How to grow your blog

Your blog is like a plant. Just as you prepare the soil, you choose the right blogging platform, plan, registration, domain, free or self hosting etc. Once you sow the seed you carefully nurture your blog. You install the right theme, plan your blog format and layout. Then you post some content and watch your blog grow. Tiny shoots appear, in the form of the first few likes and the odd follow.

Photo by Daniel Hjalmarsson on Unsplash

 

Here are some tips on growing your blog

1. Be Consistent:

A seedling requires constant nurturing otherwise it withers. Over water it and it will die from waterlogging.The same is true for your blog. You must be regular and consistent. There is no point in posting a dozen times in one weekend and then disappearing for a month. Even if you have time to post content only once a week, do it consistently.

2. Quality content :

Post the best content you can. Ideas, language and style; try to make it as good as you possibly can. Spellings and grammar must be correct. People are really put off by bad grammar and atrocious spellings.If you are not blogging in your first language, take help from programs like Spellcheck and Grammarly.

3.Writing prompts and challenges:

These are one of the best ways to grow your blog. They provide fresh ideas. Since lots of people are doing them you get more visitors too. Although I was skeptical of them at first, blogger Sadje of KeepItAlive made me try them. I found them to be a very good way of improving both my technique and traffic.

4. Commenting on other blogs:

The more you visit other blogs, the more visitors you will get. But just visiting is not enough and nor are “Great post” or “Well done” kind of comments very useful for you

Leaving meaningful and interesting comments on other blogs is possibly the best way to engage with other bloggers and readers alike. Here I must pass on another tip I learned from blogger Sadje. She told me to make “open ended” comments : comments that start a discussion inviting answers or further discussion.

5. Search the web for trends and ideas:

Copy ideas and trends you like. Put your own spin on them. If copying the idea exactly, it is polite and ethical to give credit and add a link.

Photo by Domenico Loia on Unsplash

6. Social media platforms:

Being active on social media and linking your blog posts to it will bring you a ton of traffic. While all social platforms are useful,the big four Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram are the most useful. Link your posts to your social media accounts. Make sure you have share buttons for social media on every post so readers can share your content too.

7. Reblog:

Nearly all blog posts out there have a ‘Reblog’, ‘Press This’ or ‘Share this’ button. Reblogging well written articles similar to your theme, or even different, will draw in more visitors.

In the end, I must say that “Growing your Blog” does not mean just a rise in your statistics. Although an increase in views, likes, comments and follows is always a good thing, it is not THE ONLY thing. Growing your blog also means improving your technique and widening your horizons.

Happy blogging !

 

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Featured image Photo by Cassidy Phillips on Unsplash