The Blogs Have It.
When I first started this blog, oh, almost a year ago, I knew nary a soul within the horror blogosphere. My questionable talent notwithstanding, I Love Horror floated listlessly in a void, the words trailing off into the black seas of infinity, never to be seen by anyone. Since I crave attention and didn’t want this blog to fall victim to the pitfalls of low viewership and ultimately leading to disinterest in continuing on my part, I sought out every method I could think of to gain readership and potentially annoy the crap out of everyone with my incessant ramblings on torture porn.
If you head over to any blog devoted to, well, blogging, you’ll see one of the best ways to attract readership next to actually writing something that people want to read is to comment, comment, comment. Find like-minded blogs and become involved. Half of blogging is the fostering of discussion, and how will anyone hear your voice if you just sit there silent like that girl who had her mouth removed in the Twilight Zone movie?
Ok, bad analogy, but it still gets the point across. By commenting on as many blog posts as you can, not only do you get an idea of how other horror bloggers work, but you get your name out there, a link emblazoned on the screen with every comment left. This is one of the reasons my site hasn’t faded into obscurity. I sought out the blogs of those I felt contributed something great to horror and started commenting and linking to them on my own site, hoping, wishing, PRAYING TO THE GREAT GOD CTHULHU that they would respond in kind.
Ahhh! Another effective way to get noticed. Most horror bloggers, I have found, are quite happy to link back to you if you link to them. If they don’t, then you either really suck at writing or they’re just, well, jerks. This double-attack of commenting and linking is the first step in gaining exposure, and for me ended up being the catalyst that propelled my site from obscurity to read by a small handful of people. Mr. Hall of Horror’s Not Dead and HorrorSquad went so far as to make a post about my site, and thanks to him I was inducted into the League of Tana Tea Drinkers, which is kinda like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen without all the cool toys.
One you have established yourself as a horror blogger extraordinaire, the next step in gaining a somewhat respectable level of notoriety is to indoctrinate yourself in the expansive social networking universe known as Twitter. Ahhh, Twitter. Loathed by some and used way too much by many, it has served as an indispensable tool in my conquest to become universally loved by a bunch of strangers. While I have yet to reach the point of complete and utter adoration, I have succeeded in extending my blog reach to a diverse group of people, as well as made numerous interblag friends and connections. Plus, it’s a great way to get all of your horror news in one convenient location. You know, next to RSS feeds.
Beyond this configuring your blog to show up in research results, learning how to use tags and keywords, and linking the ever-loving fuck out of almost everything you can in each and every post will certainly make your blog stand out. Or really annoying. Either one.
Over time you will soon realize that people actually enjoy what you have to say, and from there it’s simply a matter of consistently updating with new and original content. And be funny. Lord help us all if you’re not funny.
Go forth and conquer!
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Well said! LoTT-D has helped me immensely, as has my notorious list-making for Bloody-Disgusting. I also found, in the beginning, that another great way to get the word out was to comment on as many relevant message boards as possible.
And dead on about Twitter. A tremendous tool, provided you don’t overdo it *COUGH*ScottWeinberg*COUGH*
See, I was going to say something about SW, but I enjoy his tweets immensely, mainly because they’re funny as hell.
Here, here Sir. Twitter has been a fantastic way to liaise with other horror bloggers and fans. I also think that communities/groups such as the LOTTD are ways in which newer bloggers can observe and hone their own style. Long live horror blogging!
http://www.musingcontinuum.com
Yes, and someone needs to recommend you for membership in that sacred order come October, Jess!