Blogging and Facebook

When I first started blogging, I was hesitant about starting a Facebook Fan Page. However, I was looking for a way to increase readership of my blog, so I finally decided to do it. Things started out slowly and I was discouraged.

Even though I had a fair amount of friends and family on Facebook, that didn’t mean that I could count on all of them liking my Facebook page. It took a while before I finally had the 30 or 35 likes to be able to view the Insights for the page. The thing that really helped me gain some momentum was doing a share day. I learned about it from one of the pages that I follow.

I chose just the right share day. With the share days, you find pages to follow and have a chance to share your own page with more people. The person running the share day was such a sweet person. Bren from Bren’s BacktoBasics2014 encouraged people to come and like my page. Before I knew it, I had over a hundred likes. I was overwhelmed. Bren is incredibly supportive of pages and helps new pages get started.

Over the past several months, I have slowly increased my page likes to over 1500. Networking is definitely important in the whole process. I have not increased the views for my WordPress blog even close to what I had hoped for, but the fan page has been a good experience overall.

I have met a variety of people from across the country and around the world. I am blogging in a way by sharing small posts about what is going on with the homestead and other things in my life. I look forward to hearing from regular followers each day. I have many pages that I follow myself and it is a wonderful community.

It is hard not to get discouraged at times because of how the whole Facebook algorithm works. Sometimes something I post can reach less than 20 people out of 1500. That really upsets me. Facebook wants me to pay to increase my reach. I am not a business. I wonder how my blog numbers would look if all those who followed my page, regularly saw my blog posts.

Through my Facebook page, I learned about blogging for GRIT magazine. I started writing for their website on a weekly basis. I do have more of an audience there, but I would love for something to go viral just once. It is sometimes challenging coming up with something new to write every week. You can find my profile here.

I hope the discipline of writing every week is making me a better writer. I really do try to grow, learn and figure out what people want to read. I am always looking for new adventures and things to write about for my blogs.

I love my Facebook page because I can share a bit of myself. I try to keep it overall a lighthearted place. I think that sometimes it gives me a chance to share more of my sense of humor too. I love hearing from my friends and making new ones.

 

Some GRIT blog posts

Working Out on the Ranch

Growing Egyptian Walking Onion

Learning about Horses

Is My Hen Getting Ready to Lay?

Facebook Fan Page

Faithful Homesteader on Facebook