Jul 19
Start Blogging Series (Part 4) – Making Friends in the Blogosphere
Part 4 – Making Friends in the Blogosphere
As the Start Blogging Series draws to a close, I’m going to talk about one of the bigger “must-do’s” in blogging, finding and making friends. In our personal lives, the importance of having meaningful relationships is evident. Without them we can feel empty, incomplete, and unfulfilled…And the same can be said for your blog.
One is the loneliest number…
Having no friends in the blogosphere means that your little site won’t have anyone looking at it but you. Let’s for a second examine what it means for your blog if it happens to be Mr or Mrs Lonely:
- No comments on your blog because no one is reading it
- No links to your blog or posts meaning it has no chance of growing with new readers
- No readers being enamored by your posts means no subscribers to your feed
- No traffic means no money
And once again, it should be said that if you’re just interested in writing for the sake of writing, you may not have to read this post. But if you want your blog to grow and prosper, continue on!
If you want to make friends, you have to leave your house
Speaking from personal experience, all you have to do is reach out to people. And you can’t very well do that if you never leave the confines of your own blog. You need to visit other sites, make comments and through that try to get to know other blog owners. And even though you could go to 50 random sites a day and drop messages, you probably at first want to try finding sites with a similar theme and writing style as yours. Once you do that, subscribe to their feed, visit them often and make sure you drop comments to let them know you’re there and like all the content! Staying in your niche will ensure that you and the other webmaster have things and common that you can talk about on each other’s sites. And don’t worry, if you’re a bit shy a first just drop a few nice comments and people will draw you out of your shell in no time. Right Brown? (#):D
When greeting guests, start with a hug!
I went into this a bit in 5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Schmooze but in case you missed it here’s the big summary…You have to welcome new readers to your blog with open arms! If they comment, you reply. If it’s their first time there, make sure you say “hi” by maybe sending an e-mail or IM. And certainly, if they have a blog themselves – Make sure you check it out and drop a message if appropriate. Sure it’s not brain surgery, but for some people this doesn’t come naturally. In the end, you just have to make sure that your readers know that you’re not only friendly, but very approachable and involved in your site.
Tools of the Trade
Besides all the tools I touched on in 5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Schmooze, two that I forgot to comment on were MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog. These tools are simply brilliant in giving you another way to find out who’s reading your blog. Unlike comments, where readers MUST leave a message for you to know who they are, with MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog you get to see the faces of all the people who show up even if they don’t take another action on your site! From this point you can check our their profiles, leave a message, and also visit their blogs! These are definitely great ways for a new blogger to reach out and touch someone. Don’t sleep on them!
Conclusion
And on a final note on this front, you shouldn’t approach making friends in the blogosphere from a money making mentality. Truthfully, that’s not what blogs are about and you shouldn’t forget that when you visit someone else’s blog, it was written by a person just like you. Appreciating others for what they have to offer in the way of friendship can really open some wonderful doors that you would be foolish to lose by approaching them as simply an “opportunity”.
July 19th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Dang! I thought blogging was all about making money! I didn’t start to monetize my website until a few months ago. The first two years were spent writing. Although I’ve started to monetize I’m try to do it tastefully I don’t want to scare away my readers by going too far.
I tend to do both with new readers I email and respond on my blog in past experiences I’ve learned that some use emails they don’t check often. I know for a fact that two of my regular readers do that.
I have their alternate email addy’s so I can respond to the directly. However if they were new users and responded they would have never received that email
The tone of your blog is very important if you are constantly being negative you won’t get too many visitors. I try to apply what works with business to my blog. I’ve met a lot of friends through my business and I tend to try and make my new clients feel welcome immediately.
I don’t go overboard with it since I don’t want to come across as being fake but I do my best to welcome them.
July 19th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Dang that was beautiful. Let me get this tear out of my eye before I continue *sniff*.
