I’ve been seeing many fellow bloggers listing their ‘criteria’ about what they liked in a blog and that inspired me to make my own! Most of my ‘rules’ are quite simple, and I’m sure most of you would agree with me. If not, I’m happy for a discussion, as always!
Disclaimer: I know I’m not a blogging professional and I don’t have the right to tell you how to keep your blog, but that’s just my thoughts.
- Blog topic and style of writing – that’s the most obvious thing. I have to be into what you offer and you need to spell it properly. However, if I like your topic, the rest of my list are just some things I would definitely consider before following you.
- Regular posting – I’m not saying I need brand new content every single day, but at least one or two times per week, I think is acceptable. If today is 7th May and your last post is from 17th January… chances are I won’t follow.
- Good quality photos – or any photos at all – if you take photos with your 7 years old phone, in the dark… what am I actually supposed to see? Some people don’t feature pictures at all! I mean, most often I read about a product, perhaps I want to see what it looks like? On the other hand, I love bright and pretty arranged photos! Even if I don’t like your writing, I might still follow you to enjoy your photography!
- Using stock photos of a product – that’s just ugly. If you can review it, then you can take photos of it. Go back to the third point.
- Too much of the same photo over and over again. Okay, I realise I’m too picky about this photos topic, but I really don’t like when someone puts the same photo after literally every sentence. Okay, I got it – you love that photo. But one at the beginning, and one at the end is enough. Try to diversify in the middle.
- Awards after awards – that’s really good for you, because it means someone appreciates your work. However, if there are 20 awards and not a single actual post – you’ve definitely lost me.
- Blog theme – if it’s messy, heavy, difficult to navigate through, with screaming colour and not appealing to my eye in general – nope. But if it’s nice and clean, and with a good logo and photos – count me in!
- Follow button – I’m really happy to see an easy accessible follow button. If I need to spend 10 minutes in search of it, I most likely won’t – no matter how much I liked your blog.
- Annoying comments – if you came to my blog only to put ‘you need to follow me on ….’ under any of my posts – trust me, I won’t. I will also delete your comment. If you left a meaningful comment and simply included your blog link at the end – that’s fine, I will surely check it out – I love discovering new blogs (however, I only tolerate this the first few times). If you do it under every single post of mine – you risk getting a bit annoying.
- Lack of comments – so I’ve left a nice comment on your post and you don’t even bother to respond… I’ve liked a few posts, I followed you… and you don’t even bother to check my blog back. I will still follow you for a while, as long as I like your content. However, if I see a tendency of ignoring me – I will definitely unfollow, no matter how much I enjoyed reading your stuff. I really don’t like rude people (if they have less than 2000 followers, if they are a busy business persona, of course I can’t require that much of attention).
- Following and Unfollowing – you came to my blog, gave me a follow, I check your blog back, give you a follow, and you disappear half an hour after that. I mean, yeah, statistics are sometimes important, but not when you are acting that cheeky.
- Positivism – I know people can’t be happy all the time, but I’m really looking for blogs with positive and inspiring vibes. I generally tend to stay away from depressive people who pity themselves all the time. Of course, I can always offer support when needed, but avoid engaging with negative or offensive individuals.
- If you seem to be a nice person, put some thought and effort into your work, and love to make friends from all around the world – I’m happy to be your greater supporter!
Okay, quite a long list, isn’t it! Don’t think that I spend half an hour to check every single factor before deciding would I follow you or not. It definitely depends on the overall impression I get from your blog. I’m also happy to promote your blog if you are struggling, but I prefer to do it in a more gentle way – through interviews, post collaborations, awards, etc. It’s just not pretty to literally stick your blog in one’s eyes.
