Page Views Growing Exponentially!

[Sundance]

My site has been sitting quietly on the web, gathering dust for quite a while. Then, late last year, Google finally got around to indexing it after I started adding some long-overdue new content. Other than a little local publicity, most of my recent visitors have been through the search engines.

Anyway, my page views are growing like mad! Last September, I had a total of 8 (yes - eight!) page views. This month, as of the 18th, I've already exceeded 1,200! Yikes! And I'm starting to get people signing up to follow my blog posts. I checked how I stood on Google with some of my targeted key words, and all of a sudden I'm on the first page of some search results! With one term, I'm #2!

I don't know if this is good or not, but the average visitor views 3-4 pages. Since my pages average 700-1,700 words, that's potentially a lot of reading. Unfortunately, I don't yet have a way to track how long they are spending on the site. But some folks are apparently posting links to my website on their Facebook pages, so I guess some people really like it.

Unfortunately, because of my very limited income, I created my site on Wordpress.com - though I do have my own domain address. Now, I absolutely need to get serious about my site, and it's time to move to a self-hosted site so I can start monetizing it. If I made the effort to guest post on some established blogs, I think my stats would really skyrocket.

I'm now researching like mad to learn how to make the transition. Wish me luck, folks! I wasn't really expecting my site to take off like this! (Though I know it's a really tiny amount of visitors compared with many other folks here!)

[Spirit]

I like reading stuff like this. Makes me not get discouraged.
If you decided to move stuff around, make sure the URL 's stay the same!

I just discovered after two years of nothingness I now have pr 1. Not that it matters, but the stupid thing is, my other site, which I don't bother with much, also all of a sudden got pr 1. I hardly do anything about it. Google is still a mystery to me...

[ajkbagh5@gmail.com]

That is very cool how did you got there are you ranking for the keywords in all the major search engines. Would you like to tell us that from where the major traffic is coming from?

[Spirit]

I'd like to know where your traffic came from too. Mine is only from google, but maybe it is time to explore social media.

[sanhal]

The good thing about self hosted WP blogs is that you can add Google analytics and learn much more about your traffic.

Sandy

[Sundance]

Yes, I'm really looking forward to being able to use Google analytics once I finish setting up my self-hosted site. I'm been swamped this month between working on my new site design and providing some free local seminars to help market some classes I'm offering this spring. Last night, I had over 45 people come to my free program! Now I'm waiting to find out how many convert to a paid course.

Spirit, congrats on the Pagerank! I'm still 0 on that regard, but I'm pretty confident that it will be moving up sometime in the next year. I have no idea how that's determined and I'm not "working" on it, but I believe it will come in time if I continue to develop great content and grow my traffic.

Well, without a good site analytics program, I don't have all the details I'd like. The vast majority of my traffic is from Google, but I'm also getting people from Bing, Yahoo, Pinterest, and Facebook. I don't have a Facebook page, and am not really interested in it. But people are posting info about my site on their own Facebook pages, and that is helping to draw traffic. I do include some social networking icons on my site.

However, because my site is very visual (I have over 150 photos), I did set up a Pinterest board, and that is starting to draw traffic. I really like Pinterest because all I have to do is periodically add more interesting photos (even from other sites). I don't have to spend a lot of time on it.

I added a blog to my site this winter, and I think that's helping, too. I've written over 50,000 words on my site so far, so there's quite a lot of content.

I just checked where I stand for a Google search for my main keyword phrase, which has taken longer to improve than the long-tail phrases I've targeted. I'm now on page #4, which I'm thrilled about - which means I've reached position #34 out of about 2,800,000 search results. My goal is page #1, which I'm pretty sure I'll be able to reach, hopefully by next year. That phrase has nearly 50,000 searches every month, so that will really boost traffic for me.

I haven't done much yet to help market my site (other than some local publicity). But once I get my new website up, I plan on doing some guest posting to help drive traffic. I'm still very much on newbie about marketing and monetizing a website. Boy, is there a LOT to learn!

[DavidIsMyName]

Good job, seems about right from my experience too.

Depending on how competitive the topic area is that you're writing about, how much content you have and backlinks all affect how quickly your site will grow.

For example the site in my signature is in a very competitive space so it needs a lot of links and time for Google to start sending traffic over.

I've had other sites however on topics with minimal competition rank quickly because the search engines need quality content and don't have it.

Regardless good job Whats your goal with the site long term?

[Sundance]

Whoops! I blinked - and my position on Google for my main keyword phrase just jumped from #34 to #12! I'm near the top of the second page. Oh my gosh! I thought it would take another year to reach page 1, but at this rate, it may just take weeks at most.

I'm not ready! I'm still struggling to learn how to handle a self-hosted site. I'm currently still at Wordpress.com. I haven't even been able to figure out how to install my favicon (I'm developing my new site theme with Instant Wordpress). I've never seen a c-panel and haven't yet decided which hosting company to use. It often takes me hours to figure out every single little thing I need to learn!

I thought I'd have months before my traffic spikes much higher. Nope! I'm about to jump into the deep end – and I'm scared!

My goal is to develop a multimedia online course for people wanting to learn what I have to offer. I know the demand is there, though I don't know how much they will pay or how many - or if I should divide up the material into separate sections, or market it as a single unit. I had standing room only at my free local program last night – and they were begging me to add a lot more information to my website.

