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| How I ward off writer’s block: Caffeine and sugar. It works! |
One of the greatest tips I’ve learned about writing is that the best way to get over writer’s block is to write every day. In that spirit, I’m planning to blog every day in March! I have a few recipes, some ideas that have been bouncing around my mind, and some great guests who are going to join us. I’ll start today with a practical post about blogging.
I recently wrote to a friend who is starting to blog for her business with some of my tips for how she can build followers. I realized after finishing the email that I had written a lengthy list of ideas that could also be useful to others.
I seem to have been pretty good at developing a group of followers on my blog (hey you guys!). The Facebook page is another story, but maybe if I do a better job of asking people to like it–I have a hard time doing that–I’ll be more successful there. If you’re reading this, why not pop over there and say hi or share it with your friends? Thanks!
One of the most important tricks of website traffic is the number of sites that link to you. I find that at first, no one was finding my blog in Google, but now I get followers that way because my search engine hits are so much higher.
Here are a few ways to jumpstart your blog:
1) Join link parties/blog hops. I’m not big on these any more because they are so time-consuming, but I think they are worthwhile when you are just starting to blog. The following link parties (i.e. blog hops) are a few of my favorites:
- Monday: Healthy Home Economist’s Monday Mania
- Tuesday: Extraordinary Ordinary’s Just Writeย
- Wednesday: We are That Family’s ย Works for Me Wednesday draws lots of natural parenting, real food cooking, doula, homeschooling folks
- Thursday: “Your Green Resource” is run by several blogs, but I follow Sorta Crunchyย
- Friday: Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridayย
2) Join a “blog carnival,” where you write a post on a specific subject that is listed on a single page with a bunch of other bloggers’ articles on that topic. Here’s a list of natural parenting carnivals
3) Guest post on another blog in your topic area. Start with local writers, and stick with writers in your metier. My best writing is always on subjects near to my heart. I’m happy to have you post on mine too, just send me your pitch! One way to get guests is to reciprocate and allow them to post on your blog.
4) Quarterly online magazines and group networks are a GREAT way to get followers. I write for “Rhythm of the Home” and “Natural Parents Network.”
If you want ads, you need to establish a blog and have a certain number of pageviews first. The second way both to get traffic and to make money is sponsorships. You can pay to “sponsor” another blog, which means you buy a little square ad in the sidebar. Then you can run some on your blog too. You’ll see a few in my sidebar over there >>>>>.
Author’s Note: This post is part of LHITS DIY Linky