Memes ARE NOT The Way To Grow Your Book Blog : New design

The other day, I came across a meme. It was one of those blog hop type things... where you answer a set question before linking to twenty or so other blogs.

There were, I'd say, seven lines of pasted content... a ONE SENTENCE answer to a question that wasn't even relevant, and then a ton of links to other blogs. (The question was what's your favourite ice-cream? This particular blogger happened to like vanilla, if anybody was wondering.)

Below there were a ton of comments saying something like great post, I've followed you, now you have to follow me back e.t.c

Now, I get that people can do what they want, it's their blog e.t.c. I know. But that type of post is CLEARLY designed to gain followers. There's nothing wrong with wanting to grow your book blog - I work on growing mine almost constantly.

But for the love of God, follow for follow memes are not the way to do it.

How much effort are you putting into your posts?

I don't mind discussion type memes as much. I mean, most that I see have clearly had time put into them. They're a good 1000+ words and I come away feeling like I've learnt something. It's good quality content that I actually want to read.

I like vanilla ice-cream however, is not a post. It's not even relevant to your blog. In fact, I don't give a flying **** about what type of ice-cream you like. Posts that take less than ten seconds to write don't get you followers.

I want to read about what you have to say. I want to read posts that you took the time to actually think about. I want to read posts that are full of personality and humour and I want to read posts that make me feel like I've really connected with the author.

Pasting ten lines, telling me your favourite ice-cream and then demanding that I follow you doesn't make me follow you. The only reason I would follow you, if I saw your post, would be simply because I expected you to follow me back. Not because I like your content, or because I wanted to read your posts. I'd just do it just for my own benefit.

If I was a visitor to your blog - actually interested in what you have to say - then you'd want your blog to make an impression, right? You'd want me to stick around, devour all of your posts and LOVE them.

If the first thing I see is a ton of pasted writing that I've already seen ten times on other blogs, then I ain't gonna stick around.

I'm going to find out just how quickly I can get off your site.

Followers aren't just a number.

Follow for follow memes don't work. Well, scratch that, in one sense they do. That tiny little number that tells you how many people have given you their email will go up.

That's all they are. People who have given you their email.

They're not followers. Oh, no.

Followers are people who LOVE your content. They've fallen in love with your blog (and you!) and want to get notified as soon as you post something.

The people who are following you because you took part in this or that meme aren't real followers. They're going to sign up just because they want YOU to follow them. Just because they follow you doesn't mean that these strangers are going to read your content. In fact, they probably haven't read ANY of your content.

So basically, these memes do nothing except make your follower count lie to you. Even worse, the emails that your 'followers' give you are useless. Why? Because the people on the other end probably aren't interested in anything you have to say.

Personally, I'd prefer to have a smaller number of followers - but have those people actually be INTERESTED in me - than have a larger number of emails that are useless.

You see, memes don't build you a following. In fact, they might even put people off. So what's the point?

If memes aren't the key to building a strong following, then what is?

Well, I'm glad you asked, my little minion. The key to building an emailing list isn't through follow for follows. It's through making people WANT to give you their email. How do you do that?

First and foremost, you need to rock your content. I'll go onto content upgrades and competitions (and why they're as bad as memes) afterwards, but if you're posting a load of crap then nothing is going to get people to follow you.

Further reading: What Is Quality Content?

Instead of posting everyday, or posting to a schedule... don't. Don't try and post everyday. It's the best and most efficient way to tire your blogging muscles out. And that won't help anyone. Don't tell yourself you're going to post on Tuesdays and Fridays and that you HAVE to post on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Write when you have something to say, and when you're feeling uber-productive. Don't have to force yourself to do it. That won't help anyone.

More info: Why Taking a Break From Your Blog Won't Kill You

Also, as a general rule, longer content is better. I try to aim for 1500+ words per post, though ideally they should be 1,700+ words.

It might sound a scary amount, but the secret is to blog less. Quality content takes time to create. If you post 5 times a week, cutting that down to three times a week - but writing longer posts - might be something to consider. How much extra information could you be adding to your posts? Surely your readers are going to benefit more from a really detailed discussion or tutorial than just I like vanilla icecream. Yum?

Longer content is actually a good thing.

Obviously, don't take this to the extreme. Don't drag out a book review and TORTURE your readers, just because you want to write another thousand words. That's not the point.

Ask yourself how deep your post is going into a certain subject. Can you add more value? Some more information that your readers will find useful? If you can, don't skimp on it just because you can't be bothered or you think people won't read it. Believe me, it will make your content SO much better.

