If there’s one thing I’ve always tried to do in my 7-years of blogging, it’s to be as supportive as I possibly can be to other bloggers. And I think this stems from how quickly I fell in love with blogging thanks to the support that others showed me. I remember thinking that these girls who commented on a regular basis and had beautiful blogs knew it all.

I was eager to learn as much as I could from them, and would often stay up until the early hours of the morning doing so. I didn’t know there was money to be made from having a successful blog at the time, but I loved watching my little online space grow from strength to strength all the same. It was like my second baby. And I spent pretty much all of my spare time updating it.

Then, in 2013, I gave birth to Oscar, my youngest child. And while I was on maternity leave companies started contacting me and offering me money in exchange for promoting their products. I couldn’t believe it! At first, it was just the odd e-mail every couple of weeks. Then they started arriving every couple of days. And before I knew it, two or three were landing in my inbox every day. It was incredible. And then that I made the decision not to return to work when my maternity leave ended.

Since then, blogging has been my only source of income. And I’ll be forever grateful that something I love doing so much enables me to earn a living whilst also being at home for my children. I know that not everyone is as lucky as I am, and I certainly don’t take it for granted.

In fact, I don’t even think I’d be where I am today if it wasn’t for the lovely ladies who taught me what they knew and supported my blog back when I first started. They were amazing! And for that reason, I’m super conscious of wanting to do the same thing for others. I want to be supportive of their blogs and teach others what I know (although blogging changes so often it’s safe to say we’re all still learning). And – I’m sure this goes without saying – I just want to be a nice person.

So, whether you’re a blogger (or an avid reader) who would like to be more supportive of other people’s blogs, make sure you read on. I’ve shared 7 quick and easy ways you can be supportive without it taking up too much of your time each day. And I’m sure that by helping out a fellow blogger you’ll be putting a great big smile on their face too. How awesome is that!?

01. Share Posts

If you’ve come across a blog post that you enjoyed reading, why not share it with your audience?

Every now and then I like to promote posts I’ve really enjoyed on my Facebook page. Plus, I’ll give it a retweet on Twitter or pin it to a relevant board on Pinterest. It literally takes me just a few short seconds to do, but for the blogger on the receiving end, it could be a huge compliment to know that you enjoyed their work enough to share it. And, who knows, they might end up doing the same for you!

02. Interact If You See A Brand Promo

Brand collaborations for bloggers tend to be a big deal. And most bloggers work extremely hard when they’re offered one. So, I think it goes without saying that most of us will worry that our brand posts might not do as well as expected and leave us a little red in the face.

But what can you do to help with this? Well, when a blogger is working with a brand, the number of likes, clicks, and comments they get is crucial for ensuring that the company is happy with the work they’ve done, and want to work with them again in the future. So if you see a brand collaboration on a blog, Facebook page, Insta or Twitter feed, don’t just scroll by! Be kind to your fellow blogger and interact!

Like the post, leave a comment if you have time, or simply just hit the retweet button. One thing I always like to do on Instagram is to follow the brand the blogger is promoting because that’s usually the whole purpose of the campaign. The brand will be happy that the blogger has brought them new follows, and you never know, they might even notice my blog and decide to work with me too! It’s a win-win situation.

03. If You See Someone Ask For Help Or Engagement, Offer It

One thing that’s guaranteed to put me on edge, it’s putting myself out there and asking people to help me with something. This is because I once got asked by a fellow blogger if I could do a fashion Q&A. But when I took to social media and asked for questions, literally no one replied! It was horrible. 

For this reason, whenever I see people ask for these sorts of things – I always make sure I get involved. Because I know that fear of putting yourself out there all too well. And if I can help someone to not feel that ‘Nobody is interested in me’ feeling that now scares me so much, I absolutely want to do it. 

It usually takes less than two minutes to engage on these sorts of things. And what’re two minutes out of your day when it can make such a big difference to how somebody feels?

04. Link To Other Blogs In Your Posts

If you’re writing a post and find yourself talking about something another blogger has written about, why not link back to it?

Not only will you be helping your fellow bloggers by driving traffic to their websites, but you’ll also be helping them to increase their domain authority too. And we all know how important that is these days. And you never know, they might be kind enough to return the favour one day.

I always try to link back to other blogs wherever possible as I think it’s a really nice way to help someone out.

05. Don’t X Out

I have to be honest and say that I don’t upload to Instagram Stories very often. But one thing that I’m super conscious of when I do is that viewer numbers dwindle with each upload. So the first clip on my Story will have a decent viewer number, but by the second clip, I’ll have lost maybe 50 of those viewers, and even more by the third upload etc.

This is something that makes me quite anxious because I worry that my stories aren’t interesting enough. So I don’t want to go upsetting other bloggers by X-ing out of their stories either.  After all, there’s a list of viewer names so it’s really obvious when someone didn’t want to carry on watching. And, of course, that’s absolutely fine. But I personally don’t want people to think I couldn’t be bothered to watch the whole thing! 

If I end up not wanting to watch to the end, I simply tap the screen to skip through the story instead of X-ing out. It means I can stop watching if I need to but the person uploading doesn’t end up feeling unloved!

06. Recommend Other Bloggers To PR’s

Been asked to do a brand campaign that you’re not interested in, or doesn’t fit in with your niche?

Before politely declining it, why not have a think if there are any other bloggers you know who might be a better fit for it? If so, grab their contact details from their homepage and let the PR know that it’s not really for you, but have they checked out XYZ’s blog, because you think they’d be a good fit.

In my experience, PR’s will appreciate your honesty and often come back with another campaign that’s much more up your street within a couple of days. And the blogger whose details you passed on will be thrilled that you thought of them if the PR does decide to get in touch with them. You might seriously make someone’s day!

07. Give Out Some Compliments

Blogging is a labour of love. And only we as bloggers know how much blood, sweat and tears go into maintaining them.

Giving someone a simple compliment on all that hard work will cost you nothing – but might mean the absolute world to them. Did you enjoy someone’s recent post? Tell them! Did you think their photography was on point? Say so! Do you just really love their Instagram stories? Let them know! Trust me, they’ll be over the moon to hear from you.

Remember, you never know when somebody is experiencing self-doubt about their blog, no matter how confident they may seem. Dishing out a couple of compliments every now and again could go a long way to changing that. And I think that’s pretty special. How about you?

What are your favourite ways to be supportive as a blogger?
I’d love to hear them!
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