Monday, July 29, 2013

Building a community around your blog


For bloggers, one challenge isn't just to draw readers but also to engage them and build a community.  To me, Blogger remains the best, most functional, largely because it's a Google platform and therefore part of its enormous social ecosystem.  Still, I work at that latter effort via social media, such as Google+ and Twitter.

Here's another one to consider, as TechCrunch just reported - SETT Is A New Blogging Platform That Has Community At Its Heart.
From the start, when new users sign up for an account, SETT refers readers to your site. It has a word-matching system internally that compares posts to one another. If a reader happens to like a post about one topic, the platform will recommend other similar ones to them.
So SETT aids bloggers more actively in building a readership community.

(image credit)

Still, keep these points in mind:

  • Enjoy blogging for the sake of blogging about something important to you or something you feel passionate about.
  • Clarify your purpose for blogging, optimally before you start blogging.  What are the things you're trying to accomplish?  
  • Join a broader network online and in-person, so you avoid relying exclusively on any one platform or community.  
  • Engage others actively, and to do so you must engage yourself with them.  For example, read their blogs, comment on their posts, and ask genuine questions.  
I'd be hard pressed to refer to Arianna Huffington as a blogger, but The Huffington Post started off as a blog that pulled (aggregated) news stories.  It's become a media success story.  

But to my points above, Huffington actively engages her community on Google+ and Twitter, for example, and looks be an active presence at networking and speaking events.  She's a bright, attractive and engaging lady indeed.      

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