Can i get some feedback? Where am i going wrong?

[Nevergarglebrandybutter]

I have no followers . Well two, but I know them in RL.

Where am i going wrong?

//www.totnesforbeginners.blogspot.com

[whyme2]

Well I am not a blogger but I enjoyed reading your blog. I would say there wasn't anything there that would make me want to seek it out again for an update. Your writing is witty and entertaining, painting a lovely picture of the town you have moved to. Buuuut there doesn't seem to be a story. Perhaps more family life, details of people, schools and your new knitting group.

I don't know exactly I am so not an expert just trying to help.

[Nevergarglebrandybutter]

thankyou. makes sense. it needs a hook, 'what happened next' sort of thing. but i don't know what's going to happen. hmm. definitely food for thought, thankyou.

[cg15]

post some interesting articles and need patience, i think other will make friends with you.
www.aosom.com/

[Nevergarglebrandybutter]

yay, got retweeted today with links to today's post. think i'm getting the hang of it now.

[Peachesandpearls]

Will deffinatly give it a read and give you some feedback!

[RecipeJunkie]

Hi Nevergargle . Firstly, I have only been blogging since last July and now have a grand total of 15 (I think) followers. The first few came from my RL friends and I trundled along with 7 for ages. However, since getting on mumsnet in jan, I have started being more pro-active - reading lots of other blogs and commenting, so people come back and read mine etc. I found that if I add to the 'new posts' thread for the particular week when I blog, it adds to traffic which eventually turns in to more followers. I felt a bit 'new girl aat school' to being with but that is changing (I think!).

I liked reading your blog, and would go back and read more - even though you don't know what's going to happen you could sort of theme it a little. My blog's mainly about what I cook (I get recipe obsessions - currently Hugh F-W and an American baking book) and although I don't know what I'm doing, I have sort of regular posts - the trying to eat less meat theme and the baking lots of cake theme and the 'my children drive me mental' theme- standard stuff I guess.

Don't know whether it works, but I've got some followers that I don't know in RL and my hits have gone up to sometimes even 50 a day...

[RecipeJunkie]

p.s. if you're interested (!!ha ha - shameless self-publicising) my blog is here

[Dollydowser]

Your website was a bit Black, where as recipeJunkies background is light, bright and interesting! Somehow made it a bit easier to read.

[amistillsexy]

I agree with other posters. I think you need a theme that others can relate to (other than living in Totnes, of course!).
I think people go to blogs mainly for tips, advice, links to nice things/ideas/websites that might interest them. When I read your blog, I can't think of a reason to come back, although I think you have a witty and entertaining writing style, so I'm sure you'll get there!

[piratecat]

nevergoogle welcome to the Hams!

sorry no advice about blogging, but Totnes is a funny old place. i think you have to have more of a quirk, and let's face it Totnes is full of them!!

I am a bit woo meself, but maybe you need a twist. Are you part of the knitting group who festoon places with 'works' in the wee small hours??!

[LatteLady]

The answer OP is to be a tart... no-one will come looking for you, you have to go out there and tell them where to find you! WEG

You have a post about knitting... join Ravelry and put it up on one of the blogging groups, make sure you follow local news people on Twitter, then they will retweet you. Find other forums that are concerned with what you write about share it on there. Join in linky parties, or better still host one.

Set up a separate facebook account and use that too.

Don't worry that you are starting slowly, growth is organic. Yesterday I passed 100,000 hits... I had 20,000 by the end of my first year and 80,000 in the past five months... yet I still remember how excited I was when eight perfect strangers read my blog at the end of the first month!

[LittleRedFarm]

Here is my experience with twitter in case it helps..

There is a setting on Twitter that allows you to automatically follow back people that follow you so if you find 100 people to follow on Twitter you will usually get about 15 automatic followers which is a good way to start.

I don't do all that tweeting stuff but i do put my blog posts on my facebook page which then get automatically tweeted. I also set up tweeting from my pinterest and etsy account so a lot goes on twitter without me actually ever having to go on it.

If someone mentions me on twitter I get an email so I can log on to twitter and reply rather than ever having to check it.

By just doing these things I usually get 3 or 4 new followers each week (not much I know but good for not much effort). Feel free to follow me! @LittleRedFarm :)

The most important thing though (in my experience) is to have a 'tweet this' button on your blog posts so that a blog visitor can easily share your post with their followers.

Rachael

[LittleRedFarm]

oops sorry, I meant to put this in the twitter post - I'll copy it there

[trulymyrtle]

nevergargle I tried commenting on your blog but I seem to be having problems. It's me, not you I think, it's not just your site : (
I wonder if it is because I am blogger and it's just changed me to a .co.uk instead of a .com?
What I was trying to say is that knitting is where it is at! The new cool....be proud!
I'm a very new blogger too - started in early Feb. I have been having a blast but working really hard to get readers/joiners etc. I've tried to make my page light and bright and attractive and blog regularly, host giveaways and give readers something to come back for....it seems to be going okay - i've just hit 10,600 views and am gaining a few more joiners/subscribers/regulars.
Anyhow - I've linked up to linky parties every week since I've figured them out, visited lots of blogs and left comments where I've had something real to say, joined here at mumsnet and a couple of other forums. Ravelry has been a good source of traffic, there is a lively bloggers group there too.
Oh, and pinterest - that has been good.
Pop in for a visit. I'm at Truly Myrtle

[ChloeGreene]

Hi. I've been blogging now since last May and it was really slow to get followers at first.
I do think a good way is to find other blogs you like and follow them and comment on them.
If you are on blogger.com you can do this by clicking on the Next Blog word on the toolbar.
I found some really interesting blogs this way.
I think you get back what you give out.
Good luck with it and keep on writing.

