Every writer becomes aware that if their writing doesn't reach anyone, it's not filling it's purpose. So how 'bout we make a revolutionary new years resolution and grow the audience of our blogs?
Thoughtfully, our book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers by Edie Melson, outlines for us the differences this week between a Follower and Subscriber. This is directly proportional to our effective interaction with our readers and can affect whether people will follow us or not.
Followers
A follower is unique to a blog site. When you join a site, your picture tile shows up in the blog's margin. However, it's important to know that a follower doesn't receive email notifications.
A lot of people become followers, and never look at your site again. I think the main reason for this is that they just forget about it. The tiles with your friends photos next to it may look impressive, but it really isn't doing any work for your blog.
Subscribers
A subscriber signs up to get an alert by either email or RSS News Feed. Either way, they're committing to let your push notifications clutter up their inbox every time you make a post. This is a much bigger commitment.
Even if they don't click over to your blog every time you post, the subscriber is more interested and involved with keeping track of your current work. Generally speaking, they are more interested in your career and what you've got to say. The stats for your subscriber list is what the publishers are most interested in.
While both forms of support are good, a publicist or agent will be looking directly at your subscriber stats. This is how they will equate your relevancy as a writer. It's therefore, more important to stay on top of your subscriber stats.
The most effective tools for subscriber management systems is Feedburner. While this is a classic tool, it remains one of the best. To learn the basics, check out Edie's book on pages 40-41.
Connect Activity
Get familiar with some of your specific subscriber management systems, taking this time out right now will help grow your audience exponentially in 2014.
What techniques have you used to expand your blog's subscriber list that's been the most effective? Please share it with us below.
Can't get enough social media information? Check out Edie's column called Social Media Mondays at:
http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com
Wishing you and yours a prosperous and Happy New Year for 2014!
Laurie Epps is a senior at Anderson University
majoring in Creative Writing. Already Laurie is most published as a feature
article writer, essayist, and poet. A seeker of beauty and world traveler,
Laurie hopes to grow into a career in travel writing illuminating the many
stories that make us human despite our differences. Currently, Laurie also has
a Thoughtful Thursday column dedicated to the fine art of poetry.
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