How to Become a Good Blogger
Ok so if you have checked my followings, you might be wondering why I am creating a blog post like this! Well, I have noticed a couple of things about blogging that can make you very successful that I wanted to share with other bloggers so they can perhaps tweak their style or start to learn how to get a great response in the blog world. This is actually my second blog. I have 2 that I work from because my goals are different for each blog. Some of these tips have come from other bloggers and I will be linking back to their post or blog so that you can see that the advice is coming from people who know what they are talking about who are successful. I may do another post like this in several months to share what I have learned since this post, but for now, I hope this will be of some assistance to any newbies or people who want to add to their current skills.
1) Establish a purpose for your blog, what you want to write about, who your audience is. Are your just writing a lifestyle blog about your daily life so you can just get your thoughts written down? Are you trying to use blogging as a means to interact with others and make new friends? Knowing all of this upfront and thinking over what your purpose is periodically will help you stay on track to accomplish your goals as a blogger.
2) If you want to interact with other bloggers, a rule of thumb to go by is really similar to what you should practice if you want to make friends and network in everyday life. Most of us refer to it as karma. If you are not famous already, I do not know too many people who can just step on the blog scene and write posts and expect to gain followers instantly. Keep this in mind, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Most followers and comments on your blog are usually from other bloggers. You will need to put in the work by going to other blogs and commenting on their posts. You put your time and effort into what you post or vlog about right? Imagine others are doing exactly the same. You do not feel too great when you do a blog post or vlog and you do not get a response right? Well, you have to read and view what others are doing and comment. Nice bloggers who have good etiquette usually come back to your blog and comment as well. I have put time into this and have established some very nice relationships with several bloggers already.
3) Consider establishing yourself on multiple social media accounts. You will find that some people are more active on one as opposed to others. If you are on and active with several, you will be able to connect with more people and gain more exposure for your blog in the process. Some of the social media sites that bring a lot of traffic are Pinterst, Google+, Twitter, Stumbleupon and Facebook. Not in that order necessarily but it’s not a bad idea to establish an account with all of those.
4) Consider joining a blogger network that will also help you share your content like Triberr. You can join groups or tribes where you are required to share content from some of the members of the group and the group also shares your content as well.
5) Consider getting share icons on your blog for most if not all social media sites for your posts. Some of the templates have some of them installed but I decided to install a widget that will enable people to share my posts to most social media sites on this blog. Here is an example of a widget you can add for share icons here. This will enable people to share your content easily and it gives your blog more exposure.
6) Which brings me to my next point. Learn how to spot an unresponsive blogger. An unresponsive blogger is someone who may not reply to the comments on his or her blog or this person may not return your efforts of commenting on his or her blog by going to comment on yours. I give people time to follow back or come back to my blog and comment because not everyone is constantly on social media. People have lives and families to take care of. But sometimes people do not want to interact with you or just want you as a follower. On social media, sometimes it takes just a shot out to the person to let them know, hey, no follow back? Usually, if you interact with people apar from just following them, they will follow back. If not, that is ok too. You can determine if you want to still follow them or not if they are reluctant to return the follow or if they unfollowed you on social media.
7) Which brings me to my next point about comments. I use the blogger platform and I have noticed that people use something called commentluv on their blogs. This allows readers to enter in their name, email and blog site so that you have that information and can go back to their site and comment. Some systems will even send the person an email with his or her comment and then with your reply. My first blog I created does not support the ones I have run into so far, but on this new blog, I have started using a service called Intense Debate. So far, it has been working ok. I like the way I can see who is commenting with the person’s email and website so I can return the love. 
8) With comments, also consider the type of comments you are making. My blogger buddy Anyonita wrote a nice post on Google’s Spam Policy that can help you make some decisions about how you comment on the blogs of others as well as which comment style you want to use on your own blog.
9) Participate in blog hops, do giveaways, co-host linky parties with other bloggers and perhaps start your own linky party. These three take a great deal of time, yes, but in the long run can be very worth your while. They all help build a consistent following to your blog and social media accounts as well as help you interact and connect with more people in social media and the blog world. Anyonita has a great post that you should read if you are considering hosting a linky party that she wrote here. My blogger buddy Bonnie at Lady Blogger wrote a great post about how to blog hop and how to benefit from participating in them that you can look at here.
10) When you comment on other people’s blogs, usually after you mention and say something valuable about the content of the post, you want to make sure that you let them know you are following them on social media. My blogger buddy Lisa from The Squishable Baby clued me in on that tip and it has been working so well with my interactions and followings.
Honestly, these 10 tips are some things that I have been working on and doing almost daily. I have only been blogging and on social media for nearly 4 months now. I have about 100 followers on my first blog via Blog Lovin’, I have almost 400 Facebook Likes on my page here, and I have about 600 twitter followers under my name here. Followings are awesome, but more importantly I have made some great blogger buddy friends in the process. This is all in 4 months! I honestly did not think I was doing that well until I decided to write this post and I realized the tips that people have given me over time must really be working! I hope this helps someone else. The following is a list of bloggers, apart from the ones that I have already mentioned, who have really been very helpful and interactive with me on this journey. I am listing them because it is only right to acknowledge them for helping me along for free in this crazy process! I am also thankful for their constant engagement with me on my blog and social media. There are definitely more bloggers I interact with, but this is a few that came to mind when I started writing this post. I am sure if you reach out to them like I have, they will follow you back and engage with you too!
