Simple, Free Ways to Boost Your Blog

Writers hyperventilate at titles like this. With sweaty palms, they click on the links that promise instant solutions to poor follower numbers.

Nobody wants to spend hours adding complicated plug-ins and devising long-tail keywords just to get more recognition than the blogger next door. It’s hard work and online talkers just want to write and be read.

WordPress can be like a glorified form of Facebook – everyone sat in their own little corner of the world, constantly harping on about their own little area of interest.

But while people are tapping away at their keyboards, minimal thought is given to the fact that if everyone’s talking, no-one’s listening.

Ooh, look at me, me, me!

Now, I know people get likes and comments and reblogs, but nobody is as interested in someone’s post as much as the author themselves.

Also, despite all evangelistic endeavours, folks talking encouragingly about Jesus shouldn’t expect to be too popular among non-believers and the luke-warm. Why? Because if you are doing things right, it should create opposition, irritation, anger and even enemies.

There are quite of few of you dear bloggers who describe yourselves as ‘Christians with Depression‘. Please don’t add to your sadness by expecting the world to love you.

He was unrecognisable after the beatings.

Maybe for some, that’s the cause of your depression in the first place. Remember that Jesus warned,

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.” (John 15:18-20)

Just do what he guides you to do and leave the ‘ego thing’ at his feet. There are plenty of statistics to show how lack of attention from Instagram / Facebook friends can bring about depression and anxiety in those depending on social media to prove their self-worth. But this mentality slips into other sites too.

Don’t ever compare your follower numbers, likes and comment quantity with other blogs – it will only drive you crazier than you already feel. If you truly desire to be gentle, understanding, honest-but-loving, interesting and most of all, obedient to what you believe God has called you to do, forget about blog awards and SEO. You just do your bit and God will ensure that the right people get to see your posts.

In the meantime, instead of pondering on how you can get more regular readers, think about who you can encourage by reading and commenting on their posts.

Your words of hope may be the difference between someone being uplifted or taking their own life.

A little love goes a long way.

Simply put, you cannot read all 172 million WordPress blogs, but you can stop worrying about your own and find just one person to encourage.

Google might be clever enough to crawl through your pages looking for faults, so it can rank you lower than a daschund’s belly, but Google is not God. God promotes who he wants to and honours obedience and faith.

 

Forget about fame

For us Christians who care about ‘the fear of the Lord’, it is also important to note that a website with thousands of followers and a regular large readership, doesn’t mean God is impressed with that blog or behind it. At the end of the day, his opinion is the only thing that matters and when we die, we cannot take our popularity with us.

So don’t compromise your message just to please Google.

…bouncing off your site…

We all know that Mr. Google is double-minded. He tells you to add good external links, with the promise that this will help your ranking, but…if too many readers click onto those links, your bounce-back rate will rise, thus pushing your site into oblivion.

So, if you can’t add your keywords in the places this Hard-To-Please-Search-Engine wants, who cares? In God’s non-fickle opinion, the most important keywords when blogging are:

“Don’t give up on life because there is hope.

Jesus died for your sins.

Repent and you will receive forgiveness from the all-powerful Creator of the universe.

Obey him and trust him to provide for your needs.

He loves you dearly.

He will bless you and if you follow his leading, he will bless your blog.”