Hi all,
There are many bloggers looking to gain followers on their new or established blogs. One of the most common questions of new bloggers is, "How can I gain more followers?". While the number of followers is not important to some, we understand wanting to grow your readership is important to many. Please note, if you are a new blogger gaining followers will not always equal gaining readers, the two are not always the same. For more information check out, "My Blog Numbers: Readers vs. Followers". However, if it is followers you are looking to gain, here are a few useful ways to meet other bloggers and gain followers:
IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO GAIN FOLLOWERS YOU MUST MUST MUST HAVE A WAY FOR BLOGGERS TO FOLLOW YOU!
It is very difficult and frustrating for bloggers to stop by your blog to follow you only to find out that you have given them no means by which to do so.
PLEASE, get yourself the Blogger friends widget. This makes it MUCH easier for bloggers to follow you easily and quickly, post it where it is visible and easy to find. If you insist on not having this then post a way to follow you via RSS.
Following are a few great ways to gain followers for your blog:
1)
Blog Hops- Love, love, love blog hops. They are a bit time consuming but they are a wonderful way to meet new bloggers, find blogs to follow, and gain followers on your own blog. For more information on blog hops check out this post, "
What Is A Blog Hop Anyway?". You can also find a list of member blog hops here on our
blog hop list.
2) Giveaways- When I first started blogging, I gained a great deal of followers during my 1st giveaway. This may want to be something you do once you hit 100 followers that way you have people to spread the word. Also, think of something really great to giveaway, the greater the gift the more people who will want to participate. By great, I mean something that many bloggers would want- a gift card, a piece of jewelry, a book if you are a book blogger, etc.. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE A LOT OF MONEY just something fun. Male sure your #1 way to enter is to follow you on your blog, you can then join giveaway hops to promote your giveaway among other things. We will soon have some great information on giveaways, as it is one of our upcoming Blog Talk topics so stay tuned if you are interested!
3) Blog Events- There are 2 ways in which blog events can be useful in gaining followers:
A) You become a sponsor- when you sponsor an event the host of whom you are sponsoring usually promotes your blog beforehand. Then during the event, one of the requirements is to follow you. Additionally, many hosts also allow multiple ways to enter like following you on Facebook and twitter. So you offer them something to give away during the event and in return you get a lot of publicity and thus more followers! You can find lots of events that need sponsors in our group:
Blog Sponsor Connection or contact the hosts of any events on our
events page.
B) Participating in blog events is also a good way to gain followers, you will not gain as many as if you are a sponsor but you will find a lot of new blogs to follow and if you leave comments you may get a few followers in return.
4) Comment, Comment, Comment!- leaving comments is almost always a surefire way to gain followers. As a blogger you know that it is hard to get readers to leave comments so when people do bloggers like to stop by and see who has left a comment for them. If you use your Google account your name should be linked to your blog or profile. make sure you have your blog listed on your Blogger profile. PLEASE, do not leave a comment only asking a blogger to stop by your blog and follow you, instead comment on their post or blog, let them know you are now following them and then you can then say something like "I'd love to have you stop by my blog if you have time"- however, most will stop by without you asking them to.
5) Blog Challenges- Blog challenges, also know as blogfests, are a fun way to meet new bloggers, gain followers, and kick up your blog posts. The way challenges work is a host will post post details, most challenges are a month long. Every day the host will post a topic that you will write a blog post on, once your write your post you leave a link on the hosts site to your post. Everyone participating lists their links to their daily post on the topic, so you can stop by, comment, and follow them and they do the same in return.
6)
Communities- One of the main reasons for creating this community was to connect bloggers! Communities are a great way to meet new bloggers and gain followers. The great thing is there is tons of communities, if you are not a member of our community you can
join here. Blogfrog is another community based opportunity to gain followers and there are tons of others just Google Blogging communities!
7) Share your posts on Twitter- You can set up your posts to auto post to twitter. This is a great way to promote your posts and maybe get a few new followers. be sure your posts include some key words that may interest others. Also, make sure you have added your blog url to your twitter profile, I can't tell you how many times I have found someone interesting on twitter and then I can't find a url to their blog or website.
8) Share a link on Facebook- Facebook also allows you to auto post your blog posts to your wall. This is a great way to let people who follow you on Facebook know about your posts and blog. With a link on the auto post, this brings in new readers. new followers. Again, remember on your Facebook profile to list your blog address.
9) Write Guest Posts- Many bloggers are looking for guest bloggers to write a post on their niche, or even feature. This is a great way to promote your blog. The author of the blog that you are guest posting on will link back to your site allowing others to stop by, visit, and possible follow. If you are sure where to find blogs to guest post on, Melissa started a great group here to connect those who are looking for guest bloggers, you can check out her group Guest Post to see what its all about!
10) Content Counts- One way to get more followers is to get more traffic, to get more traffic you need to be writing quality content. By high quality we just mean remember your audience, try to post on a regular basis and maybe brush up on your SEO tools.
Above all remember that the amount of followers you have does not determine the success of your blog. Don't get too caught up on a number. Growing your blog takes time. You could have 1000 followers and only 100 readers, meaning just because someone followers your blog does not mean they are an active follower who stops by and reads your posts and that's okay. Be patient and with time your blog readership is bound to grow.
