This is a guest post by Treacle of The Lingerie Addict (Warning: its a lingerie blog, may be NSFW).

Though I started blogging in April 2008, it wasn’t until 18 months later, in October 2009, that I heard of the stuff most bloggers take for granted.  I’m talking ProBlogger.net, Adsense, SEO, WordPress and all the other things that are just part and parcel of the blogging game.

Some of the damage from my ignorance had already been done.  Blogs that were much newer than mine were also much more highly ranked than mine, and it seemed like I was never going to catch up.

Rather than give up and stop blogging all together though, I began doing five critical things that increased my readership, followers, and fan engagement almost immediately.

I can’t guarantee that doing these steps means you’ll take the blogging world by storm (after all, I’m no pro), but I can say that they had a very positive effect on my visitors, page views, advertising earnings, and Google rankings.

Let People Know You Exist

If people don’t know about your blog, they can’t visit it.  And if they can’t visit it, they’ll never see all that awesome content you’ve been posting, tell their friends to come take a look, or give you the numbers you need for advertising slots with potential sponsors.  Most people are familiar with the strategies of commenting, guest posting, stumbling, digging, and otherwise pimping the hell out of their blog on the internets.

But don’t underestimate the power of engaging your family and friends either; especially if they have bigger and/or different social networks than you (Malcolm Gladwell calls these kinds of people “connectors” in his book The Tipping Point).

To illustrate, I kept my blog a secret from friends, family, significant others, co-workers and almost everyone else who mattered in my life for nearly two years.  I was worried they’d think my blog was creepy or sleazy or pornographic.

What happened instead?  They became my biggest supporters!  My friends have not only followed me on Twitter and friended me on Facebook, they also tell their friends about my blog, and there is nothing like a word-of-mouth recommendation.

Interact and Engage

Once you start getting visitors, make them feel welcome.  Everyone has a different way of doing this, so I’m not suggesting that you be syrupy sweet and docile as a bunny on your blog.  Rather, it should be clear to your readers that you value the gift of their time and attention.

Write articles worth reading first of all, but also take the time to respond to comments, check out other people’s blogs, respond to e-mails, answer questions or otherwise be accessible.

My personal policy is to respond to every e-mail.  Even if I only say “Thanks for writing!,” I want my readers to know they’re more than just a number to me.  If appropriate, you can also use communication with your readers as a resource for blog posts.

My “Ask the Addict” feature comes directly from readers’ questions that I’ve already answered—no extra work required.

Make Your Post Titles Relevant

This is a BIG one.  There’s a place for cute and witty, but it’s probably not in the titles of your blog posts.  Instead, think about what your readers are searching for.

What questions are they asking?  What resources do they need?   What would you Google search if you were looking for your article?  If you want to have any chance of making it onto the first page of Google search, make your blog searchable.

I have a personal anecdote for this too.  While I’m on the 1st page of Google now for my chosen niches (lingerie blogs and stockings blogs), I languished in 3^rd page neverneverland for the longest time.  Meanwhile, another blog in my niche made it onto the 1^st page of Google within a few weeks of starting her blog.

Why?  Because, unlike me, her article titles were what people were searching for.  I was trying to be all smart and nifty and nobody found my blog as a result.

Be Okay With People Not Liking You

So things are finally going good.  You’ve told your friends about your blog and they’re doing free PR for you.  You’re being Stumbled, Dugg, and retweeted so often your server is crashing.  You’re getting scores of comments a day, and so many e-mails to your inbox that you can’t answer them all.

And then, out of the blue, someone says you suck.  Not only do they say you suck, they say you’ve always sucked, that you always will suck, and that everything you touch turns to suck.  What to do now?

It may sound weird and it’ll probably be hard to do, but just ignore them.  Some people get their jollies by antagonizing other folks, and it’s important to remember that their attitude almost certainly has nothing to do with you.

It can be hard to maintain perspective, especially if things have been going well, but one of the lesser known signs of success is haters.  Haters are a sign you’re doing something right.

Note: While I do suggest ignoring trolls, this courtesy doesn’t extend to stalkers.  If someone is threatening your safety, the safety of your family, or making a concerted effort to track you down in “real life,” please notify the appropriate authorities.

Let Go of Your Fear

Once you get a taste of success and find a system that works for you, it can be really hard to venture into the unknown again.  Don’t be afraid to experiment, escape your comfort zone, and try new things.  Approach people who you think are too big for you.  Play around with formats and fonts and ad placement.  Make a mistake (or 3).   Just don’t stay still.

When I first starting blogging, I was obsessive about maintaining anonymity.  I didn’t reveal my name, the city I lived in, my hobbies and interests, or even a photo of me.  And as a result, a lot of people thought I was a fake.

Once I started opening up to readers, and once they had a connection to the person behind the blog, I stopped having visitors and started having fans.  But if I’d hung on to my fear, I would have never experienced the rich interactions I’ve had so far.

You’ll notice that none of these 5 things are really complicated.  They’re probably insultingly simple to most of you.  But they do work, and if you’re a clueless soul who just likes to write (like me),  they have the bonus of being really easy and really effective.

I also want to extend the same offer to you all that I give my own blog readers.  If you have any questions, about blogging or lingerie (or even blogging about lingerie), feel free to write me at thelingerieaddict@gmail.com.  I’d be happy to hear from you.

Treacle is a 25 year old knickers junkie who started blogging because her friends threatened to tape her mouth shut if she didn’t stop talking about her underwear.  She welcomes lingerie lovers of every nation and persuasion to her blog, The Lingerie Addict.

Image Credit: Flickr

Tagged as: Blogging, Comments, Inspiration, SEO, Social Media