Dana Watson from Fun and Funky Mommy had a question about how to grow readership. Here is her question:
I joined your blog back when you first stared up, I have since then started up my own review/giveaway blog and was wondering if you have any tips on how to grow my readership?
Although we all want our blog to be huge as soon as we start out, it does take time to build up readers. Here are some suggestions to get people to come to your site, and build your readers.
One great thing about Mommy bloggers is that they are involved with many Meme’s – what a Meme? Glad you asked – I just found out a few weeks ago myself. I looked up Meme in Wiki and this is what I got:
A meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with “cream”[1]) is a postulated unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, and is transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena.
If you have been to other Mommy bloggers websites, you will see things like Wordless Wednesdays, Make it Mondays, or quizzes about this or that, these are all Memes. Many of these sites will then have a section where you can link up your website to that post. If you participate in the same Meme, link your site and you should get some traffic to your blog and some readers. Maybe you want to start having Meme’s on your site just so you can link to other blogs. There are many many different types of Memes so find one or 2 or 3 that appeal to you.
Another thing you can do to increase your readership is to posts on other blogs. If you have a review and giveaway blog, visit other review and giveaway blogs and make posts and enter giveaways. Many giveaway blogs have a section where you can post your website when making a comment (like on my site). Make sure to put your URL in this section – you will be surprised how many people click on those links. Or, if you have a cooking blog, visit other cooking blogs and make comments.
If you visit regular forums or websites where you can chat with people, put your website address at the bottom of your signature. Usually if you are involved with a forum these are people that you get to know, but maybe you don’t want to bombard them with your new site. By putting your web address in your signature, curious people will visit. Also include your website address at the bottom of your emails. Whether you are sending emails to friends or PR reps, include your website along with any other places you are (Twitter or Facebook) in your signature.
The biggest way to grow your readership – especially if you have a review and giveaway blog, is to post your giveaways to sites that list giveaways. You can read more about this in a previous post I wrote about Promoting Your Giveaways.
Growing readership takes time, a lot of time. You also have to acknowledge your current readers, to keep them loyal and make them feel valued. Many times I will thank people for blogging about the giveaways on my site. I wish I had time to thank each and every person that tweets and posts on Facebook, but there is just not enough time.
Thanks to Dana for the great question this week.
If you have a blog or website, what have you done to help to grow your readership?
