100 Blog Followers in One Month: Tips for Getting new Blog Followers

I was able to reach 101 followers on my blog ( tylerhandmade.blogspot.com )in just 32 days of blogging. This may not sound like much, but I'm very proud of this accomplishment. I've noticed that several people end up blogging for several months or years, but stop gaining new followers once they reach about 30 or so, sometimes even less. Here are a few things I've found helpful in gaining blog followers and keeping them interested:

1.) Pictures. You already know that pictures are important for selling on Etsy, and guess what? They're just as important for blogging! People follow blogs with pretty pictures, and I personally don't follow blogs that have little or no photos at all. I'm sure many people share this habit.

2.) Etsy Forums. Put your blog out there! Etsy's forums are where I've gotten the bulk of my followers from. Make sure that you are on the forums every day letting everyone know that you've made a new blog post, and what its about. If its Monday search the forums for "Monday blog" and post the link to your blog in all the threads that have to do with new Monday blog posts. If its Tuesday, search "Tuesday blog" and so forth. Also, start a few similar threads of your own in the "Promotions" section. If you're the very first

3.) Read and Follow. Don't post and run! When you share the link to your shop in the Etsy forums, take the time to read some of the other blogs that where posted in that thread. You may want to follow a few of them as well. If you do follow someone, let them know by saying something like "I loved your post about earmuffs [insert Etsy name here]. I'm following you now!" People are more likely to follow you when they know that you're following them. Don't abuse this and just follow everyone though, only follow blogs that you are genuinely interested in, there are plenty out there.

4. Comment. You know you love it when someone comments on your blog posts, so do another blogger the same favor! As an added bonus, the person may check out your blog and follow you.

5. Tutorials. People LOVE tutorials, and they're a great way to bring traffic to your blog. Share your tutorials and giveaways by searching "Blog tutorial" in the Etsy forums and posting in related threads. Totally Tutorials (totallytutorials.blogspot.com/) is a great blog for sharing tutorials with a wider audience.

6. Giveaways. Another thing people can't get enough of is giveaways. Since you don't have many followers yet, it would probably be best to have a blog like Audrey's Give Aways (audreysgiveaways.blogspot.com/) or By Hand Giveaways (byhandgiveaways.blogspot.com/) host your giveaway for you. This will allow for more entries in your giveaway. Once the giveaway has started, head over to the Etsy forums and search "giveaway" to get the word out.

7. Feature Etsy sellers. Make blog posts featuring items by different Etsy sellers. One of the easiest ways to do this is to choose a color theme. Another thing you can do is create a theme based on something that happened to you that day. For example, if your daughter just had a piano recital that day, you could feature Etsy items that have piano designs or pictures on them. You can also feature undiscovered sellers by using the "Pounce" feature on Etsy, and featuring items from Hearts for Haiti is always good as well.

Once you make your Etsy Feature, go and convo all of the sellers you featured and share the link with them. You can also ask them to share it with a few of their friends.

8. Networking Sites. Personally, Facebook and Twitter don't seem to have helped me gain many blog followers, but they have helped a little. Post about your new blog updates every now and then. Just make sure you don't spam.

9. Change it up. Don't blog about the same things every day, and don't assume that all of your followers are crafters. If you're blogging about sewing projects every day, you will lose people--even people who enjoy sewing. If you need some ideas check out this "GIANT list of blog topics" carzoocritters.blogspot.com/2010/01/giant-list-of-blog-topics.html

and here are a few more ideas:

-share some jokes
-Top 5... (actors, movies, sitcoms, songs, etc..) of all time, of the year, of the week, etc.
-embed a youtube video that you like (or hate) and comment on it.
- Post a 101 Things in 1001 Days List dayzeroproject.com and make a new blog post every time you complete something on the list
- Project 365 365project.org/

10. Lastly, Be Patient. Blogging isn't like Twitter where people mass-follow, and you can get 500 followers in two weeks. It takes time and consistency, and it should be fun. Follow the rest of the tips, and your will have plenty of followers in due time!



I'm sorry this ended up being so long, but I hope you benefit from it. Make sure you visit my blog at tylerhandmade.blogspot.com if you want to see this tips in action. Happy blogging!

Posted at 5:51pm Mar 10, 2010 EST