Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon via Compfight

You have been blogging now for at least five weeks.

Have you been getting many visitors?

Have you been receiving many comments?

If your answer is no, then what are you going to do about it?

How can you attract readers to your blog?

When I first began blogging back on January 18, 2008 I was expecting hundreds of comments on my blog posts. They were interesting and describing my journey in teaching using a Smartboard and technology in my classroom. Then I wrote a post less than a week later asking why nobody is commenting on my blog.

I didn’t realise I would have to spend time working out ways for people to find my blog first and then to leave a comment. By the way, I had 16 people leave comments on that post, mainly due to the fact that Sue Waters from Edublogs had tweeted out about my post.

So what hints did my readers leave me ?

1. Start using twitter – need to be at least 13 years old – maybe you could have a class twitter account
2. In your posts, add links especially to other bloggers posts that you have found interesting – shows you are reading other blogs
3. Write for yourself, and put your heart into it – write posts that have nothing to do with school but are about your passions
4. Have a really interesting about me profile page so your readers can see what your passions are and comment on them
5. Write posts that give guidelines or how to’s – how to do something in minecraft especially helpful for newbies, create video about how to add a certain widget
6. Read and share on other blogs – visit lots of other blogs, leave a quality comment including the URL of your blog – they will often come and visit if your comment is interesting
7. Treat every post as a conversation – reply to every person who leaves a comment

Activity 1: Write a post explaining what you are going to do to attract readers to your blog

Activity 2: Write a post about one of your passions – maybe a hobby, sport, animal, music etc Remember though to write in your own words and not copy/paste from another website.  If you use information from a website, include a link to it in your post. If you include an image, add the attribution as well.

Activity 3: Visit at least 5 blogs from other students or classes but not from your school. Add to the conversation in the comment area of a post. Maybe check out our Flipboard magazine to find some more blogs to read.

Activity 4: Write an interesting how to post – create an origami, make a screencast, create a movie on an ipad, use a certain web tool

Activity 5: Add at least 5 new bloggers to your blogroll or links on your sidebar. Have to be from other countries not your own. Create a link category for overseas bloggers.

Activity 6: Check through all your comments and reply to your readers. If they have asked you to visit their blog, go there and check out a post or two, leave a comment as well.

Activity 7: Many of you have mentors for the blogging challenge. Make sure you have read their comments and continued the conversation with them. If you have not yet had any comments, leave a comment here on the challenge blog, mention one of your great posts you think I should read and comment on – remember to include URL of your blog.