How I Grew My Blog in 2021
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How I grew my blog in 2021 looked way different from my growth the previous year.
After quitting my day job as a marketing assistant manager at the end of 2019, I was brimming with hope and excitement for the year ahead.
I was finally a full-time blogger. I had the time and energy to take my blog to the next level and I was at a place I’d been working so hard to get to for more than 5 years.
And then, well, you all know what happened in 2020.
An awful, terrible experience we’re still fighting to overcome.
Despite that, blogging became my refuge, a coping mechanism. A positive channel to help me through the anxiety, fear and uncertainty.
I wrote. I expanded my sources of income to include advertising for bloggers, a blog audit, and a digital content calendar.
Prior to that I’d been earning via affiliate marketing, the occasional sponsored post and online course sales.
In 2021, I did things a whole lot differently to grow my blog.
Every year, I decide on a theme to guide me.
My 2021 theme was: financial abundance and stability.
With this theme in mind, I came up with a plan on how to achieve this, and these are the different ways I grew my blog this year.
How I Grew My Blog
I focused on promoting my blog & existing products
While I released a new product almost every quarter last year, in 2021, I stopped putting out new products and services. I did want to launch a membership, but that’ll be next year’s big project.
I did; however, self-publish a contemporary young adult novel called The Hush Society Presents about music, friendship and pursuing one’s dreams, and it ranked as a #1 New Release in Amazon’s Teen & Young Adult Music eBooks category.
Aside from this, I decided to promote my blog more through advertising with other bloggers.
I revived my TikTok account
I created a TikTok account last year, but only revived it in April this year. Originally, it was to join a TikTok challenge of my favourite KPop group, Astro, in support of their latest comeback. I later on decided that I would leverage TikTok to also promote my blog by posting blogging tips on there as well. When Instagram Reels finally launched in my country, I repurposed these Tiktok videos into Reels.
How This Blogger Became a Microinfluencer on Instagram
I participated in more collaborations & press opportunities
From crafting a writing tag with Ming, saying yes to interviews and my first magazine cover feature (pinch me!), and applying for group collaborations, these collaborations have grown my blog and even my email list by the hundreds. It’s really important to be able to choose the right collaborations that align with you and will help you grow your blog. That’s also how Kevin Paulson of HuntingLife.com approaches collaborations.
I rebranded my blog
Lastly, I decided to rebrand my blog twice this year! The first rebrand was during the second quarter because I wanted to elevate the look and feel of my blog. I wanted something that emulated elegance with a youthful touch. Months later, I rebranded again, but this time to change my blog direction and expand my business blog to a lifestyle blog that focuses on a fangirl approach to life; a.k.a. encouraging others to be unapologetically themselves. This helped me fall back in love with creating content again since I’d been in a content rut for a few months.
Those are the 4 ways of how I grew my blog in 2021. How did you grow your blog this year? I’d love to know in the comments!
Want to advertise your blog? Check out the Ultimate Advertising For Bloggers Directory to find out which blogs you can advertise your blog with and grow your visibility
Congrats on growing your blog and working towards a goal — and thanks for sharing the advice/info as I have been thinking about branching out a bit more to make my writing an actual career.