
Why Your Blog Has Stopped Growing
It’s totally normal for your blog to occasionally see a decrease in traffic and growth. It may last a couple of days, weeks or even months. Of course, it feels horrible to experience this and you may not even know why this is happening. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most bloggers if not all have experienced these periods where their blogs growth just seems to slow down for no reason.
There could be a number of reasons why there was a sudden decrease in your traffic and overall growth. Sometimes, we change the smallest things about our blog like our theme or even our font and the algorithm/search engines start freaking out and you begin losing traffic. Often times, it may not even have anything to do with you. WordPress, search engines and social media algorithms change and get updated over time to stay on top of their game and this may cause a decrease in traffic as your blog may be more compatible with older versions of the algorithm compared to the new ones.
Anyway, this post is not about why your blog has stopped growing but rather how to fix it. Here are three methods that will help you get your blog back on track:
Research
When you notice a drop in traffic or followers the first thing you want to do is some research. See if WP or any of the search engines your primary traffic comes from has made changes to their system. If they have you can edit your posts accordingly and make sure they are compatible with the new changes.
Sometimes, WP may have also made changes to their sites too. For example, some themes may not load as quickly as before, some themes may not be mobile friendly anymore, some fonts may not work properly and so much more. What you want to do is go through your site on your computer and mobile phone to make sure this is not the issue. Check the loading times, how clear everything is, if the functions all work as they are supposed to etc.
You may also want to do some research on keywords while you’re at it. Keywords help bring in traffic and are often changing over time. Using currently popular keywords does wonders for growing your blog.
Interact With The Community
Don’t just post and ghost. If a reader takes their time to leave a like or a comment make sure to interact with them. Reply to their comment and if you have the time stop by their blog too and try to read a post or two of their and leave a genuine comment. Interacting with other bloggers will give you an instant boost in your traffic and following. Plus, it will make the algorithm like you which is always a good thing.
I just want to clarify that by interacting with other blogs I mean leave genuine comments not spam ones asking people to visit your blog. Those don’t work and honestly if anything that will probably just piss people off and you’ll end up decreasing your traffic and following.
Another tip with interacting is that the first 24-48 hours are crucial. That’s when the post is still fresh in your readers mind and the information is still interesting/valuable. As humans we don’t have the best attention spans and we tend to forget or lose interest in a little while. Therefore, respond in the first few hours if possible and respond at least within 48 hours.
Encourage New Traffic
It’s totally okay to write posts for yourself alone but if you want to actively grow your audience and following you need to have posts they can interact with. Ask them to leave comments about their thoughts on the topic etc. Ask them to like the post if they enjoyed it. Try to have a conversation with them in the comments section.
All this will encourage new readers as well as keep the old ones coming back because they enjoy interacting with you.
Spam
Don’t spam. It’s honestly that simple.
Don’t try to spam people with comments asking them to visit your blog, don’t try to spam the system by commenting and posting a million times a day and don’t try to spam everyone by buying likes and followers.
I would say these techniques don’t work long term but honestly they don’t even work short term. They just never work pretty much. They just piss people off, piss the system off and will probably get you eventually banned and/or blocked.
If you put out quality content that you are passionate about, become a part of the WP community and do your best you will grow over time. It may not be instantly but it will happen eventually. be patient. Wonderful things that a while to create. It took me years to get to where I am and my blog isn’t even that big compared to some of the ones out there.
Your Thoughts
Have you noticed an increase or decease in your traffic lately? How do you deal with that? What are some ways you increase your traffic? Let me know in the comments below because I would love to hear your answers or simply stop by and say hi- I have had to stop biting people for legal reasons so don’t be scared to leave a comment I don’t bite (anymore).
If you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment!
Enjoyed this post? Then follow me on social media:
Twitter Instagram Pinterest LinkedIn HubPages
Email me on(guest posts welcome!): insomniacwithanaccent@gmail.com
So many good tips, Pooja, thank you! ❤️
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks, I hope they help! ❤️
LikeLike
LOVE these tips! Thanks for sharing!!!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thanks and happy to share them!
LikeLike
This is interesting…. thanks for this info.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks and hope it helps!
LikeLike
Thanks for posting this. I just passed the three year mark with WP and seriously want to be writing for a living. I figured blogging was a good start. I didn’t even know that stuff about themes, etc. could become a poor match with upgraded algorithms. 🌼🌼
LikeLiked by 5 people
Happy blogiversary! One year down and glad this post helped you learn some new things!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is such a helpful, and good post Pooja!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This post is so wonderful and encouraging for q beginner like me to write more effectively. Thank You Pooja. ♥️
LikeLiked by 5 people
Thank you so much!
LikeLiked by 1 person
True that. Spamming will always lead to lower graph of blog traffic.
Useful points for beginner bloggers.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Yup spamming never works!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice tips. I have experienced decrease in traffic since I have changed theme. May be its theme or something else. I’m not sure.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Yeah it could be the theme I would recommend changing it for a while and seeing if that helps.