I've added my Amazon affiliate links to my new site for books that I recommend, and I am waiting to get approved as an affiliate for another company that I like. But my main goal is to sell the information that I have to offer. I'm generous with providing unique free information on my website, which is why it's becoming so popular so fast.

But people want thorough, detailed, organized, and easy-to-understand information – from the very basics up to the advanced levels. I can provide that, but it will take time. And I have a lot to learn in order to accomplish my goal.

Yikes! I'm thankful that everything is going so well so far, but also feeling very overwhelmed! I'm not quite sure what order I should be getting things done - there's so much to do!

[sanhal]

Good to hear of your success.

Hope you've done a brain dump! Write down everything you can think of that you have to do or want to do. Then prioritize the list and concentrate on doing one thing at a time.

You need to set up a hosting account first. I've always used Hostgator. Their customer service is excellent. Others will probably have other recommendations.

Although it's very satisfyling and good to learn how to do things yourself in a case like this you could outsource it to get it done quickly. You can find some Wordpress experts on oDesk.com who have very reasonable hourly rates or get them to give you a fixed price. Always look for people with a good work history on odesk and good feedback from clients.

I expect you have already looked for videos showing you how to tranfer from Worpress.com . Here's one I just found.

http://mashable.com/2011/02/09/move-...press-com-org/

Sounds like you might need to turn it into a membership site eventually.

Best of luck

Sandy

[Sundance]

Thanks, Sandy! Yes, I did a brain dump last night. That helps some.

I wish I could outsource some of this work, but I simply don't have the money. I'm on disability with very limited income. I've gotten permission to try to work at home through the Ticket to Work program, and my state rehab folks are helping me with adaptive computer equipment, as my hands are pretty damaged.

Guess it's time to pick the brains of any of my friends, or friends of friends. I'm bartering some fresh garden produce for tutoring in PhotoShop with an art professor friend. Now I need to find someone who is website savy. Somehow, it will all come together! I'll just keep plugging along for now.

[sanhal]

Hi Sundance

Sorry to hear about your disability but that you are able to find ways round it.

It's a good idea to get help from friends. Sometimes you can find youngsters who are internet savvy and are willing to get work experience. You might be able to find someone at a computer club who could help you.

You will get there in the end!

To your success.
Sandy

[Jennifer]

Am working on making my content longer. I keep se ring references back to this forum. I don't really understand the ideas yet. But I do understand that content is more important than links. I link automatically when I read good content.

[Sundance]

I wanted to update the status of my website. I finally managed to convert it to a self-hosted Wordpress site four weeks ago. Yea!

It's still growing rapidly - VERY rapidly. In April, I had over 15,000 page views (and 5,000 visitors). That's a long way from my original 8 page views last September. I just finally installed Google Analytics this week. About 10% of my visitors spend 15 minutes to more than an hour on my site - which tells me I'm providing valued content, though I'm having more bounces than I like. I need to target a slightly different audience, I think.

I earned $2.58 from Amazon commissions during my very first month as a self-hosted site. I knew it wouldn't add up to much, but... Ouch! I badly need to finish my own ebook to sell on my site.

Unfortunately, my health issues flared up badly this spring, and I failed to add any blog posts for nearly 6 weeks, and didn't get any additional work done on my site. Just started again this week. I've been struggling (for various reasons) to start using Aweber on my site, but I haven't gotten it going yet. I'm desperate to get it started soon, as I'm missing the opportunity to sign up people from all these visitors!

I wish my health was better, as I have so much I want to offer and accomplish on my site. I'm such a newbie to all of this, and it takes me forever to learn how to do every little step I need to create a profitable website. I'm so thankful for the information provided through Lisa's sites! I make a point to purchase services through Lisa's links, so she will make a commission on it.

Thanks for all of your assistance and encouragement, folks! I really appreciate it.

[lisa]

I wanted to update the status of my website. I finally managed to convert it to a self-hosted Wordpress site four weeks ago. Yea!

It's still growing rapidly - VERY rapidly. In April, I had over 15,000 page views (and 5,000 visitors). That's a long way from my original 8 page views last September. I just finally installed Google Analytics this week. About 10% of my visitors spend 15 minutes to more than an hour on my site - which tells me I'm providing valued content, though I'm having more bounces than I like. I need to target a slightly different audience, I think.

I earned $2.58 from Amazon commissions during my very first month as a self-hosted site. I knew it wouldn't add up to much, but... Ouch! I badly need to finish my own ebook to sell on my site.

Unfortunately, my health issues flared up badly this spring, and I failed to add any blog posts for nearly 6 weeks, and didn't get any additional work done on my site. Just started again this week. I've been struggling (for various reasons) to start using Aweber on my site, but I haven't gotten it going yet. I'm desperate to get it started soon, as I'm missing the opportunity to sign up people from all these visitors!

I wish my health was better, as I have so much I want to offer and accomplish on my site. I'm such a newbie to all of this, and it takes me forever to learn how to do every little step I need to create a profitable website. I'm so thankful for the information provided through Lisa's sites! I make a point to purchase services through Lisa's links, so she will make a commission on it.

Thanks for all of your assistance and encouragement, folks! I really appreciate it.

15 minutes to an hour! That is EXCELLENT! I hope you get better soon so you can spend more time building up what you've got going! Thanks so much for recommending my sites.

[MikeQ]

On your site if you are working continuously, at least one hour daily, traffic would grow day by day... but you have to only quality works for better result, I would say.