What to Give Your Favorite Blogger: A Caterpickles Holiday Gift Guide
Amigurumi snowman created using the Sparkles the Snowman pattern in Nicki Trench
Not sure what to get your buddy with the shiny new blog (or book) for the holidays this year? Shop no more. Have we got ideas for you! (And they’re all free.)
Show ‘Em Some Love
Nobody likes to talk in a vacuum. Well, OK, so maybe lots of people like to talk in a vacuum, but what really makes new bloggers (and authors) happy is knowing someone has spent time reading their work and thought enough of it to offer some thoughts of their own. So pick a post, any post (but preferably one you actually liked), and:
1) Click the 
button.
On Caterpickles, you can find the Like button under the plethora of Share options at the bottom of a post.
Note: You may need to click-through to the full-page version of the post for the Like button to appear.
2) Leave a comment.
Reading spam comments can be entertaining, but it’s much more fun to read comments from actual readers. If you’ve clicked through to the full page of a post, the comment field at the bottom sort of jumps out at you.
Not so much on the home page. But I assure you the option for leaving comments is there too. It’s just camouflaged by all that other stuff that separates one post from another.
3. Email them.
Don’t feel like sharing your private thoughts in a public world? Send your blogger friend an email commenting on their post.
Talk ‘Em Up (Public Blogs and Books Only)
Whether they will admit it or not, most new bloggers check their stats and authors their sales numbers often and get pretty excited when those little bars start to climb. Here’s how to give your favorite writer’s numbers a boost this holiday season.
1) Follow their blog.
Email, RSS, Google Reader or WordPress dashboard (for fellow WordPress users)–it’s all good. Most bloggers feature options for following their blogs pretty prominently on their sites. For example, you can find several options for following Caterpickles near the top of the right hand column on every page. It’s a sign of how much we care.
2) Encourage your friends to stop by the blog or to buy the book.
Talk to your buddies at work, holiday parties, company dinners, school, church, sporting events, political rallies, or the local pub all about that great post you read on [insert name of your favorite blog here]. Or that fascinating fact you read in [insert name of your buddy’s book here]. It’s a great way to encourage them to check out your other buddy’s new blog or book.
3) Spread the word about particularly good posts and books on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, or wherever it is you hang out online these days.
Most bloggers give you the option to email around a post you like or to link to it on a variety of social networking services, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Authors love it when you talk up their books on all those places too.
4) Write about them.
If you have a blog of your own, mention your pal’s blog or book in a post. This is a great way to inspire some pretty powerful devotion in the linkee, by the way. I will forever adore — and follow — Kate’s Bookshelf at Escaping the Inkwell, because she was the first to mention a Caterpickles post on her blog.
(Should you choose to go this route, a gentle reminder: Lifting your buddy’s post wholesale and posting it on your blog as your own work may not be construed as the compliment you intend it to be. I feel considerably less affection for the blogger who did this to me earlier this month.)
5) Add them to your blog roll.
If you are truly devoted, you can promote your friend’s blog or book year-round by adding a link to it to your blogroll.
So there you have it. Eight sparkling ideas for making your blogger and/or author buddy pretty happy this holiday season. All for a price that we at Caterpickles Central think will fit into pretty much any budget.
CATERPICKLES 
2 Responses to “What to Give Your Favorite Blogger: A Caterpickles Holiday Gift Guide”
I love Caterpickles and look forward to all your posts.
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🙂
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