Blogging is an Art - Who Will Read My Blog?

Fourth in the series "Blogging is an Art," we will figure out who will read our blogs and where to find them!

The series includes:

• Should I start a blog?
• Will a blog help sales?
• What should I write about on my blog?
• Who will read it and do I need to promote it?
• Where do I go to create a blog?

Q. Who will read my blog and where do I find them?

Once you have decided to start a blog and are now getting into the joy of writing, it can be disheartening if you do not have any readers!

How do you know if you have readers? It is easy. There are many free "counters" that you can add to your blogs. I currently use statcounter.com but there are several on bravenet.com, as well as others on the Internet. These counters are installed on your blog in your dashboard layout.

Of course, no blog should be without Google Analytics. Read GalleriaLinda's post on Google Analytics to find out why.

If you are serious about blogging, especially if your blog is related to your business, figure out who your customers and readers are and where they can be found.

For example, this Indie CEO blog is serious to me and to my business, GalleriaLinda. I know that I am specifically targeting small volume online sellers, small indie businesses, and a great deal of the handmade community falls into those categories. The reason for this specific reader demographic is the mission of Indie CEO, which is to support very small businesses with information they may not otherwise have, such as easy-to-understand and easy-to-do marketing, promotion, and business processes. I purposefully go out and find this audience.

You can find a lot of your readers through these methods:

• Forums of all kinds, such as industry, business, product specific, interests - post each time you have a new blog post and start a conversation within the forum
  
• Search these forums for specific topics where you can share your blog content as an answer to a question
  
• Join blog rings, researching key words that will fit your content. Check out Xanga and Ringsurf and always be sure your blog settings allow your blog to be in your blog venue's directory


• Social networking, such as Facebook, Twitter, Ning groups - you can RSS feed your blog into most, as well as post an announcement of your newest topics


• Don't forget the people you meet locally on the street - have a business card prepared for that presents your blog


• Customers you sell to can receive your blog business card in their packages


• Your email signature is a good way to expose your blog link


• Email campaigns - send out newsletters specifically about your blog or include information about your blog in your regular newsletters about your business or products


• Join local blog meet-ups - this can be fun - start one if you cannot find one
  
• Read blogs, comment on blogs, always put your URL after your signature (never do this without truly reading and appreciating the blog content - do not, do not spam)


• Profiles all over the Internet are opportunities, such as on Flickr, Ning social networks, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, directories, selling venues, and more...anywhere you are allowed a profile is perfect


• Local organizations you join are good places to promote your blog


• Advertising - look into Entre Card, Project Wonderful, plugboard and other ways to do advertising for your blog (none of these are specifically endorsed by Indie CEO)

I hope this inspires you to embrace your blog and spread your joy to everyone around! I will leave you with my own Indie CEO business card that I hand out along with my GalleriaLinda business card.

Please comment with other ideas on where to find readers!