November 19, 2019

21 Free Ways To Support Your Favorite Blogger

Easy ways to support bloggers you love

The Business of Blogging

Blogging is a weird business. Heck – we don’t even know what to call ourselves sometimes. Influencers, bloggers, content creators. Setting aside the fact we don’t even know what to call ourselves, there’s an even bigger issue: transparency in terms of how we make money.

Consequently, many of our friends and family have no clue how to support us! And understandably so. They are not even sure how it is a business or how we support ourselves doing this, so they don’t know how to support us in this endeavor.

If you are one of those who is confused by how bloggers make money, check out this article before you read on. I’ll wait patiently…

Okay, now that you are armed with that knowledge, let’s talk about how you, as our beloved friends and family and online community, can support us – at no charge to you!

Do you like all the content we put out for free? The color, the positivity, the fashion advice, the mural guides, the travel guides, the business advice, and all the other valuable information? Well, none of that is free to create. I create most of that content as a loss, which is hopefully offset eventually with income from affiliate links, sponsored content, ad revenue, and such.

So, keep reading for easy, free ways to support your favorite bloggers…

21 Free Ways to Support Bloggers

Friends – being a supportive reader is easy – and free! Here are some ideas.

Ways to Support Her on the Blog

1: Use her affiliate links

Do you shop online?

Undoubtedly, in today’s day and age, the answer is a resounding yes!

Surely, as you read my content, you can click on shopping text links and images, and purchase items I share with you.

But I’ll take this a step further… 

Anytime you shop online before you start browsing, just click on an affiliate link from me to that site. Then, when you shop, I’ll make a small commission on what you buy — at no cost to you. The retailer pays that commission. More importantly than the monetary amount of the commission, this indicates to potential partners that I have a highly engaged community – and that is priceless!

To make shopping easy for you, I’ve created a relatively exhaustive list of some of my favorite online retailers. If you shop at others, just let me know. Thanks to rewardStyle, I can give you an affiliate link to almost any retailer!

My Favorite Online Retailers

Bookmark that page, and then as you do your holiday shopping, simply click on links to those retailers before you shop.

It’s that easy! It doesn’t cost you anything, yet shows that you support my creative efforts here.

2 – Visit her blog regularly and frequently

Especially for those of us who are still generating long-form content chocked full with value-adding material, we really appreciate blog visits. It takes time, effort, and money to produce this type of content. We hope you’ll visit.

3 – Click around on her website

Pageviews matter! So, while you are here, click around! See what else you might find. Click on links within my articles, click on other menus, and such. Whatever you do, just click around. 🙂

For some of us, pageviews are still the most critical metric. We care about it even more than social media stats like Instagram followers. That’s because, at the end of the day, my website is the only channel that I truly own and control.

4 – Click through on ads on her site

Rather than seeing ads as a negative intrusive thing, view it as an opportunity! See something you like? Click through! Ad dollars are one small way I make money around here.

5 – Read her blog posts

This point harkens back to numbers 2 and 3 somewhat. But you have no idea how much it means when people actually read the words I’ve written. In a culture accustomed to such short attention spans, I realize it’s easier to scroll and look at photos. So, thank you for actually reading the content that I write, which I, of course, hope adds value to your life.

6 – Pin her content to Pinterest

Pinterest is still a significant driver of traffic to many blogs, as it is for mine for particular article types. I usually include a handy dandy pinnable graphic at the end of my posts. So, if you like what you read and you’re an active Pinterest user, pin it! PS – you can also follow me on Pinterest.

7 – Share her blog posts

Again, if you like what you read, share it! This time, I am thinking both of new-school digital sharing as well as old school sharing. Sure, share it on Facebook or Instagram or wherever you feel led.

But also, feel free to mention it to your “real life” friends. Email them a link, say it on your next playdate… “Did you see that great guide Carrie has to Houston murals? We should go visit some soon!”

8 – Comment on her blog posts

I know, I know… Comments on blog posts are somewhat a thing of the past. People rarely comment these days. But that doesn’t have to be that way. A quick comment on a blog post means a lot! And I am open to any type of feedback — positive or constructive. Everything is useful – except for the overtly rude kind of comments, although I rarely get those.

Ways to Support Her on Social Media

9 – Follow her on Instagram

While I focus on my blog content first and foremost, social media channels – particularly Instagram — are still vital vis-a-vis brand sponsorships and such. So, speaking of, are you following me on Instagram? If not, why are you waiting?

