Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Secret Recipe for Growing Your Blog Following

I get emails every few weeks from someone asking how to grow their blog following (without getting published first). Now, let's be frank: My blog is modest. I've got a solid following, but we're not knocking on the door of any platform records here. That said, I remember when I first kicked Seeking the Write Life off, I would have given a limb for 500 followers. So... if you're just starting out, or having trouble getting traction, this is for you:

The Secret Recipe for Growing Your Blog Following

Take a person of interest (you), one dependable computer and a google-friendly platform (blogger, wordpress, etc).

Regularly combine with solid content (i.e. posts that take some time and thought, have been written and revised -- and slept on overnight if there's a chance for controversy).

Now cook. Cook at least three or four times before telling people about your baked goods. (Make sure there's some product in the pipeline for people to see if they visit).

Establish social media outlets to draw attention (Twitter and maybe Facebook too) and keep cooking.

Don't use the social media only to talk about your blog (or book). Use it to talk to people. Be nice. Be funny. Be the kind of person you wish would follow you.


Promote others without asking for reciprocation. And keep cooking.

Refine your social media following by following people who are similar to you / your audience. And cook some more.

Cook every few days, even if no one is watching.

Find people on your chosen social media who are achieving what you want to achieve and follow their followers. And keep cooking.

Cook more than once a week, even if the people around you are scoffing at your 16 followers.

Cook even when you get comments from people telling you you don't know what you're talking about.

Cook even when the novelty has passed and you wonder if you'll ever get more than 80 followers.

Keep on cooking. And cooking. And cooking.

One day you'll have enough of a following that you'll realise you're running a blog like the one you envied eighteen months ago.

The next day you'll start getting emails from people asking you how you did it.

Point them to this blogpost, and keep cooking.

Then, one day, when you've done something worth shouting about, all that cooking will pay off. You'll already have a nice big crowd of friends (not followers) to share the joy with. And you'll find out, they do a great job of telling other people about you.

Then get back to cooking...

Your Turn: Any tips for creating a following? Any questions?

13 comments:

  1. We started out really strong and went from 25 to 300 followers pretty fast - and we did some good work in the meantime on the blog! Then, well, let's just say we need to keep cooking. So happy for the friends we've made along the way though, that's definitely worth it!
    erica

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  2. It always helps to have flashy stuff and very little content. Those are the blogs I see that get lots of followers pretty quickly through blogfests and stuff. Not to be cynical, except I am kind of cynical. People tend to shy away from blogs with longer, more substantive, posts.
    It's unfortunate.

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  3. How did you know how many followers I have? LOL

    Just started blogging last week. Already numbers are creeping up bit by bit. Thanks for the great advice and encouragement. I'm off to cook now.

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  4. Aimee,
    It has been said "content is king" for a blogger. I think quality content is key and I say that from experience. When I started my blog Where The Grey Matter Pours Out over on WP it was a miserable failure at first. I followed the content is king BS and posted a lot on subjects I had no interest in and knew nothing about, what a disaster. Now I write about what I know, and what interests me, writing. And my experiences on the way to getting published and I do a lot of motivational posts. But the one KEY thing I have found is, to engage the reader, make them part of my blog community. I dont call my followers, followers, I call them my friends and they are, and I have a great blog with some really great people, it is growing everyday.

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    1. I agree re content. For me it was about realizing a lot of people had the same questions I did, and very few people were offering that kind of information for free.

      Find your audience and write for them. They'll become friends :)

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  5. Love this post, Aimee, all so true. I've had my blog up for 19 months now, and I'm still gradually creeping toward 500 - haven't made it yet. But I've met so many wonderful people! The people who do follow my blog feel like friends and I look forward to reading their blogs and hearing their thoughts on mine each posting day. I started my blog because I was told that in this day and age authors have to have one, but I continue it because I love it and I love the people who come and share it with me!

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    1. I love your blog, Susanna - it's like sitting around the coffeetable with a bunch of friends. Keep going! :)

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  6. A big thanks for sharing your insights and experience so freely! I was a bit leery of blogging in the first place, so when I finally got brave enough to get started I was something of a shock that the rest of the world didn't just drop by. A timely reminder that good things take time and a whole lot of work and perseverence. By the way, I think you have a great recipe - Keep on cooking!

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    1. Your blog is awesomesauce. I doubt it will take you two years to build up the followers, Raewyn.

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  7. Raewyn said "when I finally got brave enough to get started I was something of a shock that the rest of the world didn't just drop by"

    lol Oh I know that feeling! Even now when I have sold some books I wonder why those people (I think I know some of them by name) don't drop by more often. But other people have. I am disappointed not to see comments on my 'character interviews' series (every Thursday through the summer). Then I looked more closely and saw Likes, and Shares and Facebook & Twitter counts. So someone is looking at them. And the 11th person to visit my site from now will be my 2000th visitor. I'm not saying how long it's taken, but it's a marathon not a sprint.

    Thank you Aimee for this timely reminder. I love your blog :)

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    1. Ah, yes... that whole 'discoverability' thing. Keep cooking. They'll keep coming. And thank you :)

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  8. Thanks for this. Very encouraging for someone just starting out :-)

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