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!