How Do You Get Readers to Your Blog?

When I'm online, I divide my time between promoting blog posts I have written and socializing with online friends, but I have come to the conclusion that both do indeed go hand in hand and if you are a blogger, both play an important roll in having a successful blog.

To make sure I was covering all of my bases to promote my blog posts and get more blog readers to my blogs, I asked a few of my blogging pals over at Collective Bias, "How do you get readers to your blog?" What I found was that besides using Twitter and Facebook, leaving comments on other blogs was one thing I needed to do more of, but quality over quantity is still debatable.

Is is quality or quantity that matters?

Most bloggers I asked agreed that visiting blogs and leaving comments were a great way to get new readers to your blog. Jerri Ann from Momecentric said,"Last year at this time, I had 10 or 12 blogs and I commented on at least 50 blogs a day. Somewhere around May I cut back … and dropped down to 30 comments a day. By September I wasn't commenting except on ones that really got my attention. And my blogs all showed the effects of that." So, the more she commented, the better the traffic which makes sense but Naomi from Superdumb Supervillian made the point that quality trumps quantity. She said, "Commenting on other blogs is definitely the best way to build your readership, but only when your comments are pertinent and sincere."

As bloggers, there is a lot we need to do to promote our blogs if we want new readers. Not only do we need to tweet on Twitter and post on Facebook, but we need to comment on other blogs, join Ning groups and forums, post frequently and consistently and socialize. Then if we have a blog that does product reviews and contests more work is involved. If no one knows you are having a contest you are not going to have entries and if you don't have entries, there really is no point in having a contest in the first place. Let's be honest, the contest is there more for you than for your readers. By having a contest, you are hoping to get more traffic and readers to your blog.

Bloggers that do product reviews and giveaways have a few more steps in their daily routine. Sandy from Organize With Sandy has her own routine. She noted, "I always use online sweepstakes, Thrifty and Chic Mom, Peanut Butter and Pickles Review. I also many times use Deal Seeking Mom and Mom Dot's." She also uses a list of places to post giveaways she found on Mommy Snacks when trying to promote her giveaways.

So, you might wonder, "Why are these bloggers spending so much time promoting their blogs? What are THEY getting out of it?"

Reading (this) will help you figure it out.