Hello friends! For a while now I’ve been wanting to do a blog post on how I blog hop, but something hasn’t felt quite right. Sure I could share with you how I find new blogs, and I will, but I just kept feeling that I was missing a key element that was relevant to my blog hopping. And while blog hopping today, it hit me. The reason the post never felt right is because I was focusing too much on HOW I blog hop, instead of WHY I blog hop. Now, you may think you know the answer to that question, but I have a feeling my answer may surprise you. I’m about to expose myself, because you see, I don’t just blog hop for altruistic reasons. Sure, I enjoy finding interesting discussions and fun catch up posts to read, but in truth, I have an ulterior motive when I blog hop.
While I try to keep up with the blog posts from those that I follow, when I refer to blog hopping, I’m talking about when I go on a hunt to find new to me blogs. These can be established blogs that have been around for several years, or super new blogs that have less than 50 followers. My method is the same, I’ll go on the WordPress reader and search “books”, click on some of the top blog results, and then look through who has liked recent posts. When I find a name I don’t recognize, I open their home page in a new tab, and I keep scrolling until I have several tabs open for me to read through. From there the process remains the same. I read some blog posts, then look at who liked the post and keep following the trail until it fizzles out of new blogs for me to visit. I don’t like or comment on every blog that I open, but if I do like or comment it means I read that post through fully and want to let the blogger know that I was there.
Me when I like or comment on a new blog
Great. So know you know the HOW of blog hopping for me. But now it’s time for me to reveal why I blog hop. Because as much as I wish I could say it’s only to support other bloggers, to be honest, what motivates me to blog hop is the fact that my stats will inevitably pick up after I go on a blog hopping spree. Some of these new blogs that I just visited will visit me back! Some will even follow me! It’s truly a great way to grow your reach as a blogger.
Now, I know many other bloggers have mentioned blog hopping as a great way to gain interaction. In fact in this recent post that Marie wrote, one of the seven methods she listed to gain blog traffic was blog hopping. Which begs the question then. Why do I feel like I’m doing something wrong? Why does the fact that I know that my blog might gain a few views from this blog hopping spree make me feel like I’m a bad blogger for not blog hopping for the sake of just visiting other blogs? Is it because I’m hoping for something in return? It might be, but honestly I just really want to share my blog with other people, and I’m actively trying to get them to come say hi on my blog. Is that so wrong? Maybe I feel guilty that I don’t follow many of the bloggers I find when I blog hop? But just like no blogger is required to visit, like, or follow my blog, I’m not required to like, comment on, or follow any of the blogs I find either!
So here’s my challenge to you! To those of you who haven’t blog hopped in a while and are waiting for motivation to do so, here’s your motivation. You don’t need to have purely altruistic reasons when you blog hop! You’ll still be achieving the same end result of finding new blogs and interacting with them, even if you’re hoping for some interaction in return! My one caveat to this all though, is that you should be genuine in your interactions. Only like a post if you’ve read it. Only comment if you have what to say. Only follow if you intend to continue following that person for the foreseeable future. Hopefully this new spree of interaction will end up with you forming some new friendships! And regardless of whether you get that interaction in return or not, just know that you definitely made somebody’s day by choosing the visit their blog today!
Paper Procrastinators 
I want to increase my blog hopping too. Sometimes it feels really awkward to comment on an old post/someone I’m unfamiliar with but I just remember how it feels to get comments myself and the awkwardness fades
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I definitely hear that! I’ve only been blog hopping frequently this month since I’m on vacation from college. Typically during the semester I get to busy to keep up with blog hopping!
Oh it can definitely feel awkward. I remember that I wrote a whole post about how awkward I felt commenting on old posts a while back though, and all the comments assured me that no matter how long ago the post was written, most people appreciate the comments regardless! I know that for myself, I love getting comments on old posts! It makes me feel great that people are still interested in the content I wrote all those months ago!
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I haven’t blog hopped much in the past couple of years and have been really missing it, so this post was well-timed motivation ♥
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I don’t blog hop much during the semester, but I’ve been taking advantage of my winter break! I’ve probably blog hopped 2 or 3 times a week for the past month, which I’m very proud of! It’s never too late to start hopping!
And I’m so glad I was able to provide the motivation you needed! I hope you discover some really great posts as you hop around!
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I really enjoyed reading this post! And honestly, I have partly non-altruistic reasons for blog-hopping too- it was kind of reassuring to read that I am not the only one, haha! I blog hop once every month, and it works out pretty good for me!
Great post Malka!
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I’m so glad you enjoyed this post! And I’m glad I’m not the only one that doesn’t have the purest of intentions for blog hopping!
