Organic Traffic Still Works… Here’s the Proof KDS: 139

The Kim Doyal Show

Organic traffic still works.

It’s not that I thought it didn’t, but in many ways, I think I had resigned myself to thinking it was so much harder than it used to be.

In some ways, it is harder, but in other ways, we have so many tools at our fingertips (AI) that there’s no reason you can’t test and try things much faster. You can get data in 90 days that will tell you what’s working.

Depending on how long you’ve been online (i.e., you’re not starting from scratch), you may get results much faster.

I’ve seen some pretty fun results in only a few weeks.

Let’s get into it.

After 16 years online, you would think I would have learned to “never say never”… but here I am, changing my tune.

Fortunately, I’m pretty transparent about these little lessons I go through and have no shame in sharing that I’ve changed my mind.

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Ideally, when we know better, we do better, right?

Mind you, things change so quickly online (especially with AI now) that we better learn to be comfortable changing our minds and trying new things (once we have the fundamentals in place, anyway).

The best part of what I’m experiencing right now is that this is all happening because of ONE thing.

And I’m on a mission to help you figure out your ONE thing.

And no, this doesn’t mean you only have ‘one thing’ in your business (I’m speaking to all of you multi-passionate entrepreneurs who, bless you, can manage multiple offers, directions, or businesses).

I’m talking about starting with one core content idea that is part of your foundation.

For now, let’s call this “One to Many.”

Let me back up a bit and explain how this relates to organic traffic still works.

I won’t go too deep into my journey, as I’ve shared it multiple times on the podcast. You can get a snapshot of that on my About page.

Over the last 16 years, I spent the first 10 years as ‘The WordPress Chick,’ pivoted to my personal brand, started focusing on content marketing, launched a content planner (with a strategy, not a fill-in-the-blank), added email marketing and newsletters to the mix, and have come back to content marketing as my core focus.

My ‘complementary’ categories to content marketing are email & newsletters and using AI for content marketing.

Now, let’s talk a bit about social media.

Which I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with.

Because of the clarity I’ve gained with my ONE thing (for now, let’s call it Core Content), I’ve jumped back in full force and am happily gaining some traction and, thankfully, traffic.

I attribute the results I’m getting to a few things:

• Not starting from scratch
• Having a presence on most platforms (regardless of recent engagement)
• LOVING what I’m doing again

This isn’t to say you can’t start from scratch and get results because, of course, you can.

It just might take a little longer.

But here’s the thing: time is going to pass whether you do the work or not, so you may as well do it now.

And the work I’m referring to is creating, publishing, and promoting your content.

Which will always differentiate you from people who want to do things quickly and easily. Especially with AI…

I LOVE using AI in my business – but I also know what I’m doing, who I’m talking to, how I want to serve them, and what my business goals are.

I’m not under any illusion that AI can replace my voice.

What it can do is help me define, iterate, and dig deeper with ideas.

OK… let’s get back to the ONE thing and how I’ve used it to start getting some great results with organic traffic again.

My ONE Thing

For anyone who is listening to or reading this and is feeling resistance to the one thing (even though I stated that it doesn’t mean you only do one thing in your business), stay with me!

I used to have a massive resistance to this, too.

Here’s a perfect example.

There’s a book called “The ONE Thing:The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results” by Gary Keller. Here’s how much I’ve resisted this whole concept.

I purchased this book… TEN YEARS ago, and I am finally reading it. 🤦‍♀️

What the hell, Doyal?

All is well. This is probably a case of “when the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

And ya’ girl is ready.

This entire thing started when I was feeling frustrated on a Sunday when I was trying to plan my week. I went into more detail about this in a previous episode (you can listen here), but the TL;DR is that instead of trying to force myself to figure something out, I got up from my desk and did something else.

Later that afternoon, I felt inspired to write an email series.

Based on “Everything is Content.”

The hashtag I created six years ago when I started focusing more on writing and turning stories into email, content, and ultimately, sales.

This 5-part email series was sent Monday through Friday.

I didn’t overcomplicate things, make a big plan, create a mind map, or do any research.

I simply wrote one email a day out of inspiration and a desire to get back to something I loved.

Before I get into how this has all evolved, I also want to say that this doesn’t mean it’s the ONLY thing in your business that you create content about from now on.

Creating Core Content, which is based on ONE idea- meaning – it’s not necessarily pillar content from an SEO perspective (that’s a whole other conversation)- it’s about taking ONE idea and creating tons of content around it to get leverage and drive organic traffic.

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Here’s a doodle that gives you an idea of what I’ve created from ONE core content idea:

Leveraging The ONE Thing and My Content Strategy

I received great feedback from the email series, which is part of the reason I ran with Everything is Content again.

Plus… I really love the concept.

