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Sparkle (16)
I'm not exactly sure why, but these past few weeks I've had at least five or six new bloggers email me and ask me for tips and suggestions to help them grow their blogs. I can't be sure, but I think it's because I've been doing several guest posts on other blogs, and also because of my weekly feature Monster Mommy Moments. These two things together have allowed me to meet lots of new bloggers and find new great blogs to read.
I have responded back to each blogger that's asked me individually, but I figure if there are a few bloggers that are asking, there are probably other people out there wondering the same things. I'm no expert , I've only been doing this for a year, but I have learned some things along the way.
Awhile back, I wrote a post with some suggestions for new bloggers to get started on growing their blogs. You can check it out here.
If you're a seasoned blogger or you've been blogging for six months or more, you probably won't find anything on this list that will surprise you. But if you're a new (or newer) blogger, you might be able to incorporate some of the suggestions into your own blogging.
You Must Have....A Back Up of Your Blog
Unless you want to worry about the possibility of losing all of your hard work, I suggest you back up your blog regularly. If you are using Blogger, you can check out Liz's (a belle, a bean, and a chicago dog) post over at Our Mommyhood about how to back up your blog in just a few easy steps. I haven't made the move to WordPress yet, but I asked on Twitter how to back up a WP blog, and you can check out the link I got here.
You Must Have....Contact Information
You wouldn't believe how many bloggers have an "About Me" page instead of a contact page... but they don't have any contact information anywhere on their blog! I'm a new follower and want to ask you a question or tell you how much I love your blog -- how can I do that if I don't know your email address? I'm a company that wants to ask you to do a product review... no contact info, no go. It's super easy to have this information accessible, now go make sure you have it!
You Must Have....A Way For People To Like/Follow/Subscribe To Your Blog
Whatever you want to call it, the bottom line is that people that visit and like your blog want to be able to find your blog again. If you use Google Friend Connect, people that follow your blog will automatically receive your updates in Google Reader. But you should also offer a way for people to subscribe to your blog, either by email or by an RSS feed. The choice is yours... but make sure you are offering choices.
You Must Have....A Profile That Has Your Email Address Instead Of A "No-Reply" Address
If you expect people to respond to your comments or answer a question you might ask in a comment (on Blogger blogs, now WP), make sure your profile has an email address! Without it, bloggers have to go through several steps to hunt down your email address -- and for bloggers that get 20, 30, or 40+ comments on a post, it's almost impossible for them to do.
You Must Have....Share Buttons, LinkWithin, And A Facebook/Twitter Follow Button
I can't even begin to tell you how many times I go to a blog and love it, and then want to follow the person on Twitter/Facebook... only to not be able to find a "Like" for Facebook or a "Follow Me" Twitter button. Get one. It's the easiest way to make sure that you are getting exposure on more than just your blog.
As for the "share" buttons, there are so many different ways you can share a post with the entire world. You can Stumble it, Digg it, Tweet it, make it Delicious...and just about anything else you can think of! Make sure you have the buttons available to people to make it easy for them to share your posts.
Last but not least, check out LinkWithin. When you are on a blog and see "You Might Also Like" suggestions at the bottom of this post, that's LinkWithin. It's a fantastic way to keep people on your blog. What it does is scans posts similar to the