I realise I’m not perfect myself, but try to improve with every post. Please tell me what you think about my blog and the things that I annoy you with the most! And at the end, I’m nobody to dictate how to care after your blog baby. Thank you for reading anyway 🙂
Post update:
For the past few days I’ve ben constantly getingt notifications about people who followed my blog. Yet my nubmer of followers remains unchanged. I don’t know if there is some kind of a glitch in WP, or nasty people who follow and unfollow, but please don’t follow me if you don’t genuinely feel like to. Thank you!
115 Comments
I agree with pretty much every point on this list, especially bad photos and leaving annoying comments! Unfortunately there are a lot of people leaving comments that are just fishing for followers. Grrr!
May 7, 2017 at 5:28 pmI believe these blogs don’t last long. It’s hard to put more effort in fishing followers than your actual content! x
May 7, 2017 at 5:34 pmSeriously, who has time for both!? 😄
May 7, 2017 at 6:41 pmWell said and thank you. I am going to do these things. I have already gone back and gotten rid of some bad photos. Awesome.
May 7, 2017 at 5:30 pmGlad I could help a little 🙂
May 7, 2017 at 5:35 pmI agree with you. I wouldn’t want people to follow just to get a follower…some folks are so simple. I feel it’s a relationship thing. I’m glad I followed you. I”m new to all this and find it quite fun. As so it should be.
May 7, 2017 at 5:39 pmThank you for being a great fellow blogger 😊😊
May 7, 2017 at 5:45 pmGreat post! Agree!
May 7, 2017 at 5:42 pmThank you 😊
May 7, 2017 at 5:45 pmWell said! Totally agree with so many of these points! xxx
May 7, 2017 at 6:21 pmThank you xx
May 7, 2017 at 6:42 pmThis is definitely my thoughts exactly and I think they are quite fair. I’m not gonna follow someone that doesn’t put any time or effort in the way they present their blog. If someone is putting sloppy work I don’t want to have anything to do with that. And those comments follow me please, I can’t deal with that any more, it’s too much haha. xx
May 7, 2017 at 6:24 pmExactly! Some of them don’t even put ‘please’ haha! xx
May 7, 2017 at 6:43 pmI think your points are fairly fair. Especially the following part. Why follow a blog when you have no intention too?
May 7, 2017 at 7:17 pmAbsolutely!
May 7, 2017 at 7:42 pmI agree with all of these and that’s definitely the same thing that applies to my blog as well!
May 7, 2017 at 8:06 pmExactly! I like your blog because it’s so simple and easy to navigate through, but also has tons of different and inspiring posts! 🙂
May 7, 2017 at 9:49 pmThank you so much 😊 xx
May 8, 2017 at 5:18 amWell said! Totally agree☺️ xx
May 7, 2017 at 8:15 pmThank you 🙂
May 7, 2017 at 9:49 pmWell said!! I definitely agree with a lot on this list. Particularly the follow button and blog layout. If its confusing, hard to read, and I can’t find the follow button..well then I don’t follow. I had the follow and unfollow thing happen once, it was weird. So I just unfollowed them too. Such a strange mindset.
May 7, 2017 at 8:17 pmSometimes it’s difficult to catch the person who did it, especially when it happens after some time. Perhaps they’ve lost interest or something, who knows? But they don’t deserve our attention anyways! xx
May 7, 2017 at 9:51 pmI pretty much agree with all of these too! Especially the follow button. Sometimes you look and look and it’s really just not there! And I find people who follow to get a follow back and then unfollow just rude. It drives me mad when people do it on other social platforms too! xxx
May 7, 2017 at 8:58 pmInstagram is just heaven for such people haha! Glad to see other bloggers who think like me 🙂 xx
May 7, 2017 at 9:53 pmomg I totally agree! the people who follow – unfollow will be the bane of my existence! I don’t really get it tbh, and I’m usually that sucker that follows more people than follow me haha 🙂 <3 i really agree with this post 🙂 xx
May 7, 2017 at 9:08 pmThe most important thing is to enjoy what you are reading and writing, there are definitely people who appreciate it! 🙂 xx
May 7, 2017 at 9:54 pmyes so true!! 🙂 <3
May 9, 2017 at 2:20 amYour article made me check my blog again.. 😁 i mean, the title, the content, the theme.. However, i thought, i didn’t write to get a lot of followers, I wrote my blog for the things which interests me and might interest other people.. It is more inspiring.. Thank you for your article.. 😇
May 7, 2017 at 9:19 pmYour blog is absolutely stunning, no need to worry about it! Glad you are back on track, because you definitely have what to show us, your curious readers! xx
May 7, 2017 at 9:56 pmI think you’ve made some very honest, and fair, points. Being honest and upfront in posts is something that makes me more likely to read blogs! 🙂
May 7, 2017 at 9:35 pmI’ve written a post on the same topic just a few days ago. My “rules” for following and unfollowing. You address several issues I have discussed and we share many ideas.
