This has been a topic that's been more on my mind lately. As we approach the New Year, it's impossible not to think about what we achieved this past 12 months and what our goals for the next year are.
If you've been following the blog for some time now, you'll know that one of my main goals here was to able to transform this blog, my expression outlet, into a side hustle.
Looking back at my blogging journey
I was VERY naive when I got into blogging thinking I might turn out to be like one of those bloggers that find organic success after just a few months, as in those who can make an affiliate sale within 3 months of starting or have a full-time income in a little over 6 to 7 months.
Of course, I knew those were rare cases, especially considering that some of them must already have had a few not-so-successful endeavors to back them up with experience.
The fact is that this blog is closer to completing its first year and things went a lot slower than I thought they would. Of course, the paid traffic strategy has been ever so alluring lately.
When I first started the blog, I set out to get as much organic growth as I could. I was unemployed, looking to take a break from corporate, getting out of a crazy burnout period, and maybe looking for an alternative that didn't involve exchanging my time for a (not so great) paycheck.
Why I started blogging
I researched affiliate marketing, ad networks, and getting paid to display ads in general, making and selling info products, dropshipping, drop servicing, freelancing, odd jobs, you name it. I did make some money here and there, but nothing expressive. I wanted to feel like some of these routes were worth investing time and energy in.
Blogging has always caught my attention, as someone who enjoys writing. It seemed easy enough for me, it would give me an outlet to express myself and I would be able to record all my efforts and things I'm doing to achieve my side hustle goal, so I went for it.
I started out writing anonymously, which I still do and plan to continue doing for the near future, at least. A social media strategy, for that reason, was not easily put in place, as I'm what you would consider a low-profile person. So Pinterest it was.
Social media and paid traffic
I did, however, start an Instagram at the beginning of this month. I saw a rise in movement over here. More than I ever did with Pinterest. Although I was getting tons of views per month on Pinterest, the important metric I looking to grow, click-through rate, was not getting anywhere.
I dabbled a bit with paid ads and paid traffic in the past, with an account I had on TikTok, and saw great growth in numbers of followers, likes, and whatnot, but not in engagement, which was also important to me. On the other hand, I know more things now than I did in my past tries. Especially working in an e-commerce conversion rate-focused agency.
Back to my current strategies: I'm considering it.
It can be very frustrating to go through the Ghost Town Phase of the blog and be writing for no one to read. That is my main motivator to consider a paid traffic strategy, but I need more data before making a decision.
I also really to be able to say I did it on my own, organically and that's my biggest counterweight.
So my conclusion is: not to pay (for now) and study more and more about organic engagement. In the end, one year doesn't make you an expert, but it puts you closer to becoming one. I need to practice what I preach and have more patience.
What about you? What is your take on paid traffic?
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