That Bloggy Feeling, Blogging Tips
That bloggy feeling has overwhelmed me since the middle of last night.I often get bloggy ideas in the middle of the night. I blindly scratch down my thoughts on a notebook I keep by the side of the bed . I thought of more bloggy information to share with you to help make your blogging experience a positive one.
Pinterest– Lets talk about pinterest for a minute. It’s a great way to share and discover. I don’t ever seem to have enough time to spend there, but I always enjoy it when I have a pin happy hour. No cocktails are served but I’m sure I could find some on pinterest. Are you ever curious what things are being pinned from your blog onto pinterest? If you type “pinterest.com/source/putyourblognamehere” ( do not include the quotations) in the address bar at the top of your screen you will see all of the pins from your blog that people have pinned to their boards. You can also click on your analytics page on pinterest to find the most recent activity. Now I bet you are getting that bloggy feeling too 🙂
Comments– When people are browsing the internet they are searching for blogs they feel are legitimate. Blog comments are often the evidence they need. Readers may assume if people are taking the time to comment maybe it is worth spending some time visiting the blog and commenting too. This may sound a bit contradictory, but while I’m on the topic of comments, did you know that 90% of readers visit your blog quietly while enjoying your content and only 10% of your readers comment regularly? Even blogs with many subscribers, readers and followers still only see a few comments on each post. Please do not be discouraged. Respond to comments in as timely a manner as possible. Of course the more comments you have the slower you are to respond. I know I’ve said this before but get rid of your CAPTCHAS, moderate your comments instead. If you make it difficult to comment, well, then, you won’t get any. Keep your blog user friendly.
Side note- I normally respond to comments via email ( if available). But, starting this week I am going to be responding within the comment thread itself. Please check back for a response to your comment or subscribe to comments . I am currently looking for an updated notification process. Something that sends an email saying your comment has a reply. and includes my reply. I’ll let you know when I find it and you can use it too.
How do you feel about this decision? If YOU don’t like it I will change back to emails.
Subscribe-Readers and followers are the pulse of your blogs heartbeat.♥ It’s important to have a variety of ways for your readers to keep up with you. Do Not count on only one method. I was using a paid service to send out my daily posts but the cost just became to overwhelming. I am grateful for my other ways to follow. Paid services can get very expensive, especially if you post regularly and have over 500 subscribers . I recently changed to a subscription service provided through jetpack. The downside was that I had to enter each subscriber’s email in individually , but fingers crossed everyone will get the note I emailed for them to click to follow. Your blogging platform probably has several ways (besides your RSS feed) to follow, take advantage of them. Remember when people follow on your social network they are following your blog so keep your social network updated.
Blog Design- Many of you know that I provide a blog design service, headers, etc. But, there’s something you can do to your blog design yourself. Update your blogs footer area. If people read through your blog and get to the bottom, have something for them to see or read there too. DO NOT make the footer your “dumping ground” for miscellaneous buttons, etc. Have something for your readers to click on, search or discover.
Your Sidebar- Your sidebar is prime real estate and needs to be treated as such. Keep it relevant to the theme of your blog. Do not fill it up with blinking ads! For more about the business of blogging I invite you to visit my Blogging Tips Page.
Consistency– consistency is the key to growing your blog, I do not encourage posting randomly. Post daily, post bi weekly, post weekly, but post consistently.
Did you find this post helpful? I am always happy to share with you.♥
Find more blogging tips HERE
thank you hugs coming your way
Hi Katherine,
Thank you for this blog, I always enjoy popping over and seeing what is going on.
I love all the content and have fun and learn at the same time. So once again thank you.
I hope that you have a fantastic day.
Great big bear hugs.
Lots of love and best wishes.
Anne
Anne I needed that great big hug this morning, thank you so much. I enjoy having you pop over and hope your day is fantastic too. xo
I follow a lot of blogs and I’m pretty diligent about leaving a comment. However, if I had to come back to your blog post to see your response to my comment, I would never be able to keep up with reading, which is already difficult. If every blog I follow chose to respond that way, eventually I would give up even trying to check back for comments. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.
Ouch, I can always count on you to say exactly what you feel. I hope you won;t stop visiting and leaving comments. I hope to find a way to email you my reply as soon as I respond in the comment thread. Hugs
Thank you Katherine for always sharing your blogging tips with us. This is a great post and it is very helpful to me. I am always trying to increase my blogging knowledge to help me grow and share my blog.
Angel
Sweet Angel I am always happy to share what I learn, xo
Thanks for sharing. Of course I had to check out the pinterest search and got to see what was pinned from my blog (and how many things were pinned directly from my pinterest account once people got there) which was actually interesting.
I also get a bit discouraged when I don’t get a lot of comments (which seems to be very often) but at least now I know I’m not really alone – sometimes those lack of comments make me think I don’t have anything valid to say and should just stop posting.
I will start commenting with a response to all those who post,
I have always hated those “captcha” thingies – half the time I can’t get them right anyway – keep thinking I have “old” eyes. If I have to retype it more than twice – I stop commenting.
