No. You just need to have a good memory to recall these devious tips.
7 Tactics That Truthful Bloggers Will Admit Trying
1. Get Readers! — Let’s face it, most of us are not writing a diary here. We want our words seen by millions. Therapists claim we didn’t get enough “Show & Tell” in grade school. Try this — Join Facebook groups that have nothing to do with writing (otherwise you’re competing with other hungry bloggers) but make sure the group is at least in your niche. Let’s say you are a food, gardening or fashion blogger. Or you blog about parenting. Join those kind of special interest Facebook groups and then periodically post about a fantastic article a friend of yours sent and now you want to pay it forward and share the link. If you have a different profile photo on Facebook than the one on your blog, chances are nobody will correlate you are one in the same person.
2. Start Your Comments Off On The Right Foot! — Did you just post something terrific and . . . crickets? There’s nothing wrong with giving a little encouraging nudge to your readers with a comment (anonymously, of course!) from yourself that says, “This was pure genius! I seriously hope I get to be the first one to comment here about how good this was.” Emperor’s New Clothes, people! Rest assured, others will soon follow suit. Do not forget to respond back to yourself (you don’t want to be ignored, right??) with something like this. “Much appreciated, Anonymous! I hope you’ll come back and tell me your name so I can thank you properly.” What?? We talk to ourselves when we’re alone in the car. What’s wrong with a little self-esteem raising banter on our blog?
3. Visiting Other Bloggers! — What goes around comes around. You must give in order to receive. Yada, yada, yah ha. If you want subscribers and engagement, surprise — you’ll need to subscribe and engage. But only subscribe or follow extremely succinct bloggers. Better yet, bloggers who write in rhymed verse. Trust me, they can’t carry this out for too long. This will cut your required daily reading in half. Would you rather take a class on Emily Dickinson (she was a short poet, standing a mere 5 ft tall.) or Tolstoy? Alternatively if someone becomes too wordy for you, simply delve into the middle of their War and Peace entry and single out one sentence to quote. Go to their comments and copy/paste their own words back to them, followed by “Best. Line. Ever.” People love seeing that. Warning: Do not excerpt something from the beginning or the end. They will suspect you didn’t really read the entire thing. The nerve of them.
4. Testing Your Readers For Sincerity! — Ever get the feeling “they’re just not that into me?” People might be reading/commenting just so you’ll follow the Golden Rule (see #3) and return the favor, taking an interest in what they do. Especially people in real life. Your sister probably doesn’t have time to TRULY read your blog, yet every so often she’ll toss out, “Hey, great post last week.” Then you can say, “Thanks, Sis! Do you mean the one where I bought crunchy peanut butter and had to pick out all the lumps so the kids wouldn’t say Ew?” After she says, “Yep, that’s the one!” you can lower the boom. There was NEVER such a post. What kind of nut doesn’t buy smooth and creamy?
5. Bring People Back to Life! — Do you notice some original subscribers have died out or lost interest in visiting your blog. But is the love affair really over? Try this: Occasionally peruse your statistics list (this is akin to going through your personal telephone book, back when we had those) and when you see someone you haven’t heard from in a long time, immediately visit their blog and say, “hope you’re okay? Was just thinking of you yesterday,” in their comment section. This will jog their memory about your existence and they will think, “Oh yeah. Her. I suppose I should probably go see what she’s been up to lately. Ho Hum.” And then just like Poltergeist . . they’re baaaaack.
6. Get Even More Readers! — Ploys for this endeavor cannot be done too often. Put the link to your blog as an auto signature stamp on your email. Suddenly become the best little email communicator in the world. This is like sending advertisements for your blog into their home without having to pay for postage. Volunteer to send out class emails for the teacher and help your boss out at work with company memos. People love romance. Email an invitation for your wedding to everyone you’ve ever met. After traffic increases on your blog, simply break up with that creep. Put a “How’s My Driving?” sign on your car bumper with your blog address instead of a phone number. Weave in and out of traffic. Do not discount the idea of giving birth to more children. They will grow up to be more readers for you if you increase their allowance.
