Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Armchair BEA 2013 - Blogger Development & Genre Fiction

Welcome to Day # 2 of Armchair BEA! Day 1 was, to me, a smashing success!

As a blogger who is still fairly new to the universe as it were, I really need to look towards the future by doing things like participating in more Blog Tours, Meme's, and Giveaways. Giveaways have been one of my most entertaining as well as most the page views. I'm trying hard to figure out a way I can up my pageviews to say, 100 a day or more. That is not currently happening and I'm absolutely confused and bewildered. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or know anyone who is looking to become an associate reviewer, please let me know!  

Wednesdays' topic:
Have you branched out into your community?
No, I can honestly say I'm a hermit. I would, however, love to reach out to independent book stores and do some sort of promotion and giveaway. I know a bunch of Central Florida bloggers who are part of street teams that go around helping authors introduce books to new readers. 

Do you partner with other bloggers?
I have in the past yes. Jenese from Readers Confession and I did a giveaway where (2) winners choice the books of their choice for a certain month. I would absolutely love to work with her, or anyone else soon! I thought it was an excellent way to cross promote blogs.

Have you gone "pro" or begun supplementing your income through your blog?
I did have an Amazon affiliate link on my blog until last year but never received any cash return for my investment. Probably won't bother with the idea again.


24 comments:

  1. Getting pageviews up is something that happens gradually over time. For me it didn't really start until I'd been blogging for a while and had enough reviews that people started discovering them through search engines. Events like readalongs also help--they're great for forming lasting friendships.

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  2. I noticed once I started participating in events like Bout of Books, the Spring Blog Carnival, BSMphotoaday on instagram, etc. I started making relationships and with those friendships came page views. It became more about discussing books and less about how many views I was getting. Twitter is the best place to meet people in my opinion.

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  3. part of blogging really is making friendships with your followers as well as connecting on twitter. Its all about what you love and why you wanted to blog in the first place which is our love of books and writing reviews!

    http://lovesbooksreviews.blogspot.com/2013/05/armchair-bea-blogger-development.html

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  4. I am new to this too and I am just concentrating on small steps, and also time does come into it. I want to have time for reading! And then there is that small matter of work commitments!! Love your blog, I am sure it will get more and more hits.
    Kathryn
    Blogger Development

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  5. I'm trying to reach 100 hits on my blog too. It's hard, but i think the best way to do it is by building a solid base of good, sound reviews. Slowly things should pick up. Good luck!
    tanya

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  6. I know everyone keeps saying connecting with other bloggers to get the pageviews, etc. I've been blessed that on days where I don't post I can still get a good amount of pageviews. My problem is with comments-I'd like to get more of those. I think the problem is and most bloggers don't realize it, but most gravitate to a few blogs and in turn those bloggers connect and the clique (probably not the best word) forms leaving some out.

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  7. I'm with Jess on comments. I would love to get more comments. I would love to have fewer weird hits from places like China. More hits would be nice but I write long and really don't expect most people to bear with me.

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  8. It's hard to pass that magical page view number that makes money for your blog. And comments - I'd love to get more comments on our blog instead of all the spam that I keep removing daily (and sometimes hourly). You're doing a great job!

    AH@Badass Book Reviews

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  9. I'm a bit of a blogging hermit too! Think I'm stuck in a comfort zone. I do want to branch out but... Also doing the Amazon Affiliates with no joy. I figure it all takes time. Good job we have a good community and events like this to encourage us! :0)

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  10. Hi Shelley :) We have been blogging almost the same amount of time, and I enjoy checking out your blog!

    I am not really worried about pageviews - I write my post, and that's it. I am like Jess, I love getting comments, so that I can actually chat with someone about the books I've reviewed. And I also spend time commenting on other blogs.

    I'm sure with time you'll get to where you want to be :) Just continue to post your reviews and your posts, and interact with your fellow bloggers.

    Happy Armchair BEA week! Here's my Armchair BEA post for today :)

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  11. Pageviews are nice to get a feel for what's going on with your blog, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want them to increase, but I think the best thing I ever did for my blogging sanity was take a week-long hiatus. I was so sure I'd lose pageviews and followers, but the funny thing is, my pageviews actually increased significantly. All the sudden worrying over them didn't seem as big a priority.
    I've found Twitter to be the most helpful to making blogging connections for me(and it's fun!).

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  12. Working with independent bookstores is a fantastic idea! I think I'll try that. Thanks for the warning against doing the affiliate idea.

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  13. What a great idea about working with independent bookstores! We don't have a lot around here, but I'd love to do that!

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  14. I did the whole Amazon Affiliates thing back in the day, too. But it just wasn't for me. My space is personal - I had to get the corporate aspect out of it, otherwise I felt pressured to "work" and not to enjoy the experience.

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  15. Hello there! Upping your pageviews is a tricky thing, it takes time and work. GIveaway up them a lot but only temporarily as many of the people only come for the giveaway. You want to work on gertting more regular readers. Participating in memes, carnivals, blogging events etc will bring new people who love books and if they click with your reading style or reviewing style, they will stay and come back again and again.

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  16. I am kind of right there with you with the hermit thing.

    I do not spend nearly enough time out in the real world at all. But there are a lot of us here in Central Florida. I think we should all get together and organize some local events. We do have a facebook group for central Florida bloggers...you should check it out if you haven't already.

    I have an Amazon affiliate thing too, but I think I have made maybe 10 bucks in the last year.

    Lisa @ Just Another Rabid Reader

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  17. The first question I'd ask you is how many blogs do you visit per day? If you're looking to increase pageviews, I would suggest increasing the number of other blogs you visit. My experience has been that we must be the change we wish to see. Good luck!

    Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know

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  18. I too would love to build my blog's following and pageviews. Another idea to add to your list would be collaborating with one or more bloggers on creating an event, or feature! It would be a good way to branch out into the community too. But all in good time, there is nothing wrong with being a hermit :)

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  19. Hi Shelly, I'm your friendly Armchair BEA cheerleader for today. I know what you mean about trying to get your pageviews up. It's usually hard for me to break 100 a day also unless there's an event like this or readathons. I have a list of blog events, like readathons on my blog to help keep track of events and meeting new bloggers. I think that's great that you have a "street team" to help bloggers and authors connect. That's pretty cool. i haven't heard of that in my area but will have to look into it. I think bloglovin has really helped me get more consistent views. Keep up the great work, I look forward to your post for tomorrow! Here's my Blogger development and favorite books by genre post if you'd like to stop by.

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  20. How have you been involved with Southern Book Bloggers? I thought about joining since I"m an NC book blogger :)

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  21. Amazon hasn't really worked for me, either ... and my pageviews (on my blog before I went self-hosted) were in that 100 views per day range.

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  22. I definitely understand being a hermit. It can be daunting trying to go out there and promote your blog.

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  23. Looks like both of us are in the same quandary of how to increase page views...I guess we need to stop being a hermit and go out there! :-D

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