"Required reading" for today's smart writer.

"Required reading" for today's smart writer.
Information & inspiration to hone your craft and increase your cash...Since 2009

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

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

23 comments:

  1. Move to the head of the class. :-) Thanks!

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  2. Thank you I always find your posts and advice very helpful!

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  3. Jennifer Brown BanksJanuary 18, 2011 at 12:20 PM

    Sunday,

    ..And I always find your perspective and input encouraging and positive!

    Thanks...good to hear from you today.

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  4. Jennifer, good post. On the Hows, I definitely like numbers 4 and 6. It took me forever to learn these two things. For a long time I wrote about myself and thought maybe someone would benefit from it. When I used my personal experience to shine light on things MANY OTHERS deal with, I found MANY benefit from it. :) And I got comments by giving them! :)

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  5. Jennifer Brown BanksJanuary 18, 2011 at 8:45 PM

    Bryan,

    I hear ya'. I have to laugh because I was the same way with Twitter. I thought we were supposed to tweet our own materials until I saw other folks tweeting my work. ;-) Duh?
    Now, I Tweet my stuff sometimes, but others moreso. When we know better, we do better. :-)

    I appreciate your feedback.

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  6. Jennifer Brown BanksJanuary 19, 2011 at 3:38 PM

    Thanks, Wendy! Glad to get your input.

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  7. Jennifer:

    you are a breath of fresh air and I LOVE this blog!! I think you present some fabulous tips here!

    Lisa

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  8. Jennifer Brown BanksJanuary 19, 2011 at 4:30 PM

    Lisa, you are a joy to hear from! Thank you. I needed this today. :-) Don't be a stranger...

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  9. Dear Jennifer,

    Thanks for this post. I just discovered your blog yesterday and I love it! I can't believe I have been missing out on such a great blog. As the author of a fairly new poetry blog, I found this post very useful.

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  10. Jennifer Brown BanksJanuary 20, 2011 at 2:53 AM

    Yasmin,

    Welcome! So great to have you with us here. From where did you find us? I see you're from the islands. So cool! Poetry is my "first" literary love, so I'll be stopping by your spot more often in the future. Thanks for your visit today.

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  11. Hi Jennifer,

    I found you through Technorati:)

    I can't wait to read more of your interesting posts. Have a great day!

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  12. Jennifer Brown BanksJanuary 20, 2011 at 3:23 AM

    Wow! Thanks again. This was very useful info, as I am somewhat new to Technorati and didn't even know folks were finding me already. :-)

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  13. Jennifer Brown BanksJanuary 20, 2011 at 7:44 AM

    Glad you joined in today, Karen. Always a pleasure. :-)

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  14. Excellent thoughts and suggestions:)

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  15. Jennifer Brown BanksJanuary 20, 2011 at 12:43 PM

    Terri,

    Thank you and welcome!

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  16. Just came here to say congratulations for your new PageRank 4!

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  17. Jennifer Brown BanksJanuary 21, 2011 at 11:31 AM

    Criacao de sites

    Wow, how cool! Thanks much for stopping by!

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  18. hello jennifer
    how are you?
    the statement your blog is like your home and you want to make a favorable impression upon those who visit, struck a chord with me.
    thanks for sharing these tips on how to improve ones blog
    i think it's so important to be one's self and write about one's experience rather than just cut and paste articles lol!! because you tend to be comfortable with your descriptions and certainly knows what you are talking about.
    target audience is key for me and lately i've begun to understand the importance speaking to the readers and not at them.
    the process of building a reputation of excellence takes time and effort but i intend to get there lol!!!
    take care and enjoy the rest of the day

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  19. Ayo,

    Thanks so much for your thoughtful input. You are spot on--it does take time to build one's reputation. Wishing you great success in your journey!

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  20. Jennifer Brown BanksApril 18, 2012 at 7:01 PM

    sewi,

    Thanks much!

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