A few short months ago when I began blogging I posted a comment on another person's blog and clicked to follow her. The next day I returned to her blog and found her post was directed at me (without saying my name). She informed her readers that she was super irritated with people who left comments but didn't have their own blog on their profile so she could follow back. I hung my head in embarrassment and quickly rectified the situation.
Through the last few weeks I have read comments that reveal I was not alone in this mistake. Others of you have made it. This recent blogging campaign has shown me that others of you are doing it now. So this post will teach you how to make things right.
Please know that if you don't have your blog linked to your Google profile, I am not irritated or full of judgment. I simply want to help those who want to learn.
And from a marketing perspective, you should always have your link in your profile to make it easy for people to find you.1. Open your blog.
2. Click on the "View My Complete Profile" under "About Me"
3. Select "Edit Profile"
4. By "Show My Blogs" hit "Select blogs to display"
5. Choose your options and save
Now when you follow someone or comment on another blog, anyone can click on your profile and see hyperlinks to your blog(s) under the heading My Blogs. (See below). Tip: Don't keep private blogs on this list. It's irritating to your followers to not know which blog they should follow.
I hope this was helpful and less pointed than the way I learned.
Are you linked up? How long did it take you to learn? How did you finally figure it out or were you always completely on top of it?
26 comments:
Very helpful post for a lot of new bloggers. I'm too mellow to get frustrated by a lack of links, but it is a bit sad when someone follows you and you can't find a way to follow back.
Thanks for this! Mine was already showing up, but I didn't know until you showed me how to check! :D
Thanks Laura, I think I'm good but I'm going to double check!
I'll have to check that out.
You hit the blog right on the head. Especially during this A-Z blogfest, time is of the essence. Need quick-find links.
I love all your tips - you always make them so easy to follow. Luckily I did this ages ago (maybe it was one of your posts) as it is frustrating when I can't find someone's blog. Thanks.
I think I'm good too. With this new layout Blogger has it's a little tricky to double check!
I am with you. I don't get upset - I just really want to return the follow. But I can't if I don't know how :)
Sorry to butt in again - but if you are on the new blogger interface - here is how you get to editing your profile - click on your avatar picture in the upper right hand corner - then select "Blogger Profile" - then click the edit button in the upper left hand corner.
I made the mistake of switching to the Google profile too early, but luckily my bio shows up properly on my sidebar now. :)
Jamie
Fellow A-Z Buddy
Doing a monumental blog catch-up
Mithril Wisdom
Hmm. I'm integrated with Google+ and on the new Blogger profile. It looks like people clicking on my name when I leave comments will be sent to my G+ page and then have to click ar0und from there to find my blog. That's....a bit annoying.
Thank you, Laura. This could not have come at a better time. As you know I have been struggling with this issue since I began blogging. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to read the blog of a new follower only to discover that it is not linked. For the longest time I would do everything possible (including googling the person's name or name associated with their icon) to try and reciprocate. During the A to Z challenge, I haven't had time to try and find people so a good number of my new followers have not received a follow or comment from me.
Thank you for sharing this with everyone.
Hi Callie. I have been debating whether or not to merge my blogger profile with my google plus. I finally decided against it when I realized how much digging or clicking around it actually takes to find the blogger link on google plus. I have been able to find most of the blogs from the A to Z challenge because the blogger usually post a link to it on their google plus stream (or whatever it is called), but if not I have to search for the profile link. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Mine's linked!
What's tough is some people won't leave a comment, they just follow. And one out of four people don't have a blog linked to that little icon. Really hard to return the follow when you can't find someone.
Blogger recently updated my profile to be my G+ profile. I try to keep mine up to date plus remember all the profiles I have out there ... It's difficult sometimes.
I've noticed this too during the A to Z challenge. I feel bad if I can't return a visit to someone's blog. Thanks for visiting mine.
I've noticed it a few times, and I've never really thought much of people not having their blogs linked to their profile. It is a hassle, clicking through to find the cookie jar is empty in a way, but I always kinda figured they didn't have a blog. Though now that I think about it, of course they would if they visited mine. I mean, I don't rank well in Google.
Thank you for doing this. I hate when I go to follow someone and their blog isn't listed under their profile. I wish everyone would do this.
I have no idea if my settings were incorrect or not so I went ahead and did what you said. I should be good to go! Thanks so much!
Thank you Laura: I'm pretty sure I'm connected. At least I hope so. I know I followed you okay. I'm just A to Z-ing it. Stop on by and say hi sometime.
Very helpful post!
I've seen quite a few people who don't have their blog listed on their Blogger profile. I wondered if it was because they had gotten a Blogger profile so that they could comment on Blogger blogs, even though they didn't have a blog themselves?
How annoying! I don't use Google + so I hadn't realized the change. Glad you told me.
You amaze me with your devotion to return a follow. You're a good person, Melissa Sugar! Hopefully this helps.
I, too, appreciated Callie's feedback.
Yes, I notice the same thing. Actually, sometimes I've been guilty of following and not commenting. *looks away sheepishly*
I know some readers don't have blogs themselves, but an awful lot do but aren't connected.
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