392: Is Blogging Still Worth It? Yes—Here’s How to Get Consistent Traffic

[00:00:00] It is time to talk about how to get traffic to your blog. So this is part three in our blog series here on the podcast that we've been doing over the last couple of months. And in our last two blogging episodes, we covered choosing your own platform and building a content plan. So if you miss those episodes, they are episodes 3 81 and episode 3 86.

[00:00:23] You can go back and listen because they are the foundation for what we're talking about today. So what I hear all the time is that you guys are writing and creating this amazing content, but no one is reading it. It's very frustrating. Like you put all that effort into creating this amazing piece of content and the traffic isn't there, and it gives you those thoughts of, is this even worth it, right?

[00:00:52] So let me tell you right now. Blog traffic is not dead. Okay? If you came here to find out, Brie, is it worth it anymore? Yes, it is. But you do have to do the work. The good news is that it's not as complicated as you think, and once you learn a few of these strategies and start to implement them in every single post that you create, the results will come.

[00:01:21] Will they take time? Probably, but this is a long-term strategy. So by the end of this episode, you are going to have a plan for driving consistent traffic to your blog using multiple sources, so that way you're not dependent on one platform alone. Hey there, I'm Brief Hare, content creator, coach, and your host of the Thrive Podcast.

[00:01:46] And I'm here to help you build a brand you're proud of with clear strategy and real support. Let's dive in.

[00:01:56] Before we get started, I wanna remind you that we opened up a way for you to get involved with the podcast. Because in 2026, I wanna be able to hear from you guys and answer your questions on the show. I say live on the show live, but kind of Um, so you're gonna go to Thrive Together blog slash ask Bree or click the link in the description.

[00:02:20] And there you're gonna be able to leave me a quick voice message so that way I can add your question to a future episode. I am. Really excited about this, so please, please, please go and leave me a message. Okay, so let's first talk about like the truth of blog traffic. I'm always hearing blogging is dead, or no one reads blogs anymore, but the reality is that blogging isn't dead.

[00:02:45] And I know I talked in, I believe it was last week's episode about Substack and how incredible it is that this platform just took off in 2025. And how that really proves that people are wanting to go deeper with our content and that they are wanting long form content. I almost lean towards, again, I mean, it never went away.

[00:03:08] We're always reading blogs, we're always getting recipes from blogs, reading articles, learning different types of things, right? With the rise of social media, blogging has changed a bit, but it is very interesting to me and I think very telling that Substack is performing as well as it is. Because people are wanting that long form content, and I just love having a piece of validation that we can hang onto before we either stop doing something or before we start doing something right, like this gives us the proof that we need that this is something our audience is wanting.

[00:03:44] So blogging is definitely not dead. The way we drive traffic has evolved. And so that's what we're going to be talking about today. One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of bloggers will make is writing a post, publishing it, and then just waiting for people to magically show up, and that is not something that we can really do anymore.

[00:04:05] It's either that or just only focusing on one traffic source and then panicking when that slows down. You know, if you put all of your eggs into the Google algorithm and that SEO, some bloggers have survived the last couple of years, just fine, other traffic has completely tanked. So how we are able to future proof ourselves is by diversifying where our traffic is coming from.

[00:04:32] That's truly the only way we can create sustainable businesses is diversifying and it comes down. To diversifying for traffic as well. So it's not just income streams, it is also traffic. And the bloggers who are finding success, they are diversifying their traffic sources. They're innovating, they're constantly researching.

[00:04:52] Alright, what's next? What can I test next? What can I try over here? So let's talk about the main ways to drive traffic to your blog and how to make them work for you. So I'm gonna share five different traffic sources, and we have a deep dive podcast for each of those. And so I'm gonna link all of those in the show notes for you guys.

[00:05:13] So I'm not going to dive as deep as I could in each one of these. Instead, I'm going to give you an overview and then direct you to that episode that we released, um, towards the end of last year. So that way it's, it's fully up to date for you guys and you can go and pop over there to dive deeper into that one.

