Blogmas 2018 | But I Smile Anyway...

#Blogmas2018 Ritu’s Blog Tips #10

10 Dec 2018 31 Comments

by Ritu in Blogmas 2018 Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Blogmas, Blogmas 2018, Link Dropping

Day 10.

Don’t link drop!

Do you know what I mean by link dropping?

I’m not talking about leaving your links where you are responding to a challenge or prompt, or even when you are at a blog party, where you are invited to leave a link to a particular post…

No, I mean when you visit other blogs, desperate for followers, and you type ‘Nice post!’ (Always a no no, see yesterday’s tip!) then your own blog link, or a ‘Please follow me!’ plea!

These types of comments always put me off, because a blogger hasn’t attempted to interact with me, allowing me to get to know them a little better. Often, if someone has been commenting regularly, I’ll click their Gravatar and check their blog out myself, to see whether their content is something I would want to read.

If it is, I will follow myself. If not, I won’t.

No offence to that blogger, but I’m sure they’d rather have meaningful interactions, rather than empty likes…

But often, a link drop will either get ignored, edited, or if a repeat offender, binned!

And I think I speak for a lot of seasoned bloggers when I give this particular tip…

Of course, if I have asked for your links, then by all means leave them!

#Blogmas2018 Ritu’s Blog Tips #9

09 Dec 2018 41 Comments

by Ritu in Blogmas 2018 Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Blogmas, Blogmas 2018

Day 9!

Interaction is KEY!

You can’t go building a blog without other people.

You want to be read, but you kinda have to return the favour.

I’m not talking about follow for follow, but actually reading other blogger’s posts and interacting with them.

Liking and commenting on their posts opens a doorway for a genuine following.

And not just ‘Great Post!’ or ‘Love this!’ but meaningful comments that can start a conversation.

I know you can’t do that for every post you read, but if you make a point of commenting on a specific amount of post read in a day/week (target is up to you!) you are sure to see the return coming to your blog, and them doing the same.

These interactions will build the kind of following that is actually genuine, and not just numbers of people who click follow, but never read your posts.

#Blogmas2018 Ritu’s Blog Tips #8

08 Dec 2018 37 Comments

by Ritu in Blogmas 2018 Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Blogmas, Blogmas 2018

Day 8!

Don’t obsess over numbers!

This is a biggie!

I know how hard it is. I was a newbie once too, remember!

Numbers are important, to an extent, yes, but at the beginning, it is so easy to become so fixated over views/followers/likes, that you start to forget why you may have started the blog in the first place.

That place you created to enjoy writing, sharing your opinions/ creativity/product becomes a chore as you play the number game, following and liking others with the feint hope that they might return the favour, and up your figures.

Don’t.

Seriously.

Don’t compare yourselves with seasoned bloggers, who have hundreds of thousands of views/likes/shares/folllowers. They will have taken time to get there, just like you.

It is a lucky one in a million that goes viral, or writes something so profound that it, like Kim Kardashian’s bum, breaks the internet.

But hey, let’s be honest, we don’t want to break it, do we? How would the readers find us then?

Try and enjoy being you on your blog. Others will slowly discover you too, and love you, and the numbers will follow.

#Blogmas2018 Ritu’s Blog Tips #7

07 Dec 2018 30 Comments

by Ritu in Blogmas 2018, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Blogmas, Blogmas 2018, Schedule

Day 7!

Plan and schedule!

We are not supermen/women… It is not easy to blog daily/weekly/monthly with all the rest of our responsibilities (for most, of us, anyway!)

It is important to have some semblance of routine on your blog. Your regular readers will come to expect certain things from you.

If you know you are going to be busy, use the scheduling tools that are out there. I am on WordPress and I often schedule posts that I have been able to write across a few days, as a lot readers find it a bit much to have several posts from the same blogger on one day.

Create some sort of timetable for what you may be posting, and when. Then try to stick to it.

And sharing is also important.

Set up your sharing options on your blog ( I know WordPress have this fuction). Link your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. pages to your blog and your posts will automatically share there for you, as you publish them.

All these different Social Media sites offer you a fresh audience – use them !

#Blogmas2018 Ritu’s Blog Tips #6

06 Dec 2018 39 Comments

by Ritu in Blogmas 2018 Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Blogmas, Blogmas 2018

Day 6!

Be my guest. I can be your guest. Be everyone’s guest!

I’m not going mad, honestly! And no, I am not having a party or anything.

What I mean to say is consider guest posting, or inviting others to be a guest on your blog.

The exposure you get for being a host, if marketed correctly, and the new viewers and possible followers you can amas by being a guest on a fellow blogger’s site is immense!

You can find a whole new pocket of readers who discover you through someone else, and you can return the favour by hosting someone on yours!