May 7, 2017 at 10:46 pmYou were one of the people who inspired me to do it. I mean, I wanted it for a long time, but I wasn’t sure if some people wouldn’t get offended. I’m glad so many bloggers actually share my views. That’s why I like this community so much 😊😊
May 7, 2017 at 10:56 pmI’m glad I inspired you 🙂 you should never be afraid to speak your mind!! You have the right to share your views and ideas. ♡
May 7, 2017 at 10:58 pmThis post is good because you can tell you’ve really thought about it and it’s things people usually don’t point out! Such as awards – god I get sick of seeing awards 😂 and people begging for followers, that can be v annoying too! Great post chickk
May 7, 2017 at 11:23 pmThank youu <3 So happy I've finally managed to make so many people talk about it!
May 8, 2017 at 12:18 amHahaha, I so agree with all the things listed out especially 2, 6 and 11. Well written!
May 8, 2017 at 1:48 amThank you! x
May 8, 2017 at 1:49 amYou’re welcome!
May 8, 2017 at 2:00 amHey! I nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award! (post here: https://tiffyswildworld.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/the-mystery-blogger-award/) xx
May 8, 2017 at 8:20 amI totally agree with all of these reasons! I’ve just been nominated for my first blog award which I’m really excited about but am kind of nervous if people will be annoyed by it or not? Grace Xx
May 8, 2017 at 9:16 amGood on you for the award! It’s great if you want to do it, then do it! To me, it’s getting annoying if there’s award after award and not a single post different than that! I also do awards from time to time but try not to focus that much on them! xxx
May 8, 2017 at 12:09 pmI totally agree! Thanks for your reply! Xxx
May 8, 2017 at 12:56 pmYou are very welcome, Grace <3
May 8, 2017 at 1:38 pmAmazing post Siyana 😘! I agree with all the point mentioned above.
May 8, 2017 at 4:20 pmThank you 🙂
May 8, 2017 at 4:21 pmYou’re welcome dear😃. Thanks for following my blog.
May 8, 2017 at 4:30 pmNo worries, I hope you enjoyed mine as much as I enjoyed yours 🙂
May 8, 2017 at 4:32 pmOf course! I loved your posts and found them useful. Stay connected 😃.
May 8, 2017 at 4:55 pm😃😃😃
May 8, 2017 at 5:02 pmI love this list! It sums up what you really want to see or not see to follow someone!
May 8, 2017 at 4:38 pmThank you! 🙂
May 8, 2017 at 4:43 pmI agree with all of your points! I find it annoying when people don’t answer comments that you’ve left on their posts or people that expect a follow just because they commented asking for one! I’m all for supporting other people but I don’t want to follow people just because they beg for it. I’m glad I followed you because you keep a genuine relationship with your readers Xx
May 8, 2017 at 4:48 pmThank you, I very much appreciate your kind words! xx
May 8, 2017 at 4:51 pmNo problem! Xx
May 8, 2017 at 4:54 pmBravo, very well said indeed.
