A few years ago now, I started taking note of my blog stats. I like numbers and watching them grow. It keeps me motivated and helps me to know that I’m clearly doing something right and on the right track. I think that’s the case for a lot of people and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. The increasing numbers are a JOY to watch and still give me a buzz today. That’s why I wanted to share how to get blog followers quickly and easily.

how to get blog followers

Photo by Natanja Grün on Unsplash

I’ve been blogging since 2013 (ah the good ol’ days) and back in 2018 was when I started to really keep track of the NUMBERS. In the middle of 2018, I hit 5,000 blog followers, which was 5 years into my blogging journey. So that averages out at around 1,000 followers a year. A pretty decent amount and pretty steady growth.

Then at the beginning of 2020…

I hit 10,000 blog followers.

That’s another 5,000 followers in 1.5 years. Say whaaaaat. I know, I don’t really believe it either but here we are.

*update*: I’m updating this post in August of 2020 and I now have over 11,700 blog followers.

I gained the same amount of blog followers in 1.5 years than I did in 5 years. But HOW? No, it wasn’t luck. No, it wasn’t chance. It was hard bloody work and making those effective changes to my blog and my approach which brought about this mega growth. So today I’m going to share 6 of the basic ways how to get blog followers which ACTUALLY WORKED for me.

To be totally honest, it’s not what I expected to happen. I never anticipated this growth. But something obviously clicked and here we are. I even wrote a whole eBook dedicated to growing your blog following, which contains a lot of extra, handy information and resources if you REALLY wanna get stuck in!

Related resource: A Beginners Guide To Growing A Blog Following

Before we get into the advice, here’s a quick image that I took a few years ago (mind the quality, I had a REALLY shite camera!) which shows how I used to keep track of my stats and how many followers I had at that time (2018):

Want to know how to get blog followers? Keep reading!

Consistency will get you blog followers

I think one of the main differences is that my consistency improved tenfold. I have a blog schedule, a spreadsheet to keep track of all my blog posts and social media promotional posts and I STICK TO IT. Without fail. It was only when I started doing this and stopped posting sporadically that I noticed a real increase.

How to help with consistency? Schedule posts in advance. Bank a bunch of posts which are ready to go for say, the following month. This way you don’t have to worry about churning out a post the morning it’s due up and it takes a LOT of the pressure off. I will advocate for scheduling in advance until I’m blue in the face.

Related read:

Scheduling tweet regularly and every day

Regardless of how tedious I find it, scheduling tweets and promoting my posts on the reg has helped massively. Did you know the average life span of a tweet in around 18 minutes? Say you promote your blog post ONCE on Twitter, that gives you readers 18 minutes peak time to see it. After that, they’re less and less likely to do so.

So not only with scheduling tweets help with blog VIEWS, it’ll also help getting your blog out there and for more people (people = potential followers) to see it. Don’t be afraid of “over-sharing” on Twitter either – if the average life span is 18 minutes, trust me, you’re not over-sharing.

How do I schedule my tweets? I use the free version of Buffer to schedule tweets for that day. When I have a NEW post up, almost all of my promotional tweets are promoting that post. If I don’t, then I promote a variety of my old posts. Plus my eBooks, my advertising packages and any affiliate programmes.

Related reads: 

Work on your photography

Let’s just get this out of the way… I hate taking blog photos. I hate it. BUT, what I’ve learnt is that humans are visual creatures. We need something to draw us in. The easiest thing for that? Photos. Now, I definitely DID improve my photography. It’s nowhere near the standard of others but compared to what it used to be, well, call me Picasso.

But when I can’t take photos or I’m writing a blog post like this one where I wouldn’t know WHAT photos to take – I use stock photos. Which are totally okay to use as a blogger and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Basically what I’m saying, is just take a minute to actually CARE about how your content looks.

What to do if you hate taking blog photos? Finding a “style” that works for you is helpful because it cuts down the thinking time when it comes to arranging the photo. Accumulate some props which are easily accessible and you know look nice in photos. And don’t compare yourself to others! And use stock photos, which we’ve covered.

how to get blog followers

How to get blog followers continued:

Find what does well for you

Another great tool for how to increase your blog following is finding what does well for you and your audience. For example, blogging advice style posts – like this one! – always go down really well. So I started using that information to my advantage.

How do I do this? Hop onto your stats (e.g the WordPress stats page on the app – if you use WordPress – I’m afraid I don’t know how Blogger works with this) and check out your “monthly” views. It’ll tell you which were your most viewed post/s on any given month. If you start to notice a pattern (e.g a book review is always the highest viewed post) then take note.

