Monday, May 9, 2011

Blogging Tip: Getting Followers

I never thought I'd really be qualified to post this, but I've actually gotten quite a few emails about it, so I figured I'd post about it for everyone else who's looking for some tips on the subject.

So, how do you get new followers?

Well, firstly: don't expect to get hundreds of followers in one night. Getting a solid reader base is a long process, which is why it can be so rewarding. With that established, my main tip would be to network. Make sure people know your blog exists. If you want to be known, you can't be shy. The best ways to network with fellow bloggers, authors, and publishers are:

--Commenting. This really only works with bloggers, but leaving nice comments are definitely effective. I'd recommend leaving a link to your blog at the bottom, without saying something like "comment for comment!" or anything.
--Twitter and Facebook. Twitter especially is the best way to communicate with bloggers, authors, and publishers. Not only will people discover your blog, but you'll make some fantastic friends! Facebook also has a lot of authors and blog pages to connect with.
--Follow Friday. Book Crazy Jenn hosts a wonderful weekly meme that helps you discover great new blogs, as well as help a few people find yours. Note: this is only to be used for blogs that are centered around books.
--Friend people on Goodreads, Shelfari, or LibraryThing.

I'd also recommend having a giveaway when you can, but you have to be sure to have a good amount of good content with your giveaways. Nothing's more annoying then a blogger who does nothing but give away books and never reviews anything.

And if you have a blog on Blogger, be sure to add their Google Friends Followers widget. Also install email subscribing and Feedburner subscribing. You want people to have easy access to staying updated to your site.

So that's all I got. Hopefully I helped someone out--I know I was looking for advice when I was a new blogger. If you've got advice to share, please comment.

5 comments:

  1. Totally agree with you! I'm a new blogger and I've found that giveaways + good content will get you those numbers! I hate it when I enter a giveaway and have to follow when I really don't want to! That just calls for an unfollow!

    Being friendly always works. Whenever I get a nice comment, I always check out the commenter's blog and most of the time follow back ;)

    Good tips!

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  2. Hi Jessica. Thanks so much for the advice!

    http://amysjoy.blogspot.com

    (See, I took your advice! :D)

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  3. Advice! Exactly what I wanted and needed desperatly to know. You are my hero...heroine. Thank you for the great advice.

    And the greatest thank you of all? I'm going to take it! :D

    (http://typingtiara.blogspot.com/)

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  4. Hey, Ash, I just tried to visit your blog by clicking on your name. You haven't enabled public access to your blog which means I can't do that. It might make it easier for people to check out your site through comments if that is enabled. Just thought I'd let you know :)

    Thanks for the wonderful advice, Jessica! I'm trying to work on leaving comments for posts that I read. There were some great pointers in here.

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Your comments feed the greedy comment-addicted blogger inside of me. Thanks for keeping me going.