May 8, 2017 at 5:05 pmThank you 😊
May 8, 2017 at 5:11 pmLovely blunt post!! I’d agree with most of what you said! That’s why I tend to bundle my awards… I don’t want to write down 3 awards in the same week… that wouldn’t be a beauty blog anymore… xoxo Sarah
May 8, 2017 at 6:25 pmThank you! I do mine once or twice per month, just to stop and mention other lovely blogs! <3
May 8, 2017 at 6:26 pmI agree with most things on this list-especially when I leave a nice comment and they don’t respond back and I know the comment is publicly on the site and they posted afterwards…which is why I respond to every nice comment on my site. I also hate it when I check out someone’s site and leave comments and they just flat-out ignore me. Photos and theme are not as big factors to me following a blog ,though. It’s more about the content, for me.
May 8, 2017 at 8:05 pmThank you for stopping by and sharing your opinion! Communication must be one of the most important factors for proper blogging relationship! x
May 8, 2017 at 8:31 pmThis made me laugh in just how direct it was – loved it!
May 8, 2017 at 11:50 pmThank you ^^
May 9, 2017 at 12:08 amI love little 13 reasons why pun! And all these reasons are sooo important! Especially about adding photos, and having a simple theme. Very enlightening!
May 9, 2017 at 4:35 amThank you 😊
May 9, 2017 at 9:02 amThe tips were great but I have one question! Not every topic is meant to have lots of pics , right?! Like a poem or just a random article.! Is cluttering these with unnecessary pics really appreciable?
May 9, 2017 at 7:35 amAbsolutely not! I just mainly follow travel/beauty/DIY so pictures are essential. But for any other type of blog – maybe just a cover one, but still not that important. xx
May 9, 2017 at 9:04 amYeah. That’s right!! Liked your post a lot BTW.. 🙂
May 9, 2017 at 9:58 amhttps://shootingstar617.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/vuja-de-the-land-of-novelty/
May 9, 2017 at 9:59 amHere’s my last post.. I would love some feedback thanks ! 🙂
I could not have said this better! This resonated so well with me and I’m glad to know that you share the same sentiments! I’m very new to blogging so am in the learning process and have areas for development but posts like this are extremely valuable to me, so THANK YOU 😊
May 9, 2017 at 7:09 pmThank you so much for your kind words! I’m so happy that so many people support my views – that means that WP is full with lovely bloggers! What’s better than that! x
May 9, 2017 at 7:16 pmA lot of what you wrote are exactly my thoughts too! One very annoying thing is #10. I find it a bit rude. Imagine talking to someone and they don’t respond or acknowledge you?
May 10, 2017 at 1:03 amI do have to say though, that I don’t automatically follow someone back right away. I get so many junk accounts – I like to take my time to research if that blog is one I’d like to actually READ. Because, you know, that’s the whole point of following a blog, so I can read them! Ugh, another of my complaint – people who don’t actually read a post but just write something like “great post!” 🙄
And yes the follow / unfollow thing is really annoying – it’s how Instagram works too.
‘Great post’, and also liking a post after post without even reading it. Some people can really be so rude and annoying, without even realising.
May 10, 2017 at 11:34 amI really love this post of yours… 😊💗
May 10, 2017 at 11:30 amThank you <3
May 10, 2017 at 11:36 amLoved this list, especially number 11 haha that one made me laugh
May 10, 2017 at 2:37 pmAh thank you, glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
May 10, 2017 at 2:38 pmI have never given much thought to .. Who i should follow or not 😂.. I just read the content inside.. But this post makes broader differentiation on what actually are the points i also consider while reading 😂😂 loved it!! Though, i have not posted in a while.. One of your 13 reasons
May 11, 2017 at 10:12 am😂……
Exactly, you never actually think about it, but there are certain things that really give you an impression of the blog and its owner. And also a week or two are not really that big of a deal, as long as it’s not months hahah! Thank you for stopping by 🙂
May 11, 2017 at 11:06 amWelcome!