[00:05:32] So first that we have to talk about is SEO. That is really like the king, queen of uh, traffic and really the baseline for how we operate, getting our traffic. Whether it is from Google or from other sources. So SEO matters, and this is your long term traffic driver. It's that gift that is going to keep on giving rather than something disappearing on social media.

[00:06:02] SEO can really make sure that your content has longevity. So when you rank on Google, people are going to find your content months or even years. After you publish it, and we've seen this happen countless times where somebody released a blog post one year, and let's say it's a seasonal evergreen type of blog post, and it just resurfaces every year at that time of the year, and gains more and more traction.

[00:06:29] Every single year. That's what we wanna create. We wanna create a lot of those pillar posts that are going to consistently drive traffic for us as we're working on new ones to gain even more traffic. And then it becomes this wonderful domino effect or snowball effect since we are in the thick of winter over here.

[00:06:49] And that is what we wanna have happen. So the basics of this is use the keyword research that we talked about in the content planning episode. You wanna optimize those blog posts with the keywords that you have researched and decided that you're going to use. So you need to optimize. Those keywords with throughout your blog post.

[00:07:11] So in the titles, the headers, meta descriptions, alt text on images, and with all of this, with that keyword research, you really wanna kind of let that guide your content planning, like we really talked about in that episode, and focus on topics that people are actually searching for. That, that's the bottom line.

[00:07:33] If you find a key word where you're like, oh, this is wonderful, but it has five searches a month, that's not going to help you get to where you want to go. So we want to find things that are going to provide more search and more visibility for us throughout the search and. I want you to keep in mind as you're diving into SEO, it does not just apply to Google.

[00:07:58] This is going to apply across so many different platforms that you are going to use everything from Pinterest to YouTube to social media. We talked about that in last week's episode where SEO is really playing. A key role in how social media is working as well now. So this is something that you really need to, a concept that you need to grab hold of and really embrace rather than be afraid of it or be a little like, have this, it's too complicated thought process.

[00:08:31] It's truly not. It's just something new if you haven't done it before. And yeah, new can be hard at the beginning and you're not gonna be great at it at the first go, but. It's not rocket science. It's not me trying to tell you, Hey, go work at NASA and do X, Y, and Z, right? Like this is something we can learn very quickly and seamlessly, and we dive into this in, like I said, even deeper in an episode just on this.

[00:09:01] So we'll link that for you guys. But the thing to keep in mind with this is that SEO does take time, okay? So it is going to take typically three to six months to see real traction. But once it kicks in, that's going to give you that passive traffic that compounds over time and gives you that snowball effect like we talked about.

[00:09:20] So if you haven't already, go back and listen to that episode that we will link on SEO for you and start with one to two well optimized posts per month and really build it from there. Okay? Traffic source number two is Pinterest, so this is. I don't, I don't classify Pinterest as a social media platform.

[00:09:40] I think it is a search engine and just a visual search engine. People are using it to go and search for something. Um, although I will say I love just like scrolling my home feed and. Giving myself a break from social media and going and scrolling beautiful images. That's why I think it's truly a visual search engine.

[00:09:57] People are going here to find ideas and solution and inspiration, which is exactly what your blog offers. Not only that, but you can also use Pinterest to grow your social media accounts and to share your digital products. If you have any of those, any freebies to grow your email list and even affiliate links.

[00:10:21] Pinterest is typically underutilized by most people. Typically, content creators are using Pinterest for one thing and forgetting that, oh, I could be also promoting X, Y, and Z on Pinterest. Typically, for each person, there is going to be at least two or three things that you can be using Pinterest to promote and to get your ideas out there and to grow your audience that way.

[00:10:47] So how we use this effectively is creating eye-catching pins for every blog post or anything else that you're using it for. Use Canva templates. Make it easy, brand it to yourself. Give yourself a few templates that are really great. I've got some of those linked for you guys also in the show notes that you can grab.

