Maintaining a Small Blog with Pride
By Tiffanie Turner.
Work from my blog has had a lot of exposure in the past year through larger blogs and outlets, yet my readership is still pretty low. I've learned to really appreciate contributing spots and being featured elsewhere. It's validating to get that kind of opportunity, and it can carry you through your moments of doubt, or when you feel like you deserve more attention than you're getting.
Here are some of the things I've learned in this past year that have helped me keep it together, and keep my chin up. First the practical:
FINDING EXPOSURE FOR YOUR ORIGINAL IDEAS
- Submit relevant ideas to blogs who solicit work from others. Blogs actually seeking content are more receptive when it comes to featuring work you've already published on your blog (although some blogs want work that has never been seen before, so think about submitting ideas before you post them to your own blog).
- Build relationships with writers and editors. That person who featured your work might be back to mine your blog for more good stuff.
- Selective sponsorship. Experiment at different blogs; one well placed advertisement a month can make a big difference.
- Think about scale, too (big fish in a small pond vs. small fish in a big pond).
- Highlight your expertise/create a series. A series gives readers something to grab onto and share. When you highlight an area of your expertise, it can create energy and interest, beget more ideas, and give you and your readers something to look forward to.
- Sell your wares. Makers can blur the line between using a blog to promote wares and wares to promote blog. What have you made for your blog that could be a sellable item?
METHODS TO FORGE AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CREATIVE BLOGGERS
Being featured or pinned is great, as is getting reader comments. Also great is the support of a few good friends in the field. Our roundtable group had a lot of ideas in this area:
- Join established online blogging communities. A few specific ones mentioned were BlogHer (especially the communities in the NaBloPoMo exercises), Facebook, Twitter chats, monthly meetups, ALT classes, blogbrunch.com, and the ten-on-ten photo project.
- In real life, attend workshops and conferences (like ALT!), and join co-working spaces and societies.
- Use of social media judiciously. Use it slowly and wisely to find your people.
And then there is the deeper stuff to help put some perspective on things. We did some soul searching at our roundtable based on the following:
HOW BIG DO YOUR WANT YOUR BLOG TO BE?
Adjust your expectations in the name of joy. If you reflect on what you are looking for, you might find yourself more content with where you are. That, along with the validation you've received from your online community and exposure, will buy you time to let your blog grow organically. There is something to be said for sitting on your laurels. Validation tells you to keep on keeping on, which helps me to do my most authentic, true-to-myself work.
Ask yourself questions like this:
- Why did I start my blog?
- What are my real intentions?
- What am I doing that deserves big attention?
- What am I doing differently from the next person?
- Am I looking to/prepared to be a celebrity?
- How many people need to be interested in me and my work for me to feel fulfilled, or even okay?
- Where do I go to find them?
- What do I want to be known for?
FINAL THOUGHTS ON MAINTAINING A SMALL BLOG WITH PRIDE
These are things I see repeated over and over, and find it kind of ironic that they need to be said at all. But since it took me time to come to understand these things myself, they bear mentioning:
- Your blog is your very own online gallery, and no one can tell you what to hang there but you. You are running the show.
- The very format of the blog creates, in most cases, an unavoidable template, absolutely requiring YOU to fill it with unique content. Unique = you.
- When you find your voice, the stats mean much less (but will probably climb more).
- Blogging is a tremendous creative outlet for most, and has a way of changing your thought process from reactive to proactive. Go with that. Your most authentic and original (to you) posts will be the ones you are most proud of, whether anyone reads them or not.
Feb 25, 2013
Reader Comments (12)
Thanks so much for this post! I needed to hear most of what you said. my blog is almost at a year mark and I find myself comparing it to others of the same age that have more followers and such than me. I know I shouldn't but it's hard. Thanks for this uplifting post about having a small blog with pride!
Kelly
Great post. Just a few months old and trying to figure out how big I really want to be....
Tiffanie that is all such great food for thought. My blog is almost a year old and I have been worrying my numbers are still low even though I'm featured all over the place! What you said at the end is what I think every day - even if no one is reading it, I'm really proud of my content and that's a really satisfying thing. Thanks for the advice and ideas :)
This is a very timely post for me to read. Thank you for sharing such valuable and important lessons!
This is such a powerful and great post. I've been blogging for about a year, and I wish that my blog was a little more well known but I know that takes time. These are some great tips though, so I'm definitely bookmarking this post!
Thank you so much for this post! I have just recently started blogging and I worry that what I am posting is not good enough. I see all of these people with amazing blogs and amazing posts and I just don't know how to get there. I almost forgot the real reason of why I wanted to start my blog so thank you! I really needed this!!
This is seriously so helpful! I am going to take your tips to heart and am making it a personal assignment to write out answers to your questions. I am very new to blogging and I believe I have a lot to offer but am still pretty clueless on how to get where I want to be!
Hi there! I wrote this post, and I just wanted to say that I really appreciate the comments people have left. I'm glad there are people out there who can relate to these feelings, and if I've helped anyone get a new perspective on what they are doing with their blog, that makes me feel good! xo, Tiffanie
Ahhh. I feel so much better now. It is a pleasure when you read your thoughts in black & white having found someone who knows exactly what you feel like. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks for the pep talk and tons of ideas! And I clicked through to your blog - I love it and am adding it to my blogroll! (I'm a fellow mom/lifestyle blogger in Nor Cal - I'm near the Sacramento area)
Those stats can be our worst enemy! Thank you so much for a great reality check on reflecting inward instead of outward. I will remind myself daily!
Love this. Thanks so much for speaking out for all the "little-knowns" out there. The climb (or lack thereof) can be tough, but at the end of the day, it's all worth it. Now, to hold on to that inkling of patience! ;)