How to find readers for your blog
When you start out blogging for the first time the expectation of some bloggers is that thousands of people will come flocking to your blog to read your words of wisdom.
This is not the norm.
Yes it can happen, but it’s rare. My experience is that even after eight months of blogging on this blog I am averaging about 75 visitors a day. Hello everyone!
My birding blog is doing considerably better averaging over 130 visitors a day, but that has been going for over a year now. It takes hard work, consistent posting and good content, among other things, to generate good traffic. Time is also relevant; few blogs are overnight successes.
Darren Rowse on ProBlogger has featured several articles in recent days where he has compiled a series of articles from his archives. They are well worth reading because they include many useful and proven hints on how to improve your blog and generate traffic and a loyal readership.
Link:
- 34 Tips for finding readers for you blog – this is a series of 4 articles.
On spelling and grammar
I am not a good speller.
I know it’s a weakness in my writing and something I have to be eternally vigilant about. I think this weakness comes from three sources:
- Lack of confidence at spelling as a child. A classic example: in my final year of primary (elementary) schooling, I had a total mental blank during a test as to how to spell “who.” (Stop laughing; this is serious.) I ended up having a go: “hoo.” I was mortified. What if I was having a very early onset of Alzheimer’s? At age 12?
- A fear of making mistakes. That goes for many aspects of my life.
- Correcting so many pieces of writing over my many years as a teacher of emerging writers in my classes at school – to the point where I sometimes wondered just how some words were actually spelled.
A dictionary is my constant companion. I work hard at getting the correct spelling. I know I make mistakes, but I try to spell correctly.
I struggle with correct grammar.
Another weakness.
I would like to say that this is also the result of so many years of hearing and reading the woeful attempts at the use of the English language made by the young students in my classes. If language abuse was a reportable crime I’d have hundreds of names of potential candidates on my Word Crimes list.
I work hard at getting my writing as grammatically correct as possible. I know I make mistakes, but I try to write correctly.
Many Bloggers cannot use the English Language
I am astounded by the vast numbers of bloggers who cannot seem to spell basic words, nor can they string together more than two words in constructing a comprehensible sentence. Most, with a little effort, could make their writing far more accessible and interesting by following a few basic rules.
Related articles:
For an excellent, comprehensive article about correct grammar check out
- Top Ten Grammar Errors that Haunt Web Pages written by Robin Nobles.
How to Start a New Blog
Neil Patel over at Pronet Advertising has written a very useful article about the first seven days of blogging. His seven points are very realistic, easy to understand and implement and an excellent guide to anyone setting up a new blog. For those who have been blogging for some time his points are timely reminders on how to enhance your blog.
He especially emphasizes the importance of sticking to your topic, interacting with your readers and being consistent with your posting.
Link:
Related articles:
How do you get more comments on your blog?
When you first start out blogging it seems no-one is reading your blog. The stats are low, the income zero and the comments…. what comments??? Then one day – your first comment! You suddenly feel as if the whole world is beating a path to your door.
After a few months the enthusiasm is starting to wane a little. The stats are steadily climbing; you might have 10 visitors a day instead of five! The income, well you made 91 cents for the month. At that rate it will take 91 millenia to become a millionaire, give or take a few hundred years.
How do you get comments? Darren Rowse on ProBlogger suggests that less than 1% of all readers will ever comment. How to get more comments? Darren suggests 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog. All are well worth following but I’d add another strategy.
11. Write Good Content: if readers perceive a need to read your blog or they have a deep interest in your topics they will return. Increased traffic should generate more comments and more return visits. Interesting content will develop a community of readers who will become involved. When they start getting involved it can take on a life of its own. Interesting content is intellectually stimulating and the readers will want to be involved. And they will start telling others (through links and posts quoting you). It’s just like word of mouth about the latest great movie or book – everyone checks it out to see what all the hype is about.
Links:
Ways to Improve Your Writing and Blogging
Writers and bloggers should be striving always to improve their writing skills. These skills can develop in a number of ways. I have read a number of books on writing, attended workshops, seminars and conferences and read numerous magazine and online articles about improving one’s writing skills.
Eventually the learning process must give way to putting it all into practice. The learning should never cease; no-one is a perfect writer and we can all still develop ways of improving. But the application of all that learning is the vital factor here. Practice, practice, practice. Keep writing, keep striving to improve, keep writing, edit your work, be critical of your own work and read it aloud.
All these methods – and more – are employed by successful writers and bloggers. Darren Rowse has a list of 10 Ways to Improve Your Blogging through Practice on his ProBlogger site.
Related articles:
- Writing hints – a series of hints on improving your writing.
- Great Writing Ideas – links to some great blogs on helping you to improve your writing and blogging skills.
- The Importance of Proofreading – catch those pesky little errors in your writing.
- How to Improve Your Blog – links to good articles on this topic.