Hi Kendra,
It's been a good year since our last
email! We've settled in much better here and hit a grove with the
"growing Catholic family " thing. So much so that I decided to start a
blog! Got things to say and I love the Catholic women blogger community.
At this point I would guess you've gotten the new blogger advice question a lot. So what should I make sure to do/avoid?
Thanks,
Kirby
Hey Kirby, welcome to the party!
I do get the question sometimes, but I'm not sure how much advice I have.
My
blog has been pretty successful (in its tiny little niche) relatively
quickly, but I don't think it's because I followed any "five rules for
growing your blog" or anything. I write what I want, when I want. I
spend a crazy amount of time on it, because I really do enjoy doing it. I
like photography, and graphic design, and social media (facebook and
instagram anyway) and telling people what I think. :) I don't worry
about privacy or oversharing, I'm just kind of comfortable being really
open on the internet. I don't *try* to upset people with blog posts, but
when I do, I can live with it. All of those things have just naturally
made blogging a good fit for me.
That said, things I really
appreciate in blogs I read as a good looking page (I think yours looks
great!) and regular posting (whether it's 3 times a week like I do, or
once a month like Kathryn at Through a Glass Brightly, or every day like
Cake Wrecks, it's just nice to have consistency). I also really
appreciate high quality, big photographs and graphic images. However,
it's not necessary, many bloggers like Jenny at Mama Needs Coffee,
really don't bother with images, and just focus on content, but her
content is REALLY good and she's not afraid to step on toes. I do think
it's helped a lot with my blog though. And it's something you can really
see get better as you go through my archives.
Unless you
hate Facebook, it's pretty much the best of the platforms to grow a
blog, and make connections with readers and other bloggers.
Participate
in link ups, leave comments on other blogs, interact with other blog on
whichever social media you like best. If you write a "shareable" type
post that you think a particular bigger blogger might appreciate, email
it to her. She might share it.
Finally, just remember that a
lot of this isn't in your control. I am good friends with many bloggers
who've been blogging a lot longer than I have, and I think they are
TERRIFIC, and they still have small blog. Probably they always will. But
they keep at it because they want to write and they enjoy the
community. Those are really the ONLY good reasons to have a blog, and
they are really the only two things you can count on.
Cheers,
Kendra
