How to be a good blogger.

Found via Tumblr, can't find the original source :( tell me if you know.

There are thousands of blogs online worthy of following, so how can you make yourself stand out? Be a good blogger, it's quite simple. I don't follow blogs that have more negative traits than positive. Your blog showcases who you are to your readers, so are you putting across the right person?

Be appreciative.

When I first started blogging I only had 27 followers and I used to look up to people who had a few hundred followers, I would never have believed I could get this many followers. Sometimes I read blogs and wonder how they managed to get thousands but 300 odd followers is a good achievement. Always mark special moments like your first 100 or 1000 to remind yourself of how you started out.

Also say thank you to other blogs if they've helped you out, I love networking with other blogs but if they're rude I won't do it again. Always remember to say thank you for the little things too, such as round ups or mini shout outs.

Network with other bloggers.

If you've ever wondered how I got 300+ followers it's actually all down to networking, my blog really took off when other more popular blogs starting to recommend and link back to me. There are several ways of networking that benefit you and other blogs:

• Social networking websites such as Twitter or Facebook, why not create a group for your blogs topic?
• Have a blog roll of your favourites.
• Do a round up every month.
• If you're writing a post recommend similar ones.
• Create a post everyone can participate in.
• Always give sources and credits where necessary.

Other bloggers aren't your rivals! Feel free to introduce yourself on a blog and give feedback if you particularly like a post. 

Don't people spam!

This is one of the few things on a blog that really grinds my gears, this probably isn't the proper phrase for it though so I'll explain. People spam is real people commenting on my blog with a generic sentence and asking me to follow them back, they always leave their website directly in the comment even though there's a URL box in the comment form. This is really rude! My comment section is not for advertising your blog, I will not click on your blog or give you any attention. I'll mark you as spam so you can't comment on my blog again and never network with you, although leaving your website URL in the comment directly often means it automatically gets marked as spam. So if you ever decided to offer me a website I would actually like either leave it in the comment form or leave another comment asking me to check my spam folder.

Always do your research.

Before you network with someone, recommend anyone, post about a person etc always do a background check. If I know there's genuine nastiness behind anyone I'll probably warn you, but if I don't know you well enough I'll probably just stop following. I don't want to be associated with any blogs that network with arseholes, it's quite simple.

Nasty people aside, it's always worth researching a topic before posting about it. Getting basic facts wrong can be embarrassing and the more you know about it the more you will enjoy writing about it. People get bored of generic posts, if you find some interesting facts or a quirky fact it could make it more original.

Don't get self-obsessed.

One of the worst types of blogs (in my opinion) are personal blogs, I don't follow anyone to hear about their life. Quite frankly I don't care and they always border on arrogance. But that's just my taste, I prefer opinionated and info type blogs. The kind that offer up information about topics I like or create discussions. I need a blog to be more than just a person, it's very rare that a person is so interesting that they can successfully blog about themselves.

However if you do blog about your personal life (and are probably flipping me the bird right now) and your readers enjoy it just keep yourself in check, would your readers really care that you picked up your prescription today? Ask yourself what they find so interesting about your life and focus on that, for example outfits are always a favourite. Personal blogs can be successful, but nobody likes a big head.

But even the blogs I like can have arrogant writers behind them, I have lost a few old blogs to that trait. It saddens me to see bloggers no longer reply to comments, don't bother networking and forget who they was before a thousand followers. Remember who supported you in the early days!

I'm not a brilliant blogger and I admit that, I'm grumpy and don't always have the time to post. But I don't worry too much about been a good blogger, after all I have 300+ followers I can't be that bad. And I rarely stop following someone once I've started, if in doubt post cat photos.