If you're a book blogger who can't attend Book Expo America and the Book Blogger Convention in New York this May, you don't have to miss all the fun - this virtual convention is the place to be!
Tell us about things you've done to expand your blogging horizons, and the things you'd like to do but haven't managed (or figured out) yet.
As a newbie blogger, getting traffic and page views is one of the hardest things. I remember my first month I got 20 hits, 15 of which were from my own computer. At the time, however, it seemed like an OK amount. I figured it would increased gradually, but who could have known that two months later I'll be hitting 1,000 page views? The thing is, your blog popularity is constantly increasing, and so are your goals. Once you reach 50 page views per day, you'll a 100, then 500.. and so on.
Now, how did I jump from a practically dead blog to a somewhat visited one? Commitment. That is the most important thing. The blogging community is like any other community out there. Imagine sitting in a class for two months without saying a word to any one else, would you expect instantaneous friendships? No, I don't think so. That was me during my low months; I didn't check out any other blogs, let alone comment on any.
Now that I know what kind of blogs I like, and have made a little blogroll for myself, I can constantly check on my fellow bloggers, and drop a comment on discussions that I like. When you start blogging, you realize how much a comment means for the blogger.
Another thing that hugely increased my stats was memes. Memes are a tricky thing, however. Too much memes and your blog will look incredibly unappealing for anyone interested in following you. No one wants a blog full of memes and no genuine reviews or discussion posts. I have done only one feature, which is a must for new bloggers: Feature and Follow. It is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read and is something you should check out. It helped give me that initial push, and some great followers so that I could feel like someone was actually reading the things I wrote. I have stopped doing them now, however, because I'm a taking a little break from features and focusing on building my own audience.
Now this one you might have heard before, but always, always include nice images in your articles. Apart from giving a nice appeal to your post, it gets you a great amount of visits from Google images! I can't tell you how many of those I've got just from people checking out the pictures they liked. Another very important this is your title heading. It is important. Make it as attention hooking as possible, because that's another way to gain traffic. You might think ranking on Google is hard, but in some searches, I find this little blog ranking as number 2.
My twitter account is personal, and the one I use to interact with my school friends, so I was a little wary of trying to link back to my blog from there. Granted, even though I post every new article there, I don't do that much publicity as other blog dedicated twitters. Of course I thought about making one of those, with my blog's name, but why loose the followers I already have on my account and start from scratch?
Facebook is still a land I'm afraid to conquer. While I do check out my personal profile there, I have no future intentions of making a Facebook page for my blog. It's just that the time and effort it will take to maintain it is better (in my case) spent reading or blogging.
What are your tips and tricks for your blog? Share them with us!
I actually started a Twitter account specifically for my blog, but I also did NOTHING with my personal one. However, I use Twitter so much now that I've kind of abandoned Facebook! I don't have a Facebook page for my blog, mostly because I'm too lazy to create one. :)
I agree that commitment is really the most important thing for blogging development. I never used my twitter very much personally, so it was easy to make it primarily my blog account(though I still interact with friends too). I just started a facebook page for my blog 2 weeks ago and I'm not much of a fan of it at the moment but we'll see how I feel once it's not so new.
I really want to start a twitter account, but I've grown used to the one I already have. Maybe in the future.
I don't use facebook now except to check on notifications and that's it. I don't think I'll benefit much from a facebook page, especially if I'm not doing it wholeheartedly.
I like your approach on Facebook! I recently created a FB page for my blog and realized it was not for me. I already struggle with my personal account and I simply don't have the time or energy to maintain a FB page...I had to learn by doing it :)
I really hope you have luck with your FB page! I've personally become more committed during the last few weeks, as I was taking a long break from reading, and had to keep up with posting musings and so on.
well I read that FB is decreasing in popularity anyway, plus it's harder to navigate for me than Twitter, but I'm sure you gained something from the experience at least.
Thanks for stopping by Laura!
Your header is magnificent! Love the colors and the little kid hugging books!
Ah, comments are my favorite! I always smile while reading sweet ones from other bloggers! Adding pics to post is a great idea, my only worry is figuring out how to create my own.
Fantastic post!
Great post. I agree with you on the commitment it takes, I think I spend more time commenting and interacting with other bloggers than actually writing my own posts. The conversations and socialization is what I love anyway. Thanks for the reminder to update my blogroll. Hope you have a great ABEA Week! New follower here. Here's my Blogger development and favorite books by genre post if you'd like to stop by.
What you said about facebook vs. twitter is interesting because I'm the total opposite of you I think lol. Twitter is one ground of social media that I refuse to touch. There are elements of it that I do enjoy especially when it comes to Sports, but doing it on a personal level never really appealed to me. I have a facebook page for my blog and I don't find it too bothersome in terms of updating it.
You're right about commitment. I think once the honeymoon phase is over when it comes to blogging, sometimes it can burn you out so much. I've experienced it before and it's not fun. I think the important thing is to not make it your life. Instead do what's best for you as a person and bloggers. Not all things that work for others may necessarily work for you.The stats thing is interesting because I was reading an article recently about a writer who stopped blogging on tumblr and went back to her own domain where she can't see how many people view her articles and what not. She talked about writing for the sake of stats and how she stopped enjoying writing because of it. In a way I guess stats is what you make of it on a personal level.
Great post Reem :).
I've only recently made a blogroll, but I think it's a great tool to help organize your favourite blogs. I agree, the best part is meeting other people with the same book tastes as yours.
Thanks for stopping by Tanya!
Haha, Twitter was boring when I first started, but I think my friends and finding people I knew there was really interesting. Also, I think a FB page gives you more space to add links and photos and so on, so that's a good side too.
Stats cn be a tricky thing. I could think of a few articles that would gain me some traffic, but the thing is, I'm not doing this solely for page views like you said. IT shouldn't be the main aim, or else you'll get nervous and keep checking every second. When I first started out, that's what I used to do, but it's better now. I'm satisfied with the number of visits I get daily, so there's not that much pressure.
Thanks for stopping by Savindi, your comments are always great! :)
Definitely commitment is a key. If you're just only slightly committed you're not going to see the same results. Sounds like we have similar opinions on that. If you want pageviews/comments....you must visit other pages and comment. Simply. But I will say, creating a Facebook page for your blog is not as hard as you might think. Easy-peasy! But I like you dedication to maintain time to read and blog! Great post!
Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know
I think I might reconsider the whole fb page thing. But I agree with connecting with other bloggers too. This is what blogging is initially about anyway, for me. I came in to make friends and have discussions, and I'm getting there.
Thank you for stopping by Sandy :)