Do you want new blog followers?
Most bloggers wish to increase subscribers.
Clearly, there is interest in the topic. My posts about how to get and find 3,000 blog followers* are among my best performing posts.
If you want blog followers, why not learn from the best in the business?
The influencers in blogging have tens of thousands of followers. What criteria do they use to decide who to follow themselves?
I invited 15 of them here to explain what criteria they use to follow other blogs.
If they follow blogs with certain criteria, and you put those qualities into your posts, you will increase your following.
If the best in the business say these characteristics are good enough for them, then they should be strong enough characteristics for you to turn your visitors into permanent subscribers.
Welcome to My Expert Roundup Interview
I asked the experts, “What criteria do you use when you decide to follow blogs?”
1. Basically, what I usually look at before following a blog is its engagement. I always love it when a blogger engages very well with his readers either through the comment section of his blog or via the social media. This shows that he really listens and cares for his readers. If I arrive at a blog and discover that the owner hardly responds to comments, it turns me away immediately. I will use Neil Patel of Quick Sprout as example. He gets a lot of comments on every blog post he publishes, and he always tries as much as possible to respond to some of them especially the first ones. Theodore Nwangene, TopBloggingCoach
Here is the process I follow:
- Content: usually I read five or six posts to get the flavor of a writer, their unique POV (Point of View), and quality of writing.
- Alexa: I always check Alexa ranking because it’s an indicator of popularity by traffic.
- Social proof: I sometimes check a few social signals such as number of Twitter followers, list suggestions (40 top content marketers to follow, etc.), Buzzsumo, and occasionally Klout score.
Contently, Maria Pope Popova (BrainPickings), Seth Godin (still). Jeff Domansky, ThePRCoach
3. 
There are so many blogs in my niche that I focus on the other CommentLuv, #smbiz (small business), social media, and marketing blogs. Gail Gardner, GrowMap
4. 
Mari Smith Unique, original, quality content. How-to focused. Up-and-coming niche experts. No fluff. Light on ads. Includes publication date! Love sites with surveys, studies. Even if top quality, has to have publication date to ensure information/data is current! Mari Smith, MariSmith.com
5. I follow blogs that offer deep, data-driven, how-to, and actionable advice. I like to find blogs that offer awesome headlines and follow through with long-form content that explores every detail with educational and immediate takeaways.
I like to think that the CoSchedule blog follows suit with these qualifications! Nathan Ellering, CoSchedule
6. I mainly check out new people who have followed, liked and/or commented on my blog; and on the blogs that I already follow; they are more likely to be other authors and readers.
I think this is why it has been so successful even though I don’t set out to gather followers for the sake of having them; I’m selective. Chris, The Story Reading Ape, Chris the Story Reading Ape’s Blog
7. Decision “process” is simple – have a point of view, and don’t just publish for the sake of publishing to try to get shares, traffic, etc. It’s a key reason I follow very few marketing and social media blogs, most are simply repeating what each other says.
Be consistent, and be affirmative. Danny Brown, DannyBrown.me
8. I decide which blogs to follow for the kind of value that they put out daily. The kind of value that is easily implemented by people, especially us bloggers. Joan Harrington, successwithjoan.com
9. When I visited a blog I don’t know (which is mostly because I’ve followed a link on one of my preferred blogs), I first read the post I’ve landed on and evaluate it. Then, if it was interesting and informative, I’ll look around and read some more.
On the other hand, now and then I find content that’s so good that I’ll subscribe to a blog, even though it doesn’t have comments. Like Gregory Ciotty’s stuff on Helpscout . Mary Jaksch, WritetoDone.com
10. That’s an interesting question. Clearly we can’t read everything which is a shame because there are so many brilliant writers out there. So it’s all about content. Blogs that offer some actionable tips and techniques without being too sales oriented or some new way of seeing the world will catch my attention. And those that support and 
encourage spiritual and emotional growth will always head up my list too. Elle Sommer, LivePurposefullyNow
11. High quality content and a genuine desire to help the audience reach their goals. Eugene Mota, EugeneMota.com
12. I mostly follow blogs that consistently produce content that would add value when shared with my Twitter followers. KP Kelly facebook.com/KPKellyPage
13. I follow blogs that have a unique perspective on the industry, focused on taking action as opposed to just stating theory. Brian Honigman, brianhonigman.com
14. How I Decide Which Blogs to Subscribe To:
With so many bloggers vying for my attention, it is sometimes difficult to figure out which blogs I should follow. However, I follow these simple guidelines when I decide to follow a blog.
15. In answer to how I choose which blogs to follow, I follow blogs that have great content, great design, and that answer my burning questions and desires in the moment. So for example, if my goal is to learn how to get through my emails quickly, I will read blog posts on that topic. Then, if I really love a post from one of the blogs, I will go back and read more in the future. Daniela Uslan, danielauslan.com
In closing, if the bloggers these respondents follow incorporate these elements into their blogs, so can you. These influencers, the best in the blogging business, would know what makes a blog strong. We are fortunate they participated in this interview so that they could tell us what those factors are.
Readers, please share this post, so other bloggers know which criteria to put into their blogs. They can’t make an informed choice unless they know the information.
What do you think? Did you see any commonalities among the answers? I felt strong content was mentioned often. Actionable tips seemed repeated as well. Did you see any other commonalities worthy of mentioning? Were there any surprises? Which criteria do you agree with? Do some of these already characterize your blogs? Which will you implement? I look forward to your views.
