How to Grow Your Blog to 100 Plus Followers Without Social Media

Other than our guts and our butts, most of us would agree that growth and expansion is a good thing. Right? Take our bank accounts, our knowledge base, our relationships, or career growth as further proof.

Blogging is no different. The same principle applies.

Because simply put, growth symbolizes life, prosperity, and vitality.
It's a metric for success.
So wherever you are on the blogging spectrum, if growing bigger and better in 2011 is not one of your targeted goals, you may want to stop reading this post circa this point.

For the rest of you progressive folks, continue on to discover the secrets of the how and whys.

The Whys...
Even if you're not in the blogging game to make money, you want your efforts to yield maximum returns. Your blog should be the best that it can be. Think of it this way: your blog is like your home and you want to make a favorable impression upon those who visit. It speaks to who you are.

Additionally, success breeds success. The more attention you get, the easier it is to get attention. Here's a case in point. Have you ever noticed that it's easier to get a job, or a mate, or under someone's radar, when other folks are already, (by virtue of your status) wooing you? Am I right? Get a good job or a good partner and you have to practically beat folks off of you.

Maybe it's the group think theory, or the laws of attraction. I'm not certain.
But what I can assure you is that folks pay attention to whatever the latest buzz is, or what's “perceived” as popular, or blogs with high numbers of comments or followers.

With this in mind, here's how to be one of them!

The Hows...
1. “To thineself be true.” Blogging by nature is intended to be personal and authentic. Be the best you possible, as opposed to trying to emulate someone else's success. It's virtually impossible to please all of the people all of the time. The answer? Don't try.
2. Know your target audience. Is it stay at home moms? Writers? Entrepreneurs? Baby Boomers? Decide, then design your content to speak to their needs in their language. You can check your blog's analytics for conclusive clues.
3. Stay on topic, but provide variety. For example, if your niche is writing, in addition to publishing your own pointers and principles on the craft, do interviews with prominent writers, tackle controversial topics like freedom of speech, provide guest posts, host contests, or conduct book reviews. As they say, “variety is the spice of life.”
4. Have a conversational tone. Speak “to” your readers, not “at” them.
5. Write at other sites. This exposes new audiences to your work and builds important connections. Whether it's a guest post or pieces placed in article directories.
6. Create good karma. Respond to readers' comments, and visit their sites and leave your thoughts there to show support.
7. Establish a reputation for excellence. Often "word of mouth" is one of the best forms or advertisement.

Follow these 7 tips to grow your followers and your blogging status in 2011.
Here's to a more bodacious blog experience in the year ahead!

Article first published as How to Grow Your Blog to 100 Plus Followers, Win Friends and Influence People on Technorati.

Personal note: This blog post is provided by way of personal request. Thanks, Robin Merrill for the suggestion. If you'd like me to write about what's on your mind, let me know by leaving a comment or sending an email to Jenniferwriter@yahoo.com. If I choose your idea, I'll give you a shout out in the published piece. Deal?

Image: nuttakit