10 Ways To Support Your Favorite Bloggers

I don’t think there is a person alive who has escaped the economic or health impact that COVID-19 has caused.  How can you? 

People who I thought would never have to worry about their jobs, are now worrying and having to make tough decisions to make ends meet.  It’s a tough time for all.  

Despite how tough it is, I’ve seen moments of unity, support, faith, and community that blow me away.  We’re all looking to help where we can, so that as a community, as a Nation, as people, we can pull through as strong as ever.  I watch the news every morning (then take a shot of tequila, kidding, not kidding), and I see our community supporting local businesses the best they can.  

I believe that people want to help each other that it’s human nature.  And, if you are wondering how you can help your favorite bloggers, including Hungry Hobby, then this post is for you! 

I feel a little weird talking about this, for two reasons.  One, it’s openly talking about my income sources, very uncomfortable.  Also, blogging is sometimes kind of embarrassing profession.  People don’t know the work that goes into the content you create (hours and hours and hours into one video or post), and the word “blogging” makes it sound like a weekend hobby. 

But bloggers make real livings, many of us creating health-focused content intended to help others live healthier lives (like mine).  Bloggers employ contract labor to help them with all sorts of admin related tasks, behind the scenes blog work, technology companies, social media, and more.  A hit to a blogger’s bottom line does extend past themselves to the services they use and people they contract or employ.  

There are an estimated 31.7 million blogs out there, and 2/3 of those are profitable or have the goal of making a living.  (That doesn’t even include YouTubers and social media platforms.) As a one-off sole-proprietorship, we don’t make a huge difference, but as an industry, our collective economic impact is far-reaching. 

So, if you want to support your favorite bloggers, I put together a few quick tips you can implement without paying for anything!

1. Visit the Blog!

The number one way you can help your favorite bloggers is by visiting their blog.  Most bloggers can keep their blog free for YOU without asking you to buy books and products because they run ads.  I know that most people hate ads, some more than others, but many bloggers make more than 50% of their income from running ads on their blog.  Every time you scroll past an ad (you don’t have to click on it), that counts as a view, and the blogger gets paid for that.)

Why that matters now? 

Bloggers get paid in something called RPM (revenue per 1,000 impressions) of ads.  That number is higher when many advertisers are bidding for that placement, as the economy falls and businesses have less marketing money to spend, the spots get less competitive, and you make less. 

This graph is an actual screenshot from my ad revenue, as you can see my sessions (views on the blog) initially took a hit as people adjusted to work from home life, and now they have been slowly increasing (mostly due to a few oat flour recipes I have, my guess is people can’t get bread and are now making their own out of oat flour and finding my recipes via search and Pinterest.) 

 

The money I’m earning for those views continues to drop though, lower than some of my lowest viewed days, some of that’s seasonal (advertisers pay more during the holidays than any other time), but most of it is the COVID-19 impact.  

This is happening to every blogger that runs ads on their website.  So, to support us, visit our blogs more often. Click through from readers you use, and explore their site.  Maybe you’ll find new recipes to try or posts you’ve never seen!  It’s no cost to you, but helps the blogger!

2. Tag and Share

If you make something off a recipe blog, snap a quick photo for stories and tag them!  Almost all social platforms have stories now, not just Instagram, so that you can share anywhere!

  This lets your friends know you enjoy that bloggers’ content, and maybe they will too.  With the social platform algorithms now, it’s hard to get seen now and gain traction without the help of people tagging and resharing.  

Hopefully, this also helps bring more people to their website as well!

3. Leave A Comment

Bloggers love to interact with their readers. They love feedback, positive and negative. They love to build community with their readers.  And when I say love, I mean it genuinely fuels them to keep doing what they are doing and be as helpful as possible. (Especially in times like this.)

Comments on social media platforms show the algorithm the content is interesting so that that post will be shown to more of their followers. Comments on posts are helpful because other people can engage with them or see previously answered questions. For example, people have made my honey oat flour bread into muffins, bagels, and changed the recipe to vegan.  When they leave a comment sharing what they did, other readers benefit from that info.  Now they can try the same!  

4. Use Affiliate Links (When Authentically Purchasing)

Most bloggers I know, especially RD’s, only partner with companies they 100% genuinely believe in.  

If you find out about a service or product you’d like to try from a blogger, but don’t try it right away, remember to go back to their affiliate link or their unique code and use it.  As affiliates, we get small commissions from companies we partner with.  It doesn’t cost anything additional to you (often gets you a discount), but it pays the blogger for promoting that service and helps them earn a living.  

Obviously, only buy things you want to buy, but now, more than ever, remember where you learned about whatever you are going to buy to start with.  Many companies are having to lower commissions as they make less money right now, so bloggers are making less per referral. So, please remember to use those links!

Other quick ways to help out a blogger:

• 5. Rate A Recipe/Craft
  • Rating recipes and crafts on a blog tells google the content is valuable and pushes their recipe up higher in the search results page, meaning over time more people will see their recipe.  

• 6. Save posts/like posts on social media
  • Saving posts tells the social media platform the content is good, and they should share it with more people.

 

• 7. Subscribe to email lists
  • Only if you want to, but many bloggers put together exclusive content (myself included) for their email subscribers, often considered their most loyal audience.  It also reminds you to visit their blog more often. Click here to join my email list 🙂 

 

• 8. Follow them on social channels like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest 
  • Follow us on social gives you a direct place to interact with us. Request content, ask questions, etc. It also helps us negotiate for better rates when we partner with companies for things like sponsored posts.  Another way we keep blogs free for you.

• 9. Participate in giveaways
  • We are trying to give you free stuff! Take it! Haha 

• 10. Buy books/products/downloads/etc.
  • Bloggers create books, products, downloads, etc. their audience asks of them.  Purchasing those items helps support them! I’ve bought so many blogger products over the year from blogging tips, fitness programs, recipe ebooks, and more.  I love every single one.  

I truly appreciate every single one of you.  Thank you for stopping by the blog today and for your interest in learning what you can do to keep Hungry Hobby operating and supporting our family.  In a million words, I could never say how much that means to me. 

I’m so glad you found value in this space.  Please, stay healthy and safe. And let me know what I can create for you or help you with to make this crazy time better.  If I can, in return, support you, then I will!  That’s what community is all about!