I found Katie and her blog through, I think, her linking up to my link party. I was always drawn to her posts because they were always so quality and I could tell. I looove Katie's blog and someday I hope to have a house so I can do what she does to her house!
Enjoy her wonderful tips!!
************************
Hi all of you Destination Craft Readers!
I'm so excited to be guest posting here today for Kathryn's "Grow Your Blog" Series!
I'm Katie and I blog over at Creatively Living.
When Kathryn asked me to be part of her "How to Grow Your Blog" series, I was flattered, but I also thought, "Me? Do you really want me to give advice on this?"
However, once I started to write some ideas down, I realized I've blogged enough to have quite an opinion on how to grow your blog. Unfortunately, I don't always have enough time to do all the things I'm suggesting, but nevertheless, they are ways to increase your readership.
1. Be Social!
Social Media is where it's at now days! It takes a little time to figure out how to get an account up on Facebook, Twitter, G+, Pinterest, etc..., but most of these are well worth your time! Not only can you connect with readers through these different avenues, but you are able to also connect with other bloggers through these avenues!
Getting your blog "out there" is key and what better way to expose people to your blog, than to send it off on the different social media roads. By doing this, you are putting your blog in many different places at once!
Which brings me to
#2. Looking for different outlets!
The social media outlets I currently use and link up to are: Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, Hometalk, Linky, Bloglovin'. There are others you can also use, but these are the ones I happen to be using at the moment.
Have some cute icons, and make them accessible to your readers! (This is something that is on my "to-do" list!)
I also choose places that are new to link to and that other bloggers might not use. I think it's important for all of us to look for ways to get more people to view blogs.
Hometalk has been one of my latest new places to link-up, as well as a local Facebook DIY group that I link my projects up to. It's fun to use the local Facebook group because you get to know others in your community that also have small DIY businesses.
If I think I can manage the time, I also offer to guest blog for others when they are asking for guest bloggers. It's a great way to gain readership and make your blog name more known.
3. Participate, participate, participate!
This is an icon for Kathryn's link party every Monday at Destination Craft!
The world of DIY home/garden/craft bloggers, is a friendly place! Really, it's one of the nicest communities I feel someone could work in! Be friendly, and to get your blog out there.....participate!
There are so many places to link up. (I don't recommend linking up to every single link-party you can find, or else you may run out of time, or completely neglect your loved ones), but choose some and also hit the seasonal link parties hosted by people like Layla's seasonal link-up at The Lettered Cottage.
Not only are reader's there to see your projects, but magazines are their scouting too.
Bob Vila Nation scouted me out at one of these larger parties, and now I post for them often!
4. Time Spent = Blog Growth
Now I feel this topic is a good and not so good suggestion.
When I started blogging and reading everyone's posts on blog growing, someone said, "the more time you spend on your blog, the more your blog will grow", and for the most part, I feel this is true.
So, when I first decided that I wanted to blog professionally, I started writing posts for 5-6 days/week. I linked up to every party possible, and I commented back to most every comment on my projects...guess what? There's no way I was going to be able to keep up! I have 5 kids and still run a household and so I had to make some tough decisions.
I decided that it was ok for my blog to grow slower than some other people's blogs, and that I wanted to do this for the long-haul, because of how much I enjoy it. Better to be slow and steady than crazy and burn out, or neglect my family!
I had to remember my priorities.
However, if you have the time to work a part or full-time job blogging, that's one way to grow it! Put the time into writing and linking up posts! Take the time to socialize with other bloggers, work on your blog layout functionality, improve your photo abilities, (these are the things I would love to do, but find I don't always have the time).
5. Take Beautiful Pictures!
Pictures are a big key to getting people to look at your blog.
The world of crafting/DIY/interior design is a visual world. We all LOVE to look at beautiful pictures. I always tell people that I could have the best project, but if it had lousy pictures, people might notice it. It would be glanced over, probably not even re-pinned or shared.
However, if I had a gorgous picture of something as basic as a tea cup, people would say, "oh, that's a beautiful picutre". It might truly mean nothing, but they would probably pin it and share it and stare at it longingly. Now this is somewhat exaggerated to prove my point, but seriously! If you have great pictures you are sooo much more likely to be pinned and be featured.
Pinterst is my second leading traffic source, so don't underestimate taking a nice picture and pinning it from your blog post!
I hope this has given you some good things to think about for your blog, and I wish you all the best experience in your blogging adventures!
Thanks for inviting me Kathryn and all of you come visit me at Creatively Living sometime!
--Katie
Thanks for sharing all of these tips! I guess we all need to have them hammered into our heads again and again. It's so hard to do all of that, though, if your blog is just your creative outlet and not your job! Having interaction with and feedback from other bloggers is very important nevertheless!
ReplyDeleteThey are all great tips!! Visiting from Creatively Living.
ReplyDeleteI'm a new follower. I hope you'll stop by my blog!