How to Get More Blog Followers Even If You’re Brand New

I’ve written some blogger motivation tips that will help you stay on your blogging track while you figure out what to do to grow your following.

The first thing you can do is to make sure that you’re making it easy for people to share your content. I use and recommend the Social Warfare Plugin.

If someone reads an article and loves it, they’ll be able to quickly share it on social media.

Don’t be fooled, growing a blog takes a lot of time.

One of the most difficult things that I’ve ever done is work hard on growing this blog. I’ve got a set of daily routines I do each and every day.

Yes, I treat it like a business. As you know I don’t get to work full-time on my blog because I am still freelancing for clients.

However, by treating it like a business, I’ve managed to learn what works and what doesn’t.

If you don’t know, this isn’t my first blog. Nope, I’ve started blogging several years ago.

The difference between the blogs I’ve had in the past and this one is that I didn’t care about the blogs in the past. I was just chasing the money.

Today, I blog about something I actually love. Which is sharing my WordPress knowledge to help new bloggers start, grow and monetize their own blog.

I’m also sharing my personal journey with you as I grow and monetize this blog. After all, what better way to grow a blog than to do it right in front of you 🙂

So I thought what I would do is share what I’ve learned and implemented in my blogging journey.

How to Get More Blog Followers Even If You’re Brand New

It’s so easy to fall into the negative thinking that no one wants to follow me because I am new.

That’s NOT true. People will be happy to follow you if you’re new.

Why?

Most people love watching from the sidelines. They’d rather sit back and watch and learn from your mistakes.

It makes them feel safe and comfortable. After all, they’re not the ones taking the risk and working hard.

How Do I Know This?

Well as you know at the time of this writing, this blog doesn’t make a lot of money. However, I started it to help me walk away from my freelancing business.

Not once have I claimed that I was making any money. In fact, you don’t even see any income reports on this blog.

However, this hasn’t stopped people from reaching out to me wanting to know what I’m doing as you can see from the email I received above. As you know, I share my monthly blog growth reports on this blog every month.

I am completely honest and tell you that I have no clue how to grow a blog. This is the first blog that I’ve tried growing.

Yes, I’ve had several blogs in the past. However, in the past was that I was always jumping from one shiny object to another.

I was looking for quick overnight success system that didn’t require a lot of work.

As you know there’s no magic bullet. If you really want to grow a blog, it’s going to take a lot of elbow grease.

In fact, you’re going to have to get used to writing 10,000 – 25,000 words per month. You’re going to need a ton of content for your blog and for other people’s blogs.

Just ask my friend Ryan Biddulph who has grown his blog empire by guest posting on other people’s blogs.

If someone follows lil ole me and then reaches out to me to ask me for blogging advice. I have no doubt that people will follow YOU even if you’re new.

How to Gain Blog Followers

One of the things that have helped me gain blog followers is to be completely honest. I am not trying to be someone else.

If you met me offline, you wouldn’t notice any difference in what you see online. Well maybe except for the fact that I wouldn’t be standing in front of my iMac.

The point is that what you see is what you get both online and offline.

I’m not trying to come at you like I’m a huge success. So if you want to get more followers just be yourself.

Sure some people may not like what they see, that’s okay. Your blog isn’t for everyone.

People Want Honesty

In today’s society, we get bombarded with scams and so much dishonesty. It can literally make us want to turn off our computer to all kinds of money making opportunities.

One of the biggest things that you can do to learn how to get more blog followers is to be 100% completely honest with your readers.

I know you’re thinking well no one can tell if I’m not being honest. After all, I’m hiding behind my computer monitor.

People Know When You’re Being Honest

Believe it or not, people can tell if you’re being sincere and honest. Have you ever went to a website where you read something and you found it hard to believe.

Kind of like those overnight success stories. Sure some of them may be true, but chances are it’s a plain old lie.

Someone wrote that in hopes of using their copywriting skills to get you to buy their product.

Your readers are not fools. They’ll be able to see right through your writing and will be able to tell if you’re just trying to sell them something. Or if you really have their best interests in mind.

Share Your Story

I still find myself struggling with this as I speak. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I try to tie in a personal short story with every blog post.

It doesn’t always happen, but I am working on it.

People want to know a little bit about the person behind the blog. You don’t have to go crazy and share everything that’s going on in your life. In fact, I don’t recommend it.

However, if you can share a quick story about something that relates to your blog post, then do it. As you know, I share my story about my past blogging mistakes quite a bit.

