How to become a Blogger of Note

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Hoorah! Today I logged in to The World from My Window to find I now have 800 followers. It's a great feeling, believe me. To think someone might be reading this, even if they're not. And to know that people land on this page - by choice - from all over the world. Now that is amazing.

Several new followers have asked me how they, too, can become a Blogger of Note. Well, for the record, I did not sleep with the entire Blogger team, nor did any money change hands.

It came out of the blue, it really did, and the only advice I can give you is to keep on blogging. Write regularly and make it personal and interesting, with photos too if you have them.

Oh, and it helps if you try out new Blogger features and include web links. My accolade came not long after I started using the new Blogger template, so how ever much I like to think it's the quality of my sparkling prose what done it, it's more to do with playing the game.

Anyway, my Greek road trip continues at The World from my Porthole where Mr Grigg and I will be swapping tyres for sails on Sunday.

That's about it.

Love Maddie x

Comments

  1. Jim3 July 2010 at 09:38

    Congratulations! Very, very impressive.
    Enjoy Greece!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Esther Montgomery3 July 2010 at 11:21

    Well, without being a damp squid . . . there may be more to this,and less.

    I'm not casting aspersions on the quality of your blog, or its content, or the excellence of its prose, nor the advice you give about blogging but . . . there are lots of good blogs whose owners do all the things you recommend but still don't have anywhere near 800 followers.

    So I think there's something else at work here. I'm wondering if you have LOTS of real-life friends who are following you or if you are known OF by lots of people beyond this context.

    AND I'm also wondering if you vet your followers. If they are disagreeable, do you block them? How many would be left if you did? (If you don't.)

    And . . . why are these people following you? Few of them comment. What percentage are reading what you say? . . Or are they simply using your followers list for their own advantage - to advertise their own existence?

    There's another thing that intrigues me - why do people like to have followers at all? This is probably unanswerable. I don't have anywhere near 800 (I have 52!). None the less, I know I am pleased every time someone puts their icon on the list. My pleasure is disproportionate to the importance of it. People who like my blog will read it - and every one who becomes a follower is a surprise because when I started blogging I didn't think ANYONE except me would be taking any notice.

    So . . . (setting the Blogger of Note accolade aside, for which, congratulations!) . . . what are the REAL secrets to collecting such a wonderful and huge cast of followers? Hey ho - spill the beans!

    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jules3 July 2010 at 11:39

    I've wondered about that Blogger of Note" thing. Thanks for the info.

    I was thinking of trying that new design thing as well, yours looks nice.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3 July 2010 at 11:41

    from what i've seen so far, your success is richly deserved so congratulations...onwards and upwards!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jill3 July 2010 at 13:33

    Congratulations! I think your blog is noteworthy!

    ReplyDelete
  6. india flint3 July 2010 at 13:35

    well good for you- suspect it was more than just luck, the quality of the writing is what drew me here...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pondside3 July 2010 at 15:18

    .....and here I thought it had something to do with my scintillating prose. *sigh*
    My Blogger of Note designation came soon after I switched to a new template too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Unknown3 July 2010 at 17:36

    And very well-deserved! BTW, I loved the shot of your hubby on that bridge in Greece - that is such a beautiful bridge - the sharpness of that arch is surreal.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bernard3 July 2010 at 17:48

    I am with Esther I'm afraid Maddie.
    She wrote that as is I was writing it myself. :)
    I have loved reading all your posts and I can't see how having 80 readers or 800 should make any difference to your lovely writing.
    My late Father always said.
    "Son, it's the quality that counts,
    not the quantity."
    I like to always reply to all the comments I receive from my followers, so a moderate number means I have the desire and time to reply.
    Cheers.....Bernard.

    ReplyDelete
  10. G Peplow3 July 2010 at 17:54

    Hearty congratulations, well deserved. Being a Blogger of Note was how I found your blog, so I'm more than satisfied. You have given me many a sly smile and quite a few guffaws. Thanks:)xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Snowbound3 July 2010 at 20:11

    Hey! congrats, I wish you 800 more!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kerri4 July 2010 at 02:33

    i've never heard of this blogger of note thing but was just screwing around on the dashboard thing and found it, and then it led me to your blog. so you answered the question i had. wow!! that is a ton of followers. how cool is that. i book mark blogs, but i don't follow them. i don't even know what that means really... i have used bloglines before, but i tend to forget about it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Komal Ali5 July 2010 at 06:03

    WOW!
    800 is a lot. :)
    Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Esther Montgomery6 July 2010 at 10:12

    Uncle Bernard . . .

    That wasn't quite what I was meaning . . for if I had 800 genuine followers instead of 52, I would be thrilled. (And my guess is that although the number of Maddie's 'real' followers is likely to be less than 800, it will most certainly be much greater than 52!) Sometimes I feel a pang of jealousy when I see how many followers some bloggers have. But why?

    The number of followers one has may not affect the way we write but it does affect the way we feel.

    I'm clearly not alone in this for part of the reason for Maddie's post was that people had asked how they too could become 'bloggers of note.

    Why - when my usual blog is not contributing anything to the world, I earn nothing from it, it is not pushing a message and I do it simply because I enjoy doing it . . . why do I get so excited when people comment? Or add themselves to the list?

    Blogging is new and the psychology threading through it is fascinating - to me anyway!

    Esther

    P.S. to Maddie - hope it's ok to come back like this with a reply to another commenter.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Robert L Daniels6 July 2010 at 15:41

    Thanks to you for writing this blog I have been spending money trying to speed thing up but feeling on the inside that it was'nt the right thing to do I needed that confirmation thanks again..

    ReplyDelete
  16. maddie7 July 2010 at 18:48

    Esther, I feel exactly like you. Before the Blogger of Note thing, I had about 57 followers, and a number of them would comment (and still do) regularly. But I have to say I felt excited when I found the number had shot up, and that's probably to do with my own insecurity and need to be loved.
    I don't know lots of people, and I really write for me and one other person, Mr Grigg. If people enjoy it, that's a bonus and a blessing, and I have come into contact with so many lovely people through blogging. It has also enabled me to keep a diary of sorts and develop a style.
    My holiday blog I do mainly for my mother, because she loves hearing about all the places we visit and the situations we get into. Which is currently on a windy Ithaca, waiting to get something to eat but fearful about going out in the dinghy to the shore..

    ReplyDelete
  17. CountessLaurie8 July 2010 at 19:15

    I found you through Blog of Note and I stuck around because I love reading your posts. (I don't often comment, but I do read them.) I follow a blog I like so that people know I like them. It's what I would want someone to do if they found my blog and liked it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Cheryl11 July 2010 at 06:45

    Well my little award pales into insignificance now I've had time to catch up a little and have discovered you are now a blogger of note - and why not - your blog is sensational. I just love your characters and they'll be a fantastic TV series one day I'm sure. Any way I'm thrilled to have received my 37th follower and my Scrubby Bush just gained its first blog award and I just had to include you in the award pass on as this is certainly a blog of note! The accoldaes just keep coming.

    ReplyDelete

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