Linking Your Blog to Other Social Networks

Related to building a following, I have found it helpful to have my blog linked to other social networks. Every time I post on my blog, both Twitter and Facebook automatically announce my new post. Many, many more people are hanging out on Facebook and Twitter than are going around reading blogs, so that garners more readers for me than if I just depended on my blog followers alone.

My first recommendation is to sign up for Networked Blogs and have it linked to your Facebook account. You can then set it up to feed to your blog's Facebook page (if you have one) or your personal Facebook page. It usually posts title, the first picture, and the first few lines of text from your post. I have found that often people will leave a comment on Facebook instead of my blog, so be sure to follow up on those comments, too.

You can also set up a TwitterFeed account to have your blog posts automatically feed to your Twitter account. This posts the title of your blog post and a link. Use catchy titles. I've noticed in my Feedjit box that Twitter does bring in readers.

Blog Post #1

This is the first post on your blog. It is the one that feeds your homepage on Sonlight's website. You'll want to be sure to update it regularly to keep it current. You can do that by clicking on Edit and then the "Publish Post" button when you've made any changes. Be sure you don't ever delete this post.

For visual appeal you could include a personal picture... maybe one of your family, or local scenery. I pasted in my blog header. I also included my head shot in this post, since my Blogger profile is more of a scenery picture.

Include your contact info:

• Email address (linked, so they don't have to copy it)
• (I don't list my phone number as I don't like to have it "out there" on the internet, but you can invite them to email you if they would like a call.)

Also links to other social networks:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• link to blog (yes, that's here... but when it shows up on the Sonlight page, it's not "here")

I also list links to some of my blog posts that have to do with homeschooling that I think other homeschool parents might find helpful.