Did you just start a blog and now that you see yourself in a market place, you’re stalking other bloggers??
hmmm… It’s okay. Everyone does.
I’m not talking about the serious stalking.
Just the good one where you like a blog so much, you visit it frequently and wait for more stuff coming from in there.
So, let me teach you the nice way of stalking aka following a blog (-ger).
But first, you need to…
GET PERSPECTIVE!
Honestly, stalking people isn’t right. You can stalk a particular thing about your fav. expert. Maybe her style, her recipes, her tips… not her.
So, choose the TOPIC you want to stalk. Ask yourself WHAT it is you want (to learn!) from her. And this should be your purpose for stalking. ??
Else, it’s plain weird.
No matter how cute you be…
Not to mention a waste of your precious time.
Let’s talk business now.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links means if you make a purchase by clicking on any of my links, It can make me (a tad bit) richer at no extra cost to you. And rest assured I don’t recommend anything but what seems awesome to my OWN reason and experience.
WAYS OF STALKING BLOGGERS… IN A HEALTHY WAY!
1. THEIR BLOG POSTS
I keep a blog diary. A physical one. And when I’m on my favorite blog, reading a particular post, I jot down the important points and then do this:
…making action steps I will take out of what I noted. I don’t waste their gold nuggets by just reading away and doing nothing else. It’s valuable info fo’ free. I collect them for consumption.
(Sometimes when the blog post provides a checklist content upgrade of the same info in the blog post, then you can skip this.)
2. THEIR FREEBIES
A lot of times, bloggers give additional info in their free downloads, email challenges or courses.
I wouldn’t ever let an opportunity to learn from my fav. blogger go unutilized.
Much less if it’s free.
Again I’ll make a list of action items t follow and tick off as I go.
Here’s a snapshot of the complete list of action items I created from Abby Lawson’s 10 Day start a blog free course.
I signed up and let all the emails pour in. Meanwhile, I had so much else to do with my blog. doh! There always is.
Then I binge read through all emails in a go and prepared this list.
It helped me:
- see the complete picture
- and within a particular goal, moving in and out of the learning mode wastes so much of my energy. I like to know it all at once and then implement step by step following the action plan I devise from my learning.
These days I’m on a mad spree of collecting gold nuggets from five free Pinterest courses from in here, here, here, here and here.
I’ll combine the gold nuggets since they’re all on the same topic, (Stalking the bleep out of a topic here) and make an ultimate action plan for myself.
Update: Here’s a product I created by putting all the free info I learned from these experts into practice.
3. SAMPLE CONTENT FROM THEIR PREMIUM PRODUCTS
If there are samples available, get them.
(On a side note, don’t ask your favorite blogger for sample copy for reviewing, please don’t do that.
Unless you’re such a cool giant blogger that your review will bring in many sales to her.
But by then you’d like to pay her instead of asking for a copy anyway. #grace)
Here are a few nice bloggers who offer free sample chapters from their premium products that you can enjoy for now.
- Krista’s Blogging Babe’s Handbook by Signing Up here.
- Potpie Girl’s What Works Now EBook Sales Page.
4. THEIR PRODUCT REVIEWS
You won’t find a lot of info about the topic, but you can find a nugget or two!
For example, when I was reading a review of How To Make Your First Affiliate Sale On Pinterest Within 24 Hours, I saw the reviewer had a checklist on the same topic i.e. making affiliate sales on Pinterest.
She wasn’t revealing the strategies within the book, it was her own take on the subject. But we can be sure the info is correct. Because she had read the book and had success too!
This may not be a good example of the point I made but really, I always find something worthwhile from reviews – in the content itself, or comments or their freebies.
Here’s another example of a gold nugget in the comments of a review. See what the reviewer tells in answering a question.
She has first-hand experience with two extremely expensive Pinterest courses and she votes for the less pricey one.
Wouldn’t this kind of info have helped you make a solid decision? (I felt it trustworthy since her affiliate earning from the other bigger course could have been greater for recommending it)
Simply put, when you like a blogger’s content, do read other people’s reviews about her too.
5. THEIR INTERVIEWS ON OTHER BLOGS
6. ASKING DIRECTLY
Ask her directly on FB, email, twitter or in the blog comment section.
Whenever I did this, I found my queries warmly welcomed. Since I’m working on teaching myself Pinterest, I came across a Pinterest expert who I’m sure is soon gonna rule the Pin world and will increase the price of her incredibly affordable Pinteresting Strategy compared to the other extremely expensive ones (so grab it here for a very low price while you can, most other Pinterest gurus have started mixing her thing along with theirs , but she’s the trendsetter and real expert on manual pinning… sorry I can’t stop talking about her, I’m a big fan!)
So, I was saying, before I had her ebook, I wanted to know the exact pin size of her pins that were going crazy viral.