There’s a level of freedom that comes with “Everything is Content,” which makes it super easy to keep creating. When I feel I can only create content on one topic (niche down!), I feel stifled and get bored.

Starting in early March, I decided to start publishing on Medium again.

I’ve been on the platform for a long time (2015?) and have primarily been repurposing content there (you can do this by setting the canonical URL).

I also joined their partner program (you get paid when people engage with your stories when you set them as ‘Member Only’ content). I hadn’t done this in the past because I thought you couldn’t have affiliate links in your content.

Affiliate marketing isn’t my business strategy, but I’m an affiliate for tools I use and like. It’s kind of like the icing on the cake.

Turns out all you need to do is include a disclaimer that there may be affiliate links. Note to self: you know what they say about assuming. 😉

My goal with Medium isn’t to create a full-time income with my writing. It’s to attract my ideal customer to me, create some new connections, and grow my list. The earnings are a bonus.

Since I began this experiment less than a month ago I’ve made over $40 on the platform. And of course, previous articles continue to earn with more engagement (reads, views, claps, and comments).

I’m also actively engaging with other writers’ work.

I think by the end of the year, I could be up to $1k a month on Medium, which would easily cover my business expenses (excluding paid traffic).

I’m going to create a separate landing page that I send Medium traffic to (for my opt-in), but for now, I’m pretty pleased. I have no doubt this is contributing to the increase in my website traffic, too.

That’s in the last 30 days.

The final kicker for me was when I logged into ConvertKit today to send an email and saw that the last six people to opt in all came through my opt-in form on my site (my SPARK Popup).

I’m still in the ‘Creator Network’ and get people through there, but many of them don’t stick around.

I haven’t turned that off yet because I’ll wait until I make the move to beehiiv (more on that in the next episode). I’m hoping to start that process later this week and be done by next week.

We’ll see if the subscribers through beehiiv’s network stick around longer. Side note: I don’t think it’s the quality of the person subscribing but the method through which they subscribe.

I think of these referral engines as barely one step above cold emailing.

There’s so little context about who you are or why they subscribed, even with the best of follow-up sequences.

Back to leveraging the ONE thing.

I’m now adding LinkedIn and YouTube into the mix.

I’ve been on both platforms for years, but since pivoting from The WP Chick to my personal brand in 2018, I haven’t done much with either.

Previously, I would push content to LinkedIn and post videos here and there on YouTube, but I didn’t want to jump back in until I was clear on a strategy.

In other words, what I would be creating content about… consistently.

Getting clear on my ONE thing (Core Content, which is “Everything is Content”... talk about getting meta), has made all the difference in the world.

The other piece of this flow and focus I’m in now is how I’m integrating the personal with the professional (my business).

Once I made the decision in January to move back to Costa Rica this summer (for the foreseeable future), I realized one of the things I miss most about living there was the ease and simplicity of my life.

It really is “Pura Vida,” – which means pure life:

I realized I could easily integrate that into my business as well.

Not only are the photos on my site (background photos on pages) of Costa Rica (that I’ve taken or friends have taken), but I’m removing and eliminating things from my business that don’t give me that feeling.

And I’m LOVING it.

Streamlining, simplifying, and staying focused has been GOLD.

I had been working on a website rebrand for a while but couldn’t put my finger on what was missing.

As soon as I realized it was more of a feeling than a look, it all came together.

And it’s lit a fire in me to create my own strategy for growth.

As you Can see, Organic Traffic Still Works.

While I continue testing and trying things (everything will get at least a 90 day commitment, but honestly, my plan is to focus on a few things for the remainder of the year), I’ll be doubling down on “Everything is Content” with paid traffic too.

One week into running my first set of ads based on Laurel Portié’s $5-a-day strategy, I’m getting clearer and clearer.

My lead magnet isn’t working (sharing my custom GPT), but I’m getting video views.

What this means is that I’ll be turning off one or two ads while adding one or two more. As soon as I’ve replaced the videos with a new lead magnet (Laurel calls these ‘value bombs’), I’ll continue iterating on the copy and the value bomb until I find one that’s working.

I’ll also be doing more surveying of my list and audience.

The best way to figure out what problems people are having is by asking them (I know, duh).

Most people want to stay behind their screens, though, and not have actual conversations (And I’ll admit, I love me some no-call weeks), but when you take the time to talk to people, you’ll understand where they’re stuck and find the exact language they use (helping you to speak in their own words).

To ensure I’m on the right track, I’ll share updates on all of this once a month.

It may be via email (so make sure you’re on my email list), a podcast, a video, or a blog post.

I guess it depends on what else is going on.

Regardless, I’m incredibly excited to see how this all unfolds.

All of the initial data is very promising, which is definitely inspiring me to keep going.

And if you’re interested in the first live cohort of “Everything is Content,” click here (if the date has passed, you should be redirected to sign up for the next round).