Blissdom is DAYS away! I cannot wait to be immersed in all things bloggy! Today, Marie from Make and Takes  is going to share how she increases TRAFFIC to her blog…

I’m excited to be here at Oh Amanda, sharing a few tips on submitting your blog to other sites. With my blog Make and Takes, I write a lot of tutorials on kid’s crafts, easy recipes, and home projects. Once a tutorial post is up and running, I like to submit it to a few sites, bringing in some new readers. I do this for my crafts, home projects, really anything can be submitted and featured.

Here’s a few of my favorite places to submit posts:

- Stumble Upon: Sign up and take a look around. This site has brought me a lot of traffic, it’s especially good with recipes. Some days I get a few hundred hits from it, other days a few thousand. So get to know this site. BUT with Stumble, you can’t submit only your own site. You’ll get flagged. I try to submit about 9 or 10 other posts from around the web and then submit one of my own. See my Make and Takes Page and you’ll see my reviews. To help with this, I’ve set up a few friends through email who are also on Stumble and we email each other our links to submit. This has been great. If you want, email me and I’ll submit your posts to Stumble any time: marie {at} makeandtakes.com. A few other good sites similar to this are: Kirtsy, Digg, and Delicious.

- Tastespotting: This is my favorite site to submit recipes. Here, you can submit as many of your own as you want. They do get a lot of submissions though, so sometimes they don’t make the cut. But if they do, it’s great traffic. They are picky about the photo, so make it really great quality. A few other good sites for submitting recipes are: Food Gawker and Food Photo Blog.

- Craftzine: This site is a great one for all kinds of crafts, and sometimes recipes. If you’ve got something original or eye catching, they’re sure to feature it and link back. This and the ones listed next, you can submit as many of your own as you’d like. Here’s a few other places for submitting crafts: The Crafty Crow, Get Crafty, Tip Junkie, One Pretty Thing.

Where have you had success submitting your blog posts? Good luck getting featured!

Isn’t Marie the best? I feel like she just let me in on her own private bloggy secrets! {And I’m totally starting a Stumble Club so we can stumble each other’s posts. Who wants in?} Besides knowing where to submit her posts, Marie has the most amazing creative content. Her blog is so fun, please make sure you subscribe to Make and Takes. And follow Marie on Twitter. Oh, and she’s even got a cute monster craft ebook you will want to download!

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Here’s the last 4 weeks of Bliss*Tastic posts so you can brush up before you get to meet these wonderful ladies IN REAL LIFE:

Week 1: Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife: To Niche Or Not To Niche
Week 2: Christine from Boston Mamas: Niche and Beyond
Week 3: Andrea from MommySnacks: Limitations (or not) of a Niche
Week 4: Amy from Finer Things In Life: Building Your Blog Readership

And don’t forget to check out the UNOFFICIAL Blissdom Parties Guide (including MY After Party at the Pancake Pantry!)

Bliss*Tastic Week 5: Marie from Make and Takes: Submitting Your Tutorials, Recipes and How-To Posts is a post from: ohamanda.com

Blissdom is edging nearer! I have to admit, I’ve been getting very insecure and nervous about my blog lately. I think no matter how long you’ve been blogging the thing everyone wants is to attract more readers. Listen to how Amy from The Finer Things in Life attracts people to her blog…

Content is King. At least, that’s what they say. Yes, compelling writing is important to any blog; but if no one’s reading, the time and energy that goes into blogging quickly loses its appeal. What does every blogger want? Followers. Loyal fans. Groupies. Dedicated readers. Traffic.

In addition to sharing what I’m passionate about on The Finer Things in Life, here are a few strategies that have been time well spent for me as I strive to gain readership.

Interact with Readers. I spend time each week scrolling through all of my comments, responding to those that ask a question or contribute to my post or the discussion at hand. I also do my best to keep my inbox manageable and respond to reader questions or requests. As time allows and if they leave a link, I’ll try to visit their site and comment. I want my readers to know that they are valuable.

Offer Guest Posts. I’ve written guest posts for many different blogs. Sometimes I’m asked, sometimes I offer. Guest posting for others puts your work in front of a new, usually larger, audience. It also might make you a new friend, as “bigger bloggers” are often quite busy and will welcome a quality, relevant post for their site.

Be Visible on Twitter and Facebook. Social media can be a complete time sucker, but I’ve met, connected with, and collaborated with so many wonderful bloggers that the time is worth it. The key is to not just promote your blog. Interact. Re-tweet interesting tweets. Respond to requests or funny comments. Have conversations! It’s very likely that some people you “meet” on twitter will become frequenters of your site.

Promote Other Bloggers. Seems the opposite would be true, but it’s kind of like never being able to out-give God. When I take the focus off of my own blog and share the love, I reap the benefits. Link to others in appropriate posts on your own blog. Tweet or re-tweet a post that moved you to action, or just moved you to a fit of tears or giggles. Link to a site on facebook so your friends and fans can get to know another writer. Stumble (thumbs up) your favorite posts and drive traffic to that blog. It’s important that we cheer for each other.

