How We Grew Traffic 500% Over The Last Year
Note: This business is no longer running. It was started in 2015 and ended in 2023. Reason for closure: Acquired.
This is a follow up story for CareerMetis.com. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published over 4 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
My name is Nissar Ahamed, and I am the Founder and Chief Content Officer of CareerMetis.com.
CareerMetis.com is a digital publication providing actionable tips and ideas for job seekers, freelancers, and hiring managers.
Our primary audience is between 18-35 yrs old (young professionals). Many of the readers are in the market looking for a new job or new gig and are looking for new ideas on how to get their next job. Another set of readers already have jobs, but want to take it to the next level, i.e., get promoted, get a raise, lead a new team, etc.
We also have articles that discuss different careers, how to get started in those careers, etc.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?
I have spent the major part of 2020 on SEO, content creation, and content optimization. Even today, most of our articles are submitted by guest authors/contributors. Over the last few months, we have been doing a major push on Editorial Content, i.e., content created internally.
The cost of acquisition is cheap and the traffic is evergreen. The more you do SEO, you will realize that it’s not as hard as what people want you to believe.
Our principle is not just to create content for the sake of it. All the new articles that our team publishes goes through keyword research, and we use Brian Dean Skyscraper Technique. We want to create long-form original content that’s hard to find elsewhere. The goal is not to create “I too” content but “The Only” content. It means that our Editorial content is long-form (3000+ words) and more comprehensive than competing articles that rank on Page 1.
I have also spent a lot of time optimizing existing content with on-page SEO (internal links, meta descriptions, headings, etc.). As a result, we have seen significant growth.
Our traffic was flat from 2019 till the end of 2020. But since then our traffic has gone up 500%. So yes, the efforts are paying off and readers are spending more time on the website and reading more articles. Our Ad revenue also continues to go up.
My goal is to continue doing this and grow the website. The advantage of being in a broad niche is that there is no shortage of content ideas. We have enough ideas for the next 5 years.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
Spend more time on improving existing content. Yes, it's important to create and publish new content, but don’t ignore what you have already published. Chances are existing content is already driving traffic. With minor tweaks, you can get more juice out of what you already published.
Another lesson is the 80/20 Rule of Success. According to Peter Urs Bender -- your first 80% of efforts will yield 20% of results; while the last 20% of actions/efforts will yield 20%. Most content creators quit because they don’t see the results they want. But they don’t realize that they might be just a month or two away from parabolic growth. For example, in my case, we published over 3000 articles from June 2015 to June 2020, but our traffic, revenue, and growth were flat (thanks to Google updates). Then we started really optimizing and creating better content since June 2020. Since then our growth has been excellent. We are at the next level of growth for our company.
Delegate, Delegate, Delegate. Since June 2020, I have been delegating almost everything that I used to do. Yes, it’s scary at the beginning because your costs go up. But it has been the best thing I have done. I have already made two to three times what I spent on hiring. I have hired content editors, content writers, WordPress developers, etc., from marketplaces such as Upwork and OnlineJobs. It has been an important factor in our growth.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
My goal is to continue the growth. We finally hit monthly users/page views in the 100000s+ range. I am confident if we just double down on what is working -- we can exceed 500000 pageviews or 1 Million monthly pageviews by the end of the year.
So there will always be a heavy focus on content creation.
Our goal is also to explore and introduce a few services -- resume writing service, LinkedIn optimization service. We also want to introduce a universal job board, i.e., a job board that aggregates and collects listings from multiple websites. In this way, job seekers don’t have to jump around multiple job sites when they are job hunting.
In 5 years, we want to cover various avenues of the job search -- excellent content, podcasts, YouTube channels, job boards, course marketplace, virtual summits, etc.
Have you read any good books in the last year?
The 2 Hour Agency - This book changed my 2020. No seriously, it did. Even Though the book is geared towards agency owners -- there are so many ideas there for startups and small business owners. He covers ideas about delegation, outsourcing, pricing strategy, etc.
10 X Marketing Formula - Written by the Founder of CoSchedule, Garrett Moon, this book is a must-read for any marketer. It will change the way you think about content marketing. The book is also filled with examples and case studies on how their company managed to collect 100000s of subscribers, get leads and grow revenues (all without hiring salespeople).
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
Focus on what works. Ignore the rest. I know this sounds like a cliche. But hear me out. We entrepreneurs get distracted with so many ideas and tools. The shiny-object syndrome is a curse for all us entrepreneurs. Every day you will be hit with new marketing ideas. Today it’s TikTok, tomorrow it’s ClubHouse. But if you are already doing well in one channel, why are you jumping around? Double down or triple down on what’s working. In my case, I don’t bother with social media for my business, because 80%+ of my traffic comes from Google search. So I go hard on it. I don’t bother what’s happening on social media.
Outsource and Delegate. Thankfully, it’s easier to hire outside help without breaking the bank. There are marketplaces like Upwork, PeoplePerHour, or OnlineJobs.ph where you can hire overseas workers for a reasonable price. I guarantee delegation will change your business.
Specialized Knowledge. Get educated in your niche. But go even deeper on things that are working. Over the summer, I took a course from Eric Siu of Leveling Up Podcast. I listened to his podcast episodes and also his Content Marketing and SEO courses. I just implemented 2 of his ideas for my business, and it did wonders to our traffic and revenue. Obtaining general knowledge is good, but it may or may not grow your business.
Content is King. SEO is Queen. I apologize for the weird cliche. But content marketing is not going away. Get good at it, or hire someone who will help you. The cost of acquisition is cheap and the traffic is evergreen. The more you do SEO, you will realize that it’s not as hard as what people want you to believe.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
Yes, I am constantly adding new content writers to my team. We have no shortage of content to be created.
I am also looking for graphic designers who can help us create cover images for our blog post.
Our podcast (The Career Insider Podcast) is on a 2-year hiatus. My first goal is to transcribe all the episodes and relaunch them on our website.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