LikeLike
Great thoughts. My blog is still new so growing but I shan’t be disheartened when that happens.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks and yeah it usually happens after a few years of blogging but of course it’s nothing to worry about!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well this was timely. My numbers haven’t moved in what feels like forever. I believe it may be the personal touch that i need to spend more time on. Disappointed about the biting! 🤪 That you had to stop I mean 😂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yup personal touch helps a lot in keeping loyal readers and bringing new ones! Lol unfortunately I was forced to stop as much as I enjoy randomly biting people 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
😂 too funny! Yes building relationships is important. Thanks Pooja.
LikeLiked by 2 people
😂😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahh THANKS FOR THIS! I looove how you called out spammers in your diplomatic, respectful fashion! They’re genuinely so annoying! This topic might come in handy for anyone at anytime, so kudos for writing this insightful post! 👏
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thank you! Spammers annoy me so much too so I feel like they need to be called out haha.
LikeLiked by 1 person
These are some amazing tips, Pooja. I completely agree. Spammers are the worst!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you and yes spammers suck!
LikeLike
I found these tips incredibly helpful. Thanks a lot.
LikeLiked by 2 people
So glad you found them helpful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for this valuable information. This is very good to know. I have been blogging for a few years now, but I never knew that. Bless you, and stay safe.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thanks and I hope it helps- stay bless and safe too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! You nailed it, again! Great tips to look at! Thanks for letting us know! Hope you have a wonderful day!
Blessings!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks so much and hope you have a wonderful day too!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
😊😊 thanks! 🌸😊🌸
LikeLiked by 1 person
😊😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great post Pooja, I’ve noticed stagnation with the amount of followers and traffic overall in past few months. However, with every post I keep my head down so to speak and continue to post weekly, informative and engaging content. I know the results with come if I post consistently and engage with viewers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah a lot of sites have had that problem recently but as you said keep posting and engaging and it should pick back up.
LikeLike
When I’m inactive for long which I’m gonna be for a month I don’t see the stats in what feels like ages. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah unfortunately that does happen 😢
LikeLiked by 1 person
Harsh reality🥺
LikeLiked by 1 person
😢
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Pooja. I love your posts – you say it exactly how it is! I’m still very new to blogging but the people asking me to visit their site are bugging me already! I’ve not experienced any drop in traffic yet but it’s good to know some of the reasons for it and what to do when it does happen. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks- I like to keep it simple since I know a lot of bloggers aren’t very familiar with tech stuff myself included! Lol yeah spammers get to everyone it’s crazy. The drop usually happens an year or two after blogging. Sometimes even years after you start so you should be good for a while. If it does ever happen now you know what to do!
LikeLike
That’s a really great post! I’m saving it! Plus, I noticed some things can be technically wrong too and you don’t notice it for a while
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! Yeah for sure sometimes it’s not even you it’s a tech problem and you don’t even realise it till later on.
LikeLike
Exactly!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the day, life, etc and forget to go back to reply to someone’s comments or even read other’s posts, but this really is the secret: stay engaged!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah absolutely always engage with others whenever possible!
LikeLike
I’ve grown my followers this past year but more importantly (I got this from one of your posts) my engagement. It’s all through reading other peoples blogs and commenting on those I like and find interesting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So happy to hear about your growth and yes engaging with others is super helpful and often the key to growing your site!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t just post and ghost is the best line.. thank you 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol now you’ll always have that in your head!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I couldn’t agree more! I had such experiences when my backlinks decreased at certain points from high point. At the moments it’s increasing again. Thanks for your posts!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad it’s increasing again!
LikeLike
Thanks for the tips. one of my weaknesses is interacting and I’ll definitely do better from now on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy to share them and yes interacting is definitely very important for growth!
LikeLike
a few months ago I was consistently getting over 600 views per day; now it in the 400s. Hard for me to figure out why, but I like to blame things on others, so I’ll blame WordPress.
Maybe if I start using Pooja as a keyword in each of my blogs, my traffic will explode 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah apparently according to the tech world there’s been a decrease in views for everyone even much bigger sites. Lol that would definitely help there are millions of Pooja’s out there who are probably Googling their name as we speak 😂😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
good to know it’s not just me. and perhaps I’ll give the Pooja thing a try 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
great tips Pooja. I always think ugh something new to figure out and mostly just plug away and think I gotta go back to this and read and then I just carry on.🤷♀️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks and yeah I feel like that too sometimes 😢
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’re only human after all-:)🥰
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice tips. Thanks for sharing! 😊😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy to do so!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is great information! Thanks for sharing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks and happy to share it!
LikeLike
i started with my page a week ago or so and i have a few idea’s for the future but i really dont know how i’m gonna get more followers. but thank you for the tips i will try it
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hope these tips help and feel free to check out my other advice posts there are a bunch of them about how you can grow your blog!
LikeLike
Good advise to be followed
LikeLike
I’m a new blogger on wordpress
And I love your post, found it informative
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks and I’m glad you found it informative!
LikeLike
Hi. How are you? I loved your post, as always. Great tips.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much and I’m doing good! How are you?
LikeLike
I’m okay 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interacting is so essential! Great post as always
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yup it’s definitely key. Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person