If I see a good, long, meaty post then I know:

You're serious about blogging.
Your content is AWESOME.
You are knowledgeable in a certain subject. If I know YOU know lots about something, then I'll definitely be coming back when I need some more info.
More info = more value = more people who will LOVE you.

I WANT to come away from a post feeling satisfied, feeling that you've told me everything I need to know and feeling super PUMPED to take action. If you can provide that then I'll love you forever - and your readers will too.

Better than just copying and pasting a load of meme guidelines, huh?

Also, without getting too techy, Google prefers long form content. By that, I mean that writing longer posts can actually benefit your blog's SEO.

Find out more about SEO: https://www.nosegraze.com/ridiculously-simple-seo/

I know that you can get really valuable and useful 500 word posts. However, how much of a certain topic can you cover in 500 words? How much information can you give?

In 500 words, you're hardly scratching the surface.

When I read a post, I want to know EVERYTHING. Your readers do too.

Content Upgrades

Content upgrades are getting really popular nowadays - they're a brilliant way to grow your mailing list with REAL followers.

What are content upgrades? They're free pieces of content that you've created, but in order to get it your readers have to sign up to your mailing list. Here's what happens:

You create an awesome post.
To go with the post, you create some MORE content that's relevant. This has to be really useful, something your readers would want.
Turn this extra content into a PDF.
Use Mailchimp to download your PDF to your reader's computer when they enter their email. You get a new follower - they get even more of your AWESOME content.

It sounds hard, but it's really not. There's a great tutorial here on how to create your PDF with Canva... and there's loads of tutorials out there for Mailchimp (this one is particularly good!). Yes, you need to create extra content, and that takes time - but at least it gets you REAL followers who are interested in YOU.

There are a couple of important things to actually get people to download it. First of all, you need to make sure your post ROCKS. Make it long, pack it full of value and content... you need to make people love you.

Next, once you've created your extra-content... sell it. Don't create a thirty page workbook and then just mention it once at the end of your post, saying something like Download your free workbook.
SELL YOURSELF. Something like Hey, want a FREE 30 page workbook, perfect for finding your next great read? Enter your email and get your free download NOW! sounds much better, doesn't it?

You need to entice your readers into entering their email - let them know that you can provide them with even more valuable information and content.

Hey, what's your problem with giveaways?

Meh. Giveaways. I don't have a problem with them... giving something away to your readers once-in-awhile is a nice thing to do.

I just don't think that it's a good way to grow your book blog.

Let me explain: Using giveaways to build your mailing list or whatever is a little like follow for follow posts (but don't piss me off as much).

Let's assume that to enter your giveaway, readers have to enter their email address (and thus get signed up to your mailing list). Want to take a guess what some-people are going to do? They're going to just sign-up to your mailing list in order to be entered into your competition... not because they love your content.

Instead of signing up because they want you to raise their follower count, they're signing up for a prize. So really you've gained a couple of email addresses, but those emails are useless. Because the people on the other side don't give a damn what you've got to say.

So yeah, I'm not saying don't run giveaways. I'm just saying it's probably not a good thing if you rely on them to grow your blog.

A quick tip for running giveaways (because I'm nice):

Make your prize relevant to your blog. If I gave away an iPad on my blog, who would enter? Everybody. Even people who aren't interested in my content.

Getting the gist of this post? People who sign up to your blog who aren't interested in your content AREN'T REAL FOLLOWERS.

However, if I gave away a YA book, who would enter? Probably people who read YA books i.e. my target audience. Therefore, the people who signed up would probably be interested in my content, therefore less likely to shove me in their spam folder.

Happy days.

On another note... anybody interested in a group Pinterest board?

I get this is completely off topic... but I'm thinking of creating a group Pinterest board: Book Blogger Boss - full of blogging tips and tricks - specifically for book bloggers. Why? Tip for book bloggers is the main focus of my content, and I've found there's not a board out there that collects together all the best book blogging tips in one place.

If you're not familiar with Pinterest, then a group Pinterest board is something anyone can join. Joining the board will mean you can post your blog posts to it, meaning anyone who follows it will be able to see your content. If you write book blogging tips, then it's a great way to promote your content, and if you're a book blogger... then it's a great way to find tips and tutorials to help ROCK your blog!

If it's something anybody's interested in contributing to (or following!) then let me know in the comments! (It's something I'd love to do - but I'm not sure if there's anybody else who'd love to do it too! XD).