Content may remain king, but reaching out to your readers, meeting and supporting other bloggers is key to growing your readership.

Isn’t that great? It makes me want to run to my inbox and start emailing everyone right now! Please follow Amy on twitter and subscribe to her blog, The Finer Things in Life. I always inspired when reading her blog!

Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss out on Bliss*Tastic Week 5 with the magnificent Marie from Make and Takes!

Bliss*Tastic: Week 4: Amy From the Finer Things In Life: Building Your Blog Readership is a post from: ohamanda.com

Are you lovin’ these bliss*tastic posts? Well, I am! Enter Andrea from Mommy Snacks. Read what she has to say about niche blogging…

I met Amanda last year on our trip as #magicalmoms to Walt Disney World. I can honestly say I feel blessed to have met her and get to know her. We have since been fortunate enough to hang again on other occasions. She is the exact same person in person as you read on her site.  Her voice shines as bright as she is!

When she asked me to share something blog-related, of course I agreed.  I am passionate about all that is involved with the learning and growing of this community.  So much so that I have worked with some fantastic bloggers to create Savvy Blogging – a site focused on helping those who want to help make their blog a successful business!

As I began to write this, I looked at the definition above.  Whenever I receive questions or challenges on topics, I try to go back to the foundation. Knowing I’m reading from the *same book* helps me to be as objective as possible.

Did you notice that the definition, according to Merriam Webster, doesn’t say anything about rules, niches, monetizing or professionalism (I wish that was inherent for bloggers, but sadly it is not).  It certainly doesn’t say “some categories of blogs are more a blog than others.”  Wouldn’t that be silly!  Yet, I have heard people state that about authors in a certain blog niche.

A blog niche, or specialty, focuses on content and marketing to the target demographic.  You heard Christine share how she wanted to provide content for those living in Boston, saw a *hole* and with that passion created Boston Mamas.  JoLynne shared how she felt she was a memoirist and identified with a new niche.  She is equally successful in sharing everyday life on a personal level with her community.

I write, generally, in the money-saving/frugal niche. Let me back up. I started a blog to share a passion of saving money. It was only later that I understood I was in a niche, or specialty per *blogging* terms.  According to a demographic survey I conducted last year, my readers read primarily to find ways to save money.  So I check *that* box.

When you look at the three of us, are any one of us better than the other? I would say yes, they are super smart and I could learn a ton from them. In general, as we share and what we do according to that definition of a blog, no we’re not.  Do we adopt specific strategies to reach our target demographic, connect and achieve our goals? I would say absolutely.  Others may argue there is no strategy to it at all. That idea may be completely accurate for your blog.  That’s the beauty of blogging – there are no rules to blog!

The one aspect I see many blogs offer, regardless of niche, is personality!  I 100% believe that you can provide great information but if you fail to include your personality you will become boring.  Not that I follow every definition, but it does state that a blog is an *online personal journal….. the contents of such site.*

A large difference between what I do and what my readers will find in a forum or message board is that *personal journal* component.  They can find the same deals, and will find them more timely honestly. In that same reader survey I mentioned above, my readers stated they liked the personal posts, such as my faith and weight-loss journey, as well.  You don’t always find this level of personal sharing in a forum.  I believe it is also rare to see on many large niche sites.

Now, would my community continue to exist if Mommy Snacks.net became more personal and less focused on saving money? Yes, I did share in detail how a niche is important even if I break the rule myself   I am guessing if I wrote less content about saving money, my traffic would go down a great deal. However, I have a mind beyond deals and don’t want to start a new blog to share them.

Here is an example of a recent topic when I went outside my niche.  I have readers who want Buca di Beppo coupons.  However, I just shared how we won’t take our kids to visit Buca di Beppo anymore.  I received more comments in my personal post – moreso than when I have simply posted about a coupon for the restaurant.  What does that say?

At the end of the day, I go back to that definition.  I go back to my passion to help people *save on what you want so you can spend on what you need.*  I also strive to *keep it real* with my readers and show them who I am. I’m not perfect and I have opinions. I use my blog to share those because, well, it’s my blog.  Niche or not, I’m not changing.  I kinda like it the way it is!

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What an encouragement for whatever type of blog you have! Now, if you are looking for a good deal, want to get your couponing on or just become bffs with Andrea, please subscribe to Mommy Snacks. And follow her on twitter. She is a GEM. If you ever get a chance to see her in real life–hug her neck because she will be an instant friend.

Stay tuned for Bliss*Tastic Week 4 with a special post from Amy at The Finer Things in Life!

Bliss*Tastic Week 3: Andrea from Mommy Snacks: Limitations, or not, of a Niche is a post from: ohamanda.com