[00:11:08] And then what you wanna do is write keyword rich descriptions on your pins, so it all ties back to that SEO like we talked about. And then. Just pin consistently. This doesn't have to be like a gazillion a day. This can just be, you know, pin one a day. Start there manually. Yeah, sure. But I like to use a scheduler.

[00:11:26] Pinterest has its own scheduler built in, um, I believe it goes out like 30 days. Otherwise you can use a scheduler like Tailwind and that can go out for years. It's pretty great. The strategy here, and really what's gonna make it even easier for yourself is don't just pin. Once and then forget it. What you wanna do is create multiple pins for that one piece of content.

[00:11:45] So if it's a blog post right from the get go, create four different pins for that blog post. Same thing for if it is, um, a freebie that you're using to grow your opt-in, anything that you are linking to. So anything with a link, which is the whole point of Pinterest, right? Um, I don't really understand. The purpose of pinning an image just to pin an image, um, if you're like using that as a strategy to grow your brand, we want to drive the traffic somewhere.

[00:12:15] So for every link, create multiple pins, different pins that are going to go to that same link. And Pinterest does reward fresh pins, so that is why we don't want to go in and rein any pins. There's not really a point in doing it. Pinterest is more so going to reward and send traffic your way if you are generating new pins.

[00:12:40] So it can be the same link, but creating a new pin design and pinning that one. Pinterest traffic can grow faster than SEO, but it's still going to take consistency. I really think that Pinterest and, you know, SEO go hand in hand and you want to just focus again on creating helpful solution-based content that people want to save and that they're searching for.

[00:13:08] Traffic source number three, social media. This is where I want you to use it to drive people to your blog and not replace it, right? So social media has really turned into something that blogs were replaced by, you didn't disappear completely. They're still hundreds of thousands of very successful blogs out there, but.

[00:13:32] It became something that was very easy to drive our attention away from our blogs, right? So what I want you to do when it comes to social media is pick one to two platforms where your audience actually hangs out. Don't try to be everywhere. You don't need to be everywhere, but use it strategically. So share snippets or takeaways from your blog posts.

[00:13:55] Use your stories, or reels or tiktoks to tease your content and then link them to the full post. Use ManyChat to send people to a blog post. And then really engage with your audience so that way they actually care when you share a link, right? So it all comes down to communication community that we are building with our audience, right?

[00:14:21] It's like any other piece of content when we're like, oh, this reel didn't perform well. And so then if you put one out there like, oh, I created this cute reel promoting a blog post, but it didn't perform well, what does your engagement look like across the board? And that's why it's so important to focus on that community building that we talked about in last week's episode, and really creating a place where your community wants to hang out and wants to spend time with you.

[00:14:45] That is that baseline that we talked about, and that is what is going to also help you be able to drive traffic from social media over to a blog post. So use, you know, call to actions when you're sharing those things. Maybe it's a recipe, you share a part of it, but then the full recipe is on the blog or a link in bio for the tutorial or whatever it may be.

[00:15:07] But social media, you know, it can be inconsistent because of algorithms, but again, this is why you need to focus on that community aspect, the engagement aspect, and also just a reminder that you can't rely on it alone. But it's great for quick bursts and for building relationships. Traffic source number four is your email list.

[00:15:30] You guys know I love this. I love it. Um, and I actually wrote an entire blog post recently about Flow Desk about. How it is so aesthetically pleasing and simple and easy to use. So I'm gonna link that in the show notes for you guys to go and check out as well. Why I love email is because it's your audience, you own it, not an algorithm, not a social media platform, not whatever, and email subscribers are your most engaged readers.

[00:16:08] Every time you publish a new blog post, you can send it directly to people who want to hear from you. And when you look at the rates compared to anything on social media, email is always outperforming. Social media engagement rates every single time. Even if you only have like a 30% open rate. Can you imagine if you had a 30% engagement rate over on Instagram?