Happy you enjoyed the pinterest information It’s fun to see what gets pinned. Oh I know what you mean about the Captchas, I hate them too. I have tried numerous times and will finally give up too. Hugs!
Couldn’t agree more with your bloggy tips and I am with you on having the footer area look pretty and make sure to have my ways of follow down there again just in case (never hurts to repeat this for those that might have missed it above). I hope you figure out the e-mail and comment service and if you have anymore questions definitely e-mail me back again!! 🙂
Thank you for your bloggy friendship and support and for responding to my email so quickly. I hope to find a reply via email system soon. Hopefully readers will click the notify me of new comments box xo
Katherine, this was such a useful post. Not only did I enjoy reading it but it was very informative. I had no idea you could do that with pinterest. I, too, love perusing through it and it’s a great way to procrastinate – sigh. As for comments, I really can’t say what’s the best way. I just tend to reply to comments by going directly to that person’s blog or website and writing a comment back. I’m not great at tracking anything at all as I just tend to write for myself and hope people find it interesting. However, that being said, it would be nice to be able to get better at blogging and social networking in general to get more exposure. And all the tips you’ve given are valid. Good to know that just because people don’t leave comments doesn’t mean that they’re not reading a post. :-)))
Thank you Reese, I no when comments are low it can feel discouraging, I’m happy to share that your blog is still being read. I’m hoping to get a bit more involved with pinterest too, but time stands still when you are on there, giggle. I was just reading through and looking at the photos the other day and 2 hours went by in a blink! xo
Hi Katie
Thanks for the tip on Pinterest. Which makes me wonder if I’m actually following you there – I’ll check that out.
As for the comment responses – I’m in agreement with Mrs. A. It’s hard enough keeping up with all the blogs I follow (which I do via email notices), so checking back to see if you’ve responded to my comment is never going to happen. I know it’s more work to respond directly, but the personal contact makes me feel like the writer is actually “getting to know me”.
I am looking for a way to email my comment thread reply to you. I never thought it would be any less personal as I write to each commenter individually the same as I write to them via email directly. I currently have 697 emails waiting for responses and I feel terrible when it takes me so long to reply. I was really hoping evryone would like to read replys here. Oh well. You never know until you try. xo
Just checked and I am following you on Pinterest (Facebook tot!)
Happy you are following me , I already follow you too 🙂
Thanks for all of your great blogging tips! =)
I’ve been a follower of your blog for quite a while, and I enjoy your posts and your Pinterest boards! =)
Thank you for your support my sweet bloggy friend, smoooches!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Katherine,
Thanks for the great tips on blogging. I too have always hated those “captcha” thingies – they are so irritating. It is also nice to know that I am not the only one that sees so little comments. I guess we are all in this together.
Hugs,
Bev
Bev you are so right, we must help to build each other up that it what bloggy friends are for xo
You’ve got great tips here, and I love the Pinterest thingy!!! Pinterest is fun, but like you I don’t indulge too often (I always have fun when I do though). 🙂
Have a great week!
I thought the pinterest information would be a good one to share xo
Thank you for sharing all of this! There are some pretty good pro & con’s …food for thought 🙂 BTW- Love the purple box & words. Have a great day
Thank you Wendi xo
I do think you gave a lovely blog and really enjoy visiting! Not too thrilled with responses in the comment thread, however. I have friends that use this method but I prefer email.
I may do both xo
This is some great information. I always wondered what the bloggers thought about comments etc. Learn something new everyday!
In deed Claudia, this idea really tanked……….xo
I feel the same way as Miss A about comments, I don’t want to subscribe to replies, because that could be a lot of emails and I always forget to check back. Do you know if there is a way on Blogger to have previous posts pop up that is relevant TO “THIS” post like I have seen on some blogs? Also, I’ve had a friend tell me she can’t post on my blog and I can’t figure out why?
Hi Missy, I just always feel bad when I fall so far behind in replying to comments. You are asking about related posts. It is a plugin on wordpress I’ll do some checking and see if it is available for blogger. Xo P.S. Your friend may need to enable her cookies or clear her cookies to comment on your blog. xo
Katherine, The pinterest information is fascinating. I never so many people even cared about what I posted or pinned. I don’t like the reply in post as I don’t check back either. Once I read a post, I pin what I want to keep and I am on to the next. I tried subscribing to comments a couple of times but I got everyone else’s comments…nightmare. Another of my peeves is the “no reply” blogger who leaves a comment and for the life of you, you can’t find a way to email a reply. I like to reply quickly and go back and read in my down times.
Thanks for the great discussion.
xoGinger
I thought it was fun to know what people found “pin worthy” giggle. I changed the whole comment thing back to emails again. I just feel so bad when it takes me too long to respond via email. Smooches and Hugs!
I’m a new blogger, so this info is exactly what I need! Thank you for sharing!
I found your post through your Thursday Favourite Things Blog Hop.
these are really great tips…I think replying to comments in blog post itself is a good idea,so others get encourage to leave a comment or visit the blog back.Anyway,it is time consuming.Cannot do always,but I try to do when I have time and specially if there is any reader’s question….