How to Get More People to Read Your Blog

One of the questions that we're most commonly asked by other bloggers here is "how do I get more readers?" I understand where the question comes from - much like a tree falling in a forest, are you really blogging if nobody's reading?

Well, first off - I think the answer to that question is yes - you are blogging even if nobody's reading. I've been blogging in some form or another for over 10 years now, and a good deal of that has been private stuff I don't think I'll ever let a soul read. I've been keeping an electronic diary, basically. I find that it's cathartic to write things down, and I've always been better at typing than writing by hand. As the blogs team can confirm, my handwriting's pretty much illegible.

So. How do you get people to read your site? Try some of these:

Get yourself Googled! You all may (or may not) have noticed that I rewrote my description on here - that text that you see underneath my blog name (where it goes on and on about my blatherings on life). That text is handed off to search engines, so you want to use as many "keywords" (words people will search for) in there as you can. Your blog title is also given to search engines, and I gotta admit - BamBam's an awful name for my blog as far as SEO ("Search Engine Optimization") goes. This isn't even the only BamBam Blog out there, believe it or not. Use keywords as much as you can, in your blog name, description, and individual entry titles. Play around, search for yourself (otherwise known as egosurfing) - see what happens. If you don't like the results, change your description.

Link to your blog everywhere you are. I've joked around about how I have profiles on every silly social networking typey site I can find. You can bet each and every profile links back here, and on most of them, my name is StephanieBamBam. After all - this is my primary online home. It only makes sense that people who may be interested in viewing my profile on, say, Digg, may be interested in seeing my blog here. People should not have to go digging (pun intended) for information about you. Give it to them! If you don't have a profile on Digg and you read the site, make one and start Digging! Join anything you think may be the slightest bit interesting and play. Each profile is also another page for search engines to index. The more pages, the better.

Along the same lines...join sites like LinkedIn, MyBlogLog (which is new, but neat), StumbleUpon, Delicious, even Flickr - sites that specialize in helping people find other people's "stuff." Always fill out that profile!

Get involved. If you blog about Gerbils (don't ask me why, I ALWAYS use Gerbils as an example), go get involved in the Gerbil community online. And yes, there really is a Gerbil community out there. Don't think for an instant that you're the only one talking about something, the Internet is a huge place. Check Google, AOL Search, Yahoo! - find other people in your world and get to know them. People are more likely to read the blog of someone they know than a stranger's. Comment on blogs, join message boards, and always link back to your blog. I'm not saying spam your link - genuinely become an active member of the community.

Tag! Use Technorati. Right now, you can do this using the beta journals site, or you can just add the HTML to your posts manually (I'm lazy and use software to generate the HTML for me - check Google for a bunch of different programs). You'll need to claim your blog (prove to Technorati that it's yours by adding in some code), but then you can use tags to your heart's desire. Details on how to do this are in the Technorati FAQ. Tags will get your posts into Technorati search, and are a handy dandy way for you to categorize your entries. And notice the "Favorites" thing on the front page of the site? Add favorites, maybe you'll be featured too!

Speaking of being featured...get yourself into the spotlight. Nobody will do that for you - get out and ask for it! Get involved in John Scalzi's weekend assignments, send in Guest Editor picks to Jeff, enter contests, join Paul's CarnivAOL, offer to write guest entries for other websites (lots of sites will happily accept guest writers), anything you can think of.

Put your blog in your e-mail signature. I'm guilty of not doing this (I have a personal dislike for signatures, I dunno why...I just do), but I swear I'll change it at some point soon. Everyone sends lots of e-mail every day, and every e-mail's an easy chance for promotion. Don't miss out on it!

Submit your blog to other sites. Get yourself on Digg, on Netscape, on Reddit, on Newsvine, anywhere you can think of. Make sure you read the site's policies before doing this, though, some sites are very much against self-promotion. Others are fine with it, for example, Newsvine will let you double publish an article on your blog and there, as long as you're honest and say that you've printed it in two places, and put it up as an article, not a link.

Link to other blogs, either by blogging about their posts, or using your blogroll (that module on the left hand side of my blog) to promote your favorite sites. Blog authors love to see where their traffic is coming from, and if you're sending lots of folks their way, they'll notice.

People need to know your blog exists to read it, and the only way they'll find out is if you tell them. I want to see everyone on here who wants tons of readers get them, and these are just a few tips on how to do it. I'll post again with a whole slew of "good blogging and promotion" links. These suggestions are not at all original (although I'd love to claim they are), and there have been lots of articles written on this subject. The Internet's a big place, and while I love our community here in J-Land, some time spent outside these walls is time well spent.

We fully intend to make it easier on you to do all of the things mentioned above (well, except getting you into a Gerbils community - that's up to you). Changes will most likely be coming early next year, but if we can sneak some in earlier than that, I promise we will.

Technorati tags (see - lots of tags!): BamBam, blogging, blogs, delicious, digg, flickr, google, journals, newsvine, promotion, Netscape, reddit, StumbleUpon

Written by stephaniebambam Blog about this entry

This entry has 5 comments: (Add your own)

#5 Comment from tokenuser7
12/12/07 7:20 PM | Permalink

Thank you for your article I can now use the information Igot from this site for better blogging. Beetlejuice on blogger.com
#4 Comment from tokenuser7
12/12/07 7:18 PM | Permalink

Thank you for your article I can now get the information I can really use this information. Beetlejuice on blogger.com
#3 Comment from rebuketheworld
11/2/06 4:21 PM | Permalink

Hey Steph, I entered that blog of the day awards and won today...thanks for the information...I have no idea how you guys always have this ongoing uptodate knowledge, but its cool for the rest of us....-Raven
#2 Comment from rebuketheworld
10/31/06 4:44 AM | Permalink

Yes, when I am bored I do a yahoo search on my blog and then sites that have my RSS feeds should scare me into never wanting to blog again...lol...

Some great information here..thanks for the info Steph. -Raven

http://journals.aol.com/rebuketheworld/RandomThoughtsConnected/
#1 Comment from junaidnscp
10/31/06 4:05 AM | Permalink

these are great tips ! I sure will be adopting a few :). Cheers !

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How to Get More People to Read Your Blog