Fashion/Beauty Friend Friday this week is about connecting with readers, a subject that is near and dear to my heart (if only in my mind, since my face to face non-blogger friends are like whaaat?). If you are reading this you are probably also a blogger and part of a group of people that I consider my blogger friends. I might even talk about you like I see you all the time (if you’re a fashion blogger then I actually do— in photos!) to someone I see face to face. And I adore you all. And I’m so glad I know you (if only through the blogosphere). And now you are going to potentially unfollow because I’ve just revealed to you what a serious creeper I am. Okay, end confession. Alex is a super creeper. Let’s move on to the Friend Friday five!
Hi blogger friends!
1. How important do you think reader connectedness is to the success of your blog?
There are tons of successful blogs that aren’t super connected and I don’t think it’s absolutely essential (at least 90% off all readers are lurkers anyway, aren’t they?), but I love love love being connected! At least, I hope I’m connected? Or at least accessible. When someone leaves me a comment or a message or a tweet it’s nice because then I think that I’m not just here yelling (okay typing) to myself.
2. What do you do to draw readers in and create that writer-reader bond?
I actually don’t purposefully try to draw readers in. In fact I probably drive them away with my creepiness hahaha :) I am always focused on my writing, however. I’ve been developing it for at least half my life and I’m always trying to improve.
Truthfully I’m continually second-guessing, and probably third- and fourth- and fifth-guessing my writing. Welcome to the mind of someone who majored in politics! Correctness, “rightness”, fact-checking, making sure that your writing is tight and there isn’t any wiggle room for your words to be misconstrued… all very important for that major. So if I ever sound like a press secretary or political debater… well I hope I don’t but if sometimes I sound weird now you know why!
And I never know if I’m being too personal or not personal enough. Or how much to reveal, what to reveal, if I should even reveal anything at all? Do I have strong voice? Do I even have any voice? These are things I’m always pondering when writing for the blog.
3. What is one way you could improve this connection?
Respond. To. Comments. In. A. Timely. Manner. Seriously. I am so so so so so bad at this. I really need to set up an email system with the comments or something. I tend to occasionally lose track of them and respond to one like four days later… I mean, it totally couldn’t have anything to do with the disgusting amount of email I get from fashion retailers, could it? :)
4. Is there a blogger you think does a great job creating that writer- reader bond? Why?
I think Terra, also known as Stylish White Female, does a really great job. I enjoy reading about her adventures in PGH! And she always replies to comments. Her book recommendations are great too, and I appreciate her writing skills— girl has such strong voice!
5. What do you do to cultivate new readers? How do you get them to your site in the first place?
I don’t actively look for them. I’ve found new blogs to follow and gained a few new readers from wardrobe_remix on flickr but that’s more about sharing your style and seeing what other real people (no professional shoots or shots) are wearing. At least to me. I’ve definitely said before that a huge amount of people find me through twitter, and I do always post my posts to my personal twitter account. And actually, anything you really want to know about me can be found by stalking my twitter and maybe some strategic stalking of my friends’ twitters! So if you’re curious follow away!
