3 Tips to Having Your Blog Heard Above All the Noise

I am taking a different turn in today's post.  I am a mom blogger as well as a growth hacking blogger. I am combining the two today. Since the success of one of my growth hacking posts, I decided that since I get a lot of questions from other mom bloggers who are not on Twitter and how to get started, I would talk about that. That is where I am getting the most attention. Even though as a mom blogger, that is the platform that just got me on The Huffington Post. I am super proud of that, but there is something I am finding in reading these blogs.

The one ingredient missing to make them stand out- it isn't there for a lot of them.  They are talking about things that most of us already know, or they are not providing input on anything to help moms out as a value.  That's okay for the most part. What I am doing is trying to get through the one piece of information that any blogger in any niche needs to know: you have to identify what your audience needs and cater to that. It is Blogging 101. You have to read on how to start one before you start; if you don't you will lose your audience before you ever can grow one. I read a ton of information daily. Did you know that 60% of people share links and never read it (Washington Post reporter, Caitlin Dewey @caitlindewey)? Then why are you on Twitter? If you are doing it for fun, then it really doesn't matter. Which is fine. Lots of people write as an outlet but don't care if anyone reads it or not and that is OKAY! However, if you are going to do the work and want it appreciated, then find a way to stand out in all the mom blog noise.  My mom blog niche is trials and errors of recipes and healthy living. Now I have read some funny mom blogs. Ones that resonate emotion through humor for instance, because they talked about something we can all relate to.  See- that we can all relate to. That is the kicker.  If I have learned one thing, if you say you are troubleshooting a certain problem, no matter the subject, make sure you do and provide helpful solutions. Otherwise your readers are let down and you might lose them or they may never follow you if you don't deliver on the promise in your title. You will read this all the time if you read these great twitter posts about content strategy.

For example, if you are going to give me a headline about some type of mom advice, then give me like three to five really good tried and true tips so that even if they don't apply to me anymore, I might share because I still have friends with babies all the way up to college students for instance. Don't feed me generic information to just fill a post. It has to count. This is true for ANY TYPE OF BLOG or POST. Otherwise, your readers are not going to be interested. In growth hacking, what I have read works. This is one of the top things you will read consistently bu these major social media influencers. If you aren't sure what that even means, take a step back.  Google it.  Then come back to this post. Find problem, offer solution.  It really is that simple.

1. READ YOUR LINKS YOU ARE SHARING
Find useful information and share with your audience.  I know my audience mainly wants recipe information for healthy living and any other useful mom hacks I can find; I share bonus info to keep it from getting stale. If you read the links to articles on Twitter you will actually find awesome info...use it. Put your own spin on it. Develop it as your own, then give props to the one who wrote the article.  This is where I am learning still and developing the proper retweet. This is what blew my following up this past week which brings us to the second tip...

2. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH INFLUENCERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
As I mentioned in previous post on my other blog, The Growth Pixie, social media influencers suggest this because a. you can learn a lot from them on development, and b. they are more likely to retweet you if mentioned because it is a win/win situation when you do.
See below:

I did what he said. I interacted with him. Read his advice and tips. I retweeted and wrote about my experiences. Guess what happened????  This brings us to my final tip number 3:

3. HOW TO ORGANICALLY GROW YOUR NUMBERS
I grow my following organically by doing what this major influencer says on twitter.  Sam retweeted my article FOUR times. I got 284 new followers from the first retweet to the last.  Now some were coming in, but my largest hits were after he retweeted this blog post that he was mentioned in. Sam Hurley (https://twitter.com/Sam___Hurley) follows me, has over 134K followers and he retweeted little ole me. A virtual nobody trying to be heard.  You must check him out.  He has great advice on digital marketing, building your brand, SEO tips and more. MUCH MORE. In writing, this, I don't want Sam to think I am using him to get mentioned again. I was floored and squealed like a kid on Christmas morning when I saw he did the first time, but I am going to use it to back up what I have been saying: that if you do the work, it will pay off. Big time!!!!!
Another great person to follow is Paul Croubalian. He has over 12K followers and interacts with people as well. I retweeted a great piece he wrote and rewrote a caption for the tweet and he replied and loved it.  If someone tweets a great piece of info good enough to retweet, then not only retweet it, but reply to them abut what you liked abut the article. When you get a retweet by someone major, retweet again with a thank you.  It goes out again. Awesome, right? They appreciate it and it is good networking. This is how you build your brand.  It is one thing to blog and have people read it, but the word will get out more when you not only get retweets and people to read your posts, but major people share your insights.  That is the greatest gift of all in writing...to know you wrote something that mattered.

In summation, I got the largest amount of Twitter followers ever this past week; I averaged about 20 followers a day which for the week would be about 140 right? I got 284 for the same amount of days because I nurtured a relationship with a great guy who actually interacts with people.  Which may be small potatoes to most people but for me, right now, that is huge numbers.  I am doing all of this by myself, doing nothing but taking the advice of influencers that know what they are talking about. You must cultivate these relationships on Twitter if you are going to grow. I learn so much by just reading these articles.  I want to create a brand for myself, and help others through learning and sharing.
You have to read these posts these major influencers share on Twitter. They will help you from listing great free sites to help you from visuals, to content curation.  My next post will be the best tips I have found so far on sites for content and visuals.  Stay tuned and let's see where the growth goes.
I blog today not only as a growth hacker or mom blogger, but as a mom blogger using growth hacking.  Now that is becoming my win/win situation.

I set one goal a week on learning something new.  I find a new site that I can benefit from and utilize it.  That ensures I am growing using great hacks I find from these big leaders on Twitter. I challenge you to find one thing to learn this week; see what a difference the one new thing will do for you. I have found one this week that blew my mind and has helped my tweet management and saves me a ton of time. I will share that one plus more in my next post. These tools are not only free, but amazing tools to make your blog and branding the best it can be.