From the Catholic Writers Guild blog:
Everyone wants to know how to get more readers for their blog, myself included.
Because, after all, if you're not reading my blog, you're missing out!
Right?
Recently, I realized that I have some pretty committed readers, though they may be small in number. And maybe, just maybe, I should focus on interacting with them before I go out and worry about everyone else who isn't reading my blog.
Read More....
I have already been following some of the steps recommended in the article:
1. I interact with those who comment on this blog by making response-comments, and by checking out the commenters' blogs and usually becoming a follower of them.
2. I read other people's blogs and comment on them. I also--- as in this post--- am not averse to sharing a great blog post from someone else's blog.
3. Getting known for something: the CWG article suggests to share if you have a unique conversion story or a unique perspective. I guess the fact that I have same-sex-attraction, am Christian, and believe in chastity as a solution rather than jumping on the Gay marriage bandwagon makes me unique. Don't know if that will help me gain readers or repel them, though.
4. Read other blogs. I've used Google Blog Search to try to find other blogs that may be of interest--- I've found some with reviews of Mercedes Lackey or Marion Zimmer Bradley books. I also have a few lists of like-minded blogs--- the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour has a list (see sidebar), and I've used the list from the LDS (Mormon) Writers' Blogfest (see sidebar again). I've also looked up all the blogs that have participated in the blog tour for Karina Fabian's Infinite Space, Infinite God II (see related post).
One way I accomplish #4 is that I follow blogs on my Blogger dashboard page--- I've added ALL the blogs from the above mention blog tours/fests to the blogs I follow there. Whenever the blog in question had a sidebar invitation to follow them on Facebook's Networked Blogs, I also followed them there.
When I first had a previous blog, I was mostly interested in reading/commenting on the big blogs with loads of followers. But I've since learned that a medium-sized blog that is more closely targeted to the kind of blog I'm doing actually is more likely to get results. And when I read/follow/comment on a tiny blog with very few readers, the blog author is often happy enough over it to start following my blog, maybe even will add a link to my blog on their sidebar.
But I know all this blog-interacting can be kind of hard on some people. I mean, if you are a writer and spend a lot of time just by yourself writing, maybe you are a shy person around others and doing things like commenting on some stranger's blog is really hard for you. Yeah, it's hard for me too, but it gets easier once you do it. (If commenting on blogs is hard for you, why not write a practice comment here? Even if all you can think of to say is 'interesting post'. Or 'boring post' for that matter!)
It's true what you say about smaller blogs. You get noticed more on these than you do on larger blogs. Your comments end up disappearing amoung the crowds - despite the fact that every comment is valuable and loved...
ReplyDeleteI think the key to any blogging endeavor is to really try to connect with people. You can connect with other people who comment on the bigger blogs. You can connect to the person who posts on the smaller blogs. Connecting is what I look for.
ReplyDeleteKayeleen, you are so right about connecting with people. That's why people who are naturally outgoing with other people are at such an advantage in blogging, and people who are shy in real life often have a much harder time connecting.
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