I emailed and asked her the size. I was scared thinking why would she tell me the size of her viral pins?
She’s a big blogger, she’s selling this stuff and she’s busy too.
But she gave it away just like that.
Seriously.
7. TRIPWIRE OFFERS
You know the short time offer to buy something when you signup to someone? That’s tripwire.
For example, when I signed up for a blog by entering my email and clicking on the subscribe button, this tripwire offer came in front of me:
When you find a tripwire on your favorite expert’s blog, you don’t say no to it. They’re already making sales on the full price. But if you get it on a steep cut, snatch it while you can.
I don’t know why but tripwire purchases make me feel so smart. You get products for 50% or more discount.
Here are two of my favorite:
- If you signup to Elite Blog Academy here, they give you 20 min. to buy a $47 blogging bundle for $7. (Just one book How To Blog For Profit Without Selling Your Soul from that bundle sells for $12 on Amazon).
- Elise McDowell’s famous ebook How To Make Your First Affiliate Sale On Pinterest In 24 Hours costs $25. If you signup to the opt-in at the bottom, (not the top opt-in) of this post, you get a tripwire offer to buy the book for $9 price on the book for a short time.
8. RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY THEM
If you’re looking for the important tools or websites that your expert use/ recommend, go check her resources page. Keep in mind that you should see if their recommendations suit your particular situation or not.
As a new blogger, I felt so much more confident moving to this web hosting when I saw my favorite people online are also using this.
BLOGGERS I AM STALKING THESE DAYS
Given below are some of my favorites. All these bloggers write about blogging and related stuff. Means I’m not stalking something that doesn’t concern me or won’t benefit my blog biz.
These all are my absolute favorites and if they write a post, I’ll rush to collect my gold nuggets before anything.
If I see them do something, I’ll put it in my action plan to copy.
And even if they sell me something, I’ll buy it.
Look at how devout I am. I have a folder for each on my desktop where I save my freebies etc.
An Important Thing… Stalk to Your ANDDD Other’s Benefit
If you like a blog and/or its content, mean it!
Prove it by doing the following:
1. Leave thankful, appreciative comments. It will help that blogger’s content with SEO other than validating that what she’s doing actually helps others.
(It can also bring some traffic back to your own blog too. But that’s another discussion.)
Plus doing so regularly will get you noticed by the blogger herself and why wouldn’t you want that? A bigger blogger followed me on social media just by doing that.
2. Share their content with others which will be a nice way of thanking them. They’ll love you for this because, growth and more traffic, everyone loves that!
And your own peeps will also be more appreciative of you for sharing good/useful content with them.
3. Contact them. As in, email or tweet them directly. Bloggers love questions, perspectives or validations because it helps them design newer content and products accordingly.
And you get to network too!
4. And if and when you are ready to invest in your blog, you owe it first to bloggers who taught you the most. Plus if their free info was helpful, rest assured they have bigger stuff going on in their paid product too.
?? Tell me who you’re stalking these days? Why? And how are you putting your time spent stalking into good use???
Psssttt….
If you like the post, could you pin this fo’ me?
Thanks!
Poovanesh Pather | FamilyGrowthLife.com says
Hi, I just love your writing style. I discovered your blog via your Pin on Pinterest and I’m really sorry I did not do so sooner. I’m a new blogger and a stalker like you. I created a file with notes from my favorite bloggers’ posts.
But I’m going to steal your idea of a separate notebook and labeling doable items with Action Steps. Like you I also power pack the info with binge reading of blog posts/ courses. My favorite bloggers are Elna Cain, Meera Kothand and Henneke Dustermaat of Enchanting Marketing.
Hena Bilal says
Hi Poovanesh,
Thanks for making my day, you’re too sweet!
A notebook is so neat. You have no idea where I was putting important points before that – on my wall! I mean direct scribbles on the wall!!! (True story with a sad ending =P)
Hey, all these are some of my favorite bloggers too! You and I should be friends. =)
Alex Nerney says
We like being on your “hot favorites” 😛
Thank you for mentioning us and this content is great. It’s a balancing act of following the right people without getting information overload. We all stalk, and this is a good guide for newbies.
Cheers,
Alex Nerney
Hena Bilal says
Ohhh Emm Geee!! (Look everyone! It’s Alex on my blog!!)
Eek, my bad. Corrected ‘hot’ into ‘absolute’. Still learning the language.
Thank you so much for visiting my tiny blog, Alex. Your appreciation means the world to me!!!
*Still happy dancing*
Keto Fit Diet Pills says
Have you ever considered writing an e-book or guest authoring on other blogs?
I have a blog centered on the same information you discuss and would really like
to have you share some stories/information.
I know my viewers would value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free
to shoot me an email. http://ketofitdiet.net/