3 Secrets to Getting ‘Return’ Blog Followers

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I was recently reading a post from Kelly at The Pursuit of Mommyness about what makes you subscribe to a blog. She posed some really good questions and it made me reflect on why I follow a blog and I would love to take this conversation a step further…

As bloggers, we follow blogs for various reasons; if you are a part of a Blog Hop such as Friday Follow, this may be a good reason to find some new reads and return a follow; there are many platforms that bring bloggers together, such as The Mom Bloggers Club where you can find blogs of interest and follow; there are other communities like SITS that encourage comment love, so this is a great place to find and follow blogs within this group…and the list goes on.

But as many blogs that you choose to follow and vice-versa, what makes you not only follow, but return to that blog again and again?

For example, you could subscribe to over 300 blogs but really only read and comment on 30 of those weekly. This brings me to the question…out of the many blogs you end up choosing to follow, which are the kind of blogs that you return to again and again no matter what? The kind of blog that if you are pressed for time will be one to visit on your list?

I strive to be one of those blogs that you follow and return to, not ever wanting to miss a post. So when I think of the blogs that I follow, I wanted to share my top three reasons of what brings me back to those blogs again and again: 

1. A blog with well written content that I can relate to: A blogger that posts about topics I can easily connect with is a major draw for me. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about motherhood; any well written post about a topic I can sincerely relate to will get me hooked.
2. A clean blog design with easy navigation: I enjoy blogs that are easy to navigate with just a few clicks. If I want to peek into the archives or get to know more about the blogger, I don’t want to have to go searching for it. And easy navigation does not have to mean a fancy blog design, just a clean design that doesn’t take away from the content.
3. A blog that encourages support of its readers: I like a supportive blogger who encourages comments and wants to continue the conversation. How boring would blogging be if you never got a response? A blogger that shows support of its readers is what brings me back again and again. And I certainly don’t mean a comment for every comment. In a perfect bloggy world this would be fabulous, but we all know how unrealistic that goal would be. I’ve tried to keep up and it’s impossible. So, how do you show support? It can be displayed in various ways to fellow bloggers: via a reply to a comment, a visit to the blog, a link back to a blogger within a post, an email, a tweet or retweet of a post, the sharing of a post on Facebook, a Stumble of a particular post, a chat on a community message board, a recommendation of a blogger to another, etc… There are so many ways to help promote and show other bloggers support, so I like to return to blogs that encourage this as well.

So now I would love to hear from you! After you choose to follow a blog, what makes you return again and again? And if you are a new follower, welcome! I am so glad you are here at Theta Mom and can’t wait to check out your blog!!!