Don't Click the Follow Button...
UNLESS you know what to do AFTER you click it!
Actually, DO click on the Follow button of quality bloggers because I'm about to show you what you NEED to do after you follow a list of people. (PS - You can start with my follow button, it's right over there on the right -----> ;)
Here's the thing... Now that you have clicked, now what??
Once you have selected bloggers on ActiveRain to follow, you should FREQUENTLY go to the newsfeed page that lists, in order of most recent post, the titles of each of the most recent posts by each of the persons that you have followed. This is equivalent to your blogging "inbox" so you can see what's new with the people that you enjoy reading and interacting with.
This is how you get to your blogs to read inbox:
And when you get to your "newsfeed page," there you will see all that is new with the bloggers that you have chosen to follow
So let me re-emphasize, when you find a quality blogger, do FOLLOW them and then FOLLOW up with the newsfeed page regularly to see what new things have been written. Head over to visit them, click 'like' on the excellent posts, and comment on the post. As we blog, we find it very encouraging to see see Page Views and interaction. By people following us and going to the following newsfeed, this basis for these connections is established!
You see this is a rather important point, and one that makes ActiveRain a little different than other social media sites. In Facebook, for example, you friend a person or follow a page, and this is the newsfeed that you see automatically when you open Facebook. In ActiveRain, you have to actively click to get to the page! (My two cents opinion, I think a link to get to the following newsfeed should be brought back to top level like it used to be. I'd rather not have it inside a menu. But that is for another discussion.)
Now for many of you reading this, this newsfeed existence is not news. You already knew that! Awesome!! But if I helped any new ones have a light bulb moment, well then terrific!
Now let's consider building up your following list with quality bloggers. This way your "following newsfeed" always has a fresh supply of posts, why not check out the "top 99 most subscribed to bloggers". You are sure to find quality bloggers there, that is WHY they are on the list.
I remember back in 2010 being curious about this list (as I was wondering if I would someday make it). I wondered how many followers does it take to get on this list? I noticed Barbar Todaro was at that time there at #90 (PS look where she is now). Since we were chatting in email about another topic, I asked her how many followers she had at the time... she answered 279... well I had a target starting number in mind then!
LOL well I finally snuck into the list. I have no idea what the number is now to make the list. Perhaps if we ping Mike Cooper at #99 to see if he'll share his count with us or another kudos also to Dick Greenberg up at #95, let's ask him how many he has. (footnote: oops it looks like since I drafted this we have a new occupant in the #99 spot, a little competition to get on the list :)
(another footnote: after a little research... it looks like the magic number to break into this list is now at 432)
Well, top list or no list, any subscribers you get are VERY IMPORTANT. If those subscribers know where to look for the new posts newsfeed, then they will find your new posts. If they don't see your new post, then you will miss out on that potential blog view count and comment.
When somebody follows you, you will get a notification. And here's a tip: From your My Home page, you can filter the notifications list to show only new follower notifications. If you have lots of other notifications such as for comments received, you might easily lose track of the new follower notifications.
So DO Follow Quality bloggers and then DO FOLLOW UP by going to the following newsfeed!
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