Grow your blog followers by getting involved – be social

You have to be active in the blogging community. New followers and like-minded followers are everywhere but you’re more likely to find them if you’re actually social. It’s called SOCIAL media for a reason. If you don’t put yourself out there, be heard, talk to people, make friends and offer opinions – how is anyone going to find you? How to increase your blog following goes further than just your blog.

How do I do this? There’s plenty of ways to do this which will benefit different people. A few are; joining a comment pod, taking part in Twitter chats, taking part in comment threads, joining blogging Facebook groups, just simply talking to people on Twitter.

Be passionate

When you read a blog post, you just know if the blogger behind it doesn’t give a shit about what they’re writing. Honestly, you can tell. Passion shines through. Not just in blogs, in anything. If you’re writing about something you love, are enthusiastic and passionate then I believe you’ll attract those like-minded people (as well as putting the hard-work in!)

Please don’t just write about something because everyone else is. Because it’s “cool”, when you really don’t care. Because if you don’t care, your readers won’t either. So even if that means writing LESS posts, then so be it. As long as you implement all the above and are PASSIONATE about what you’re writing, it’s all good.

My brand new course, Blogging Mindset Mastery will REALLY help you with finding what you’re truly passionate about when it comes to your blog!

how to get blog followers

I hope these tips on how to get blog followers were helpful!

198 Comments

  1. Lovely post.
    Great help.
    I have a question about title/headlines, what if your idea for the writeup isn’t catchy or trendy but you like it, do you please yourself or try to draw the audience?

  2. This post was just on time, for me! Although I am still working on building my blog, I totally agree with all of what you have said here. When I changed my plans into posting continuously the past month, I have gained more traffic to my blog! I’ve also noticed engagement rates increased as well (wahoo!) 🚀
    Thanks Jenny, that was very informative. 🌻✨

  3. All of this is so true! I’ve not used stock photos before but will have a look into that now I’ve recently branched out into posting about blogging tips! I’d love to do some flatlay photos, might give them a try one day while I’m still furloughed. Your blog view stats made me want to cry lol! I don’t feel like I’m gonna get anywhere near those while my Pinterest won’t let me post and link to my site!
    Also, just wanted to say, I LOVE the layout of your blog! Looks amazing xx

    1. Pinterest is doing my HEAD in lately! My views have dropped loads because Pinterest isn’t working for me right now and I don’t know whether that’s a Pinterest fault or what. My blog followers have always been great – I’m up to 11,200 now! Definitely start using stock photos – it’s soooo much less pressure. And there are so many amazing stock photos too – Unsplash is my favorite site!

      1. I’ve seen a few people mention on Twitter that their Pinterest is playing up. Whereas I can’t even get an answer from a person, just bots about getting my site taken off their spam list! My blog following has hardly changed over the last year, but I’m hoping g with consistency it will grow gradually! Thanks for the tip, I’ll check Unsplash out! X

  4. I really, really need to work on my consistency. I’m always finding excuses not to knuckle down and get it done, but seeing how much you’ve grown is definitely the motivation I need to get my sh*t together! I’m feeling really inspired and passionate about blogging just now, it’s just the whole ‘getting it done’ thing. I’m gonna be thinking ‘What Would Jenny Do?’ from now on haha! x

  5. Some really great tips here! I definitely think being passionate and consistent are huge contributing factors. Although this post has made me realise that I never keep track of my following and only ever really monitor views x

    Sophie

  6. Increasing my blog following is one of my biggest resolutions for 2020, so I found this post extremely helpful and informative! Consistency and promoting my blog are two things I really struggle with because I often don’t have the energy to do anything productive after I get back from work. Weekends are the only time I can take some photos for my blog, but it can be hard when the weather is miserable and there isn’t much light to take photos inside. Still, I’m determined to make more effort to grow my blog this year and I will definitely bookmark this post for future reference – thanks for sharing!

    Dominika | Into the Bloom

    1. Really hope you find these tips helpful when you put them into practice! If you don’t have much time for promotion, I’d suggest scheduling your tweets on the day – doing 6/7 tweets in the morning when you wake up, should only take you about 10 mins!

  7. such handy tips here I need to really focus on my blog this year haha it gets left out with all my freelance work! x

  8. That’s a huge milestone, congratulations! I absolutely despise scheduling tweets but I need to get over it and start getting serious about it!

  9. Thanks for sharing this good advice. I will certainly print this article for future reference as I would be keen to increase my blog follower numbers. Would you say that Facebook groups are still very helpful as I’m not on Facebook currently?

