There are so many ways to get your readers back to your site- Facebook, pinterest… but how do you get them back to you when those things aren’t working?

I feel so frustrated with Facebook sometimes.  I’ll have a week where everything is 30-50% reach and then I’ll have a week where it is back to 10% or less.   I don’t get it.   So, I’ve found a way that works.

Newsletters.

I’ve been bringing them back to my page with newsletters.  Let me tell you exactly what I’m doing.

1- I switched over to ConvertKit.

2- I made many sequences:  I’m up to 6, but will do more.

A sequence is an automated e-mail.   So when someone signs up, they get my welcome email.   A day later, they get my Sequence email #1 with an intro to who I am.

Four days later, they get another email with a few of my most popular posts (I need to remember to update these often). 

Three days later, they get a list of some of my favorite things/places (with disclosed affiliate links).

A few days later, they get another e-mail with a personal story & a brief intro about my book.

A few days after that… an email with my books.

That’s kind of how it goes.

The beauty of it is that my readers get to know me really well.  They write back to me.   They click on my posts, they read my e-mails and my posts.

THEN… every week, I write an email and I include a lot of my Instagram pictures, stories with links to the posts to read the rest of those stories, etc…

You are already signed up for our emails here, where we try to do similar things, but not on such a large scale.  (You can sign up for my YMF email if you want to see how I am doing it there, or sign up for Paula’s to check out what she is doing)

Ps- helpful tip!  I know that we hate UNSUBSCRIBING to emails, because we feel bad, but Kirsten Oliphant once told me that if you aren’t reading them, you should unsubscribe to save them money, because they are paying for you every month.   I loved that little tip because I love reading e-mails, but rarely have them time, so now I only get my very favorites that I am not seeing on Facebook. 

So your homework tonight is to set up your sequences with Convert Kit or whatever company you are with…. even if you only do one!   You do the work once and you are done!

The post Get readers back to your blog (without relying on Facebook!) appeared first on Becky & Paula.

Which are you more drawn to…

A link or an image?  I”m guessing that you are going to say Image… that is what I would say, anyways (I am a visual person).

The reason is that the majority of people are visual, like myself.  We like to see something and then when they have us interested, we want to see more.

Here are my two favorite ideas to get you started.

1.  Pinterest
2- Hometalk -I am going to share how to use HomeTalk (It is a DIY blog, but I post kid crafts, recipes & house ideas on there)

 I am a member of hometalk and it is sort of like Pinterest.  It is very image-heavy.  I am going to show you how to use it with pictures (screenshots) below…  I don’t use it that often, but I have had over 5,000 views from home talk in the past few months (and that is when I am only getting on it about once a week) so imagine if I started using it like I use Pinterest or Facebook!

I am going to give it more of an effort- do you want to join me?

First- go to hometalk.com 

Sign up

Then when you are ready, go to POST & ASK (in red below)

Once you click the red button, you will see this pop-up.   Click on ADD A POST.

You will see this new window:

Add your title and then add details.  You need to add 3 pictures so that you can include your link.   My title is JELLY BEAN TREE (see below)

Here is another one of the 3 images that I added:

I like to fill out the details under ADDITIONAL INFO: 

Now that I have added three photos, I can include my link to my Jelly Bean Tree Craft. 

Choose your topics.  Add as many as you can.  (They will not let you add things like Kid Activities, so you have to pick from what they offer).   I picked ones based on the rooms that this will be displayed in at my house.

Lastly, click APPROVE TOPICS and DONE.
YOU WILL THEN SEE THIS:  SUCCESSFULLY POSTED AND SHARED WITH YOUR HOMETALK FOLLOWERS.

Here is what it looks like when it is displayed on the homepage:

Like always- it is all about getting your blog out there.  Use different methods and find what works for you!

The post An Alternative to Facebook – how to use Hometalk to bring them to your page. appeared first on Becky & Paula.

Oh, Facebook.

Have you noticed? Facebook is really changing things up again. It’s driving me nuts both as a user and as a page owner.

Last year, they made some changes, but as long as you were making an effort to be engaged with your fans, you could work around it. Now, it seems they are taking all of our fans away from us in huge chunks. Things my Facebook fans used to love for me to post, are now not even seen by 10% of them, certainly not enough to engage with my followers. I’ve even assumed more than a few bloggers had just stopped altogether because I was following them on Facebook and hadn’t seen an update for months. Only to find out, they’d been updating, Facebook just wasn’t showing me their updates. (Even though, I liked their page, specifically so that I could see their updates!)

I digress.. With all of the changes happening, many of us are wondering if it’s really worth while to spend lots of time and energy on our Facebook pages. It’s certainly not producing the same return as it once did.

Over the next week or so we will be sharing several alternatives to Facebook. Ways to get your blog out there and engage with your following outside of the big FB.

I’m truly starting to wonder how much longer Facebook will even be around. It seems to be going the way of myspace and friendster at an alarming rate. As bloggers, we have to stay ahead of the curve. Be early adopters to new social media networks, so that we can already have an established platform when the masses switch over. Personally, I’m slowly shifting my time away from Facebook and starting to invest in other platforms. I’m not jumping ship altogether, as many of my fans still use the social network, but if my posts aren’t seen, then it’s time to stop fretting and start finding other solutions!

Stick around this whole week to learn ways of promoting your blog and engaging with your audience outside of Facebook.

Also, Becky and I wanted to ask for your input – Since Facebook pages aren’t a great way to interact anymore, would you be interested in joining a Blogging on the Side Facebook group? We could share posts, answer questions and interact in a way that wouldn’t be hidden as much by FB. It could create a real sense of community among the BOTS readers and writers! Group members could ask questions and help each other out more so than is possible on a regular page.

Leave a comment if you are interested in joining such a group! We would be happy to start one if there is interest.

***We’ll update here, as posts go up in the alternatives to Facebook series***

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