Armchair BEA: Keeping It Real

Read my introduction post.
Read my classics post.
Read my development post.
Read my fiction post.
Read my giveaway post.
Read my literary reads post.
Read my ethics post.
Read my non-fiction post


How do you keep your blog fresh and inviting?? How do you keep yourself interested as well as have return readers???
If I knew the answers to these questions then I would surely have the best blog in the world. 
But sadly, I do not have the answers or the best blog, what I do have is integrity and imagination.

Let's start with integrity.
When you blog with integrity, you write content that is honest, wholesome and an extension of you. If you have a sense of integrity and respect, it will come across in your posts. People will recognize that you actually have an opinion worth listening to and be more apt to read again and again.

Now the imagination side of things....
If you use your imagination, you can come up with clever ideas to keep readers interested. I have two memes on my blog, The Friday 56 and Quote It Saturday. Both are memes that I was passed the torch, but have creatively kept them active for quite some time. Participating in memes not only gains readers but expands your horizons in the blogs you read as well. 

I'm always trying to think of things to do to entice the reader. This year I have held a PayPal giveaway every month. I know it seems like I might be buying readers, but really it was my way of "giving back" to the readers who have made my blog the little bit of success it has had. Without readers, what's the point?! I started the blog for myself, but readers are what give me incentive to keep it going.

The last thing I think about when having an alluring blog is the layout or design. If you have a crappy layout where it's all over the place, or use dark colors on dark colors making it impossible to read, it will deter me from re-visiting. You want an inviting look as soon as the page loads. Clean, crisp and clear, that is what I look for immediately. If your blog is too dark or scattered, or make me scroll for 5 minutes to get to a post, I will probably give up and not read it. So think about how the reader sees your blog, and not just what you think is pretty. Just because it is nice, like a lavender background with royal purple words, doesn't mean it is to a reader.

So enough rambling on this subject. What do you do to your blog to "keep it real"?


DISCLOSURE: Freda's Voice received no compensation for posting. Opinions are 100% owned by this blog.