After a few weeks absence with a broken wrist, im glad to return this week with Introductions over Coffee #5, where I provide some guidance and insights for new bloggers and maybe as a refresher for us all. I also introduce a new blogger to the community. Please make them feel welcome (as I know you will).
For any new bloggers who want to raise their profile, please follow the guidance in my posts and do not spam my comments section.
Introducing : Galesong Craft of Craft Journey
Galesong Craft has been established a bit longer than the normal bloggers featured here, but with my absence due to injury I don’t have a new blogger to feature. Instead of leaving this section blank, I have decided instead to feature Galesong so that I can help showcase their wonderful wood carving skills. I simply adore the work they do and am delighted to help showcase their artistry for them. I hope you’ll have a look and share my enthusiasm.
Welcome to the community, Galesong 😁
Beginner’s Tips
Followers are important as our engagement with those we follow and our followers allow us to build a community, making our blog active, so I believe it will help to understand the relationships with followers and being a follower of other blogs.
Following Bloggers
Sometimes as a new blogger we can look at following others and feel the need to follow everyone – don’t feel that you need to do this and following others in the hope that they’ll follow you back or following them because they’re following you is the way to go. You may find that following someone simply to get them to sign up to their blog, then they unfollow them.
Sometimes when we are new to blogging we either try to follow too many people or even try to follow everyone. Don’t feel you need to follow everyone, its not realistic to do this. For your own sanity and time management you should only sign up to follow blogs and/or bloggers who really interest you. Most established bloggers would not engage in tit for tat following – ie. I don’t expect someone I follow to follow me back and while I have about 600 listed followers, I follow about 60 who are active, but at times I find that too many. You need to decide how many are appropriate/good for you.
Followers
It might seem rewarding when we see people signing up to our blog but what looks like a healthy statistic isn’t always the whole story. If you think about it, numbers are fine, but what we really want is engagement so you will read many experienced bloggers who will say its better to have fewer followers with lots of meaningful comments and maybe some conversation.
My own view is, yes interaction is important and you shoudl always respond when comments are left, but we will also have followers who are silent – they may read your blog, but don’t like or leave any comments. That’s not to say that some followers may sign up and then stop reading but not remove themselves from your list or may have stopped blogging.
I would advise anyone who has spammers signing up to their blogs to remove them immediately by marking them as spam. If you get comments from them, mark them as spam so that Akismet can learn to recognise them. Currently there appears to be some dog breeders using various names who are spamming many bloggers.
What I’m looking for in new bloggers I feature
I review the new bloggers I come across to decide who to highlight in this post on a weekly basis, and some have been asking what I’m looking for. I would say the following are my criteria:
- a blogger who interacts with their readers and responds to comments
- Are they posting regularly – if someone posts weekly, that’s fine, but I’d probably observe for a few weeks to see how they’re getting on
- Do they produce quality work – if its text, is it full of spelling/grammar mistakes
- is there sufficient information to encourage conversation through the comments section
- If someone regularly spams, they will not be featured. I accept that people can make mistakes at the outset, but they should learn and adapt what they do
I accept that this process is subjective, based on my opinions. Equally if you spot an interesting new blogger, send me a message through the Contact Me part of my site with their details.
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Aha cool!!
you are back with this series
Good thing
Best wishes
Thanks. Yes, I wanted to get it back up and running 🙂
Good!!!
Very nice tips.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you 🙂
This may sound harsh but I think it’s rather easy to tell when a new follower is a blogger simply looking (hoping) to be followed in return to grow their stats. After you’ve been blogging for some time there are obvious hints that I look for- the biggest one being a new follow and then no interaction ever again from that point on. It is a waste of time for a new blogger to troll blog after blog in the hopes to grow an audience. Their content- good, insightful, engaging content, will bring in readers- not pushing themselves or their brand on everyone. Your reminders are always so honest and useful Brenda 🙂
Thanks Deb. Its always interesting to see the opinions and insights of others
Great tips, Brenda. I agree completely with you, especially about leaving meaningful comments. That’s what the majority of bloggers want. I appreciate somebody telling in a comment that my post was great, but they could have easily done that by pressing ‘like.’ So, instead of say ‘thanks for this,’ try and leave a comment that starts or opens up a discussion. Expand on why you think the post or tips were great. What was it about them that helped you or made you like it.
And, yes, avoid a follow for a follow at all costs. As you rightly said, only follow blogs that publish content that interest you. Don’t follow back for the sack of doing so or for feeling obliged to. It’s a big trap.
Thanks Hugh.
“Galesong Craft “.. wonderful blog.
… and great tips, Brenda. ✨🤍
Thanks Destiny. I thought it better to feature someone established rather than just leave that bit blank. 😁
great idea… and always a pleasure 🤍
It is true like and follow do
not translate into views. I am fine if people do not like or follow me. I just want them to read and enjoy my content . 😊
Thanks Ganga. That really is what’s most important … read and enjoy … and maybe talk to us 😁😆
Yes maybe talk to us a bit 😊!
Welcome back Brenda! It’s great to have you back after your absence.
As regards the beginner’s tips, I fully agree that building a strong relationship with your followers and engaging with other bloggers is crucial for creating an active and vibrant community. Following other bloggers shouldn’t be a matter of give and take or playing a numbers game. The important thing is to connect with like-minded individuals and find blogs that genuinely interest and inspire you.
Also endorse your perspective on followers and engagement. While having hundreds of followers may seem impressive, what truly matters is meaningful interaction. It’s better to have a smaller number of active followers who leave thoughtful comments and contribute to the discussion.
I also appreciate your efforts to feature new bloggers who meet your criteria. It’s a commendable initiative indeed!
Thanks Shahbaz, both for your comments on the guidance, and the initiative in this series
My pleasure, Brenda!
And thanks for the welcome. It’s good to be back and I feel I’m more or less back to speed now.
I liked your tips, Brenda, and I look forward to your next featured blogger.
Thanks Kellye
Great tips! Welcome, Galesong Craft!
Thanks Wordsandcoffee 😁
Delicious😋😋☕
I completely agree with the ‘tit for tat’ following viewpoint. I already follow too many blogs, part of the reason I am days behind on reading/commenting. I’ve started to be more selective with who I follow….I give newer bloggers (less followers) a little more leeway than I do blogs with thousands of followers as far as content and whether they are a fit with me or not (everyone has to start somewhere). I’ve had to stop following some bloggers that were posting/resharing something about every hour….I loved their content, but they dominated my reader and I couldn’t keep up. I try to comment more than just like, so even though I read fast, it takes some time to stay current with the blogs I follow.
I understand completely Dawn. It is tough trying to keep up with everyone, and I agree, there are some I follow who post a few times across the day. There is only so much you can do.