We’ve had some readers express interest in learning about blogging so we’ve decided to make it a weekly series on Mommies with Cents! If you are interested in learning how to start your own blog or to cultivate and grow the one you have, we welcome you to join us!
Today’s question is: How do you gain readers? (see part 1 here)
The good news is there are lots of ways to gain readers. That bad news? They all take a time commitment and effort. We’ll take a couple of weeks to cover different ways to help you gain readers.
Last week we talked about being social with other bloggers, and on Twitter and Facebook to gain readers. This week our suggestion is to guest post on other blogs. Have no idea what I’m talking about? Let me explain. A guest post is an article written by you. It can be a tutorial or an article on a topic you are well versed in (or anything really, as long as the content is suitable for the blog you are submitting it to). It is shared with another blogger to be posted on their blog with a link back to your own. Guest posts are great for a number of reasons. As you will soon find out if you haven’t already, blogging is a lot of work. It’s important not to leave your blog dormant for days at a time or readers will lose interest and think you’ve abandoned them.
Lets say you are planning on taking a family vacation. Depending on the type of blog you have and your commitment, you probably won’t be blogging much from the road. You can schedule posts ahead of time so your blog is on a sort of auto pilot but scheduling a weeks worth of posts ahead of time is a big task. We probably get at least one email a week from fellow bloggers asking for guest post submissions to help them with content so they can take a little time off. Even if you aren’t asked directly, you can email a few of your favorite bloggers and offer to submit a guest post to them. Chances are, they’ll be grateful as long as the post is thought out and well written. Some bloggers will require that the content has not been published elsewhere, either on your own blog or as a guest post on another blog, but many won’t mind if it has been.
It doesn’t hurt to write a short bio to include with your guest post and makes it easier on the blogger you are submitting it to. Include a link to your blog and a short blurb about who you are.
Why is submitting a guest post beneficial to you? Your content will reach new potential readers. If they like what they see, they’ll hope over and check out your blog. As you can see, guest posts can benefit both the writer and the blogger who publishes it. Reach out and meet some new bloggers in the process!
Do you have any tips on how to gain readers? we are always learning and would love to hear your suggestions! Next week we’ll go over another method for gaining readers so check back! For more tips, see all of our posts in our Blogging 101 Series.
When Mindy and I started out we had no idea what we were doing. We learned as we went and even though it’s been a few years, there is still so much to learn! We are learning new things all of the time and it’s so much fun! We’ve had help along the way and we want to pay it forward. If you have a question you’d like to see answered here, we invite you to fill out the form below.