Ok. I’m coming out of my shell just to say that this a great post because it tells prebloggers what the right motivation is, and it reminds older bloggers that making money from their blogs shouldn’t get in the way of forming new friendships.
At the end of the day, it’s your readers and friends that make you rich.
July 19th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
@Opal – 2 years huh? Well, I definitely have some catchup to play with you. (#);) But yeah, I think being honest in your blog is important and the ability to balance monetization efforts and welcoming efforts is crucial …You seem to do everything quite well!
@Brown -
“Ok. I’m coming out of my shell just to say…”
For some reason, that part alone just cracked me up.
“On the real’ though”, I’m glad the big message wasn’t lost. And you should definietely trademark that phrase, “it’s your readers and friends that make you rich”. Watch – It’s gonna be all around the net by 2pm tomorrow.
July 19th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Hmm trademark eh? Well at least I got you to as a witness hehe.
July 19th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Nice work on these posts Bush, pretty much the golden rules of blogging right here ladies and gents!
July 19th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
@Brown – “You got it dude”
@Pete – Hey thanks man, and nice work yourself on all those fantastic Red Rant podcasts!
July 19th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Bush- The “No traffic means no money” part always gets people.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
@Grace – That’s the part where I get people to pause and contemplate their blog existence. *nod*
July 19th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
This is the best post of the series. In order to have a successful blog you have to be yourself. And I love “meeting” new people. I will talk to anyone just about. I have met some of the best people in the world through my blog ( that includes you Bush ). And I do my best to let them know how much I enjoy them and their friendship.
July 19th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
@Sassy – “…be yourself…” Great advice. And thank you for the warm words. You are as sweet as your sassy! (#):) So hey, this is the best post huh? It’s gonna be tough to outdo myself, and though I don’t think I’ll pull it off with tomorrow’s final post in the series I still think it will make for a good read. (#):)
July 19th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Sounds like some really good ideas here.
July 19th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
@Ad Tracker – Thanks a lot! And if you would like to share any of your own, I hope that you won’t hesitate to do so! (#):)
July 19th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Ha Ha! I subscribed to your feed. If I can’t help myself, I’ll chime in.
July 19th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
@Ad Tracker – Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
July 20th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Great set of posts.
The reason I want to mkae money from my blog is because i’m enjoying the reading and networking so much so want to be able to spend more time doing it.
I’ve been away from blogging for 2 days and have been wanting to jump back on the computer just for a quick peak asap.
July 20th, 2007 at 10:30 am
@Forest – Glad to see you back buddy and that’s a good reason to want to make money from your blog me thinks, and one that you don’t hear in the way you put it. Nicely done. (#):)
July 22nd, 2007 at 12:28 am
The making friends and email responses are very useful tips. Honestly, I was surprised when I received a personal email from you to just thank me for visiting your blog, and you are the only one who did that to me, so far (how many websites and blogs I’ve already been visited?? countless, at less few hundred of them), you are great!
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:32 am
@Joanne – You’re very welcome! You know, when I was in college and I had friends all over the place, I started writing them letters in calligraphy. It was just great to keep up with people in a “personal” way aside from e-mail and IM. So if I could’ve, I would’ve written you a letter too!
But you know what also?…There’s no guarantee that you will see my reply to a comment that you made here. So you know, if I wanna make sure you know how much you’re appreciated, e-mail is a great solution. (#):)
Look forward to talking with you soon!
July 24th, 2007 at 2:01 am
I too love meeting new people and making friends. I feel this is more important that making money from blogging.
BTW This is an excellent post
July 24th, 2007 at 8:36 am
@Nirmal – *nod* And I’m glad you liked it! I’m looking fwd to going over it again soon and editing it up for the e-book Brown suggested I make. … Maybe I’ll get to it today.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:57 am
[...] Mackel talks about How to make friends in the blogoshpere [...]
July 27th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
[...] Bush wants to teach us how to make friends in the blogsphere. [...]
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