Have you ever wondered how you could help that great blog that only has a couple dozen readers? When your dealing with a small or new blog, every effort counts, and helps motivate the author. Many bloggers have tried the “Donate $1 with PayPal” as a way to cover their fees, and for readers to show appreciation. But who really wants to pay a dollar, only to have $0.30 go to PayPal’s fees? Here are a couple of ways of saying kudos to a good blog. These are cheaper, easier, and probably have more positive effect on a blog than any $.70 PayPal donation ever could.
1. Subscribe to their RSS feed – Take a look at a couple of other articles on that blog, and if you like what you see, subscribe! Subscribing will notify you of any new articles, help boost the blog’s popularity, and contribute to its overall help.
2. Comment, comment, comment! – If you have anything at all to say about an article, or if you just want to comment on what a good article it was, comment! I guarantee that the author will read it, and appreciate it. Commenting encourages others to comment as well, and really brings the community aspect into blogging.
3. Track back the article, or link to the blog – If you own a blog, and someone’s article really gave you something to write about, don’t forget to mention them and track back! This will bring both of you more traffic, as well as help their rankings on Google and other search engines. If you just like the blog in general, you could add them to your blog roll, or mention them in a post.
4. Recommend to a friend – If you see an article that you think someone you know would really like, send it to them! Most blogs have an option below the post that allows readers to email the article to friends. Your friend will thank you for the heads up, and you will be giving word-of-mouth advertising to a worthy blog.
5. Social bookmarking – If you like a particular post, check to see if it has been submitted to any social bookmarking services such as del.icio.us, Digg, reddit, or blinklist. If it has, give it a vote! If not, consider submitting.
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6. Donate directly – Some blogs have an option to donate directly. At Gearfire, our donate link is handled by our hosting company, and credits any donations directly against our bill. No fees, and no question of where the money is going.
Remember that everything helps inspire and motivate the author of a small blog!
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I think you got a problem with your numbering scheme. Everything is item 1.
nice info. keep it up!
Steve,
Thanks for the heads up! I am using Wysi-WordPress as my editor, and I do not think that it is displaying numbered lists very well. I noticed the same problem on all the other posts that I have posted frequently, so I tried to fix them all.
Thanks,
Geoff