May 11, 2017 at 1:42 pmThese are all good points. I hate when someone comments with a heart emoji (maybe a smiley face) and then just a link to their new blog post. Like at least take the time to write a word or two!
May 12, 2017 at 3:11 pmI’m not the best blogger. I try my hardest to always keep up with blogs that follow me, but my Instagram is also really time consuming. Great post. X
As long as you are putting thought in your posts and relationships with other bloggers, you are the best 🌸🌸
May 12, 2017 at 3:16 pmGreat list. All of the above are true. Except #5 for me, I do tend to put a lot of photos :(, although not repetitive ones. I hope it is okay.
May 12, 2017 at 6:17 pmI love scrolling through a variety of gorgeous pictures! There isn’t anything better than that 🌸
May 12, 2017 at 6:34 pm#6 – What’s an “award?” (Hi, I’m new here and I’m unfamiliar with the blog vocab)
May 12, 2017 at 10:34 pmAward is something that bloggers ‘give’ to each other and has no actual value. People usually do it for fun and also to acknowledge other bloggers. There are various awards with different rules each. You can check one of mine if you like https://brushandneedleblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/30/blogger-recognition-award/
May 12, 2017 at 10:48 pmI hope my little follow will help you achieve your 500 followers goal as soon as possible!😘 great content!💟
May 13, 2017 at 12:32 amAww thank you for your support! <3
May 13, 2017 at 12:37 amIt’s my pleasure, your blog is lovely! 🌹
May 13, 2017 at 12:43 amI loved this so much!! I agree with every single point you put!
May 14, 2017 at 5:51 amThank you 🌸🌸
May 14, 2017 at 12:35 pmNo worries! ☺️✨
May 14, 2017 at 12:36 pmHi Siyana, good tips on improving quality, especially the awards idea. I agree with you that what I enjoy the most of my website is researching info to write new articles, the effort to put quality gives me the reward of learning new and interesting things in the process. But that leads me to neglecting the social part. I have to admit that learning seo, link building and social networking is not as enjoyable because I can get interested in other blogs and spend hours upon hours just reading and commenting. At the end, I feel a bit guilty of having spent so much time in one area of the web with little results instead of writing more content or doing artwork. As you see I write longer than normal comments so I don’t manage the time very well in the social networking part haha. Any tips in this regard you want to share? 🙂
About the awards just a little warning. What you advice on giving a blog you like a link and in return receiving a link back from it is called reciprocal linking in SEO and Google ignores this. It used to work but not anymore as I’ve understood from the link building course I’m currently studying.
May 18, 2017 at 12:38 pmI’m not that much into SEO at the moment, as I don’t think it’s possible to use it if you are not self-hosted. But I very much admire you for your curiosity to learn, something I also need to do!
Writing a blog to me is a very personal hobby, which cannot be properly scheduled – 2 hours for SEO, 2 hours for reading other blogs, 2 hours for writing, etc. Just do it the way you feel it, no need to be guilty about it. Every single part of it is equally important, so maybe you can do each on a particular day… or maybe experiment and you will find out what is best for you!
May 18, 2017 at 1:04 pmThanks. Self-hosting has its advantages and disadvantages. One of them is that your new posts don’t get displayed in the wordpress reader and is difficult to follow you but it gives you total liberty on your blog. Installing all the plugins you want was what decided me to go for buying a domain. And congratulations, for being a hobby you’re doing a great job. Wish I’d have some of your abilities. 😀
May 18, 2017 at 9:10 pmI didn’t know they don’t appear in the Reader, I have a few self hosted sites that i’m following and they are right there. Strange, maybe depends on the platform. And thank you for your encouraging words, definitely need some more research before taking the big step 🙄
May 18, 2017 at 10:26 pmThat’s because they’ve done a domain redirection. I’ve read about this I’m not completely sure. I think that although a custom domain appears in the address bar there’s a wordpress.com website behind will all its disadvantages.
