7 actionable strategies to attract more readers to your poetry blog

Did you know that the roughly estimate of number of blogs on the Internet is over 150 million?

And no doubt we as writers do want to find new, interesting ways to attract readers and popularize content. To cut through all that noise of useless information, spam, adverts…it comes especially hard for poetry blogs, since traditionally we are more accustomed to read poetry in books and magazines. But more and more social media networks like Instagram are taking place and becoming a great resource for finding fresh and inspirational poetry – and you do want to take advantage of that.

Today I want to share with you some actionable ways that I have observed to work (especially for some popular poetry blogs here on the wordpress.com platform) and you can easily apply in your blogging scheme to attract more readers. But first of all, be aware that it takes time and persistence. Many of the high visited and read blogs are ‘in business’ for years and their success didn’t happen over night.

1. Analyze the direction of your blog and readjust your writing sails accordingly

Focus of the blog: do you post only poetry or do you blog also about personal stuff, writing tips, non-fiction articles, ext? Analyze your stats and see which of your posts are most visited and popular. It will give you a clue to what kind of topics are your readers most attracted. If they are not poetry related, than you might need to readjust your focus that dominant part of your writing is poetry. Initially you might lose some of the subscribers, but always keep in mind why do you blog and who you would like to read your blog. Shape your writing according to that.

2. ‘Poke’ other bloggers

I do believe that the intricate purpose in every blogging attempt is connection and sharing. Link with other bloggers with similar affinities.

That can go by:

• participating in conversations on other blogs (like comments), which will divert attention to your blog and content as well;
• offer some type of collaborative work (writing a collaborative poem, story, initiating a challenge or a guest post);
• interact with your readers – always respond to comments as it is the basis of building the trust between you and your reader – you are increasing the likelihood of reader to share your content/poem.

One of the biggest features in blogging in last couple of years is that this the era of engagement and there you should pour most of your energy. Engage your readers and with your readers in any form – it’s the key to attracting more traffic.

3. Go visual, where applicable

Poetry is about beauty of language and words – we should never forget that. For traditional blogging format, I still believe that accent should  be on the background and space that allow words to pop up. But blogging trends are changing and you might want to stir up things by pairing your words with adequate visuals which can contribute to your poetry to become even more appealing to the reader.

As I mentioned, Instagram is fostering some great poetry networks and communities. Share your work in the form of engaging photos, videos and you are opening the doors to completely new type of readership.

4. Post regularly

Google loves fresh, unique and interesting content so update your blog frequently. People will have more reasons to come back, read and share your poetry.

5. Share your poetry on different poetry platforms

Allpoetry.com and poemhunter.com are useful resources for you to publish poetry especially as a newbie blogger and poet. You can get very good feedback for your writing and increase exposure of your work.

6. Share your publishing progress and success

This I find especially important if you want to connect with other poets in the blogosphere as sharing your experience can impact and give additional inspiration to other poets when it comes to submitting their work.

7. Be you – everyone else is already taken

Poetry offers unique experience so your writing will attract unique readers. Most of the tips given here are proven to work, but at the bottom of the line there are no strict rules what grows one blogs – especially when it comes to poetry.

Be yourself and enjoy your creative process – these are the two most important merits. From that space of trustful and peaceful enjoyment , your work will find most intriguing ways to captivate your readers.

Do you have any interesting strategy for attracting more readers to your poetry blog? Please share in the comments below.

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