5 Things I Should Have Done with My Blog 5 Years Ago!

Why Am I Blogging?

I have been using Blogger since 2009. So, why did I choose Blogger as my blog platform? Because it’s cool and simple. I had used other local blog platforms in Taiwan before using Blogger. Back to 2005, the majority of Taiwanese students included me used Wretch (no longer exists) as their blog platform. I wrote a lot of stupid things on that blog. But I don’t want to talk about it, I don’t want to look back what I had written either. I wanted to leave the past behind, so I stopped using Wretch.

In 2009, a year after my college graduation, my life after work was quite boring. And I started thinking, “I have been sharing music recommendations with friends for years. Why not share with more people, like Internet strangers who share the same passion for music as I do?” And that’s when I started to launch my music blog on Blogger.

My Strategies for Obtaining Readership

The 5 strategies for growing readership mostly came from my own experience. After reading 6 Strategies for Launching a Successful Blog and 26 Ways to Bring Your Blog to Life, I also picked up some tips that I didn’t know before.

Here are my strategies for growing readership:

1. Add Social Sharing Buttons

Before I started writing this post, I was trying to make my blog look better, and I did some research on the Internet, then I found Shareaholic. So I added it to my blog.

2. Use Social Networking Sites

I launched a Facebook fan page for my blog in 2011, it has helped bring a lot of readers to my blog. As for what did I do to increase my Facebook fans, that’s another story…

I think that using Google Plus and Youtube together will be a good match, because if you leave your comments on Youtube Videos, people can click on your name and link to your Google Plus, then perhaps link to your blog via Google Plus.

3. Build an Active Community

I originally used Facebook comments plugin, then I thought maybe it will be a good idea to add Google Plus comments plugin into my blog. But it will look ugly if you put two comments boxes together. So I found Disqus. After reading 5 Steps to a More Active Community, I think that using Disqus is really a good choice because it can help you build a community of active readers and commenters.

Image harvested from: http://blog.disqus.com/post/58123159578/5-steps-to-a-more-active-community

4. Update Blog Frequently

This one is the most important thing! I find it hard to keep it up sometimes but I will try to do my best!

5. Create Valuable Content and Attractive Post Titles

Here are two things that I will do to help me create useful posts:

• Learn from Popular Blogs in The Same Category

  I have followed a lot of music blogs like Fasterlouder, Musicfeeds, Gigwise, Stereogum, and I always learn things from them. I don’t copy their playlists, but I do gain some inspiring ideas when I see their posts.

In my opinion, running a music blog is nothing different from managing a business blog. I know that now many companies using Facebook as a company blog replacement, but I don’t think that is a good idea. When talking about developing long-term customer relationships, I believe a blog can do better than a single social website. And I think that running a business blog and social websites together can help companies to achieve their business goals more efficiently.