Now that I've started a blog, I'm realizing garnering a readership is not an easy task. I spend a lot of time and energy on the blog, but I don't want to turn out like this dude, if you catch my drift.
I'm not doing this to monetize, but blogging is a two-way conversation and right now I think I'm mostly talking to myself. Which leads to my questions: how long did it take you to get a readership going and how do you get readers? Do you have to go to find readers or is it more of a matter of having good content & readers will find you? If it's the latter, how do you know you're heading in the right/wrong direction if no one's commenting? How do you encourage people to share ideas, engage, and ask questions?
Ann
*****
I blogged for several months before I had any readers, and it was almost a year before I saw a significant spike. I dunno if that will make you feel better or worse.
Here's the best piece of advice I can give you: comment on other blogs. And say more than "Oooh! Pretty!" Have an opinion. If your comments are helpful or funny or even snarky, people will click through to your blog. Don't wait around for them to find you -- you need to give em a trail.
Don't try to force reader engagement. Just write good stuff. Write posts that you would like to read. And don't be afraid to have an opinion. (Did I say that already?)
Image via Yimmys Yayo. Where else do I get disco balls?
HAHA that guys blog is AWFUL! Aw poor guy I might follow him just out of the kindness of my heart. Sike. How do you even FIND that!?
ReplyDeleteIf you comment they will come.
ReplyDeletein addition to commenting on other blogs i also recommend commenting in response to the comments you get on your own blog...you don't have to respond to every single comment, but it's nice sometimes for your readers feel acknowledged and not ignored.
ReplyDeleteso glad i'm not the only one who feels like she's blogging to herself!
ReplyDeletehaha I really hope linking to the big dawg's blog will give him a reader spike... and I hope he finds out it was through ESB
ReplyDeleteI agree with what esb and Julia said.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's about a community. As a bride blogger I found several bride blogs I like. So I visit them often and give my advice and many of them do the same with my blog. New blogs are found all the time this way too. Lots of great information shared this way and it is loads of fun.
What esb said. It's all about community and just keeping going.
ReplyDeletethanks so much for this advice, esb! and for keeping it real always always. love reading your blog all the time.
ReplyDeleteESB and everyone, a million thank yous for your insights! This has been so incredibly helpful! I'll def get more involved in the blogging community.
ReplyDeleteESB, thank you for sharing my questions with your readers. You've got a smart crowd, many of whom are also well-known bloggers so their advice really mean a lot to me. Your answer also made me feel loads better. I don't feel so...hmm, what's the word...pathetic? LOL.
Practical Schmactical, I have Google to thank for finding the prolific BigDawg. I was searching for faucets, and Google's genius algorithm must have read my mind, as I was really pondering the fate of my fellow single reader bloggers.
Various Projects, let's be blog buddies!
Blogging is definitely a conversation, but in the beginning it's mostly a conversation with yourself. So if you don't enjoy talking to yourself, (probably for several months), then it might not be for you.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, leave good comments on blogs you love. That's how people find people.
Comment on other blogs for sure! & start a twitter & have it linked clearly on your blog? I find I mostly read blogs when people I follow on twitter link to their newest post.
ReplyDeleteAs a wedding blog, what can you offer that the 39873905738 others cant? Special perspectives (like ESB!), giveaways, etc...
holy. cow. big dawg is my new fave.
ReplyDeleteThis is good adivce. I started my blog in November and have often wondered if I'm just talking to myself. Even if that was the case, that was ok with me, because I liked seeing my ideas on so-called paper... not quite a journal, but a sketch pad for someone who can't draw.
ReplyDeleteps. forgot to say this before - ESB, i thought you didn't like the idea of blogging about how to blog ;-)
ReplyDelete@Julia is that your idea of SNARK?
ReplyDeleteWhatever dude. CARA AND I WERE READING YOU THOSE FIRST MONTHS. What are we? Chopped liver?
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, the other thing people always ask me is "how are you friends with such other great bloggers?" Like they want to be too, to get readers. And I always say, um, because we all started blogging the same month and had no readers together, and then all grew at the same pace.
Other note... there is no trick other than hard work. People think I did something magic and had a huge spike of readers one day. Really, you just get a few more each day for years and years....
Oh. And have something to SAY. In your own VOICE. Otherwise, why?
ReplyDeleteHm, I just realized that I usually always comment when I'm on this google account, and I stupidly set up a new screen name when I first started my blog. Therefore, anytime I comment, it does not link to my blog. Does anyone know if there's a way to switch it over to my primary account, or did I just screw up?
ReplyDeleteAlso, is there a link to Ann's blog?
Ah, forgive me. Just saw where she commented and found her blog.
ReplyDeletechristina, I thought that was you! yeah, blogger is kind of a dick about it. you can go into Edit Profile and add your blogspot address as your "homepage url." it will show up as "my website." better than nothing. otherwise you can add yourself as an "author" using the desired profile/email address (through the Blog Settings:Permissions tab) and delete the profile you don't want to use. it is nicer to have one account so you can run around commenting and blogging as one entity.
ReplyDeleteI get asked this all the time. I'm just going to start saying "what she said." If you write from your heart, the rest will work itself out.
ReplyDeletemeh, my philosophy is just to write what you feel like writing about. like minded people will follow. pussies who don't like to be called c*nts will unfollow.
ReplyDelete(psst, ESB, see how respectful i was on your blog? the whole "*" thing and all?)
ReplyDelete@woolandmisc I've got no problem with the word CUNT.
ReplyDeleteCUNT is a completely underrated word. I use it often. And I like people more when I learn that they do, too.
ReplyDeleteRachel, that's a good way to look at it. Actually I don't mind talking to myself, so I guess blogging is still for me :D.
ReplyDeleteVerhext, oh man blogging is already taking up all my free time. I'm even on blogger at work, and it's totally going to get me fired. I don't know if I can handle Twitter. How do y'all find the time? Also, I'll have to mull over your perspective question. I thought I had one, but considering the 39873905738 (that's copy/pasted from google search results right? lol) out there, perhaps I need to try harder.
Meg, love your blog by the way. I read your blog religiously when I planned my wedding, although admittedly I wasn't much of a commenter. Working on that. And the voice. I need a blog coach...
i enjoyed this read and will take heed to the advice. we post our photos but very seldom do we get comments or "admitted" readers. thanks and thanks for having an opinion.
ReplyDelete