XoXo,
These are really good tips Brittnei! And I definitely find it to be true that you get what you give. I try to respond to every comment…I don't always succeed but I think I do a pretty good job with it. I love social media so when others follow and interact with me there, I will definitely respond. Thanks for including me in your post! Hope you are having a great weekend!
aww thanks for mentioning me! that's awesome! love the new blog, great job!
Hey Michelle! I was extremely honored to have you, who seemed to have so much klout and experience to keep coming back to my blog and commenting when I first started. That was extremely encouraging for me so I had to me mention you. We all do get behind sometimes especially as our followings start to grow but the good bloggers care and you know it in your interaction with them…and you my dear, are a great blogger!
Thanks for the shout out! You are one busy gal! I learned a few things from your tips….I am less than a year into my blogging so tips are appreciated!
Ps. I am following you via twitter!
You're welcome! You are so funny! I'm happy you took away something from some of these! There is definitely no sense in keeping what others have shared with me to myself. We all as bloggers can be successful for sure!
Wow, Brittnei …2 blogs! You are keeping your followers busy as well as yourself! Good for you. Great points here. The one I feel most passionate about ,is being generous to other bloggers and followers on twitter. i have found that if you comment RT, #FF and mention/link other bloggers as you do here, the kindness comes back to you in droves. There is room in the blogosphere for everyone to thrive and supporting each other is one of the most heartwarming things I have discovered, being a blogger.You are a professional at this!!
I really enjoyed reading your tips! I love to find out what other bloggers have to say about blogging because I am fairly new to the whole process and there is so much to learn. Thanks for sharing so many amazing tips!
I love your new format, Brittnei. Now that you're on your second blog, isn't it nice to know the learning curve won't be as steep? You've given great advice, too.
Great post, thank you! It's very helpful, I especially love the part about the blogging karma. I hadn't really thought of it that way, but you're totally right.
Hi Brittnei,
I loved reading all your tips! It can be a bit hard when you first start off as a blogger but it does take time and your tips are very helpful. I'm still learning about HTML code and that alone makes me turn off my computer at times. Will pin this on Pinterest to have as a reference. Ophelia :0)
Gilly! Thank you so much for coming by and giving your input! You make an awesome point, as I knew experienced bloggers would. I'm always looking for feedback and ways to get better. I think I'll be alright with two. My focuses are very different on each blog and I'm free to explore multiple avenues of my writing with each. I promise I won't keep you all that busy!
Excellent points about Twitter! So glad I met you virtually. You're so gracious!
Thank you Tati! I love your site as well! I'm so glad that this will help you out in some way. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
I am so glad that this was something that will help you! That makes me smile that I was able to help someone out in some way! Also, thank you for taking the time to read through them. I respect your time and really appreciate you taking the time to read my post and give me feedback.
Thank you, Lydia! I'm glad you like the new format!
So happy to share with others whenever I learn something new. I'm forever learning about this stuff everyday 
Sarah! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post! I really appreciate you taking the time to give me your feedback, too. I'm glad that it has helped you in some way. I hope you have an awesome rest of the week!
I love these tips. Great to know. I am horrible at always responding back to comments. It's something I need to work on.
Great tips, Brittnei! And thank you so much for including me. That made me feel so great.
You're welcome! I love your blog. Now I just have to learn how to take pictures like you haha.
Thanks for stopping by to comment! No worries! There is always something we can all work on
Great tips! There are some bloggers who aren't responding to many comments anymore for a couple of reasons-either they simply don't have time or they're afraid their short "Thank you" replies will be seen as spamming your own blog knocking you down in the the Google rankings. But I agree that if a blogger doesn't reciprocate comments, I usually don't return.
Thank you so much for this! I am a new blogger and have postmarked this to refer to. There is so much to learn!!!
New follower to this blog from the hop. Thanks for hosting. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
Thank you so much for tip #5! I've been looking for a site with reliable share buttons! Networking is great
Hi Brittnei. Great tips! You are very good at engaging with your readers. That is one of the things I love most about you. I find it rather dull when I leave comment after comment and never hear anything in return. That has never been the case with you. Thanks for thinking of me. I'm going to Tweet this out for you again. Let's see if we can get you some more followers.
Hi Brittnei. Great tips! You are very good at engaging with your readers. That is one of the things I love most about you. I find it rather dull when I leave comment after comment and never hear anything in return. That has never been the case with you. Thanks for thinking of me. I'm going to Tweet this out for you again. Let's see if we can get you some more followers.
I thought I responded to this comment. So sorry for the late response. I typically don't respond to short comments that aren't really showing engagement in my post for the same reason!
I thought I responded to this comment. So sorry for the late response. I typically don't respond to short comments that aren't really showing engagement in my post for the same reason!
I'm glad I was able to help! Sorry for the late response. I thought I replied to some of these. Still working out the kinks on my Intense Debate comment plug in!
You're welcome! So glad I could help people!
Thanks, Christina! I've learned from the best. So glad we connected in the blog world!
Thank you so much for those great tips and congrats on all of your success! I am going to follow you on blog lovin' so that I can read some more of your great posts.
Becky
Becky, thanks so much for reading another post on my blog and for the compliment! I will be sure to follow you back!
Great tips Brrittnei. I know I need to comment more too, not just to get more readers bur more importantly – to build those relationships. Thanks for the encouragement.
Oh, Marie! Thank you so much for reaching back to find this post! I'm so happy after a few months people can still reference it and find it helpful!