  10. These tips are really useful and I even wrote a few of them down to start taking action on. Thanks for sharing Jenny 🙂

  11. These are all really good tips! One of my goals this year is to be more reflective and spend more time analysing my successes and not-so-successes, so I think identifying patterns like you’ve suggested is a good way to go about this.

  12. I really needed this post, currently my blog is on its way out, or so it feels.

    I have so much passion for it but so little time currently to dedicate to it. My brain is constantly whirring with ideas but having time to put those down is near impossible.
    My pinterest had really built up over Christmas and the traffic coming in was great but my audience has dropped by half, despite not changing how I use it.

    As always you inspire me and help me to find my focus so thank you x

    1. Nooo don’t you dare! Your blog is wonderful, as always. Certain things work sometimes and then don’t – it’s weird but it’s the same for me. If the passion is there, that’s all that matters. Concentrate on the time management and everything else will fall into place <3

  13. Your followers are via blog not blog and social media??

    I did really well as a BOOK blogger. I grew steadily over 5 years but lifestyle is harder for me to grow. Blogs and bloggers are harder to find IMO. But Pinterest has helped a lot!

  14. I definitely need this post – thank you! Conistency is what I find hardest, on my blog and also on Twitter promoting my posts. I work full-time and blog in my spare time, so I often find I’m just posting when I have the time/energy/ideas like I have done this evening! But I know that I need to up my game if I want more people to see my writing.

    Thanks for the post!

  15. Hey Jenny, Just came across your blog and it’s so wonderful. In this post you have sums up a lot of great tips for new bloggers like myself. I just started blogging a month ago and loving it. It’s very nice to meet you here. I would love to have you on my blog and I would also live to have any advice you have a fairly new blogger like myself.

    Take care,

  16. Would love to get more input on what challenges you faced when trying to grow your blog etc. I think it’s great you were able to grow it to what you are now though!

  17. This had some great tips- thank you! I find the photographs the worst part too- I’m all about the writing! 🙂

  18. […] Jenny In Neverland – How I increased my following […]

  19. Thanks for sharing your ideas. I’m new to blogging but am really enjoying writing about my travel experience. It’s also giving me somewhere to share the photos I took, although I think it’s impor not to overload a post with too many images. I’m also trying to be creative by adding artwork and music too, to make things more interesting. 🙂

  20. Loved this post! It was so informative and definitely helped cause I am having a bit of trouble with posting on social media and taking pictures for blog posts!

  21. I always struggling with partipating in social media, I’m not sure why but I guess it’s like I forget about it and am not completely sure where to start. Anyway, great read. 🙂

  22. Sounds like you have a well thought out, tried, and true plan of action. I guess I will have to learn about Twitter now. What kinds of things do you tweet?

  23. I’ve been having trouble this past year being consistent on my blog, since I spend most of my time drafting/revising books, but I do want to improve. You’ve given me some tips here to think about!

  24. This is an incredibly helpful post Jenny, thank you so much for sharing it. I find consistency so hard but it’s definitely key, hopefully I can get myself sorted soon and join you with a schedule haha! You work so hard and it’s so lovely seeing it pay off – you really are an inspiration to me!
    Beth x

  25. I think I’ve read this post about six times now, hoping to absorb as many tips as possible! I’ve started tracking my views and followers too and it’s quite illuminating. You’re right about consistency, although I’m never in the position to write and bank posts, sadly! Really helpful post, Jenny, thank you so much. Xx

    Lisa | http://www.lisasnotebook.com

  26. Absolutely great tips! I’ll be sure to implement them as I’m in the process of growing my blog right now!

    Shauna

  27. Thanks for sharing. I need to work on being consistent. So far I’ve had no set Day I post.

  28. Reblogged this on and commented:
    Open your notebooks or your note app and start writing down these amazing and helpful tips, Jenny shares in her post.
    Read the full post and learn how to increase your followers, now 🙂

  29. Bullet journaling is fun – but can be challenging with what you want to include. It’s great that you started tracking your stats. All of this will always be a learning process so no worries! Scheduling tweets is such a lifesaver! I found myself having to tweet at a certain time but constantly get stuck in meetings @__@. I totally agree about being social – respect is a two-wat street. Thanks for sharing your tips on increasing your following!

    Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me

  30. Thank you Jenny. This is great advice. I am starting to notice what people like about my blog. It takes practice but once you figure it out, you do gain followers. Thanks for this amazing post!

