A number of readers pointed out that after months or years of writing regular blog posts, they still had small followings and/or the same folks commented post after post. While it is very frustrating to put out effort and not see much of a return, you can do some things to grow your blog.
Writing Tip for Today: Here are a few ideas, tips from top flight writers and other ways to try to jumpstart your writing blog’s growth:
- Balance Connection and Relevance. Your readers want to connect with you but they also need content to use. It’s great to be personable and let your readers know you’re human. But you must also provide the reader with a reason to read: answer the WIIFM (what’s in it for me?). So go ahead, post pix of your cute puppy or baby, but try to link this stuff to your writing. For instance, a mystery writer who can post about some fascinating research that’s also somehow linked to either current events or most people’s lives will score big. A rant about the “insider” nature of publishing is preaching to the choir. (Unless, of course, you are Miss Crankypants, who has permission to rant about EVERYthing.)
- Take a Tip from a Pro. Literally. Visit some top flight writers’ sites/blogs. Note the type of content in any one month. See how much posting is “personal,” (as in, yes, I’m human too and I care about my fans) versus “informational,” and see what you can do to balance your own blog posts. For example, Sara Paretsky has a great site where she not only blogs about current events that tie into subjects in her novels, she also has a photo of her dog and a great map of Chicago, where she details locations found in her books.
- Work It. Over time, your posts are likely to improve. After all, posting is writing too. Other things you might try: visit several good blogs and leave regular comments and a trackback; invite well-known bloggers to guest post; write very short posts, breaking up a 500 word entry into two posts; compose in Word and then copy/paste to the text box; post some sort of photo with posts–the visuals draw in the reader and tells her you’ve thought about all this. Try to make the pix relevant to the posts.
Love it! Time to rethink the blog 🙂
Thanks, Lori. I appreciate your comment. Let me know how it goes, OK?
~Linda
Great post, Linda. I keep finding that it helps to vary things, too. On one hand, you want to establish that you’re a certain kind of blogger and stay on topic. But you also want people to wonder what you might do next–so varying the tone, approach, etc. helps. Mix up funny with serious. Mix “I” blogs with “you” blogs. Make your titles sound like something that might be arguable. Okay, that’s my two cents for today. I would add that you should be regular and have a schedule, but I’m not lately. Also, I keep hearing from people that some writers overblog. If you can only write two great posts a week, that’s better than four mediocre posts on a schedule, I think. I am a newbie at this, still learning a lot. I just recently realize you could tag people on facebook! I’m green. So maybe my advice is green, too. Love this post and love your blog and love you, Linda. H
What great ideas, Linda! About overblogging as you put it: I too counsel writers to make their posts count. It’s better to write a wonderful pithy post once a week than 5 blah so-so entries. Thanks for your terrific comment! ~Linda