About four months ago, I wrote my ever on my website, with little to no prior knowledge on SEO. second article Followchain A couple of months later, it on Google and drove 1,000+ organic visitors per month. ranked #1 Screenshot: Monthly page views from Google Analytics. Here's my first-hand experience. Content promotion works, but it's not sustainable. You just finished writing an article. Afterward, you start sharing it on every single forum you can think of. Reddit, IndieHackers, HackerNews, Facebook, etc. The number of active users on your dashboard starts rising. But only for a day or two. Then, it drops. Back to square one. This is also known as the . "Spike of Hope" Instead of aiming for short surges of traffic, you need to aim for sustainable, organic growth. In order for that to happen, you'll have to write content that to rank on the first page of Google. has the potential Here are a few ways you can utilize to accomplish that. Write articles that people search for. Stop writing about things that nobody searches or cares about. This is the that new writers/bloggers make. number one mistake Therefore, keyword research is extremely important. Start by using a free tool like . Google Keyword Planner If you write an article that no one searches for, you're not going to get any traffic. Target long-tail keywords instead of common keywords. Long-tail keywords are much easier to rank for (especially for newer sites) because they are lower in competition. If you intend to write an article for a common keyword like "SEO", it's to get on the first page on Google. almost impossible Instead, aim for a long-tail keyword related to your niche. Additionally, you should that you're trying to rank for with other websites. benchmark the keyword What's the length of their article? Is it short (under 500 words)? Is it a personal website? For you to outrank other sites, these are some examples of things (weak points) you check before you even begin writing — then top theirs. Tip: Here's where a comes in handy. Count the number of words the top articles have — the goal is to out-write theirs! word counter What is a keyword planner and how do you use them? Screenshot: Google's Keyword Planner. In a nutshell, keyword planner tools allow you to of a particular keyword. assess the traffic & competition etc. You’re meant to input keywords within your niche, and these tools will provide you with content ideas. Essentially, you want to write articles with keywords that are and have low in competition decent traffic. These tools help you to find exactly that. Request indexing from Google Search Console. Newer sites get than well, established sites. crawled a lot slower To quicken the indexing process, request your article for indexing in . Google Search Console After which, it usually takes a for the article to show up on Google and it'll start ranking faster. couple of hours Wait 6-8 months. Blogging is a waiting game. Articles tend to hit their peak of traffic only after the 6-8 month mark. So if you have a new site; your article to rank #1 on Google in a matter of weeks. don't expect It's a long but rewarding process. Rinse and repeat. That's basically it. You've learned how to write content that'll rank on Google. If you have an Instagram account and you're looking to grow it, head over to — it's completely free to join. P.S. Followchain