Automotive blogger looking for advice

Long story short, I've been running my automotive blog for the last 3 years. I started it in college with some friends, and we've just kept at it because we really enjoy it. Things have evolved a lot in that time, and we saw a major increase in traffic in the summer of 2012. Since then, though, things have been much more flat with a little slope towards growth. (Basically 400-500 views per day steadily). I'm not displeased with my traffic, but given the amount of time the blog now takes to run (creating content and whatnot), I really need to find a way to see it increasing at a good rate for it to be worthwhile.

Basically, I feel like we've hit a plateau, and I'm wondering if it is because of some SEO shortcomings. I've been doing a lot of research, both for this and for my day job, but I feel like I just need some direction from people who actually know the stuff I am trying to learn, so I can understand if I'm at least on the right track.

This blog is a hobby for me, and I really don't have a budget to outsource such activities, so it falls on me to do what I can.

Right now I'm based on Wordpress.com (the free one haha), and most of our time and resources are put towards content.

The blog is: http://mindovermotor.com/

Any tips, advice, or provocative questions are greatly appreciated. I want to learn.

 

Do you do much with social media? I see you have a Facebook page, be sure to use that as a resource for driving traffic to your blog. Ask your Facebook followers to share your page with their friends. Post little automotive facts and tidbits there and be sure to link to any articles you add to the blog.