success and I would consider him a Top 5 Internet mind. Seth is awesome by nature and can’t control what hits and what doesn’t.
How are you and I supposed to know what’s going to work?
We’re not…
That’s why we can’t be afraid of failure. If it sounds plausible that an idea could work.
Do it…
It if doesn’t work, learn and either don’t do it again and do it better the next time.
If it does work… well… I shouldn’t have to tell you what to do if an idea does work but I will anyway…
DO IT AGAIN!
Seriously if you knew how many things I’ve tried and failed at in life, let alone online, you’d probably lose respect for me.
But the deal is I don’t give a shit about failure…
…because when something works it’s friggin’ awesome!
We all have awesome inside of us.
The Rub
2012 was a pretty amazing year in a lot of ways for me.
But I want 2013 to be better…
I’m going to focusing more on the Content Warfare Podcast and the newly re-branded Content Warfare Newsletter {Click Here to subscribe free}.
The goal for 2013 is to take the Inbound Marketing conversation deeper…
Together we can get at the heart of success online and ultimately Grow Our Business!
Ryan…You are doing such a great job as SEO for your insurance agency. Have you been able to measure your success and the amount of new business it has brought to the agency?
Thanks,
Nancy
This is an honest assessment. Truthfully, the writing style reminds me of how I write a lot of posts on my own blog. (Maybe I’m giving MYSELF too much credit, though. This was really good!)
You admit your flaws while you showcase your strengths.
My favorite parts were the focus on being willing to fail…and quantity sometimes trumps quality. I see way too many people paralyze their progress, because they tried to make things “perfect.”
Some people just are terrified of failing. I like how you outline specific possibilities…the blog that nobody reads…the video that nobody watches.
You’re right! None of us know what will make people respond…until AFTER we post it–never before then.
Thanks for sharing your insights.
Chris Wechner wants you to check out… Marketing Question: Is Posting in Multiple LinkedIn Groups SPAM?
Thanks for the kind words Chris.
This is the truth right here, “Some people just are terrified of failing.” Far too many people let success slip past them because their afraid to fail.
All the best my friend.
Hanley
Thanks for the very encouraging post. It is a leap of faith and a big commitment to do this the right way. I am only about 5 months in but have seen about a 50% increase in traffic. Thanks again for the great tips!
Great stuff Ben… I’m glad to hear you’re having success.
Nice post. Have you read “The Lean Startup” book.
It’s the same idea
get it out there asap
measure everything
learning is good
pivot when needed
It’s an awesome book if you have the time. It’s six sigma for startups
Great article. I really like the 5th point about failure. Your states hold turn with anything you do. When we fail we should use that failure as an opportunity to learn from it and improve.
Thanks for your article
I very much appreciate your feedback Hope… Good luck and thanks for stopping by.
Great post Ryan, I just wish I read this advice back when I was just starting my own business through my website.
Jeremy Norton wants you to check out… How to Apply For a Student Loan For College
Thanks for stopping by Jeremy… All the best!
Well Done Ryan! Tenacity pays off with focused blogging and sooner or later the little snowball you made starts rolling downhill. Your audience development is only getting started. If you keep this pace up and continue to hustle 2013 will dwarf 2012.
Kevin wants you to check out… How to Successfully Work Insurance Leads
One can only hope my friend…
Thanks for stopping by.
Hanley
Ryan,
First, congratulations on an awesome 2012. It’s amazing to see how much we can accomplish in one year. Some days it feels like we are just banging our heads against the wall, but by taking baby steps each day, we move closer to our goals.
Great advice on this post. I have gone from someone who thinks content and inbound marketing may work to someone who fully believes and is committed to it.
All the best in 2013.
Brent Kelly wants you to check out… Why I Am So Passionate About Cyber Liability and Data Breach
Brent,
You hit the struggle right on the head… Success happens SLOW. You may see a nice spike once in a while but in general success Online happens slowly and that is tough to bear with how much work it takes.
You’re doing awesome stuff. Keep it up and here’s to killing it in 2013!!
Hanley
Awesome article Ryan! I’m also in the insurance niche and have struggled to raise awareness of the blog on our site……I really like what you’re saying about every piece of content needs to mean something….this is what I’ve been trying to convince my writers to do. I have sent this article to them…….hope to meet with them after the new year to put together and editorial calendar. If you ever want to team up and do some cross-promoting, feel free to reach out. We deal with more P&C…..versus life/home insurance.
Eric,
I’m glad the article resonated with you. I’m often guilty of not focusing on one particular area of the business… which I know would help improve our traffic and most importantly our targeted traffic.
Let me know how it works out for you.
All the best!
Ryan H
Awesome article! I’m in the early stage of SEO for my company and looking forward to increase traffic and awareness.
I can use any advice to grow our business…thanks.
hey thanks for the great information on increasing blog traffic, the correct link to MindMeister is http://www.mindmeister.com/, Great blog post!
Great catch… Thanks for the heads up, link fixed.
Thank you for making me feel like you’re speaking directly TO me once again. Your content is always so relevant to what I’m doing and I always appreciate it!
#5 Failure. I really needed to hear that. My little blog is still in the early stages and just when I find the inspiration and determination to post a series, I’m finding very few eyeballs are on it and it really stings. While I kinda don’t believe you’ve failed in your posts, that’s probably because I don’t see your stats.
I WILL continue to heed your advice, and I WILL continue to grow our little fledgling blog. I WILL just be awesome.
Nicole wants you to check out… The 12 Insurable Days of Christmas: Day 8
Nicole… I know you will be. You’re doing awesome stuff. Don’t worry about the traffic stats on that blog series… When it’s done take a look back at how you promoted it and where whatever traffic you did get came from.
Then start to build a deeper community in those spaces. Next time you do a blog series you’re get a lot more traction I bet.
Keep it up and Happy Holidays!!
Ryan H.