Hi friends! I’ve had this post on my to-do list for awhile. Not only is it something I get asked about frequently from readers, friends, and family… but if you’re considering starting your own blog or business online I am hoping this can help you as well.

Everything I know I have self-taught myself, full disclosure here. Ha!

I’m going to share the most supportive ways to help your favorite writers, bloggers, and influencers thrive in this business, based on my experience alone.

When I started this whole thing… of course I dreamt of people actually reading my blog posts but never in a million years did I think it would happen.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of friends who get WAY more views than I do but I told myself when I started that if at least 30 people were viewing my website a month, then I’d keep going.

Because at the very core of this business, I wasn’t doing it for the money. I wasn’t doing it for the likes, the comments, or the pageviews. I’m still not. And I truly think that if you’re only interested in making money you will not thrive in this sort of work.

Here’s why:

Content creating for a brand isn’t easy. You’re basically being hired to creatively direct a marketing campaign, starring you, written by you, directed by you. And brands these days are looking for strong, meaningful content that not only is relatable, but comes from the heart. I spent the first year and a half figuring out what works for me and House of Dorough. Truthfully, once I stopped trying to do what everyone else was doing and just trusted my gut to create what I wanted to create, how I wanted to create it… that’s when the business side of things started picking up.

That being said, blogging is a whole lot more than content creating. Keeping up with social media, direct messages, comments, engaging, staying relevant. It’s all important if you’re trying to make enough money to keep your blog going. And if you’re creating any sort of content that is being consumed by people, you should be getting paid for it - hands down.

You may have noticed this year I’ve been doing a lot of cash giveaways with my friends in the blogger world, and that’s because I would much rather pay $50 of my own money to gain exposure, reach more women than pay Facebook or Instagram my money to trust that they will run ads and target the right audience.

So let’s get back to why I started this blog post to begin with: Why is it important to support your favorite influencers?

Whether or not you want to admit it… you are consuming free content they’re creating for you. Whether it’s the positive affirmation quotes they’re finding and sharing, or the hilarious stories they’re telling, or the fun styling videos they’re posting to IGTV… Bloggers spend most of their time creating content for free, for you to consume.

Most of the time, it’s because they love what they do and they love sharing. If you’re an artist of any type, you can understand that when you find something you love to do, it’s a passion that’s hard to turn off. For example, if I haven’t written in a week… I start to feel really disheveled. If I haven’t made any videos or creating anything fun, my anxiety ramps up. I have always been a storyteller and my dream was to be able to do what I love, and also be a mom. This job I have created for myself has given me that, and for that I am so thankful.

But also we are doing more than just taking photos of ourselves, lol. Everyone I follow at least… there’s a bigger reason why we are here doing what we are doing.

Here’s where it gets tricky: Maintaining any sort of presence online, continuing to write, continuing to create… it takes time. Most bloggers find that to really put in what they want to their brand, they have to do it full time. I was fortunate enough to be able to take that leap of faith before I had PJ, and luckily business started ramping up shortly after I gave birth to her.

Also, I think it’s a common misconception that most bloggers come from wealthy households. Don’t get me wrong… there are a lot of people out there who have the luxury of starting a blog with money. But for me personally, and pretty much every other blogger I know… we’ve all worked for every single thing we have.

So if you’re one of those amazing, loyal readers - just know we value you more than anything.

Below are a few ways you can support your favorite content creators:

AFFILIATE LINKS:

These are links that are tied to our accounts, so that we can get a small commission anytime you purchase something via our recommendation.

The most common platform for this is RewardStyle (Liketoknow.it) but I also use ShopStyle. This was the only way I was making money in the beginning, which made it possible to purchase my website renewal last year.

So basically, anytime you’re shopping online. Like, ANY time… you should go to your favorite bloggers’ website and use one of their links for that particular store - or DM them for a link - because it doesn’t matter what particular item you actually purchase. All that matters is that the link is used before checkout so they get a percentage, and guess what? That’s at no extra cost to you. This is an amazing way to support us, not only because of the commission but because brands can see our potential, which brings me to the next point…

BRAND SPONSORSHIPS:

Establishing meaningful relationships with brands is the best way to set yourself up for success in the future, in my opinion.

There are two ways that bloggers work with brands: product gifting or paid sponsorships. Product gifting can often lead to future paid campaigns, but I suggest only doing that with a brand you want to build a relationship with. Paid ad campaigns is when a brand is paying you to create and deliver a certain amount of content per their guidelines. Sometimes I have a ton of creative freedom in this, and sometimes I have certain restrictions I have to abide to. Either way, I still get to use my own voice and create. I’ve made it a strong point with House of Dorough to work with brands I genuinely love and respect which is starting to pay off.

How do brands measure success? Well… that brings me to my last point:

LIKES, COMMENTS, SHARES, SWIPE-UPS:

Better known as, engagement.

Not only is this the most important way you can support your favorite influencers, but it’s COMPLETELY FREE. We literally have to report all of the numbers on every campaign we do. How many swipe ups, how many views, how many shares, likes, comments… you name it. And that, my friends, is mainly how our success is measured. Not always by the amazing content we created, not always by our meaningful stories… but numbers.

So the next time you see someone share an ad on Instagram, do them a favor and show it some love. Influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere, so now’s the time to start supporting it because we are small businesses too… and most of us are out here grindin’ for a bigger cause other than sharing our beloved mirror selfies (although you know I love a good mirror selfie).

I hope this helps answer any questions you may have - would love to hear your feedback below!