Blogging Tips from a Comment I Received

A blog I enjoy is Retrospective Lily. Lily shares about her faith, literature, and life with a disability. I have admired her and her blog since I started following her. Her blog is retrospectivelily.com. Lily left a comment for me that I want to share in hopes it helps other bloggers.

“I have seen you come up since about 300-ish followers to over 1100. I’m so happy for you. Maybe you could make a post sometime discussing how you grew in popularity. From my third party perspective, I think the reasons you grew so much so fast are #1. frequent/consistent posting, #2. high level of engagement with other bloggers, #3. genuinely interesting content. The three ingredient to a successful blog!”

Lily makes three excellent points about growing a blog. They are great advice for any blogger.

1- Frequent/consistent posting

Being consistent is important. I tend to post every day, but writing is kind of my thing. I try to post close to the same time every day by scheduling my posts. If you blog twice a week, try to make it the same two days each week. By being consistent, it helps your followers know when to look for a post from you.

If you post on an irregular basis, your blog may not grow much. I follow some bloggers who post maybe once or twice a month. I enjoy their posts, but never know when they will post.

2- High level of engagement with other bloggers.

Engaging with other bloggers can take on different forms. Commenting is huge, but meaningful comments. Don’t spam comment such as leaving a link to your blog asking the person to check it out. Also comments like- great post or excellent points- do not catch my attention. Comments related to the content of a bloggers post will get their attention.

Another way of engaging is including a link to another bloggers post briefly saying why it fits with what you are saying and encouraging other bloggers to check out the post.

If someone takes the time to leave a meaningful comment, reply.

Blogging awards are a fun way to network, but I don’t make them my end all be all because then it doesn’t develop my voice and identity as a blogger.

Reblogging posts is something a blogger will appreciate and remember.

3- Genuinely interesting content

I hope my content is interesting and I appreciate Lily saying that. I think the genuine part has to include genuinely be who are you. If your passion is fashion, write about that. If your passion is food, write about that. The key is to be genuine as your express yourself. That is your voice.

But also be open to exploring and trying new things. You won’t know if it works unless you try. A big example for me was when I began to share about living with chronic illness and depression. I wasn’t sure if my then current following would be receptive to it. But I felt God was leading me to share. What I found was by doing so, it led to more connections with other bloggers.

Hope these help.

Thank you for reading. God bless.