The number one question I get from bloggers is how to build your audience FAST. And trust me, I get it. I was there once.
It’s never been harder to build a blog audience because there are so many blogs and so much social noise. A lot of people get frustrated with not seeing their audience grow in 60 days, but blogging is a long game. So if you’re not in it for the long haul, leave. This ain’t the game for you. Most bloggers don’t see results for 12-18 months—and that’s if you’re actually consistent.
I started blogging in 2010, and I didn’t start gaining a real momentum until 2013. That’s right. It took me three years before my blog started gaining some momentum.
So what’s the one thing you must do to build your audience fast?
Have a Hook
Use your interesting and unique traits to attract your audience. And once you find your hook, you need to consistently create content that’s related to your hook. Within the first 90 days, you develop the habits you’ll have as a blogger. The way you treat the first 90 days of blogging dictates the pace of your growth. Not only do you have to start consistent, you also have to maintain consistency.
[bctt tweet=”It’s not just about starting consistent, it’s about staying consistent.” username=”themattiejames”]
What’s my hook? People like that I have everyday girl appeal. I’m not a celebrity and I wasn’t born rich—I’m just a regular girl who likes to shop, likes style, and wanted to turn my blog into a business that makes six figures when I lost my job. Every day my audience grows on every single social platform because I’m consistent, I engage, and I don’t think I’m above my audience.
Find Your Hook
The best way to determine your hook is to pay close attention to what your audience reacts to. People ask me this all the time: how do I know what works for me? How do I know what my audience wants from me? Trust me. They’ll tell you. Even indirectly.
Reveal different “hooks” and see what they respond to the most. Try a beauty post here. Then a DIY post there. Or even post on IG about what you cooked. See where most engaged, what kind of questions they asked and when they did it. All of those things matter. Attention to detail is the name of the game here. You can’t expect to blog once and build your audience. Your audience needs content day in and day out. The more you give, the quicker you’ll learn what your audience likes about you and your content.
Wherever you see positive results, repeat until it becomes a standard in your content building process. Whatever you’re good at and your audience responds to, become great at it and do it more.
Make Your Hook Work
Everyone wants to work for themselves now, but here’s the thing… you must have a process to make your hook work so you can steadily build your audience and your blog. As I’ve said before, a lot of people have plans, but they don’t have processes. If people rock with you because they love your hair, your job is to keep people hooked with that sort of content.
Create processes that allow you to easily produce and promote the content about your hair (or whatever your audience craves). I share this exact process in The #BatchPlease Manual. Break it down step by step and start to schedule the process versus the result in your planner. Processes keep you consistent. And now that you are aware of what hook works for you, you have to keep throwing it in the water to get results.
[bctt tweet=”It’s about scheduling the process, not the result.” username=”themattiejames”]
A lot of people have content ideas but they don’t produce it. And many people produce their content, but they rarely promote it. Producing and promoting go hand in hand—you have to do both to grow your following and your blog.
[bctt tweet=”A process ensures you both produce and promote your content consistently.” username=”themattiejames”]
What you need to remember:
- Your hook consists of the unique traits that draw your audience’s attention and make you memorable.
- To find your hook, create and share a variety of content. Then, take note of what your audience reacts to the most.
- Once you find your hook, implement processes that allow you to consistently produce and promote content so you can consistently build your blog audience.
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This is extremely helpful, thank you for sharing ❤
Yassssss thank you for this. I so needed to read this. Recently started blogging and great tips like this are indeed necessary
This absolutely spoke volumes to me and I love coming here to get me fired up anytime I feel less motivated. Thank you Mattie and much ❤️
Xx..
I love this! I started my blog last year and have kind of become unmotivated because I’ve had no audience growth but I know it’s due to me not being consistent with my posts. That’s because I wasn’t sure what posts would most interest readers. Now I get it’s ok to post about different topics and to learn from what it is my readers prefer most!