I came across this video by Neil Patel where he talks about his main growth strategy for 2018. I highlighted the main elements of it in this #DailyGrowth video.
One thing I forgot to mention is that the more under-monetized a blog is (the more potential for increased monetization it has), the better.
Here is the original video by Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF2lvWEHzSw