Turning Blog Views into Followers

[Former_Member]

I'm posting here because I've gotten lots of great blogging advice on this forum and because my blog is Etsy-related. I'm hoping it helps me promote my shop, and I post a lot about other Etsy shops and items.

How do I turn blog views into followers? I starting blogging 3 weeks ago and have about 3,000 total views. A few of my posts have gotten lots of hits from Craftgawker. But, I'm not getting too many new followers from it. Any advice or tips?
www.customizedliving.blogspot.com

[CollettasKitchenSink]

3000 views in 3 weeks is a great number!!!

To get new followers you have to be willing to comment on and follow other bloggers. Create a "community" around your blog.

Link parties are great also.

Mostly, it takes time. At least for me it did and still does. I'm always amazed when I see someonewho has been blooging for 6 months and has thousands of followers! I don't know how they do it other than marketing and promo'ing.

Good luck!

[Former_Member]

@Collettakay, Thanks, I'm excited I've gotten so many views! I thought that was pretty good so far. But just wondering why it's not translating into followers?Newbie question...what's a link party? Is that like a blog hop? There's so much to learn! :) As anyone who's seen me on these forums knows, patience is not my strong suit, lol! And it's so hard to find time to have a shop, blog, and promote...I'm so impressed by all of you that do it so well! I've been finding blogs and commenting, and that's helped (and been fun!), but wondering what else I can do?

[CollettasKitchenSink]

Yes, blog hops and link partys/link-ups are the same.

[Former_Member]

Thanks! :)

[EviesToolEmporium]

Ahh...patience! It takes time to develop a following! Be sure to really think about what your titles are! Google will start picking them up and you will get all sorts of views and followers!

[Former_Member]

Thanks, EviesToolEmporium, I always love hearing from you! Do you know how SEO works with post titles? My titles are pretty short and to the point, I think, but maybe I need to shorten them with basically just key words? I know I need patience (lol, you know I've been sooo patient from the beginning here :) ), but I had 642 views today with only 1 new follower. Maybe people aren't liking what they see once they find me? I feel like somone needs to give me the book, "He's Just Not That Into You" but for blogging :) Seriously, though, not sure where to go from here...??

[Former_Member]

3,000 Way to go!
I've been working hard on mine too and now have a whoppin'
39 followers!
I also took @Kanelstrand's advice and took the character verification off of my commenting to make it easier, and took off that they had to have a Google account. I have been spammed alot since then, but Google blogger has caught all the spam for me!
Let's keep this thread going!

[Former_Member]

Thanks! I did the same thing, CassiasGarden, and haven't noticed spam (yet at least). I follow you and think your blog's great! I understand patience is key, but would like to be as proactive as possible.

What makes you all follow a blog, not just view it and move on?

[Former_Member]

I'm on a neat site that I love because I get a lot of feedback on my art. Kaboodle is a bookmarking site, on it you can set up polls, you can use the Kaboodle button, set it up on the computer and click on it when you find a great item, I do this with my own art as well as others, especially on Etsy. There are styleboards you make a mix of pictures of the items you Kaboodled and anytime someone scrolls over the item it tells you where it can be found, you have a link back to your store so this is a MAJOR marketing tool. There is also a blogazine, mine is called Thou ART Worth It and it is focused on art. I do mini art reviews on the best art books to use, some drawing and paint products and talking about my own art journey. I get LOTS of responses. I just started this up this weekend and I am still getting people following me.

here is a link to one of my styleboards to get an idea what I'm talking about.

http://www.kaboodle.com/member/julieakeman/styleboards/beaded-love?showPublished=true&m_ep=scnsp#vie...

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the info! I've heard of Kaboodle, but didn't know what it was. It seems similar to Pinterest, does it work the same? How do you use it to market your own stuff? Do you create style boards featuring your own work?

[BrideinBloomWeddings]

CMBDisplayDesigns great blog ... I'm following .... I only have 13 followers so far on mine, and have been wondering how to increase ... I have lots to learn so this is a good thread, thanks for all the info :-)

[EviesToolEmporium]

Glad you enjoy hearing from me! Sitting in my office giggling about patience! I pray for it daily...not my strongest trait!
When I do my titles I think like someone who may be googling for information! Exactly what would someone key?
You're going to have a lot of lurkers! Just like people lurk in the forums! They seek information, find what they need and then move on! Some of us comment, follow etc! And some of us don't!
I did a lot of lurking when I was new!
Michelle-

[Former_Member]

Everything takes time. Just keep doing what you're doing and focus on what's important: providing interesting and/or beautiful content for people to read and marketing your blog. Having a lot of followers isn't necessarily indicative of a great or popular blog.
Don't get caught up in the numbers game.

Best of luck to you!

♥Lisa

[Former_Member]

Thanks, Michelle and Lisa, for helping to put it in perspective for me. I should focus on content and traffic more than followers. And I, like you said, Michelle, was a blog lurker too until I started mine and realized how important they can be to the blogger. I love when people comment!

Suzie2q, thanks for checking it out and following! I'll go find yours and follow you back! :)