My blog (Creating my way to Success) is mostly about sewing, and I offer lots of free tutorials for the things I make.
I also write about things I'm learning about blogging. I like to share the knowledge of the things I'm learning and how I'm growing my blog!
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Today I'd like to share with you ideas and ways to grow your creative blog - and gain a wider readership. Blogs are a wonderful place to showcase your creativity, meet like-minded people - and gain exposure for your talent with a potential to turn your creativity into a source of income!
Here are my own tips and hints!
Decide what your blog is about
This is the most important first step to take. You have to have a focus for what you are writing about so that people can come to your blog for a purpose. This could be anything from sewing tips and tutorials, to fashion advice or cooking recipes.
Having a clear topic for your blog also helps people recommend you to others.
"I found a great blog full of delicious recipes!"
Or
"This is a great blog to look at for learning to sew clothes."
If you are planning on eventually turning your creativity into a profitable business - focussing from the start, will also mean you're building a following of people interested in what you have to offer. Potentially future customers.
Build your reputation
Now that you know what your blog is all about - you have to fill it with great content. Whenever you read about what's important with getting people to read your blog - you often see the phrase,
"Content is King"
I have to agree - and from my experiences over my year of blogging, I have worked hard on building up a large bank of tutorials so that my blog has plenty to offer my readers - and a reason for them to stay a while and browse - with more content added regularly so they have a reason to keep coming back.
It is important to post regularly too, and not give up if you don't get much feedback. There are some tutorials I post that I love and think will be a big hit, but they get virtually no response. Then there are others that I'm not so sure about that have turned out to be really popular!
I have learnt that
consistency and
persistence are two key factors on the road to success.
Get yourself out there
Once you've started building content on your site, you need to shout about it! Link your projects up to as many places as you can. There are endless
linky parties where you can show off your creativity. Many blogs have
lists of these parties and the days they are on. But don't just link up and walk away (so to speak) Go and visit some of the other links and comment on them. You get out as much as you put in. If you make the effort to visit people - then most often then will return the favour.
One thing you can do to help this is add a clickable signature to your comments.
(If you don't know how to do this - it's number 6 on the list of my
Top 10 Blogging Tips)
There are also many sites you can join and add or submit your projects. I have found the following to be great traffic sources for my blog when I've had my tutorials and projects featured.
Again persistence is the key - just keep on sending your projects in - don't get disheartened if some don't get accepted - lots of my submissions and projects get no response - but others get noticed and keep on bringing me traffic months later!
http://www.allfreesewing.com/
http://www.freeneedle.com/
http://craftgossip.com/
http://craftgawker.com/
http://www.oneprettything.com/
Blogging is a two-way street
It's not enough to just write great content and get your work featured on larger sites. Blogging is quite a personal business. It's important to form relationships with your readers. Reply to their comments - visit their blogs and return favours of features. Not only is this good for your blog - it's good for you! I have made some great friendships through my blog - and am adding to them all the time as I find new friends around the world who share the same interests as me.
Money, money, money!!
Wouldn't we all love to make money doing what we love? To be able to earn an income through our crafts and creativity would be a dream come true for many of us.
This is the stage I'm at now.
I have filled my blog with content, built relationships and grown my blog to a level I feel demonstrates my knowledge and ability. Now I need the time and effort I'm putting into all this to bring some financial returns. With my kids now both in school - a return to work is inevitable - and this is the kind of work I want to continue doing.
A couple of months ago, as part of a month challenge to grow my blog I looked at
various advertising methods to add to a blog to monetize it.
Then there is the more obvious side for creative bloggers - selling your creations - whether this is the physical items you make - sold through for example
etsy; or patterns and tutorials sold again through etsy, or perhaps through your own blog or website.
I am currently in the process of making up new PDF tutorials to sell, and also writing an e-book which I hope to have ready for sale next month.
So there you have it - my own tips and advice for growing your creative blog!
I hope you have found some useful information here. Do come and visit me over at
Creating my way to Success, where I am continually adding new sewing tutorials - and more blog advice as I learn things myself on my journey to success!
I look forward to meeting you!
Thanks Lakshmi for having me over! Why not come over and see Lakshmi's
guest post tutorial scheduled for 26th August on my blog!
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