I feel like I either don’t blog hop at all for several months, usually when the semester gets busy, but then every once in a while, I’ll spend several days in a row diligently blog hopping for several hours! I really need to find a more balanced approach! But I’m glad you have a method that works for you! Maybe I should try setting a goal of blog hopping every two weeks and see how that goes for me!
Thank you! 💕
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I really enjoyed reading this post! It’s admittedly been a while since I blog hopped to find new blogs to follow or people to interact with but I relate to your reasons for hopping! Even though I do hope for mutual interaction on my blog as much as I interact on theirs, it doesn’t always work out that way, but I still follow and interact with them because I enjoy reading their content. This post has made me want to go blog hopping now 🙂
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I’ve been so good about blog hopping to find new blogs to interact with over my winter break, but I’m worried that with the start of my semester, I’ll go back to doing no blog hopping whatsoever! I think that making the effort even occasionally to blog hop is great though!
There definitely isn’t always mutual interaction when I blog hop, and I know not to expect that. However, I definitely value and appreciate those few that reciprocate by interacting with my blog! But like you said, it’s fun reading content on other blogs which is why I do it as well! The thought of increased interaction is merely a motivator to get started!
I hope you ended up blog hopping and that you discovered some great posts!
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I need to increase my blog hopping, I was just doing that now and saw your post! lol…I try to do it once a week at least when I sit down and try to prepare all my blog posts for the week or month. Great post!
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I’ve been doing so much blog hopping over winter break to make up for all the months I didn’t blog hop during the semester! But I’m so glad that you came across this post while blog hopping! Your method of having a set time a week, or even month, to blog hop sounds like an idea I really should try to implement!
Thank you!
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I love blog hopping, too. I follow a lot of blogs, but a lot of them inevitably go inactive after a while, so I like to find new blogs to comment on and follow, and I agree it can be good for getting traffic on your own blog, as well.
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Blog hopping has been such a fun activity for me over winter break! I don’t follow too many blogs because I’d get overwhelmed, so instead I like blog hopping and interacting when I have the time to spend on all the blogs I haven’t visited in a while!
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I love this post so much (and thank you for linking back to my post!). I completely agree with you that you can have an ulterior motive when it comes to blog hopping and it’s perfectly okay. Of course, when you’re putting yourself out there, you might have the chance that people will come back to visit your blog and, even better, you might have a chance to start a brand new friendship, which is amazing, too! I’m not going to lie: I’m doing it for both reasons, both because I love acknowledging bloggers’ work and have a lot of fun doing it (even if, sometimes… well. It’s really overwhelming for me, so I tend not to do it as often, anymore) …. and yes, I do it a little bit, too because I know it might help my blog, too. Like you perfectly said it, though, the ultimate motivator is knowing that, by just a comment, you might make someone’s day!
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I’m so glad! And of course I linked back to your post! More people need to read it!
Exactly! It’s not purely me thinkin I’m going to get interaction out of blog hopping, because in many cases, I won’t even get a view in return. However when I need an extra spark of motivation, the knowledge that someone might find a blog post I wrote and end up interacting with it gives me a good push! But it’s my enjoyment of finding these new bloggers and their interesting posts that keeps me going! I always am amazed at the fact that despite blogging for more than 3 years, there are always new blogs and new posts for me to come across and admire! And knowing how much likes and comments mean to me, I’m always super happy to show another blogger how much I enjoyed their post!
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I’m pretty new to blogging and I’ve actually never heard of blog hopping but I totally love it! Definitely would help those smaller blogs and gives you a lot of new information!
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Honestly, as a new blog, blog hopping is a fantastic way to help more bloggers find your blog! And in return you get to find some awesome blogs and posts and get inspiration and tips for your own blog! It’s a win for everyone involved!
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That’s pretty much what I do. I read my followed blogs on my reader. When I’m finished (if I have time), I’ll type in random search words, then select blogs from there. I then look at who liked and/or commented on the post, and click on that (in a new browser page) and check out their blog.
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Yes! I find it so much fun to see which random search words result in the most book blogs! I’ve found that “NetGalley” and “Goodreads” will pretty much only pull up book blogs, mainly due to reviews that get posted, but I really should try out some other bookish words to see what comes up!
But I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one that uses the method of looking at likes and comments to find new blogs!
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What a great post, I think we forget the power of blog hopping when it comes to promoting our blogs as well. I do mostly blog hop because I am interested in the posts people have written but when I actively go out seeking new blogs you do notice the page views climb and some folks even stick around and follow you which is nice. I am terrible for forgetting to go out of my way to find new blogs, though. It’s the same old excuse, I can’t always find the time!
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Thank you! Yes, that’s definitely true. I’m really bad at promoting my blog on social media, so I think I try making up for that with my random blog hopping binges that I go on!