May 18, 2017 at 10:32 pmThank you for following my blog! I feel the same as you. Not everyone can have a professional camera but at least make pictures brighter and clear. I haven’t get annoying comments and follow unfollow on my blog yet. The unfollow thing is so annoying. Why can’t they wait two more days to unfollow to make it less obvious? XD
May 18, 2017 at 5:04 pmYou are lucky then haha! And there isn’t less obvious way to unfollow, it’s always easy to notice! x
May 18, 2017 at 5:08 pmWhenever someone has 10k+ instagram followers and less than 5000 follows, I will think deeply if I really like his or her feed. They 100% will unfollow me XD
May 18, 2017 at 5:24 pmso true
May 29, 2017 at 12:46 pmsuch an awesome blog!!!
May 29, 2017 at 12:45 pmThank you! 🙂
May 29, 2017 at 2:52 pm[…] that you didn’t take the time to read even one of my posts. Siyana also talks about this in this post. Fun fact: This was one of the first posts I checked out on her blog and it was why I followed it. […]
June 13, 2017 at 3:03 pm[…] 13 reasons why I might follow your blog (or probably not) – I think that’s the post with most views and comments ever! Yes, it’s my opinion and some may not agree with it, but people related to at least one of my points. […]
July 30, 2017 at 6:44 pmDo I have a follow button :'( And sorry for spamming your notifications but your blogs are so interesting so don’t mind me 😂
August 1, 2017 at 3:05 amAhh you are so lovely, it’s my pleasure to have readers like you <3 And no, you don't have it 🙁 You actually have one, when you are scrolling through, it pops on the bottom right corner (but that's automatic for all wp sites). I presume you are asking about the blue button? You could try this: click on My Sites (up left), then scroll till you get to the 'theme' section and click on personalize. Then you get to see all the widgets you could add to your blog, and there should be a follow button somewhere. Let me know if that works! x
August 1, 2017 at 10:41 amFound it! Tysm
August 1, 2017 at 4:34 pmFound it! Tysm
August 1, 2017 at 4:39 pm[…] 13 Reason Why I Might Follow Your Blog (Or Not) […]
August 5, 2017 at 7:00 pmLove this post!!
Have you actually removed someones comment with a there link in it? This bugs the hell out of me!! I haven’t thought off deleting them to be fair….. I don’t get it personally… I’m on your page to see your posts.. Why would I wanna steal any kind of glory…. If someone wanted to find me they can do so easily!!!
There we go, rant over, my bad 🙂
xxx
August 17, 2017 at 1:18 pmI absolutely agree with you, so don’t apologize 👌🏼And about the comment thing – I only edit their comment and remove the link. If you click on their name, you can still super easily access their blog. We don’t want to be as rude as them, right? 😁
August 17, 2017 at 2:43 pmI didn’t realise I could do either of these things on those comments so thank you for sharing 🙂 xxx
August 17, 2017 at 6:40 pmI’ve just read the whole bit and my like ,she’s on point,big up girl!,by the way am a new blogger and am realy looking foward towards your support through ‘truth be told pieces’ as such…
August 21, 2017 at 9:03 amInteresting list. I think for me it is mostly whether the blogger seems to have similar interests to me (your point #1). I could follow everyone who follows me, but what would be the point if I didn’t read anything they wrote. And there are those that cover a multitude of topics, so I may check them out occasionally based on the subject. I found your blog from your Liking a post of mine. From the topic list WordPress showed me for you, I didn’t think I’d be interested, but I took a peek and ended up reading a couple of articles, and even reference one of them in my post today. So, even if I don’t follow you, I will check back periodically. And thanks for the Follow Button tip. It had never occurred to me to even wonder if I had one until you mentioned it!
– Deandra
November 4, 2017 at 10:44 pmI absolutely agree, it’s impossible to follow back everyone who follows you. You simply can’t give the proper attention to everyone.
November 5, 2017 at 11:29 amI’m glad I helped you discover a way to improve your blog 🙂 I very much appreciate your time here!