****Update -- 11/15/12
If you wish to sign up to participate in the "Grow your Blog" party--
please go HERE to the official sign up post to leave your comment and blog address. Its going to be a great party -- already over 100 blogs are participating!!
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Blogging is only fun if you have someone to talk to~~
So many of you have written to me asking for advice on how you can increase the readership of your blogs. Honestly - there is no easy answer -- it takes time, and a lot of work to grow your blog into one that has a large following.
It hasn't been that long ago that I started my blog -- just a couple of years. And -- I still remember what it was like to have 3 followers (my 2 sisters and my best friend Mary!!)
I would NOT be where I am today had it not been for some wonderful bloggers who were kind enough to help me when I was first getting started. Without their help, I do not think I would have all of you out there to support me in this blogging adventure.
So - once again - I want to say a heartfelt thank you to Dawn, Karen, Sabine, and Lynn (formerly of the Sea Angels blog -- Lynn is on a little respite right now.) (Big hugs to you all!)
In an effort to continue the tradition of giving back to the blogging community -- I want to tell you about my crazy
(super-brilliant!!) idea to coordinate a blogging party for the purpose of meeting and greeting other bloggers and--- hopefully growing your followers.
I would like to propose a blogging party to take place on a specified date - sometime this winter -- (I was thinking sometime in January.)
I will serve as the host blog and all of you who wish to participate will send me a link to your blog and on the specified date - I will post them all.
You can create a post - telling everyone a little something about yourself and why you want to blog. To add to the fun, I would propose that each person who participates would host a little giveaway on their blog --
The idea would be to visit each others blogs and to hopefully follow them - in turn - folks who visit will want to follow you. This is all about meeting, greeting, and FOLLOWING. The purpose of this event is specifically to increase your blog followers and readers.
I specifically want to target blogs who have less than 200 followers. If you are a new blogger, if you are someone who has 20 or 30 or 50 followers, OR if you just want to increase the number of people who will love you and support you and will be the reason for you to want to continue to do this blogging thing ~~
then this blogging party is for YOU!
On the host page (my blog) I would list all of your blogs in 2 columns. Those of you who have less than 200 followers will be in the first column -- and those of you who have over 200 followers will be in the second column.
While you are welcome and encouraged to visit ANY and ALL of the blogs -- my hope is that those of you with less than 200 followers will start your blog visits by going to other blogs in the same category as yourself --- meeting those folks and hopefully following their blogs. (With all of those blogs listed in one column - it will be easier for those of you who have less followers to visit like minded blogs and form your own support groups by signing up to follow each other. Does that make sense?)
Lets be honest -- we all want to have someone to read our blogs, leave comments, and to be regular visitors. It's no fun if there is "no one out there" to support us and make our blogging experiences worthwhile. I love my followers -- love them more than I can ever say. Knowing that they are here for me gives me reason to want to write about my life - my travels - my adventures. In some situations - I have truly bared my soul to my readers and followers. The support and encouragement that I get from them is priceless. I want that for all of you~~
Some of you already have a large following -- so this might just be an opportunity for you to meet new bloggers, participate and have some fun.
But for those of you who do NOT have a large blogging support group - THIS could be the one event that might change your blogging life.
So - here is what I am asking you all to do--
1. Talk about this on YOUR blogs.
2. Link to this post on my blog. We have to spread the word.
3. If you think that this is an activity that you would like to participate in--- then please leave me a comment here on this post telling me so.
4. Ask your friends who read and visit your blogs to come here and leave me a comment if they wish to participate.
5. In your comments - please tell me how many followers you currently have. This will let me know if there are very many of you out there in the "less than 200 followers group" who are wanting to participate in this activity.
In order to make this happen and for it to specifically be successful for those blogs who do not have a large readership right now -- I would like to have about 100 blogs with less than 200 followers to participate. So please spread the word - and leave in your comments - your current follower numbers.
Those of you who have large followings and successful blogs - would be doing your readers a huge favor if you would post about this. Many of your readers will fall into the category of those who have less than 200 followers. This could be huge for them. This could be YOUR way to give back to your readers and followers.
I truly believe that this can be a great blogging event.
I believe that those of you who have a limited readership can GROW your blog following through participation in this event.
I believe that there are lots of bloggers out there who would love an opportunity that is dedicated to helping them to grow.
I believe that this is a wonderful opportunity for ME to give back to the blogging community - something that I have wanted to do for a long time.
I believe that this post is already getting to be way to long :)
So - to sum it up - spread the word. Leave comments here and ask your friends and readers to leave comments as well. Those of you who have less than 200 followers - have the most to gain in this event. So it is very important for you to spread the word. If it looks like there is enough interest -- then it will be a go. My friend Karen Valentine has graciously consented to help me with this endeavor and will design a badge for us to represent the "Grow Your Blog" event. I will post more details as we go along. So as they say- stay tuned~~~ and spread the word!!!
xoxo,
Vicki
ps -- My friend Karen Valentine is getting ready to host her annual "Where Bloggers Create Party". This is a wonderful opportunity to meet other bloggers and also to allow other bloggers to meet you! You can visit Karen's beautiful blog to find out all of the details!
AND---
coming up next the photo shoot for the Harvest nest yarns--
these photos are so beautiful that one of them was recently featured in a national magazine -- (I'll tell you about that too!)
