How to grow your following? This is the question that most bloggers will wonder at some stage of their blogging adventure (mostly at the beginning) & I'll be honest with you no one has the secret ingredients, even if many people will tell you otherwise by claiming they can double your followers in two days, honestly its much harder than that. Blogging is freaking hard work but one or two things that will help you immensely are to follow below along with also what you should not do. Also before going any further I would like to point out that the tips below are my own opinions from my 3 years experience as a blogger but I hope they'll come in useful and help you along the way.
A great design.
Please see my post about it here for more detail on this subject but overall a good blog design is almost as important, if not more important than the content itself and will attract viewers which could become potential followers. Whatever the design you choose make sure it is bright, easy to click around (It is very frustrating to not find the actual 'following' button or 'comment' button) large, & with good pictures.
I have come across so many times very basic blogs with, sorry to say, awful pictures (blurry, dark, small..) confusing layouts and even if the blogger posts were well written because of the lack visually stimulating design I usually leave as quickly as I arrived and will most likely not follow.
Please see my post about it here for more detail on this subject but overall a good blog design is almost as important, if not more important than the content itself and will attract viewers which could become potential followers. Whatever the design you choose make sure it is bright, easy to click around (It is very frustrating to not find the actual 'following' button or 'comment' button) large, & with good pictures.
I have come across so many times very basic blogs with, sorry to say, awful pictures (blurry, dark, small..) confusing layouts and even if the blogger posts were well written because of the lack visually stimulating design I usually leave as quickly as I arrived and will most likely not follow.
Great and constant content whatever your niche.
From my experience I know that when I do not post I gain no followers, its as simple as that. It happened to me on 2 or 3 occasions over the past 3 years when I left my blog for few months for personal reasons (end of my pregnancy, birth, moving house) and that is cool sometimes, life takes over we are only human after all. As soon as I am back posting once, twice or even 3 times a week then I automatically would gain new followers. So my point is always have constant posts to make sure you're getting a constant flow of new followers. Fix yourself an achievable amount a week (mine at the minute is; twice a week) without lacking on the content. If you can only write one good post a week then stick to this number, aiming to post 3 or 4 times a week and rushing doing mediocre posts is neither the solution. aim for constant quality not quantity and new followers will come.
From my experience I know that when I do not post I gain no followers, its as simple as that. It happened to me on 2 or 3 occasions over the past 3 years when I left my blog for few months for personal reasons (end of my pregnancy, birth, moving house) and that is cool sometimes, life takes over we are only human after all. As soon as I am back posting once, twice or even 3 times a week then I automatically would gain new followers. So my point is always have constant posts to make sure you're getting a constant flow of new followers. Fix yourself an achievable amount a week (mine at the minute is; twice a week) without lacking on the content. If you can only write one good post a week then stick to this number, aiming to post 3 or 4 times a week and rushing doing mediocre posts is neither the solution. aim for constant quality not quantity and new followers will come.
Commenting & visiting other blogs will gain you followers.
One important point about commenting, always leave an honest comment related to the post you just read. You'll be surprise the amount of comments I received which was in no relation to my post and makes me not want to check that persons blog or to follow them either, as I am getting more experienced they are become easier to spot. Also do not 'copy-paste' a comment on every post you come across they are easy to spot with experience... trust me.
When leaving a comment, always leave your blog URL. Most bloggers are fine with this and most of them will check your blog and if they like what you do they will follow.
Avoid the temptation of leaving a comment such as 'follow 4 follow' this was just about 'ok' 4 years ago actually no this was NEVER ok .Most people with a bit of integrity will ignore that annoying request and I know it is tempting to follow someone leaving such 'comment' on your blog for the hope to be follow back but the truth is you'll more likely never going to get a follow back, how I know that because on my 1 st ever month of blogging in 2014 I was tempted. Final result 95% never follow me back.
Also avoid leaving comments on very popular bloggers that everybody knows (I have nothing against those bloggers as myself I follow few of them) and that I have between 300k/1M+ followers, you'll just waist your time this wont help you gaining followers, those very busy bloggers will most likely never reply to you or check your blog or follow you for that matter, but like I said this post is about how to gain followers. Commenting on famous blog is totally fine of course.
Overall...
Overall...
Gaining followers is a mystery. One day I'll gain 10 followers, to then lose 9 the next day and then gain none for a week or even longer than that. Most of the time it doesn't make any sense and can be frustrating especially when you spend hours writing posts, picture editing and interacting / commenting with your fellow bloggers. Step by step you'll gain followers and most of all lets not forget that we use our blogs to talk about our passion whatever that can be and if we all only focus on followers most of us would have stopped by now. I don't blog for followers I blog because I love writing, beauty and photography and if you keep this in mind and you blog for a specific passion then you'll never be disappointed.
If you follow those simple above dos and don'ts then I can assure you that you'll get followers, it will take time, blogging is hard work, but if you love what you do then you're on the path of doing great!
Do you have any other tips that I've missed above? Or any experiences you would like to add? I would love to hear all about it don't be shy.
If you follow those simple above dos and don'ts then I can assure you that you'll get followers, it will take time, blogging is hard work, but if you love what you do then you're on the path of doing great!
Do you have any other tips that I've missed above? Or any experiences you would like to add? I would love to hear all about it don't be shy.
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