Be consistent.

 I recommend using the same picture for your social media profiles. People may not remember you or put two and two together if they see 5 different pictures of you around the internet. But if you use a similar design all over the place, people WILL notice and eventually they’ll be curious about who the hell you are.

Additionally, keep the pages on your blog and your social media profiles up to date. It just looks unprofessional when things are incorrect or out of date. For example, if it’s October, edit your “about” page so it doesn’t still say, “I’m looking forward to getting married in August!” Leaving overdue details will just show your readers that you’re unorganized.

Related: How to create a style guide for your blog (free workbook!)

`1. Comment on other blogs.

I’m not going to go in depth on this since you’ve probably already heard it before. But you should definitely be doing this. And for the love of god please be sincere. And if you’re going to include your blog’s URL, write more than a sentence. And guess what? If you’re really sweet and motivating, OTHER readers from that person’s blog will click over to view your blog, too. I’ve gotten plenty of traffic from people who clicked over to my blog simply because I left a long, engaging comment on someone else’s post. Being kind and encouraging will get you far. Don’t forget that.

2. Join linkups and leave comments on the other linked up blogs.

Remember, successful blogging is about building relationships. You could certainly just link up your blog and be done, but you’re missing out on the community building aspect of link-ups. If you comment on other people’s blogs, they’re bound to come say hi on yours, too. Also, don’t underestimate smaller linkups. Those are often the best because it’s much easier to meet real people who will stick around.

Related: How to create a successful blog linkup

3. Put effort into SEO.

Almost 40% of my website’s visitors arrive here from a search engine. If you’re not properly SEO-ing the crap out of your posts, you’re missing out on tons of potential readers.

How to use it effectively: Name your photos something that pertains to your post instead of using a name like “J2596.JPG.” Also, add a keyword to your post and try using it in your post’s title, content, meta description, etc. Use relevant tags, and add a meta description (the description that shows up under your post title in a search engine). I use a plug-in called Yoast WordPress SEO that is easy to use and extremely helpful.

Also, if there are certain articles that consistently get hits from search engines, then consider revamping or updating those pages. Some of my popular search engine posts are from when I first started my blog. This is the first impression a random person on the internet has of you, so make sure it’s a good one. It may take a month or so to really see progress from your SEO, but trust me, it’s worth the effort!

I hope these tips gave you some solid ideas for how to grow your blog! I honestly think that if you do all of these things well, you will definitely grow your readership. Also, keep in mind that blogging takes a LOT of time. You will need to spend several hours a week updating posts, staying active on social media, and replying to comments in order to really grow your blog and readership.

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