blogs fussion

I run a small blog where I write wishes, messages and quotes for birthdays, anniversaries and festivals. Over the last few months I've learned that traffic doesn't come from writing more posts. It comes from writing the right ones.

Three things that worked for me:

1. Answering one exact search per post. "Birthday wishes for a sister" ranks much better than a general "birthday wishes" page.

2. Pinterest over other social platforms. For quote and wishes content, pins keep bringing visitors for months.

3. Updating old posts instead of always publishing new ones. Refreshing 10 older posts did more than writing 10 new ones.

I'm curious what's working for other makers and bloggers here. Is there a tool (SEO, writing, design or analytics) that made a real difference for you, especially a free one?