10 Top Tips To Gain Followers And Pageviews As A New Blogger

New to blogging? Well, you're in the right place! As someone who has only been blogging for just over two months but has nearly 200 followers, I know how to get you on your way to success.

10 Top Tips To Gain Followers And Pageviews As A New Blogger

When you first start blogging it can be so hard to gain traction on your posts. With an over-saturation of bloggers, it's easy to feel lost amidst them. Therefore, I decided that I wanted to offer you ten tips to get your blog off the ground.

1. Start with ensuring that you're putting out good content. If you're putting out good content then people are obviously going to feel more inclined to follow you and read your blog.

2. Put out content frequently. It's not a case of just posting once a month here and there. If you want to gain traction and make some waves then you need to ensure that you're really active with it. It can help to make schedules to help with this. I know blogger has a feature that means you can schedule posts ready. In terms of thinking of what posts to write, you can get inspiration from other bloggers, what time it is in the month (valentines is soon so loads of valentines related posts are being posted) or even things going on in your own life particularly if you're a lifestyle blogger.

3. Ensure your blog looks good. This doesn't mean that you have to fork out hundreds and hundreds of pounds on a blog layout. If you search around there are plenty of free templates that are perfect to get you started. I have a personalised template which I only paid £15 for which is really really cheap. Kate was a pleasure to work with and now goes by the name 'Cool Owl Designs' via Etsy. One thing I will say though is, be YOURSELF. People like to see your personality reflected within your blog and your template alike. Don't be afraid to add pops of colour or if that's not for you then black and white is fine but try and mix it up from other bloggers. Don't go generic as you will not stand out and people won't remember you.

4. Get yourself onto Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and get promoting in whatever way you can. After you comprise some outfits that you've worn you can also move on to lookbook to showcase these. It too can be a good way to gain followers and pageviews. Your best friend will be Twitter. This is the most effective way of getting yourself heard and there are often chats that take place which can help you get to know other bloggers.

5. PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE. Unfortunately, with blogging, most of our time is spent on actually promoting our posts rather than writing them. It's an annoying part of the over saturated blogging community but something we have to do in order to get our voice heard. It can feel so frustrating at first when you're writing a post and you feel like no one's listening but follow these steps and you'll be there in no time. Unless of course, it is a blog for yourself and not really about others reading.

6. Comment on others blog posts every day leaving your name and your website link. Though, ensure that they are meaningful comments that relate to their post and not just 'Cool'; this can come across as so rude. I personally hate it when someone leaves a comment and blatantly hasn't read my post but just wants to leave a link to their website to generate themselves more page views. People are deterred by this and choose to click links of people who have added a valuable contribution and not just a one-word comment totally unrelated to anything the person has written!

7. Don't get disheartened and give up. Gaining page views and followers aren't something that happens overnight. It is hard to do. I myself only have 151 followers and have been blogging for just under three months consistently. Do not give up on your passion as with time comes more and more followings and page views.

8. Don't buy your way to the top. Under no circumstances buy followers. We've all been there, stuck in a rut thinking oh it'd be great to just add a cheeky hundred on but it is NOT worth it. People will know and it will give you a bad reputation, therefore, making people less likely to follow you and view your blog at all. It is clear when people have fake followers as they are all from another country and have ill thought out names that are so obviously fake. Don't rush it, keep striving and people will respect you more.

9. Work on your photography. People are drawn into reading blogs visually and therefore taking good photographs is VITAL. This is something I myself have to work on. I recommend taking pictures in the daytime with natural light and if you have the money get yourself a DSLR and some lighting. If not, use what you've got and make the most of that beautiful natural light; you can still produce some beautiful imagery.

10. Last and most importantly be UNIQUE and yourself. Don't be like everyone else. PLEASE! Set yourself apart. It saddens me to see blogs that look exactly the same over and over and there are plenty of them. I gasp for joy when I see a unique layout and imagery that represents the person blogging. I feel you get to know that person more and it makes them way more memorable. The same black swirly font at the top of the same white page isn't going to stand out and you're going to be more likely to get lost in the large blogging world.

I hope some of these tips help you out in this big blogging community. Do you think blogging is over saturated?

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