  31. Some really great advice! Scheduling tweets is one thing I am so bad at doing, its the most boring thing about blogging.

    Rebecca Elaine x

  32. Usually, I don’t really tend to like these types of posts but I think yours reads so genuine and nicely! I also think your advice is quite useful and some I should start to follow!

  33. Wow your engagement on this post even practices what you preach! Great post – I definitely need to try scheduling tweets because sometimes I forget to use Twitter for several days and then my engagement suffers on my blog. Thank you for the advice!

  34. Thank you for this post!! I’ve been working very hard, but sometimes it just seems like it’s not paying off! How long have you been blogging??

  35. This is so true Jenny! I’ve been really trying to work on my blog recently in most of these aspects. My bloglovin count has been increasing without me even really noticing 🙂 Love it!

    chloexlizabeth.blogspot.co.uk <3

  36. There are so many fab tips here, and I’ve no doubt that they would all work, I just wish I had more hours in the day to spend on my blogging sometimes!

    Alys / alysgeorge.blogspot.co.uk

  37. These are some great tips and I defiantly agree with the point about being passionate, it draws you in and makes you want to read the content if you can tell the person really cares about what they’re writing about 🙂 You really are a huge inspiration for me and this post shows what you can achieve with hard work and dedication 🙂 xx

    Jade | jademarie.co.uk

  38. There’s some fab tips in here so thanks! I’m just starting out so always on the look out for advice like this, and amazing how your blog views have increased!

  39. This is really helpful! Thank you so much for another great post 💛 For me I’ve found the most helpful things to be spending time to comment on other people’s blogs, joining in twitter chats and posting regularly. I definitely need to start scheduling tweets again, I stopped doing it ages ago as I was so busy but I’ve definitely seen a drop in my stats.

  40. Fantastic advice as always Jenny! You are going amazingly well, you have such impressive stats! I totally agree, being passionate and connecting with others helps to grow your following. I’ve never got round to scheduling tweets and I’m always writing posts the day before so I need to learn your organisation skills! Great tips! 💖 xx

    Bexa | http://www.hellobexa.com

    1. If you write your posts the day before then I’d recommend scheduling a few tweets the morning the post goes live 🙂 it saves you sharing it throughout the day! Thanks so much 🙂 xxx

  41. this is such a helpful post, i have noticed since upping my photograph game that my blogs are getting noticed more

  42. Great Post, thanks for sharing your ideas. You have some really great tips.
    I love my bullet journal too, but mine is way to messy to share with the public, pretty sure the bullet journal people would contact me and ask me to stop referring to it as a bullet journal 🙂

  43. Thanks for writing this. I’m relatively new to blogging (about six months) and I’ve been looking at ways to increase traffic to my blogs so this post has helped immensely.

  44. This is so helpful! My biggest struggle is keeping a schedule. My life is so busy that it’s hard sometimes. By I figure out the two days that work! The scheduling tweets is a good idea as well. I’m gonna start that once I get a few more followers. 🙂 thanks for the advice!

  45. I’m SO bad at being consistent… *deep sigh* Thank you for these tips, they are easy to apply and the key to it all is obviously your last point: passion! (Who cares about consistency when you’ve got passion in your back pocket). 😉

    Love,
    Dominique

  46. Interaction is the key for me 🙂 I don’t look at my numbers but I agree that you need to give to receive and there needs to be a two-way thing, not just the blogger posting and waiting for fans! 🙂 I love chatting on social media and replying to comments, even though it can take hours!

  47. I am learning it all from you right now. My consistency isn’t an issue but I need to keep going and going. Blogging world is a quick one!

  48. Youre an amazing and inspiring blogger, and I totally agree with the one about photography and checking blogpost analytics!Keep doing you, girl xx

  49. This is great advice! I thing consistency and pattern are definitely key in gaining loyal followers. I love your last advice, “passion shines through”, it’s a very comforting thought xx

  50. I love how your advice is simple. These are all things we know to do, but your points about being involved and passionate are definitely the most important. XOXO.

  51. Reblogged this on Erica's Book Blog and commented:
    Thought I share this because it is full of great advice for those trying to increase their following, but unsure of how to do it.

  52. Great post and I couldn’t agree with the last point about being passionate! You can definitely tell and it makes such a difference.

  53. Your post is very helpful. Thanks for putting your ideas out there! I’m still trying to become more consistent, but I’m just properly starting. I think it also helps for bloggers to write as much as they can (even if they don’t publish it) so they get used to writing more often. It makes publishing a post easier and it might take them less time to write as well.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover more from Jenny in Neverland

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading