The blog world is SUCH a community. I have met so many amazing, like-minded women who I wish I lived closer to because I really think we’d be “real life” friends!
You may have previously read my post about how to get more followers. Today I want to share with you some quick tips for how to make friends with other bloggers.
HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS BLOGGING
1. Be yourself.
I know this is obvious, but really, be YOU on your own blog. Even though some of my favorite bloggers are the ultra-funny type, that’s not me…and I shouldn’t pretend it is. The first “rule” of blogging is that you should never change how or what you write on your blog just to “please” others.
2. Join link parties.
When I began blogging, I found a lot of awesome bloggers through joining blog link-ups. If you enjoy someone’s blog and they host a link party, it’s likely that the people who link up will be similar, and you’ll like them too! However, it can be easy to fall into the trap of joining so many link parties that you don’t post your own quality content. For this reason, and because blog link parties can be really time consuming, I recommend picking one or two that you really enjoy and stick with only doing them.
3. Let people know you’re reading their blog.
Why take the time to read someone’s blog if you don’t let them know? If you read someone’s post and were inspired, laughed out loud, cried, or fill in the blank…comment and tell them! I’m talking a GENUINE comment…not just “Great post!” or “I’m your newest follower, follow me back!” Believe me, genuine and encouraging comments are always appreciated.
Another nice thing to do is to send a quick email to tell someone you really enjoy reading their blog. And my personal favorite way of connecting with bloggers? Twitter. It’s quick and conversational…and for some reason I’m more likely to remember bloggers when they tweet me than when they just leave a quick comment on my blog.
4. Interact with your readers.
Getting comments on your blog is fun, right? So when someone takes the time to write you a nice comment, respond back! One thing I didn’t realize when I began blogging on Blogger (and if you’re still on Blogger, switch to WordPress ASAP – it’s SO much better) is that if you respond in the comment feed below a comment on your Blogger blog, that person will actually never be notified – meaning that unless they come back to that same post, they’ll probably never see your response. What does that mean? Respond via email. That way they’ll be notified AND you can continue a conversation.
5. Make your blog easy to follow.
Once you build relationships, of course you want to maintain them! So make sure you put a follow link close to the top of your blog — no one wants to scroll halfway down the screen. I also highly recommend using various social media sites – especially Twitter (use ManageFlitter to help you grow it!), Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest – and put those links near the top of your blog too.
So, there you have it! Hopefully with these tips you’ll be able to make some awesome bloggy friends! If you want more blogging tips, make sure you read my post about how to get more blog followers.
photo credit: Tiger Pixel via photopin cc (edited)