[00:16:36] Ugh, my god, that would be amazing. Okay. But it's, it's not happening. Right? So you may have a smaller email list, but just compare that to how many people are actually seeing it. So we wanna build this, right? We want to grow this email list by offering a freebie to get people to sign up. Maybe it's a checklist or a guide, or a template or a printable, and then sending regular emails to them.

[00:17:05] I recommend weekly. If you need to do biweekly, that's fine, but just sending them regularly so that way your people are engaged and are going to click on the links within your email. You need to make sure that your email has a purpose that we are strategic with it. Talked a lot about this in last week's episode.

[00:17:24] If you missed it, it's such a good one, even just to go and re-listen, but you need to be strategic with what is the end result that I'm wanting from this email and really focusing on that. I know that sometimes people will cram links into an email, but I always come back to, all right, what is the end goal that you are wanting from this?

[00:17:42] Are you wanting to drive traffic to an affiliate link, to a blog post to social media? Create the strategy for your email based on the results that you are wanting from that specific email. And then, you know, making it personable and valuable, not just, here's my latest post, bye. Just telling a little bit about a story and getting a little bit more vulnerable or authentic, or again, thinking about creating that connection with your audience that you're wanting.

[00:18:09] Uh, you know, really thinking about your email list as you know that VIP or that insider community and they're getting first access to new content and they're getting to hear from you in a way that nobody else is. You wanna really nurture them in that way, and then when you do that, they're actually going to open and click your emails.

[00:18:29] So we wanna connect with them, not just when we want something, but really have that consistent relationship going. And even a small list of engaged subscribers can drive consistent traffic for you. The final traffic source that we're gonna talk about is kind of a combination, but it's really like collabs.

[00:18:48] So think like guest posts, features, collabs that you're doing with other content creators, and this is gonna work because you're tapping into someone else's audience and you're growing beyond just you and your current audience and asking them for shares. This is really trying to like share each other's audiences with whomever you're collaborating with.

[00:19:10] It can also really help build some credibility and authority in your niche, and one feature or collab can send a surge of new readers your way. So there's many different ways that you could do this. You could do it through guest posting, like, you know, writing for other blogs. And linking back to your site collaborations through a giveaway or a challenge or even a content swap, like, Hey, I'm gonna post on your blog, you post on mine media features.

[00:19:38] You could pitch yourself to podcasts, online publications, or roundups like. Top five recipes for blah, blah, blah, or the top 10 DIY for X, Y, and Z. Pitch yourself to be added to those lists. And then, you know, with media, it's like looking at where could I get featured in articles or where can I form connections with people that are writing these articles and get featured in that way?

[00:20:02] So the strategy here is really start small. Reach out to bloggers or creators with similar audience sizes and collaborate. See how you guys can do things together inside Bold Fluence is a great way to do this. If you are a part of that community, hop into the forum, leave a message there and be like, Hey, I am this type of content creator.

[00:20:21] Would anybody be interested in collaborating and getting each other in front of the other's audiences? You could also do this inside of our Facebook group. I'll link that as well below and just really offer value. First is what I'm going to say. Whenever you are approaching collapse like this, I want you to think of what can you bring to their audience, not just, alright, I'm gonna get something out of this, but also.

[00:20:47] Yeah, of course I want you to win, but I want you to really think through what type of value can you provide to somebody else's audience, because that is what is going to get people to come and visit you. Hopefully drive new readers and also be something really wonderful for the person that you are collabing with, and make it a lot more appealing and easy for them to say yes.

[00:21:15] You wanna just really build those relationships and this takes effort and it takes outreach, but the payoff can be huge and one really good feature can lead to ongoing traffic and new opportunities for a really long time. Okay, so we just covered five major traffic sources, SEO, Pinterest, social media, email, and collaborations.

[00:21:42] And if you're feeling a little overwhelmed thinking, how am I supposed to do? All of this. I get it. Okay. The truth with all of this, you don't have to do everything at once. Okay? You don't even need to know how to do all of them at once. But the ones that you choose to do, you need to know how to do them.

