I received a message on Instagram the other day from someone who asked me how they could help support me and honestly, it’s something that caught me off guard. I’m in no way complaining about the amount of time that goes into the conversations I have via social media and email — they are so meaningful to me — but it’s not every day that I have someone ask directly about offering their support either financially or otherwise. This got me thinking about ways to support your favorite bloggers.

As with any other small business, blogging can sometimes feel like a (heavy) labor of love. It’s something I enjoy tremendously, which is why I’m approaching my seventh year doing it (!). Through everyone’s support, I’ve been able to help support my family and also be provided the flexibility to take care of Miles. It is a lot of work, however, and that one question made me realize that although I, and other bloggers, already know the answer to it, many may not.

There are lots of ways to help support your favorite bloggers — financially or not. Here are some of the biggest ones. As always, thank you so much for being here and I appreciate you TONS.

Use their affiliate links

Affiliate links are links to products or services where the blogger will earn a (very) small commission. The price remains the same to you, but the company pays out a small amount to the blogger for basically referring a new customer. There are many affiliate companies, but personally since I spend 1/3 of my life ordering from Amazon, that’s where you will see most of my links from.

Another thing to note is that you don’t have to buy the specific product that a person shares. Say you click on a link for shoes, then decide you don’t want them but you just remembered that you need to reorder diapers (this is my life). Anything you order after heading to Amazon from that affiliate link will give the blogger a percentage. If you’re feeling extra generous, head to their blog first, find a link, and then order whatever you were planning to order. It’s no cost to you, but can add up for them.

There are also influencer storefronts that are available through Amazon. I get a lot of the same questions sometimes about certain products, so I tend to group them all together in my storefront. This way you can search things I’ve recommended — books, baby things, kitchen gear, etc. — and I will earn a commission on those purchases.

Share posts you resonate with

The more views and visits to someone’s blog, the easier it will be for them to rank higher on Google. This means that the likelihood of their page showing up and being clicked on during search inquiries is higher. For blogs that monetize with ads, this is extremely helpful. Generally, the more traffic, the more money made.

You don’t need to share any and every post, but if you really resonate with one or find it helpful, consider sharing it to other social media outlets or friends to help spread the word.

Pin to Pinterest

This is a continuation of the previous point, but sharing posts on Pinterest can really help boost their visibility to new audiences. Pinterest also operates differently than other social media outlets in that it works more like a search engine. If you use Pinterest yourself, you know that you often type into the search bar what you’re looking for. Sharing posts helps others get access to information that they may be searching for as well.

Again, share if something resonates with you. Also keep in mind that bloggers will often create specific, “pinnable” images that are customized to do well when shared on Pinterest. If you see these on a blog post (think an image with decorative wording of the post title like the one I use at the top of this post), then the blogger intends for the post to be shared.

Rate recipes and leave reviews

You’re probably aware that there are tons of food blogs in the blogging space. That increases competition and makes it harder for food blogs to stand out. If you make recipes from a blog and they turn out well, leave a review or ranking. Many food bloggers use recipe card plugins that allow you to do both of these things. It’s a free way to show your support and helps tremendously with page ranking in Google.

Buy their products or services

Another way bloggers earn money is by selling their own products or services. If you’re a fan, consider investing in them so that they can continue to invest in giving back to you.

For example, I have two e-books for sale on this site (shameless plug): one on learning to live with depression and one on how to navigate the wellness space in a healthy way (also LOTS of accounts to follow to help celebrate diversity and break the one-size-fits-all wellness mentality). You can see both in my store here.

Give feedback

A simple, easy, free, way to help support your favorite bloggers is to provide feedback about your user experience. For instance, I know that it’s not ideal that the home page of this site only shows the latest four posts without a “read older posts” button. That means that unless you know exactly what post or what type of post you’re looking for, you likely won’t be able to find it as easily. It’s something I’ve been meaning to fix and could potentially increase the time that someone spends on this site.

If there’s something like that on one of your favorite blogs that causes you frustration and makes you less likely to use certain aspects of the site, let that person know! They may not even be aware of it.

In addition to user experience, if you like/love certain content, let them know about it. This is a good indicator of what does well with their audience and they can focus on creating more like it. If you have ideas about what you’d like to see, send those along as well because it may not be something that they’ve thought about. We are constantly brainstorming and developing new content, and there are absolutely periods of writer’s block and slumps in creativity. Any (productive) feedback you may be able to give can be a lifesaver!