How to gain readers to your blog.

Morning all. For all my Muslim friends, selamat berpuasa. Hopefully you get through the day and gain pahala. Even something as simple as a smile would be rewarding :)

Okay, so thought I'd talk a little bit about blogging. I'm probably not the prefect person to give you tips compared to some really super blogs with over 10k readers. But then, being me, I should know better than to stop comparing. Because there will always be someone better in some areas than you and the other way around. It's not easy to see our own specialty that God has given us when we keep on making comparisons with others. Plus, when doing so, it stops us from moving ahead to be a better person, because it can make you feel down when you feel that person is better than you are. Instead it should inspire and motivate you, learn from those who you deem are better. Because the danger of comparison is it will turn into jealousy, and that's baaaaad. It does anyone no good. It eats you up.

Now for the tips. Here they are:

1. Have a readable blog. Yes, blog yang mudah baca. How? The selection of color is very important. A black font against white like my blog is always the safest and sure way to make your text readable. Black background, is not recommended, even if you use a white text or any other bright color, it will still a bit hard to read. But if you insist on using a dark color, use something lighter than black, a dark grey, dark blue, etc.. And of course with light text as well.

2. Use punctuations marks, paragraphs and use your small and capital letters. It does not only make your entries reader friendly, it makes them look more professional and 'intelligent' despite the content of your post. Seriously it does.

3. If you like music on your blog, that's fine. But try to set it so it does not automatically play. Because some songs tend to be a little loud and distracts people from reading the post. Especially when it's so difficult to look for the player to press stop. When this happens, I'd just close the blog immediately and am not interested to read further.

4. Don't have too many widgets on your sidebar. Takes forever too load, and it can clutter your page. Just add in the necessary ones. Like, recent blog post, most popular, followers, pageviews, users online, blog links.

5. Shoutbox is fun. But to me it's an invitation to free advertising a.k.a spamming.

6. On commenting. Do not fall victim to the 'follow me I follow you / comment me I comment you / link me I like you' trend. Let the readers or blog owners choose who they want to follow. Leave a comment on the post that's witty, smart, well written, has a sense of humor, this will most likely attract the blog owner, or other readers to check out who you are.

7. Your blog content. Pictures, people just love pictures. Of yourself hanging out with your friends, trips, what you eat, etc. Makes your blog look fun, and some people prefer seeing pictures rather than reading words.

8. Write about your personal life, on what's new, reviews on the latest movies you watch. It's important you keep updating yourself with the news, read the newspaper, talk about what you read in the paper this morning, share your opinion. People love engaging on what's the latest happenings.

9. Now this is more like a natural born talent. If you can be funny in your post, please do. People just love that. Maria Elena and Hanis Zalikha are among the bloggers I can think of who are hilarious. Jebon too, but rarely blogs these days.

10. Another natural gift is good looks. Again, I'm picking Maria, Hanis, plus they have lotsa pictures and is funny too, a perfect combo!

11. Have a target audience. You can have a general blog, but if you have a target audience it's easier for you to come up with posts, perhaps in politics, or about celebrities, cooking, fashion about religion, parenting or have a 'trademark' like Obefiend's Blog Serius, yeah his entries cedok dari internet, not original, but he's fast, he updates often, and finds really interesting stuff, and see how each post is titled, 'Serius something'. Bijak right?

12. Consistency and rajin update. This is very very very important. When you are consistent and rajin update, you readers will come by your page every day to see if you've any new posts so they don't miss out on it. Plus, the rajiner you are, if you've a blogging income, like Nuffnang, Innit or Advertlets for example, you get money from that, and if you're lucky enough, you just might get advertorials, which pay you hundreds for each advertorial!!! So it's really rewarding. And if you want to take a break, try not to take a break for too long. Talking from experience, it's difficult to get back on track once you have lost it.

13. Don't write with expectations. Despite all my tips of gaining followers, please don't make this your main goal. Because once you do, the lack of followers, comments or income will demotivate you. Just write with your heart and passion.

14. Don't take things too seriously. Just relax and chill. Pasang lagu sket, sambil layan air sirap atau kopi, makan Super Rings, tulis entri. Lepas tu habis tumpah, baju pon dah oren-oren sebab lap jari sebelum nak taip. Haha, eh ni bulan puasa der.

15. Lupa, cuba ada header yang cantik-cantik, tajuk dan url blog yang mudah, dan senang ingat. Lagi sekali petik Maria yang menggunakan peliks.blogspot.com, Hanis Zalikha yang menggunakan inibelogsaya.blogspot.com dan of course lah bududanbelacan.blogspot.com. Hahaha, sempat lagi nak inteprem diri sendiri. Ni semua first impression, yang akan menarik orang ke blog anda.

And of course the most important is have fun, tapi time emo pon best gak, cause your entries will be truly from your heart. Blogging is a great way of expressing yourself, your issues and problems. It can be therapeutic. But also can cause headache kalau dapat komen yang kurang enak. So back to number 14, don't be so serious maaaa. Okay bai.

{ANNA}