5 Things I Learned at Blog On

Last week I wrote about my experience as a first timer at Blog On and how to survive if you’re thinking of going yourself. However, I didn’t really go into too much detail of what the sessions were about and what I learned. I won’t be talking about everything in this post but I do want to talk about 5 things that I found super helpful.

 

1. Comments aren’t everything

For months I have been trying to get as many comments as possible on my posts. Turns out, it isn’t on the top of PRs lists when they’re looking at bloggers to work with. PRs know that regular people don’t read a review of a puzzle, for example, and comment on that review. It just doesn’t happen. Just because you don’t have loads of comments doesn’t mean you’re not getting the right attention.

I’m definitely not saying don’t comment on posts, not at all! What I’m saying is maybe there’s not as much need to partake in groups to gain more comments.

2. Facebook comments

I remember being in some Facebook groups in the past and everyone seemed to have this massive thing against people commenting as a blog. I saw arguments and moans about people not commenting right.

Blog On taught me that commenting as your blog is absolutely fine! Why not comment as both yourself and your blog at the same time? It only takes a minute to change who you’re commenting as. It’s win/ win really for you and the blog page you’re commenting on. They get one extra comment and you get your name out there a little bit more. One of their readers might be looking for other blogs to read!

I know I’d be happy to be getting more comments on posts as well as helping out a fellow blogger.

3. Positive reviews aren’t always helpful

I think this is something that will help so many bloggers. I write quite a lot of reviews on Me, him, the dog and a baby! and I sometimes get a little worried about pointing out too many things that either I didn’t like or didn’t work well.

The Working with Brands session fantastic because I got to learn that brands really do want constructive criticism. Obviously, they don’t want you to completely slag off a product. There are ways of writing about things that could have been done better in a professional way. How are brands supposed to improve their products if they think all blogger think everything about them is amazing?!

4. Do Follow Links

Before I even start, this one is controversial. Some bloggers are all about the no follow links and think do follow links are the devil. Every blogger has their own right to turn down links of any kind and to me, there is no wrong or right. So, in this I am not saying anything is right or wrong, it’s just an opinion.

Using do follow links for paid links is a big no no with Google and you can be penalised for using them. Think about it though. Where does all of your traffic come from? Is it Google or social media? If it’s Google then maybe you’re right to be a bit cautious about what you do. However, if you get very little traffic from Google and a shit load from you social media sites is the penalty worth it? I personally get most of my traffic from social media instead of Google. You can see where I’m going with this.

The only thing I will say is never agree to permanent links. You might close your site down at some point, or various other things may happen, so you can’t really agree to this. You can always  say instead that the link will stay for as long as the blog is active.

5. Facebook posts

Learning how to use my Facebook page was maybe one of the most useful things I learned.

I used to only post my daily blog post on my Facebook page, along with maybe a random picture of Erin. Now I post at least 4 times a day and I post all different kinds of content. I now post:

Blog posts

Pictures

Memes

News articles

Other bloggers posts (Yes, share other blogger’s work)

Updates from throughout my day

I have just over 1400 followers on Facebook and not all of them are online at the same time. Not all of them like the same kind of content and not all of them are interested in the same thing. Using a wide variety of content makes your Facebook page attractive to a wider audience, although still in keeping with your target audience.

I actually learned so much more about Facebook but writing everything would be a full post on its own. I have seen a decent difference in the interaction on my page and also what kind of things people like seeing. Remember, your page is for your audience, not you!

I hope you’ve find this post useful and maybe learned a thing or two. Going to Blog On is one of the best things I’ve done as a blogger and I am so excited to be going back in September. Who knows what I’ll learn then!