HOW CAN I QUICKLY AND DRAMATICALLY INCREASE SUBSCRIBERS TO MY BLOG?

[Christine PNW]

Rachele wrote: "Hi everyone!

I am a veterinarian and I am in the process of writing a series of short books about medical problems in dogs and cats entitled My Virtual Veterinarian. My first book will be about Al..."

I hate pop-ups.

The only suggestion I have would include setting up an index of your articles by animal and subject so that visitors can get an answer to their question without having to scroll through pages and pages of materials. You really aren't doing a very good of tagging and indexing your information. Your blog is a giant pile of information, and you have failed to provide visitors with an easy method of finding information.

Look at the most successful blogs in your field. What are they doing that you aren't doing? More cute pictures of animals? More product reviews? More conversational tone? Less conversational tone?

You could also try doing some giveaways of pet supplements, or books written by other authors - entry in return for a follow or something like that.

[Nenia]

I agree with Moonlight -

Also, if I come across a blog with a lot of ads or pop-ups I tend to avoid it because some of those ads have programmed-in Malware that can infect your computer.

[Christine PNW]

Rachele wrote: "Thank you Moonlight and Nenia for your feedback.

Moonlight, in order to respond to your feedback about finding information on my site, I added a Search box at the top of the right sidebar. Please ..."

That isn't really what I had in mind. I was thinking more of a "table of contents" sort of a thing, where you link to the post that matches the animal/subject. As an example, go to the "index, by author" tab on my blog. The search bar is going to be hit and miss, and still puts the onus on the visitor to figure out the right search term.

[Susan]

Rachele wrote: "Hi everyone!

I am a veterinarian and I am in the process of writing a series of short books about medical problems in dogs and cats entitled My Virtual Veterinarian. My first book will be about Al..."

Rachele, I feel for you! My own website is due for an overhaul, but that probably won't happen until summer.

I agree with the others here, and I particularly like Moonlight's suggestion about an index. Using a simple organization strategy can help blog readers quickly find what they want.

I clicked on a few of the posts and was delighted to see pictures. I'm curious: why not images on your main page? If your goal is to entice viewers to browse your site, images might help capture their attention.

I write dog mysteries and have spent a lot of time with vets and others in the dog world (both real and virtual). One thing that always jumps out at me when I visit their clinics and websites: animals! The same is true of other websites. Take a look at http://writersandotheranimals.blogspo... for example. (That might be a group you'd like to connect with, by the way.)

Your Facebook page seems quite active, and I love the wonderful photos posted there. I also get a better sense of "you" there.

I think you mentioned you're using Wordpress. Does the template you've chosen make you happy? Does it convey your personality and your theme? We use beta readers for books; perhaps you could consider something similar for your website.

BTW, I "liked" and "followed" your blog and FB page. I hope this helps!

~Susan

[Susan]

Moonlight Reader wrote: "That isn't really what I had in mind. I was thinking more of a "table of contents" sort of a thing, where you link to the post that matches the animal/subject. As an example, go to the "index, by author" tab on my blog. The search bar is going to be hit and miss, and still puts the onus on the visitor to figure out the right search term. "

You have a very attractive website, Moonlight! Great use of color and layout, and I really like the index feature. I'm definitely going to add that to my own site when I overhaul it.

~Susan

[Christine PNW]

Susan wrote: "Moonlight Reader wrote: "That isn't really what I had in mind. I was thinking more of a "table of contents" sort of a thing, where you link to the post that matches the animal/subject. As an examp..."

Thank you! I added it not long ago, and it is a work in progress to get everything updated. I am trying to consolidate all of my reviews that are scattered across the internet into one central location, but it is a pain. Just keeping up on the index is a bit of a pain.

I looked at the Writers and Other Animals blog. That has a really nice layout and I love the header. I would agree with the suggestion that Rachele add some images to her main page.

Rachele, one additional suggestion - there is a photo editing site called picmonkey that is fantastic for making collages, headers and adding words to images. I use it constantly for making image collages to add to my reviews. By way of an example, here is a collage I made for a January wrap-up post.



I don't know if you can see the image - imgur doesn't seem to be working properly.

[Susan]

Moonlight Reader wrote: "...There is a photo editing site called picmonkey that is fantastic for making collages, headers and adding words to images. I use it constantly for making image collages to add to my reviews. By way of an example, here is a collage I made for a January wrap-up post.... "

Rachele, Moonlight's idea might be an awesome addition for your blog. I'm not sure, though, how you might incorporate it with your current template. I'm going to try it out on my site and make a collage of the dog mysteries I've reviewed/mentioned. Will let you know how it works!

~Susan

[Susan]

Rachele wrote: "Hey Moonlight and Susan. Based on your feedback, I changed my website header to include photos of myself and my pets. Please check it out and give me your thoughts. Thanks! http://rachelebaker.com..."

Rachele, I like the pictures in your header!

If you can figure out a way to integrate images with those posts on the main page, I think that would be very appealing. Mind you, that's just my personal opinion, but I'm comparing your website to your FB page and the latter seems more colorful and inviting.

~Susan

[Susan]

Rachele wrote: "Susan,

If you click on any of the posts on my main page to read the article, you will find that all of my posts have at least one photo and often more. Since all of the posts are restricted to the..."

I'm sorry; I didn't make myself very clear, did I? I did click on a few of the articles, and mentioned (somewhere above!) that I really liked the pictures. My point was that, to capture readers' attention, photos and other images on your main page would be appealing.

Am I correct in thinking your template limits you in the layout and media? If yes, that must be frustrating.

You may already have lots of blogs and other websites lined up, but send me a message if you're interested in discussing your book on my website. Your work fits right into my series!

[Regina]

I'm a big fan of using Project Wonderful ads. They are cheap, you set what you want to pay, you only pay for clickthroughs, and you can target your ads. It's certainly helped me.

That way, you can run ads on sites where only people who might find your site useful or interesting will see it.

I will say, thought, that getting people to join your site is like pulling teeth. It's a slow process.

Also, I'm currently experimenting with some Facebook ads, and they seem to be working pretty well, too, so you might try that.