I hope everyone's raising a lot of "L" today!
---Arlee Bird
The "Look At Me Syndrome"
There are a lot of things we do to call attention to ourselves. The clothes we wear, the cars we drive, or the way we might talk loudly on our cell phones when we're in public. Often we might deny that we're doing something to get others to notice us. "I'm doing this or wearing this or whatever because I like it--it's something I'm doing to please me".
Okay, believe that if you want to, but if you're putting it out there for all the world to see there is some desire to show off what you like or what you feel like or whatever it is that the inner you is itching to make known to others.
This is especially true with blogging. How many times have you heard a blogger say "I don't care how many followers or comments I have, I'm blogging for myself"? Thank goodness I don't hear this too often, but it's been often enough to make me roll my eyes in wonderment. If this is the case why aren't those blogs private? When you put up a public blog, no matter what you say, there's a part of you that wants someone else to read it. Each post says "look at me!".
Even more so this is true for you who have signed up for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. You've got your blog on a list and you're waiting for someone to click your link, visit your blog, and leave you a comment.
How to Get Noticed
Feel like you're getting ignored? Not getting the number of visits you expected during this Challenge?
Let me lay it straight to you. That list is a lot of blogs and it's easy not to stand out on the list so don't count on your just being on the list to get you regular visits There are other ways to boost the numbers that come to your blog and to receive more comments.
- Post good content -- if you hook your audience with something they like you're more likely to get repeat visits. If you're not getting those repeat visits then maybe you should reexamine your content and try a different approach.
- Use intriguing titles-- The post starts with the title. Many times that's the most important thing that draws visitors.
- Include fascinating images-- Pictures catch the eye before the words do. Even if your focus is on the writing, a related image can cause the visitor to pause long enough to read what you've written.
- Advertise on social media-- There are many places you can share your blog links with others. Find the ones that work best for you and let others know when you've put up a new post.
- Link to other blogs in your posts--tell your readers about other blogs that you find to be interesting. You'll help those bloggers and will usually in turn draw some attention back to your own blog.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY!!--Visit other blogs, follow them, and leave a comment. If you leave a good comment that pertains to what they've written then you will stand out more to that blogger and to visitors on that blog who read the comments. Leaving a comment will typically result in a reciprocal visit from the blog where you left the comment and can lead to an ongoing blogger relationship that can last long after the A to Z Challenge has ended.
Don't try to kid any of us. If you're on the list and your blog is open to the public, you want to be noticed. There's nothing wrong with saying, "Look it me!" if there's something worth looking at.
Look At Yvonne Lewis!
Here's a bit of A to Z Challenge history for you. When I put out my Challenge to bloggers in 2010 to blog with me from A to Z, the first person to take the challenge was poetry blogger Yvonne Lewis who blogs at Welcome to My World of Verse. She's been a dear friend ever since.
She's back again for this year's Challenge so I hope you'll visit her and while you're there join as one of her followers. She's had some blog problems but hopefully this new one is here to say. She's got some wonderful A to Z entries again this year.
And just in time for April Yvonne Lewis has released her third volume of poetry. The book is Moments of My Life and distribution rights are in the works. I'm particularly stoked about this release because I'm on the cover! That's me with Yvonne at the bottom of the cover. Plus I've written a few words about Yvonne in the book's Introduction. Wow, it's so cool to be sharing the stage with this poet whom I've admired for so long. Show Yvonne some support and order her book. Wouldn't it be cool to see an A to Z blogger in the Top Ten of poetry books on Amazon!What is your best method of drawing attention to your blog posts? What do you see as the biggest mistake that bloggers make that causes them not to be visited often enough? Besides blogging what are some of the things you do that say "Look at me!"?
