How to Support a Blog You Love

This is not the post I had scheduled for today, it’s not even a post I knew I was going to write until this very moment. Guys, it’s a really tough time to be a professional blogger, and I don’t think that readers who aren’t a part of the blog community get that. This is something I’ve thought about a lot over the last few weeks and I’m finally going to try to articulate.

For the purpose of this post, I’m talking about the ‘mid-level’, not super famous bloggers who make revenue from their blog. They are not bloggers because they want free stuff, they are bloggers because they love writing and creating, and they treat their platforms as a profession. These bloggers publish posts 3-5 times a week, work really hard to create original content, learn how to take great photos (or make videos), reach out to brands for collaborations, and often spend time and their own money to travel to conferences and workshops. These bloggers usually don’t make huge amounts of money, but they make just enough to contribute to the home (and stay home with the kids), or send their kids to after-school activities, or to take their family on a trip every few years. I don’t count myself in this group because I have a full-time business that pays my bills, and blogging is my passion project. But for this group, the couple of sponsored posts each month make all the difference to their family.

So why am I thinking about these bloggers right now? The Instagram shadow ban. This might mean nothing to you if you aren’t an influencer, but theshort version is – it’s become really hard to share your content on Instagram and actually get people to see it. (You can google it for more specifics). Something similar happened to Facebook influencers a couple of years ago. We went from having thousands of people seeing our posts to maybe a hundred being reached pretty much overnight. Think about the stay at home mom who worked like crazy during nap time and stayed up in the middle of the night to build her blog and community, only to have it all taken away in the blink of an eye. That extra money she makes from the 1-2 sponsored posts a month means she can stay home with her kids. But no traffic from Facebook, and now no interaction on Instagram means no sponsored posts for her.

Now there are different schools of thought here. Some people say it’s pay to play, if you want to run a business online you have to buy ads on FB and Instagram. You should have known that marketing takes money. I get that, because I run a digital marketing agency, but that’s not what I’m here to argue. I’m here to talk about all the amazing content these bloggers make that we consume for free. I’m talking about all the times we (especially moms) have googled an issue we are having with our kid/husband/girlfriend and found the perfect post written by a blogger and then fallen down the rabbit hole and inhaled her content. I’m thinking about all the birthday cakes I’ve made inspired by a bloggers work without ever paying for it.

If you are reading my blog, you probably grew up in the magazine generation, when we had to pay for this type of content. When we wanted to know which moisturizer was the best we’d pay for a Cosmo or Chatelaine. Now some blogger somewhere already spent her own $10 to try that drug store dupe and tell you if it is as good as Elizabeth Arden (or some other fancy brand I likely don’t know about). Same goes with Martha’s cakes, or Oprah’s wisdom on life, we bought it at the newsstand for years, and now we are getting it all free.  

So if there is a blogger who’s content you truly love. Not a super famous, million follower kind of blogger, but just a regular woman like you and me, try to support her, and help get her content out there! How can you do that? I’ve got a few tips.

HOW TO SUPPORT A BLOGGER YOU LOVE

  1. Share her (or his) content. If you read a really great post, share it on your Facebook page, or even better email it to a few girlfriends. Think about it, you make book and movie recommendations to your friends all the time right, why not a blog they would love? 
  2. If you follow her Facebook page, make sure you’ve selected get notifications so you actually see her posts, and then hit thumbs up on your girl’s posts! 
    the write balance{For your reference, this is where you find the option to get all notifications from a page you like. This is my friend Salma’s page, and she’s pretty awesome. She posts about life as a mom, health & wellness, and is a meal plan boss, you should follow her. See how I easily recommended her work to you? 😉 }
  3. On Instagram make sure that you’ve clicked ‘get notifications’ on her posts. 

    taslim jaffer instagram{Here is my sweet friend and fellow blogger Taslim Jaffer on Instagram. You can see that I clicked on the 3 dots on the type right corner of her profile page and selected ‘turn on notifications’. I love seeing Taslim’s inspiring and uplifting posts in my Instagram feed and would hate to miss them because of some bogus algorythm thing I don’t understand or care about.}

  4. If she shares a sponsored post in an authentic way on social, interact with it. Not all sponsored posts are evil. Many bloggers take the time to create valuable, useful, and true to their brand content for sponsors. And the truth is advertising is everywhere (except on Netflix). You watched ads on TV, listen to them on the radio, and see them in magazines, so what if a blogger has a sponsored post?The truth is, if no one clicks on a sponsored post, likes it, or interacts with it, it’s going to be damn hard for your favourite blogger to keep getting paid opportunities. That may lead to her having to pull out of the blogging game all together, because it takes time and money to create amazing content. So go ahead, like that post about paper towels and give yourself a pat on the back for supporting a small business. When you like a sponsored post, you support the blogger, not the brand in my opinion. So if you love someone’s content, do them a solid and leave a comment already.

Wowza, did not expect this post to be so long. Thank you for sticking with me on this post, and as readers. Love you lots. (For real, I love you, in a weird we’ve never met but we are on the same team way.)

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10 Comments

  1. May 3, 2017 / 12:14 pm

    This is an awesome post! I’m so glad you decided to write it. Thanks for all the support you give and for educating your readers on how they can help! xoxox

  2. May 3, 2017 / 6:12 pm

    I’m happy that I came across this. Needed a boost to return to writing into my blog. You’ve emphasised a blogger’s worth so well. Kudos!

    • May 4, 2017 / 4:09 pm

      I’m so happy to hear this, I hope you’ll start blogging again soon!

  3. May 3, 2017 / 9:55 pm

    Wow! What a wonderful post! I want to really thank u for taking the time to think about the newbie bloggers. I am a blogger myself and I find it so intimidating as to how I can grow. Eventually, yes, I do want to earn money but more so, I want to be known for my work. Bas itna sa khwab hai!
    That being said, I want to tell you that I am in love with your blog. I visit ur blog each day and today I even showed this post to my husband explaining to him why I love your work!
    Thank u once again for being a nice human being.

    • May 4, 2017 / 4:09 pm

      Thank you so much for your kind words. Just keeping doing what you are doing and I’m sure you’ll find the success you are looking for.

  4. May 4, 2017 / 9:41 am

    This is an amazing post! Thank you for writing this and wonderfully describing bloggers worth. The algorithm has demotivated me in many levels but at the end of the day I do it because I love doing it and that’s what keeps me going.

    • May 4, 2017 / 4:04 pm

      I think we just have to keep doing what we do because we love it and the right people will find us!

  5. May 4, 2017 / 1:04 pm

    Amazing Thoughts !! It’s like you poured out your & many bloggers heart out there .. kudos !

  6. Pin
    May 7, 2017 / 9:04 pm

    What a great post! I have looked at many blogs and often find myself in a rabbit hole consuming excellent content, it varies from News/current events/economics to planning a first birthday party, or paw patrol themed party and my favourite fashion blogs!! Great tips, I will definatey hit “like”, share and support strong independent women creating and sustaining a business on social media! 🙂

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