[trulymyrtle]

thats a good idea chloe - off to have a look

[Nevergarglebrandybutter]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm taking it all on board.
I'm gradually getting hits and twitter, mumsnet and ravelry have been really good for that. Pinterest next.
I've tinkered with the look of the pages today.
I'll go check out some of your blogs in a bit and see how it's done.

[pockledigg]

LittleRedFarm -how do you do the setting that allows you to automatically follow those who follow you on Twitter please?

[LittleRedFarm]

you have to use one of these tools

[pockledigg]

Thankyou

[greenteantoast]

I agree with LatteLady and nevergargle - you have to spend a lot of time to start with visiting lots of likeminded blogs and leaving comments to let people know you exist. Try and pinpoint a few blogs that are similar in content and style to yours and then go through their followers.

I often end up on long blog hops most evenings and leave comments here there and everywhere. It often leads to new followers.

Also, and this is speaking personally, but I'm quite a visual person so the blogs I'm drawn to often have lots of photos and images.

Good luck!

[QueenMaeve]

I had a huge run of hits this past few months, average 1500 a day, but I was posting every other day, commenting on other blogs, replying to comments, tweeting, following blogs, facebooking, pinteresting, instagramming! Very time consuming. I've had a lot going on in real life recently, in work, so I had not looked at my blog in a week. In just a week it had slipped right down to 300.

[YoungDebbie]

At risk of being controversial here, I wouldn't worry too much about not having 100s of followers - as far as I'm aware, being a follower means you get each new post emailed to you, but that doesn't guarantee that the followers read them! I follow about half a dozen blogs that I really like but I don't have time to read every post thoroughly, I just cherry pick.

You probably have a lot more people reading your posts who aren't followers. I'd rather have quality than quantity of readers! (Though a high quantity of quality readers would be good too!) But if you want to up the numbers, set up a Facebook page and (on Wordpress at least) your Facebook friends are automatically counted as followers (or so it seems to me?!) Voila - instant followers!

Getting comments is a good indication of readers' engagement - so make lots of opportunities to tempt them to comment, e.g. sign off with open questions at the end of each post.

I'd also recommend constantly tinkering with the look of your blog to keep it fresh and interesting and appealing visually. No matter how good the writing, people won't read it if it's hard on the eye (e.g. I hate white text on black pages). I change my blog quite often. I think a good blog constantly evolves - and as you see more of others' blogs, you'll get more ideas for evolving your own too. Good luck and have fun - blogging IS great fun!

[YoungDebbie]

Hello again Nevergarglebrandybutter - I've just had a look at your website and here are some specific suggestions that I hope will help.

1. Is there any way you can ditch the adverts that pop up at the end of every post? They're really offputting and distracting. I don't know much about Blogger - I'm a Wordpress girl - but there must be a way!
   
   
2. You could add a more alluring, softer header. Totnes for Beginners is a bit offputting even for a lot of people in/around Totnes - if they don't consider them beginners! But if you had a broader heading or a subtitle such as "Moving to the country for a better life" or "Knitting a New Life for My Family in the Country" then more people might think it will be relevant to them. (That doesn't mean changing the web address, just the title on the page)
   
   
3. Don't be shy - add a jolly photo of yourself! The site looks a bit anonymous and clinical at the moment. Even if it's mysterious, shady photo of you behind a pair of knitting needles and some jolly knitting in progress, it will be more personal and make people expect the site to be more fun.
   
   
4. Can you make the background more knittingy? e.g. use the lovely photo of balls of wool on shelves that you've put in one of your posts - or the pile of pink yarn. Let the picture tell part of the story for you. I'm a knitter and I think wool on shelves looks gorgeous! - and it would be colourful and fun too.
   
   
5. Rejig the sidebar (the column on the right) to make interesting things jump out a bit more. Add a list of categories or tags (if you use them - and you should!) And/or add a searchbox to help people find stuff relevant to them - e.g. so anyone interested in knitting but not Totnes can go straight to the knitting related posts!
   
   
6. Put your "follow me" icon towards the top rather than the bottom of the column. Again, ditch those pesky adverts at the bottom. They're not helping your cause. If you've been sold them on the prospect of earning advertising revenue, you'd need to getting zillions of hits to get any money back - take them off till you've built up visitor traffic that will make it worthwhile.
   
   
7. Make yourself look sociable and open to new blogging friendships by featuring a "blogroll" in your sidebar - i.e. a list of links to other blogs that you like. Feel free to use mine as a starter (tee hee! ) - YoungByName
   
   
8. And finally... QueenMaeve is right about making frequent updates - hits really fall off if you neglect to post for a bit!)
   
   (By the way, happy to give feedback on anybody else's blog if they'd like me to - and to receive any on mine! Just ask!)

[LittleRedFarm]

I love an opportunity to get some honest feedback so please go ahead :) Here's my blog
I looked at your blog and love the freshness of it. If I had to suggest improvements I would say bigger and more pictures and perhaps more posts per page (so you don't have to click after every post).
I love to read local information and see pictures of peoples houses and gardens - it satisfies the nosey parker in me.