How do I grow my blog?

Beth over at Plum and June is hosting a blog hop for new bloggers to get to know each other.  Included in this is a series of posts containing advice for new bloggers and today it is my turn to post and I thought I'd talk about growing your blog.

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When you first start blogging, it feels like there is a whole network out there of bloggers with lots of followers and all sorts of fun on their blogs and you're not a part of it.  So how do you go about getting connected, getting more followers and turning your blog into one of those other blogs.  Here are my top tips interspersed with blog headers from blogs which I think do that job well.  They are a mix of some of the bigger and some not so big blogs but they're ones I admire for their content, presentation, style and voice.

1.   Be yourself.  Easier said than done.  The longer you blog, the more your own voice comes out.  Don't try to be funnier than you are, madder than you are, cooler than you are.  Don't try to portray the person you think people want to read about.  People can see right through that.  I write as if I were talking to myself (which I do a lot).  Katy I'm a Ginger Monkey is a great example of this.  She writes EXACTLY as she speaks - funny, interesting, slightly mad and offbeat.  Sometimes sad.  Sometimes happy.  Always generous to others in the quilting community.

2.   Be real.  Be vulnerable.  No-one wants to read about a perfect life and a perfect family with perfect kids and perfect quilts and a perfect stash.  That evil part inside of us wants to know that things aren't so perfect.  We want to know that your points didn't line up, that you chose the wrong fabrics, that your kids are driving you round the bend, that your hair is a mess and your stash is out of control.  OK this is an exaggeration but don't be afraid to show that your life isn't perfect or your sewing isn't perfect.  I think the huge success of Aneela Hoey's blog, comfortstitching, although owed in part to her incredible talent as a piecer, quilter, embroiderer and fabric designer, is also down to the fact that she lets us know that her life isn't always all hunky dory perfection.  She wrote about feeling blue when some people's comments on a post a while back about Sherbert Pips were unfavourable.  She shows us inside her home where she stitches on a little coffee table in the sitting room.  And I think people warm to someone who is doing what she's doing whilst not living the high life.  I'm not saying your posts should list your endless woes, troubles and miseries but don't be afraid to let the world in now and then.

3.   Does your blog look good?  I like a nice clean, bright layout.  Play around with blog headers, fonts and colours until you get a look that you like and that you think reflects your blog. You don't need to pay someone to do this for you although some bloggers do.  And take great photos.  You don't need a fancy camera to take great photos.  Take photos in natural light - outside on a sunny day in the shade or next to a window where natural light pours in (but again not in direct sunlight which distorts colours).  Find a clean flat surface like a white table or a tiled floor to place smaller items on.  Keep your eyes peeled when you're out and about for somewhere to hang a quilt - a fence with a nice view behind perhaps.  Rita at Red Pepper Quilts is a master at great photographs and I would love to know her secrets.  Her photos are bright, clean, well lit and with true colours.

4.   Respond to comments.  Aside of during giveaways, I try to respond to every single comment on my blog.  Not all bloggers do this and there is no obligation to do this.  But for me blogging is all about connecting and, if someone stops you in the street to say "wow I love that quilt you made", you wouldn't just stare straight ahead and keep on walking.  Especially in the early days of blogging, responding to comments starts a dialogue between you and other bloggers and that dialogue is what gets you connected and plugged into the bigger network.  Marguerite from Adventures in Quilting and Sailing has been a faourite blog of mine for a long time.  She posts beautiful seascape photos from her morning walks with her dog Rafael and always without fail responds to every single comment on her blog with a warm, friendly response.  

5.   Connect, join, link.  Blogging is all about connecting with other people and there are so many ways  out there to connect to the community.  Join a Flickr swap or virtual quilting bee, link to a linky party, follow a quiltalong, comment on other people's blogs.  Each time you get to know someone new out in the quilting community, your blog will grow, more people will click to follow, more people will add you to their RSS, google or email feeds.  More people will comment.  Start you own bee, quiltalong swap or linky party.  On the first of every month I hold a linky party for new and small bloggers to connect with other new and small bloggers and a separate but simultaneous linky party for all bloggers to show off what they've made that month.  Come and link and make new friends, find new blogs and give other bloggers a chance to find you.  Jennifer at Ellison Lane Quilts is a great example of someone who links well throughout the community.  She always seems to have great bloghops, linky parties and events going on at her blog, drawing together new and old bloggers and helping everyone to connect.

6.   Blog about what you know and love.  If your passion and skill is hand quilting, blog about that, show examples, write a tutorial, host a sewalong.  If your passion is EPP, give ideas to your readers, take some really great photos of your work.  People visit certain blogs knowing that they will be given certain types of inspiration, advice and ideas of a particular type on that blog.  You don't need to blog exclusively about your one passion - your blog can cover any areas of your life you want to blog about but there are some blogs I always visit because I know I will get really good new inspiration in an area that blogger has real skill in.  Cathy Cabbage Quilts uses colour in some kind of a magical way I can't describe.  It's like she throws all the colours of the rainbow into a quilt and they all land in a big heap but still look amazing.  I love to visit her blog for that reason but then get sucked into the amazing applique and EPP she always seems to have going on.

7.   Host a giveaway.  You don't need hundreds of followers to host a giveaway.  You could give away something you've made or some fabric from your stash you probably won't use again.  Or approach an online or bricks and mortar shop and see if they'd like to have a giveaway on your blog.  For a chance to win, you can ask people to click to follow you.  Now some people don't like to do this, thinking that followers who only followed for a giveaway will not become a friend of the blog.  But who knows, some might and some might not but you've just widened your circle a little bit more and breathed a little bit more life into your blog.  Fat Quarter Shop is the best example of this for me.  They are the daddy of the quilt shops.  I go there for fabric inspiration, to see what's new, to browse their sales.  And so often they are involved in giveaways in blogland.  They are generous with their fabrics and that helps them to connect throughout the quiltblogging community.

8.   Let people know you've blogged. Post on facebook that you've blogged.  Tweet that you've blogged.  Use any of the social media you're tapped into to let people know you're blogging.

9.   Make it easy for people to follow your blog.  Add a google follower widget.  And an email following widget.  And an RSS feed widget.  Add widgets linking to your Flickr, twitter, facebook accounts.  It's all about connecting.  Making it easier for people to find and follow your blog will naturally grow your blog, little by little, bit by bit but grow it will.

10.   One penultimate plea. Turn off your comment word verification.  It is slow, cumbersome and bothersome.  I turned off mine months ago and whilst I do get occasional comments offering me easy access to a whole variety of pharmaceutical products not easily available on the open market, the benefit to my readers of being able to leave a comment quickly and easily far outweigh the minor inconvenience to me.  I have set my settings so that all comments on posts over a week old require my approval and that weeds out the vast majority of these helpful sales offers.

11.   And finally, have fun. Blog for fun.  Blog because you enjoy it.  Don't feel guilty about not blogging for six weeks because life got in the way.  Don't blog out of a feeling that you haven't blogged and need to blog.  Blog when you want to.  When you've got something to show.  When you've got something to say.  When you're in the mood.  I am an example of this.  I keep no record whatsoever of how often I blog.  I don't plan my blogging.  Sometimes I'll be bubbling over and have three posts in one day.  Other times, my blog will lie dormant for days and days.  I don't think anyone else notices so I don't apologise for it or feel guilty about it.

And finally, if you're still awake after reading through this post, pop back over to Plum and June right now and enter her giveaway sponsored by Intrepid Thread to win a bundle of Flying Free by Adrianne Looman for Anthology.