Tuesday, December 02, 2008

My First Blog Contest

I will be hosting my first blog contest. I was inspired by the many contests out there. One of which I won on the www.shortattentionspantheatre-ria.blogspot.com/ I won a skein of Penny rose yarn. Thanks Ria!!!!! I can't wait to get it. So I thought of what the contest should be about and I came up with this: I don't have many comments on my blog, but I know people visit it. If you will leave me a comment telling me what I could do to make my blog better, whatever it may be, how I could get more comments, or what you like about my blog. Remember I take criticism very well and you will not hurt my feelings. I want to make my blog better. I will be giving out 2 prizes. One prize is a surprise because it will be what I am making for Christmas gifts and I don't want to give it away in case my family reads my blog. The other prize is any 1 item for my ETSY shop. You can get there from my link at the top left side of my blog, or http://www.daisymum.etsy.com/ Please be honest in your comment. I want to improve my blogging skills. The deadline is Dec. 31, 2008 11:59 EST. I will be drawing a number out of a hat to pick the two numbers.Good Luck!!!!!!

19 comments:

Caps said...

Leaving the first comment is going to curse me, I am sure, but oh well. I love a blog contest!!

To tell you the truth, I don't really have any advice for you. I don't get that many comments on my blog either, but I just write about whatever I want to and hope people enjoy it. Your blog is more strictly about knitting. I like your blog and read it all the time, but I don't comment a lot. I probably should comment more, since I love it when I get comments. :)

Nacole said...

As I have just started my own blog I have not yet gotten any readers. But I do read a lot of blogs that seem to be popular.
I think one thing you might need to do is post more often.Maybe not every day but maybe every other day. Add in some of your life into the posts. Don't just keep it 100% knitting. Maybe once a week post what went on during your week.
Other than this I think you are doing well! :) I look forward to reading more of your blog!

Jackie's Stitches said...

Isn't blogging wonderful? I never thought I'd like it so much.

I'm a new blogger too. I find that the more I comment on other people's blogs, the more vistors I get. Lots of people visit and don't comment. I installed a webcounter and use sitemeter.com so I can get an idea of how many visitors I actually have. Very interesting.

It's easier to "get to know" a blogger when they post fairly regularly. I try and post a couple of times a week. I love photos and to me yours appear to be a bit small. A nice picture in a blog header would be fantastic too.

My only other suggestion would be to play around a bit with layouts, etc and to see what YOU like!

cici said...

I love a contest. I think your blog is great! this is my first time here. I think it helps to visit other blogs and leave comments, and posting more often. Good Luck.

Michelle said...

I like the content of your blog! I agree with other posters, though. If you post more, people seem to get more interested. I've also found that if I find a blog I like, I make sure to follow it, and that seems to get me more readers and comments, too. I also always make sure to enter my blog site into the url field when I comment on other blogs.

Darcys Knotty Knitter said...

On my blog in my side bar under my knitting patterns at the bottom there are links to places that have free templates and banners for your blog also I have a post on my blog about how to grab a button and make it an active link in your side bar.Giving your blog a cute look and having cute buttons with active links and also links to things that are helpful to others really helps bring traffic to a blog:)Hugs Darcy
darcysknottyknitter[a]gmail[dot]com

Anonymous said...

Cool if I win will you show me how to make something, Just kidding, I try to comment every time I read something, I love what you write about and promise to post more comments.

katerina said...

Just keep on bloggin' - getting your name out there takes a bit. Perhaps asking a question to be commented on may help - a what do you think? kind of inquiry. good luck and keep it up!

Ria said...

I have discovered that it seems to be the same people always leaving comments on my blog. I think being in the blog train and the blogging groups on ravelry helps get some traffic also. having my contest helped. I think that even though I screwed up NABloPoMo 8 days from the end, posting regualrly helps - although not so much the quizes i use days i don't get to post. I think you have a great first person voice - some peoples blogs read like a 6th grade essay - yours sounds like you're talking which is cool. I don't know if any of this is helpful or not but I hope some is.

Ria

Rosie said...

I can tell you why I don't comment on blogs; it's that persistent junior high fear of saying something stupid in front of a group of people who are really cool and close knit (pardon the pun). Mind you I'm nearly 40, I should be over this fear, especially since junior high was a pretty good experience for me. Alas, I still carry that panic with me anyway. One thing that does get me out of my shy zone are questionnaires, I love those things. I hope this helps. Good luck with the contest.

MirEight said...

Hmmm, I'm trying to figure out what to do to make my blog better too...going to read all the advice here.

It think that I have to echo some of suggestions about posting regularly - I need to take my own advice. People then can start to be on the lookout for your next post. Maybe themes, too? Like "Fiber Friday" and such...

Just brainstorming! Glad that I found you!

Unknown said...

Your posts are fun, I love the picture of the yarn you won!

A picture at the top of your blog(under the title/instead of a title?) would make it more inviting, maybe some fun yarn or some things that you have knit?

April Dawn said...

On my knitting blog I get a lot of hits for knitting patterns. I post about what I've knitted adding a link to the pattern's site. I try to link my blog posts to my projects on Ravelry.com. I get alot of people from there. I just added a poll to my site and cutened it up some with a cute template.

Ceci said...

I like what I see of your blog. :) Keep up the fun pictures, regular posts, and random happy looks at life. I, for one, really like memes/games/quizzes.

The blog comment train, commenting regularly on other's blogs, and fun contests are my advice.

I try to surf around the blogs on my friend list at Ravelry at least 2 or 3 times a week and leave comments, and then random peeks at people who leave interesting posts on my forums. :)

My blog doesn't get a ton of commments but I very rarely have (0 comments) anymore and I almost always did before. It's like making new friends!

Lindsey said...

I like the family stuff on your blog, it's really sweet. Besides that, I think I'd just change the font color to normal black. Because sometimes the green detracts from the reading. If that makes any sense. Still, it doesn't matter what other people think, you blog for you! Keep up the good work :)

April Dawn said...

Wanted to add to my first comment. Get on ravelry, add your projects and link them to your blog. Ravelry gets a lot of traffic and I get several new, unique from having my blogged linked there. Plus I joined a knitting group on facebook and I've noticed an increase of traffic coming from there too. I went back through my blog and made sure to link all my patterns up to the websites I got them from.

Unknown said...

Hi...I think the best way to get more comments on your blog is to visit other blogs and leave comments. This prompts that blogger and readers of their blog to go look at yours. I dont get many comments, but Im trying to read more and leave comments. Im trying to expand to other interests to, hoping that will bring other people over to the blog...I think your blog is great.

Deb said...

I visit your blog (and others) but don't leave comments regularly. I like what I see on your blog.I think the suggestions to expand your topics are good, and definitely attempt to post at least once a week, and more often if possible. My blog is starting to attract regular visitors now, but it's been a couple of years. Ravelry, Goodreads, and Facebook have increased readership. Even though I don't practice what I preach (see above)I think that the best way to encourage visitors is to leave comments on others' blogs. Thanks for following my blog!

bunnits said...

Hi. I finally got around (almost too late) to participating in the contest! I am not the greatest at giving blogging advice. Mine could use help, itself. I like your blog and really like the photos of all the projects you complete. My daughter once asked me if I ever got anything finished. Lol! This was not that long after I'd finished a scarf for her. I guess frequency of posting is probably something that keeps people coming back, but I'm not good at posting often, life gets in the way, so I'm short on advice on how to increase posting frequency. I don't know if it helps to comment on other blogs (by the way, thanks for yours). The biggest problem is getting time to read them and keep up with your own while trying to pursue crafting interests at the same time. What we need is more hours in the day (did I say that!!). :-)