Last month I featured facebook groups which are a pretty standard and well known tool for promoting your blog. This month I wanted to highlight one that is of a completely different vein. Blog tags, also known as surveys and questionnaires, are a method that also help you develop new content for your blog while promoting it. So how do they work? Pretty simple! Each tag works around the same idea an activity, usually a set of questions that the blogger needs to answer. Once you’ve answered your questions you then nominate other bloggers to do it.
How does this benefit me?
Usually each blogger will link back to whoever nominated them, specifically linking to their tag answers so others can check it out. In doing so other people will reach your blog and from there browse your blog. I’m speaking from experience here because I and other bloggers have done it many times! Blog tags are a great way too meet new people and build up a network of contacts too.
How do I find tags?
You first stop should be the Blog Tags & Survey section of my Blog Promo Links pinterest board! I’ve been filling it up with all different sorts of tags for you to look through. There’s also Tag Questions and YouTube Society’s tag section which have loads of lists of tags to choose from or get some inspiration from to create your own. Another way, and literally how I’ve hunted so many down, is to find a blogger who’s completed a tag and then search their blog for tags. Just pop ‘tag’ in their blog and follow the link trails! I warn you though it is a very very deep rabbit hole and I am not responsible if you get lost for several hours 😉 (*cough* I may be talking from experience…)
The wide variety of tags out there means that you can also add content that’s a little bit different from your usual niche, allowing you to dip your toe in that pond and appeal to a different audience too. Tags are extremely popular in the book blogger world, however, don’t let that stop you from taking part in one! I’m a massive bookworm and while I don’t consider myself a book blogger I love taking part in the occasion one like the A-Z Book Survey by The Perpetual Page-Turner. Some tags start on YouTube, and again, don’t let that put you off as a lot of bloggers will translate that into text and do it their way.
My Favourites!
So here are 10 of my favourite Blog tags which I think are not just totally unique, but great fun and this selection should give you an idea of the wide range of topics available.
I wanted to start out with a pretty basic one and that’s the Blogger tag by The Howling Wolf Heart. It’s a tag that asks you a few questions about blogging; how long you’ve beeing doing it, what’s your favourite type of post and what’s the best thing about being a blogger. This is a really generic one, it’s totally nicheless so there’s no reason for any of you reading this not to try it out!
The Gamer Tag by Zombie Goddess Beauty is a great example of a very niche tag; it’s specific to gamers. It’s aimed at video games rather than board games/table top and questions range from favourite genres and characters and to what game you’ve played the most. It’s a tag that can be answered by a hardcore gamer or a casual gamer, so as I said in my introduction if you’re wanting to talk about something a bit different tags like this one are a great way to open up that discussion.
The Geeky Girl Tag is another Tag by Zombie Goddess Beauty (she is a Tag lover and all of her Tags are losted on our pinterest and on her blog, so she’s definetly one to check out if you’re on the hunt!) and it’s a personal favourite of mine because I am a geeky girl and I’ve completed this tag! It covers a range of geeky topics and it’s a great conversation starter even among friends! When it first came out and the geeky girl community started tagging one another we all learned a lot about one another that we didn’t necessarily know, and that started new people chatting and interacting. So this is definitely one to check out.
The British Tag by Samantha Maria is one of the few nationality ones I’ve seen around, and this is an example of one that started life on a YouTube channel and then went huge on the blogosphere. I love it because it is so quintessentially British asking about dunking biscuits and cockney rhyming slang (my dad’s an East end boy so I grew up with cockney rhyming slang even if I don’t sound cockney at all!); it’s fab and on my to do list! If you’re like me and can’t be bothered listening to a bunch of random vids just to get the questions, don’t worry 🙂 Pretty much every tag video lists all the questions in the description so just go grab them and be on your way if you wish. ((Image for the British Tag is from Public Domain Images.))
The 100 Truths Tag from My Random Musings is probably one of the longest tags I’ve ever seen, and it’s a list of quickfire questions which you’re (supposed to) answer truthfully. It’s basically one of those get to know me questionnaires that used to go around as chain e-mails and now makes the rounds on facebook. These sorts of tags are great for telling your audience about yourself, especially if it’s something you struggle with. I know that I completely freeze up whenever I try to do it, so these types of tags act as a prompt. As always just be careful what personal information you divulge online. ((Image for 100 Truths banner is from Unsplash.))
So I mentioned that Blog Tags are hugely popular in the Book Blog world, and one thing I came across which I think is great fun is themed tags with books. An example is this Wonder Woman Book Tag (I was unable to track down the original creator). Like a normal tag it has questions, however, each question is Wonder Woman themed. So for example, Wonder Woman; name your favourite badass female character, Lasso of Truth; A book you hated, and so on. There are so many different ones ranging from songs by an artist, movies, Disney ones. They all look so much fun!
As a retired roleplayer and now a writer, this tag really appealed to me and it looks like so much fun. The Me in Book Characters Tag by Windowsill Books requires you to describe yourself as characters from books. To do this you have to pick 5 characters from books (you could adjust it to movies or tv if you wish) that are most like you and explain why. I thought this was incredibly unique and quirky so it had to make this list!
The Kiss, Marry, Kill – TV & Book Edition Tag by Life and Other Disasters is a game of kiss, marry, kill but with characters from books and/or TV shows. You then choose a selection method in which you end up with three books/shows per round (10 rounds in total). For each round you have to decide which one you want to kiss, marry or kill. The creator has also done a book version which looks fun too!
The Social Media Tag (creator unknown) is not quite what it sounds like; it’s another example of a themed tag like the Wonder Woman tag except you’re not talking about books. This tag is all about blogger appreciation and each social media represents a category for you to subscribe a blogger to. For example, YouTube is ‘A blog that keeps you entertained’ and Tumblr is ‘A blog which is very diverse and has variety’. ((Image for Social Media Tag banner is from Unsplash.))
The Disabled Blogger Tag by My Blurred World makes this list because Tags are also a great way to show identity and inclusion, or bring awareness to something important to you. This tag talks about how it feels to be a disabled blogger, as well as perceptions people have of disabilities and disabled bloggers. In doing so it helps to open a dialogue as well as offering you a chance to inform your readers. Likewise, it helps you to connect with other bloggers who understand and face the same challenges as you. There are a few more disability related tags that I’ve found on the pinterest board, and if any one knows of any other awareness or identity related ones please do let me know! 🙂 ((Image for Disability banner is from Unsplash.))
Over to You
I hope that you’ve found this list interesting and whether you’re new to the world of Blog Tags or not, I hope you’ve come away with something new! I am not responsible for any time lost wondering the internet and blog pathways reading and searching for tags 😉
Do you know of any Blog Tags?
Have you created one?
If you take part in any of these tags let me know in the comments! I want to see your answers 🙂
I don’t mind how old they are, the great thing about Blog Tags are that they can be completed at any time! 🙂 Please do let me know in the comments so I can add them to the pinterest board.
Don’t forget to follow the pinterest board for new pins!