That’s because I want people to know that it’s okay to fail online. It doesn’t mean that you can’t have success.

There’s no shame in failing. If you ask any successful entrepreneur they will tell you that they failed several times before they found success.

Just because I’ve failed in the past, doesn’t necessarily mean that you will. I’m just saying that it’s okay to make mistakes and fail, it’s how we learn.

Do not be embarrassed by your failures; learn from them and start again.” —Richard Branson

Add Your Gravatar

It’s so easy to add a gravatar to WordPress, yet so many new bloggers avoid adding one. They’d rather blog with the mystery man gravatar or an icon.

In my opinion, there’s nothing worse than trying to learn how to get more blog followers if you’re not willing to add your photo to your gravatar.

It doesn’t have to be a professional headshot. All you need an image that makes people feel welcome. I’ve even created a tutorial that will walk you through step by step on how to add a gravatar to WordPress.

Be Helpful

I know that you probably started your blog to make money. Most bloggers will tell you that they’re trying to monetize their blogs.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take the time to help readers.

Your job is to provide awesome content that actually helps solve your readers’ problems. If you don’t have any readers yet, then you should at least know your target audience.

What issues would they struggle with? Write content that your readers will be looking for before you know it, people will start to find you online.

If you’re helping your readers, you won’t have to worry about making money with your blog.

They’ll eventually buy from your affiliate links, click on your ads and buy your products.

Just don’t expect it to happen overnight. It takes time to build up trust with your readers. However, it just takes a second to lose that trust.

Don’t Recommend Crap

If you’re an affiliate marketer, chances are you are recommending products on your blog. I personally think it’s okay to monetize our blog by recommending affiliate products.

As long as you let your readers know and have an affiliate disclaimer on your blog.

However, don’t recommend crap. If you’re not using the product or haven’t used it before, don’t tell your readers that it’s awesome just to get a commission.

Only recommend products that you’ve used.  Nothing is more annoying than trying to get someone to buy something that you yourself wouldn’t buy or haven’t used.

Your readers are people and they have feelings. Just like you wouldn’t want to waste your money on garbage, neither do they.

Treat Everyone Like A Human

It’s so easy to fall into the mentality that we’re not dealing with actual humans. Especially since all we see are people’s avatars online.

However what you need to realize is that there is an actual person reading your blog.

Someone with feelings, family, and flesh and blood just like you. Treat everyone that you meet online and on social media like a human being.

ByRegina is the prime example of treating people like humans. She uses the human approach to teaching and selling her products.

If you haven’t followed her, I highly suggest that you do. You’ll see how easy it is to treat people respectfully.

Basically, it all respect. Remember back in the days when children respected their elders just because they were older?

I still remember being raised by answering yes ma’am and yes sir. If I ever misbehaved or treated anyone disrespectfully I knew there’d be consequences.

While no one will discipline you online. Basically, it all just comes down to treating people the way that you want to be treated.

Keep Grinding

No one said blogging was going to be easy. In fact, many bloggers will tell you that it’s a lot easier to make money at a part-time job.

You’re just going to have to keep working hard at growing your blog. By now you realize that starting a blog is the easy part.

Growing it takes a lot of work. Get off your blog and go find your followers.

You can’t find new blog readers if all you do is keep pumping out content on your own blog. I’m sure by now you’re working on your Pinterest strategy.

However, I don’t recommend putting all your eggs in one basket. Choose at least 1-2 more traffic methods to help you grow.

The last thing you want to do is focus 100% on Pinterest only to realize that they’ve changed everything and your traffic comes to a screeching halt.

Invest In Your Online Education

As a new blogger, it’s so easy to fall into the trap that you don’t want to spend money. I’m not saying to go crazy and buy everything.

However, if you’re serious about growing your blog and making money. You might need to invest in a traffic ebook or online course that helps you grow your blog.

I’ve invested in a few courses and I can say that I always pick up something knowledgeable that I can apply to helping me grow my blog.

Remember, you have to actually put everything you learn into action. Your blog won’t grow if you’re not writing content and taking the necessary actions to help it grow.

Final Take Away

It takes time to learn how to get more blog followers. However, if you take the time to follow these tips, I have no doubt that you’ll start seeing social shares and comments on your posts.

Don’t forget to sign up for my free WordPress course and get on my VIP list. I’ll share even more tips with you on what I’m doing to grow my blog.

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Do you have any tips that you can on how to get more blog followers? Share you tips in the comments below, I’d love to hear what you have to say.