Commenting, Tweeting, Networking, Still Few Followers

[Lisa Parkin]

Hi Everyone, 

 

I've had my blog Read.Breathe.Relax for awhile, but I've recently decided to really build it up. I post 4-5 times a week, comment on similar blogs, tweet my posts and network (like on here!) and feel like I'm making little progress. I have some followers but the fan base doesn't seem to be growing too much. 

 

Has anyone else experienced this? What helped you get out of a follower-slump? What else can I do to build followers? 

 

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks :)

[Stella (Ex Libris)]

You could always try taking part in giveaway hops, with easy entry: just being a GFC follower and either completing a form with e-mail or leaving a comment. (Giveaway hops usually generate a large number of visitors, depending on the hop you could get even a hundred in a couple of days)

 

Giveaways usually incite people to participate more.

[Lisa Parkin]

Stella- that's a great idea! How do bloggers normally get books to give away? Do they buy them or get ARCs? I only really get e-book ARC's right now. Thanks for your reply!

[Stella (Ex Libris)]

Lisa I checked out your blog, great layout! Maybe you could add a Subscribe by e-mail widget too (is your blog a Wordpress? Because I wasn't able to find the Google Follow button). I for one don't like to follow via feeds, so I either follow via GFC or e-mail (I think I heard that installing GFC for wordpress is possible now, but you should check)

 

You 'd better not give away eARC, that violates the law :-) But you could give away either your own paperback copies (if you've read a book you don't want to keep), print ARCs or review copies, or even ask some publishers or authors if they would like to promote their book at your blog with either a guest post or interview (+maybe a review) and a giveaway, those usually turn out great for both the author and the blogger.

 

You could also use the Book Depository: they have free worldwide shipping, and believe me it is great to include international followers too, and since the book won't cost more this way but everyone is eligible, these giveaways are even more popular.

 

Something else which generates great participation in giveaways is if you give away gift cards! Amazon's GCs are great: you can buy them online for whatever amount you want, have them emailed to the winner, so no shipping, no extra charge, and again anyone with an amazon account can enter (so international followers too).

 

I hope I helped, but if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask me :-)

 

You can reach me here too: stella.exlibris (at) gmail (dot) com 

[Lisa Parkin]

Stella- thanks so much! All your suggestions are really great- plus you've helped me avoid breaking the law :) I'm going to fix my subscribe button right away- maybe lead it to a feedburner site- plus adding a subscribe by email widget is a great idea!!

 

Love the giveaway and GC ideas, too. Thanks so much again!

[Stella (Ex Libris)]

You're very welcome, glad I could help :-)

 

Also Inspired Kathy from http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/  has lots of giveaway hops, which could increase your traffic and numbers of followers, also these are very fun, you should try out it :-)

[Kayle Jensen]

what is a GFC please?

[Christopher Bunn]

I don't know if you'd be interested in something like this...however, if you did a focus on reviewing indie ebook authors, you'd get inundated from that world. If that intrigues you, try hanging out at the Kindleboards for a while, just to get a feel for that part of society.

[Lisa Parkin]

Christopher- Hmm I hadn't thought of indies before. I'll definitely check out Kindleboards- thanks for the suggestion!

[Shesten @ I Heart Monster]

I think it's really all about content. You need to consistently bring content that your readers want to read - not just the ones that subscribe, but the ones that stumble upon or just check your URL daily.

I'd also suggest getting a URL that corresponds with the name of your blog... Stella is right - you have a great layout.

I'd also suggest uploading larger picture files so that the files that come across on your header/slideshow thingie aren't super-pixelated.

It does look like Wordpress, and you can get a Google Followers widget for Wordpress too.

And again, Stella is right about the giveaways. If you don't have a large following, I think it's rude to ask publishers and/or authors for books to giveaway because just by not having a large following, they will not get good exposure from it. But then again, I think it's rude to ask someone for a book for giveaway, period, no matter how many followers/subscribers you have. Keep generating great content, and the publishers and authors will come to you. Do a giveaway for a book that you reviewed and loved, and use Book Depo to open it up worldwide (it's cheaper than even getting the book for free and then mailing it internationally usually) and tweet your giveaway - give extra entries for others tweeting it, FBing it, etc. The more people share your giveaway, the more people you will have visit your blog, and the more people you can convert to followers.

Personally, I don't require people to follow to enter the giveaway, ('cause I hate it when people require me to follow if I'm not sure about following) and I don't really think that making people follow me to enter my giveaway is the best way to gain a fan. I just give extra entries for people who do subscribe.

[Lisa Parkin]

Shesten- I've been trying to figure out the pixalation issue for awhile. If the images are too large then my site is slow, too small than it's pixel-y.

 

Also, I'm really glad you addressed the whole follow-me/givaway thing. I am unsure of how much to promote my blog without becoming over-bearing or pushy. I think your point is valid- will forcing people to follow me really help me gain followers who care about my content?

 

Your ideas are also awesome! I really appreciate your help. Thanks!

[Stella (Ex Libris)]

Lisa, to avoid this problem you can always do giveaways without having people follow your blog as a requirement. If they see you have  alot going on, interesting posts, great content, some fun giveaways they will want not to miss out on it. Also as Shesten said, you could give extra entries in the giveaway to your followers, that way people are not required to follow to be entered in the giveaway (that can be annyoing), but still you are rewarding those loyal readers who are there for you :-)

[Jacob Topp-Mugglestone]

Have you considered exchanging links with other similar blogs? I share links with a small number of similar blogs which I like, and I've got a good amount of traffic this way, and I hope they've experienced the same. I haven't tried giveaways.

 

If you'd like, I'd be more than willing to exchange links with your blog, since we seem to review similar genres and I've enjoyed your posts so far!