Reblogged from Milly Schmidt:
I went out on a limb and contacted some of my greatest blogging idols to see if a few of them might like to lend us some of their wisdom in response to the one question we’re all thinking about: how the hell did you get so many followers?
To be honest, I wasn’t sure I’d get many replies. Surely these bloggers (with their thousands of followers) are far too busy to answer the many questions, emails and comments they must get every day? Turns out I completely underestimated how LEGEN – wait for it… no really you have to wait for it… sorry just a little longer – DARY these bloggers really are. Because who would answer an email from a random quote-seeking newbie like me?
Legends. That’s who.
So instead of digesting, paraphrasing and regurgitating some of their responses to make the perfect introduction, I thought I’d move aside and let the bloggers do the talking themselves:
“We grow mostly on WordPress by talking, not just about ourselves, but going out and talking on other people’s blogs. Just saying ‘Great Post’ and liking alone will get you nowhere, but reading what others say and leaving genuine comments accounts for 90% of my subscribers and regular commenters. Most of the people I recognize [on the Cool Kids of WordPress list] are prolific commenters, as am I.”
~ Peter Edwards, creator of Little Fears
“I honestly have to say that I believe building a following takes time and effort. Being responsive to comments and interacting with visitors is one way; visiting other bloggers and commenting on their work is another. Offering something positive seems to be another key, as well as providing posts that are quick and relatively simple to enjoy. At the end of the day, I guess I’d have to say this: Followers follow flirtatiously until friendships form. Then Followers are no longer followers, but Friends.”
~ Cynthia Morgan, creator of Booknvolume
“I didn’t build it so much as I earned it, and I did it by writing posts not meant to try to sell anything or be focused on clicks, but posts that I thought were interesting or funny or useful to me first — meaning, I focused on making authentic, earnest work appear there.”
~ Chuck Wendig, creator of Terrible Minds
Continue reading: Ask the blogger: how did you get so many followers? – Milly Schmidt
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Sound advice, lovely to see you mentioned Sue.
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Thanks, Rosie 🙂
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thank you sue…..many of your points are make intuitive sense, seeing it in writing inforce the feeling and encourages action.
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It was interesting to read the different viewpoints of so many bloggers.
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I think for me, the challenge is always time. I absolutely love people and engaging in real conversation; and I do so much of it live each day, that it’s difficult to have the kind of wide circles in the blogosphere that I’d also enjoy. I’ve definitely made friends (people I’d visit if I were in town … and, in fact, have) through reading others’ blogs and engaging, present company included. But at this stage of life, while that engagement is heartfelt and certainly enjoyable — I find it to be naturally limited, at least in terms of widening the scope of how many other blogs I can thoughtfully interact with. Still, I’m continually giving it the old college try!
It’s my perennial dilemma: I want to do and be everything.
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I agree, there is never enough time…but I cherish those friendships I have made both online and those people I have actually been able to meet through blogging. I wish I could meet more of them.
You don’t need to be and do everything…just be yourself 🙂
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I’ll give you my answer in a very tiny nutshell. I have NO idea. I have probably 15,000 followers now and at least half of them, I never hear from ever, not even once. NO idea why they signed up and whether or not after that initial sign up, they follow me at all or they were just trying to get me to follow them. I’ve been getting waves of new followers for weeks. A few make sense — other photographers and writers. The majority seem to be kids (some VERY young) looking for an audience. I know this isn’t what people want to hear, but it’s true.
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Yes, I agree, Marilyn. Bt it isn’t up to us to decide who reads and really follows, who just lurks and who pressed a button with no idea why and no intention of visiting. All we can do is be ourselves and put stuff out there.
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So nice to see you, and a few other favorites here. Well said, Sue.
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Thanks, Van.
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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How lovely to see you on the list as well as some of the other bloggers that I follow. I think the one thing that you all have in common is that you are approachable and friendly. You always visit and comment on other blogs as well as respond to people that comment on your blog. I have noticed that a lot of you also have helping other bloggers out in common. This is either by explaining how to do things on WordPress, or perhaps inviting bloggers over to post or promoting them in some way. Anyway, I am glad you are appreciated! 🙂
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I think you’ve covered just about everything I would recommend to a new blogger there, Judy 🙂 x
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This post is really helpful for new bloggers and changed my mind about commenting. Thank you so much 🙂
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🙂
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thank you. its very helpful for me. am just a beginner. hope to find more friends here
https://impulsiverock.wordpress.com
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Then take a bit of advice and do not leave your links in a comment unless you are linking to a relevent article…. most blogs will simply send such comments to spam, and a decent comment will always lead us back to your blog anyway.
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