[00:22:02] Correctly, and that's exactly what we help you with. Inside Bold Fluence. We have growth plans for every single platform. All of the ones I cover today, step-by-step roadmaps that are going to show you exactly how to drive traffic from Pinterest, how to optimize for SEO, how to use social media without burning out, and how to build your email list plus templates to make.

[00:22:26] Your life. Easier tech tutorials. If you're like, Ooh, show me Google Analytics, please. And a community of other creators who are doing this right alongside you, so you're not figuring out a loan. If you want that type of support and strategy, it's $49 a month and you can click Bold Fluence in the description or Head to Thrive together.

[00:22:45] Block slash bold fluence. Alright, so now that you know where traffic comes from, let's talk about how to actually make this work without. Losing your mind because it is a lot. But here we go. We want to create your traffic plan. So like I said, just now, you don't have to do everything at once. You wanna pick two to three traffic sources to focus on first.

[00:23:13] My suggestion. Start with SEO because it is foundational and it is going to help you with every other platform that you're going to use to get traffic. So start with that and then pick one or two others that fit your strengths. So maybe it's SEO and Pinterest for quick engagement. You could do SEO and social media.

[00:23:36] If you want loyal readers, you could do SEO and email or authority building, SEO, and collabs. It's really just what feels best to you. And like I talk about all the time, this journey is unique to everyone because you have options and there are growth plans that you can follow for every single option, and it doesn't have to look exactly the same for every person.

[00:24:02] So how to stay consistent with this is create a simple weekly routine for yourself. Okay. Write or publish one to two optimized blog posts every single week. Create and schedule pins for those blog posts and then share them on social media. Send an email to your list and reach out for one to two collaboration opportunities a month.

[00:24:26] That's it. That is a simple weekly routine that is doable. And we need things that are doable, things that we could do on a part-time basis. If you're not full-time, things that you can do that are going to help you grow long term. And with all of this, give yourself grace because traffic growth takes time.

[00:24:52] It's going to take multiple months to see momentum, and that is often really hard. That's a grind, right? That's why community support is so beneficial, because it is discouraging when you're not seeing your hard work pay off right away. I think that's why we are drawn to social media because we're going to know a little bit more.

[00:25:13] Almost instantaneously whether something works or doesn't work and with long form content, that is not typically the case, but it is a really good long term strategy for brand growth, for wealth, and for a long term retirement plan. Right. So some sources are going to work better for you than others, and that's okay.

[00:25:38] You wanna track what's working in Google Analytics and then double down on those sources after you've tested them for multiple months. 'cause the goal with this is to really build a traffic system that's diversified, right? We need to diversify where the traffic is coming from, and we also need it to be sustainable and for it not to require us to be online.

[00:26:01] All the time. So final thoughts, blog traffic. Isn't dead, blogging is not dead. It's just evolved. You can't just write and hope people show up anymore. You have to actively drive traffic using multiple platforms. But when you do the work, the results are going to snowball over time. You just need to build steady, sustainable traffic that grows month after month.

[00:26:31] So you now know the five main traffic sources, SEO, Pinterest, social media, email, and features collabs. So with all of these, like I said, we have individual podcast episodes that dive even deeper into all of these platforms. We're gonna link those for you below. I want you to pick two to three to focus on this month and start optimizing your posts.

[00:26:51] Get on Pinterest, build that email list. Whatever feels doable for you right now. If you want step-by-step plans for each of these, we would love to have you in bold flus. Next time in our blogging series, we're gonna be talking about how to write blog posts that people actually read. I'm really excited for this one.

[00:27:12] You're not gonna wanna miss it. So thank you guys for being here. And also don't forget, leave me a question, head there right now. Thrive together. Do blog slash ask free. Go send me a message, ask me a question, and I'll see you next time.

[00:27:32] If this episode helped you, help us grow, leave a review, share it with a friend, and tag us on social media. We can't wait to cheer you on.