I definitely blog hop because I’m interested in what people have to say. There are plenty of posts that I come across while blog hopping that I skip due to lack of interest, but thankfully there are so many great blogs and posts out there, that there’s always lots of great reads for me to find regardless!
Finding new blogs is also so much fun for me, because I love the different perspectives each person has on similar topics and on books I’m familiar with. But then getting that extra boost in stats and a follow or two is just the cherry on top!
I’m definitely the same way, though. It can be hard for me to find new blogs when I get really busy, which I think is why I try so hard to make it a priority to find some new to me blogs whenever I do have the chance to blog hop, like when I’m on vacations and such!
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I’m trying to blog hop more this year, especially to catch up on reading and supporting friends posts! But sometimes its also takes a lot out of me because I want to come up with a meaningful comment but feel like I repeat myself too much…also I try to put myself out there more by commenting & interacting on other blogs but sometimes feel bummed when posts don’t get lots of interaction even though I do reciprocate, maybe its just the timing? But I’ve genuinely enjoyed commenting on blogs again knowing its something I couldn’t find lots of time to do in the past.
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Yes! I would love to do the same this year, although I think that I’ll first make that a goal once I’m finished with my semester. And I’m the absolute same way when it comes to commenting. Part of the reason it has taken me so long to respond to this comment is because I wanted to be sure that I was giving real thought and consideration into my answer, and today is the first day I’ve had the brain power to do so!
I will say that I know that feeling well too! Sometimes you can do all the interaction in the world, but a post still doesn’t get the attention you wish it got. I really do think that in those cases it’s just bad timing, so I try to refer back to those posts a few months later, so that people who missed it originally can get a chance to check it out.
And I’m so happy that you enjoy commenting on blog posts! It’s one of my favorite parts of blogging as well, and I just hope that in a few months I’ll have more time to regularly make a habit of responding to and commenting on as many blog posts as I can!
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I agree Malka, thank you for taking your time to write a detailed response ❤ You bring up an excellent point, I often don't find opportunities to reference my past posts too often but maybe I should?
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You definitely should! Try it out and see what happens!
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Oooh this is good! So my reasons USED to be the same as yours- to visit AND to increase my own readership. But now, it’s more maintaining existing relationships? I am way too overwhelmed to be bothered with anything else, honestly, but I do want to make sure to keep in touch with my faves- and every so often, I DO end up finding someone else by responding to comments on my own blog (and trying to go to theirs). So at this point I do think my reasons are mostly altruistic, tbh- I genuinely feel bad if I don’t keep up with and support my blogging pals! Though to be fair, on the selfish side, I do want people to still want to BE my blogging pals, so maybe that is my selfish reason! This is really thought provoking!
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Thank you! I think it’s really interesting how our reason change and evolve as we continue to blog. Right now for me it’s a mix of maintaining old relationships and forming new ones, but obviously in the beginning all I was doing was forming new relationships any time I commented.
I’m quite overwhelmed at times, mostly because of school, but I find that in those cases, BOTH new to me bloggers and old faves miss out on my commentary until I find the time. Although I do feel worse about not commenting on the posts of those I follow, since I obviously followed them for a reason. But I can’t make more time exist in the day, so I just try to make some time every few months to remind people I’m still alive and still love their content. It’s the sort of selfish reason you mentioned – if I don’t maintain these relationships they may fade away, and I’d hate for that to happen!
I’m so glad you found this post to be thought provoking! That’s usually one of my goals when I write a discussion, since I’m typically talking about a topic that I myself have ruminated on for a while!
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I’m pretty new to blogging, so I didn’t know there was a term for finding new blogs to interact with. This was informative and entertaining to read. I just enjoy finding new blogs and commenting if I want the post. Also, if I don’t interact, nobody will ever see my blog posts, and I have zero interaction. A friend of mine asked me how she can find WordPress blogs to read; it seems like WordPress bloggers are each other’s audience, and there’s nobody outside of WordPress.
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Welcome to the blogging world! Blog hopping is definitely a term you’ll hear thrown around while reading blog posts! And thank you! I’m so glad that you found this post both fun and helpful!
I really enjoy finding new posts and bloggers as well! There are so many great posts out there, and only so many blogs I can follow, so it’s always fun to do a little check to see what has recently been posted by the bloggers that I don’t follow, or haven’t discovered before.
And that’s a really good point. Especially when you’re starting out, interaction is the biggest way to help others find your post!
Hmmmm. So I would use the search function on the WordPress reader to find other blogs to read. Just type in the topic you’re interested in and start browsing! However, there definitely are different blogging platforms that people use and I don’t think that my audience is fully made up of WordPress readers, although I do think they definitely make up the majority of my readers! Finding other blogs and other platforms takes time though, so it might be a while until you come across a Bloglovin’ or self-hosted blog, but they’re definitely out there!
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Thank you for such detailed information
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