7. Lists! — Nobody wants to read a plain paragraph anymore. So old school. Go back into all your old posts and convert them to lists. Anything you’ve written can easily be numbered, categorized, pro’d & conned or How To’d and it will instantly become fresh again. Didn’t your mother tell you to go through your wardrobe and sew on nice, new buttons to spruce things up? Don’t you put new knobs on your kitchen cabinets instead of refinishing them? Same thing here . . . “Bullets, baby!” And when you’ve exhausted making lists, by all means Compare and Contrast stuff. i.e. “How Marriage Is Similar to Divorce.”
You’re a Successful Blogger. Which Ones Will You Admit to Doing? Tell me in the comments.
If you enjoyed this, you’ll love my list of how Writing/Getting Published is Similar to Fifty Shades of Grey! Read it on the Huffington Post right HERE.
Oh my gosh! I feel like I’ve discovered the Holy Grail of Blogging Success.
1. I’ve missed you lately. I hope you’re okay.
2. Hey did you read the one I wrote recently about how coyotes lure people’s dogs out to play with the cutest one in the pack and then the whole pack comes out to play too?
3. I hear that talking and blogging to yourself is a good thing.
4 Did you know many people blog because they didn’t get enough show and tell?
5. Did you know that menopausal women write the most interesting blogs?
6. I like to compare mowing the grass with vacuuming and raking to sweeping.
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Great ideas! I’m going to use some of these TODAY! (And BTW – I read your whole entire article.)
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Thank you so much, Karen! And I love the name of your blog– great wordplay. Gonna explore! Take care, Stephanie
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Beauteous. Thanks Stephanie!!
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Loved it ,gonna try few of them 🙂
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Lemme know how they work out! Thank you.
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Sure 🙂
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Pingback: How to Write Powerful Headlines [Ultimate Guide] | Mostly Blogging
By the way, congratulations on an engaged community. Look at all these comments!
Janice
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I love #5–What a great idea. I’ll do it! The rest, I agree. Test for sincerity? I don’t know, but these are all good ideas though. Thanks for the tips.
Janice
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Thanks for visiting! I am enthralled by your blog!
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Considering what an engaged community you have, I am very flattered. Thank you. How long have you been blogging?
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Thank you! Just two years now. But I started for reasons other than a love for blogging and now I adore it!!! It was a means to an end, or so I thought. Now it’s the end in and of itself!
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I have been blogging for a year. Where did you find my blog?
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I get your emails! I am trying to remember the original connection however!! Beyond Your Blog Susan Macarelli maybe??
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I have a passion for blogging too.
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Very helpful! Wonderful blog!
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Thank you so much!
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very nice tips to share!
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Really enjoy this post …. and your blog!! fresh and funny a winning formula, great tips!! God knows i need them!!…..hint hint 😉
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Thank you so much for this comment and apologies for being so tardy in responding. I just found the comment now!
Stephanie
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Reblogged this on lcconnections and commented:
Hey just started a blog!, and I really aspire for some day to have as well a structure and content packed blog as this
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I deeply apologize for just finding this comment now. Thank you so much for the reblog and I hope you’re enjoying blogging and I’m gonna come visit! Have a lovely weekend, Stephanie
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No problem Stephanie, great to hear from you. I had taken a little time away from blogging, but I’m back now! Loads to catch up on. I wish you a wonderful Christmas and a very successful and happy New Year x
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“What kind of nut doesn’t buy smooth and creamy?” Best. line…wait? What!?! We can’t be friends if you don’t buy Jif Extra Crunchy. If you’re a Peter Pan kinda gal, this is over before it even begins!
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Does Peter Pan Still make PB??? I say we move on to jelly. Jam? Preserves? Thanks so much for visiting… It’s the start of something beautiful, I can tell!!
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Why I haven’t thought of number 2? I should try that. As for the others, I like reading and recommending blogs but I don’t follow any. There are so many blogs that I like that I feel pressured to read them when a new post notification gets into my inbox. And I don’t have much time to read all. But I bookmark blogs and I’ll bookmark yours. I like how you write. It’s like controlled funny.
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Sorry i took so long to find this sweet comment of yours! i really appreciate you stopping in and #2 isn’t the most above board and you’re probably too ethical to think of it! 😉 Thanks again!
Stephanie
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Your are right- we need to sneaky, thanks for sharing, great tips..
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Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. I am sorry i am so late to respond! Stephanie
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Real Sneaky!
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Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I am sorry I am so late in responding. For some reason i am just seeing this now! Take care, Stephanie
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Thank you for sharing! This was so useful!
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