Follow @carriec now!

10 – Like her posts on Instagram

While there have been reports of Instagram hiding likes soon (read Jenn’s thoughts on it here), the likelihood is that, behind the scenes, business accounts will still be able to harvest their analytics and will continue to be expected to provide that information to brands.

So, keep on liking away!

11 – Comment on her Instagram posts

What shows even more engagement than a like on Instagram is a comment on Instagram. Pausing long enough to leave a comment is like a vote of confidence or an endorsement.

12 – Save her posts

Do you even know how to save Instagram posts? Some people aren’t yet familiar with this feature. When you’re looking at a photograph, there are four icons underneath each photo — a heart to like, a conversation bubble to comment, an arrow to share the post, and then on the far right a bookmark icon to save the post.

Why is this important? Well, some have termed a save as a “super like.” It shows that the user sees great value in the post — enough value to save the post so that she can reference it later.

So, start saving today!

13 – Watch her Instagram stories

I find people fall into one of two camps — either (a) they watch IG stories religiously, or (b) they aren’t sure what they are! If you’re one of those people who aren’t sure what they are, it’s time to learn. Instagram Stories tend to be more in-the-moment, more real and authentic, and less staged than IG feed posts. Plus, they are more interactive. So, check out what your favorites are posting on IG stories!

14 – Swipe up on her Instagram stories

And sometimes, those IG stories have “swipe up” enabled features. When that’s the case, swipe up to support your favorite influencer. First, this will help her stats for brand partnerships. But secondly, hopefully, you will like the product or article or whatever to which she’s linking.

15 – Follow her on Facebook

I personally am not a big fan of Facebook. In fact, I don’t have a personal Facebook page! Nevertheless, many people still love Facebook and use it frequently. So,  it’s still a big diver of traffic to my website via my business Facebook page.

Speaking of, are you following the Facebook page for CarrieColbert.com? Please do!

16 – Leave a review on her Facebook page

Similar to a testimonial, a Facebook review is just a vote of confidence for those who stumble upon the page.

17 – Leave her a testimonial

Speaking of testimonials, there’s another opportunity to leave one! Fohr, a network that connects influencers and brands, allows us as influencers to collect testimonials now. And in the crowded world of influencers, a testimonial can make all the difference!

So, if you like what you see here, take 15 seconds to leave me a testimonial! Thank you so much.

18 – Subscribe to her email newsletters

Email subscriber lists are very valuable to influencers. I tend not to utilize my email list very often, as I want to be respectful of your crowded inboxes. Anytime I send an email blast, I want it to be something of value for you.

With that in mind, if you’d like to sign up for my email newsletters, click here. Scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up.

19 – Recommend her to others

Despite all the ways to connect online, sometimes nothing is better than good old fashion word of mouth! So, tell your friends, tell your family, tell anyone whom you think would enjoy the content your favorite blogger generates.

20 – Give her feedback

I’m open to any and all feedback! Tell me what you like. Tell me what you don’t like. Tell me what you want to see more of. Tell me what you want to see less of. Ask me questions.

In order to give me feedback, you can comment on blog posts, email me, direct message me on social media, among any number of other ways.

21 – Encourage her

If you’re anything like me, you thrive on words of affirmation! Who doesn’t love an encouraging word? Working for yourself in the online world can actually be a fairly isolating job. So, take a moment to encourage your friends.

Bonus tip:

May I offer one more bonus tip for you? Be patient with the amount of sponsored content during the holidays. Try not to get annoyed. Even the most picky, selective bloggers tend to take on more partnerships during the holidays, because – let’s face it – marketers have more dollars to spend. And the income we make during the holiday season helps fund some of the slower months. Plus, those paid opportunities allow us to create all the other free content you see here.

Bottom Line on Supporting Bloggers

If you find the blogs you read to be valuable and additive to your life, then let the bloggers know by following a few of these tips. Read her blog, follow her on social media, and engage, engage, engage with her content. Trust me — these little things make a big difference!

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share on Pinterest by pinning the graphic below.

2 comments

  1. Syd says:

    This is great. Thanks for the tips! I’ve started following quite a few bloggers and I want the awesome content to continue, so knowing how to support their endeavors is very helpful. I find a lot of my shopping ideas on blogs and knowing that if I use their link to buy puts money in their pockets – without taking it out of mine – makes it even better.

    1. Thanks, Syd! I’m glad you liked it. Little things can go a long way. 🙂

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