For some blogs, it can take months before someone comments. For others, a matter of days.

It’s when we feel what we’re sharing isn’t being read, we think of giving up.

After all, blogging is supposed to be interactive.

Today’s Lesson

I feel fortunate that I receive the amount of comments I do. Comments inspire me to continue on. Comments inspire new posts. And via comments I get to meet other bloggers.

But it wasn’t always that way. My audience (or lack thereof) remained silent for quite some time.

I’d publish posts, but no one seemed to care.

But I didn’t give up.

What worked for me were five things.

1. I visited other blogs and left comments.

Not every blogger reciprocated with comments on my blog, but some did, as did some of their readers. HINT: Comment on new or smaller blogs. Generally, A-list bloggers do not reciprocate comments.

2. I linked to other blogs, but I did it a little different.

I set up a series which I named, “New Blog Of The Week” (NBOTW) and hunted for new bloggers (usually under four months old). I used Tuesday as my NBOTW day and would write a post showcasing their blog, including excerpts from three of their posts/pages and included links to them.

This was a slow process, but over time, I began to build my readership, as well as my blog community.

I’ve discontinued this series, however, the list of 90 blogs remains here.

3. Another important aspect to receiving comments, ASK questions.

Even if you feel your post is complete, it doesn’t hurt to ask your readers, “Did I forget anything?’, “What are your thoughts on this topic?”, or ____fill in the blank___.

Give readers a reason to comment.

4. I answered the comments I received.

Although I occasionally miss comments which show up on older posts, my goal is answer all comments I receive on this blog.

Unfortunately, due to the amount of spam I receive, I closed the comments on posts older than 90 days.

5. I asked a comment expert for additional advice.

Liz Strauss, of Successful and Outstanding Bloggers is known for the huge amount of comments she has received over the years so naturally she was the one I approached for advice.

In a two part interview, I asked Liz, How to Maximize Blog Comments and How To Get Readers To Join Your Community.

The information Liz shared is priceless.

For some bloggers, comments aren’t important, but for others, they become the real reason to continue on.

Today’s Assignment

What technique(s) do/did you use to entice your readers to comment?

Care to share?

With the closing of comments comes the death of the community which was previously built on a blog; community which may have taken years to amass.

It would be extremely difficult for me to say “good bye” to the community I’ve built on this blog.

Don’t worry.

I’m not saying “good bye”, but am closing comments on this post.

Read on and you’ll understand why.

Today’s Lesson

The longer we blog, the more important community becomes. Even on days when we aren’t motivated to write, it’s often our peeps who inspire us to squeeze in a post.

They like to hear what we have to say, as do we, them.

When we’re uncertain if what we’re posting has value, it’s our community which lets us know it does.

And even if our community is small, we treasure each and every reader/commenter.

Unfortunately we sometimes become complacent and don’t make time to grow our community. We visit the same blogs and wonder why they number of our interested readers stays the same.

Visiting new blogs and commenting is the best way to not only grow our community, but to meet other bloggers and expand our knowledge base.

That’s where today’s assignment comes in.

Instead of leaving a comment here, your assignment will be to visit a blog you’ve never read before and leave a comment.

To get you started, I’ll list several past posts from this blog.

1. Discouraged With Blogging?
2. Blogging Pet Peeve Number One
3. Blogging Sheeple
4. You Tell Me
5. Or, click over to my Free Blog Registry and find a blogger there. (There are over 550 bloggers who have shared their blog information and are hoping to “get found”.**)

Today’s Assignment

1. Click on one of the posts/links listed above.
2. Scroll down to the comment section.
3. Click on the avatar, name or CommentLuv link of a blogger whose comment catches your eye. Someone whose blog you’ve never visited previously.
4. Check out their blog and leave them a comment.*
5. If time permits, spread the love even further and take time to Tweet, Stumble and/or share their post on Facebook.
6. Remember…others may be doing the same for you.
7. Have fun meeting someone new.

See you in the blogosphere, and/or in the comment section on my next post.

*Some of those who comment on this blog are linking to their products or services pages, therefore you may have to repeat this assignment until you find an actual blog.

**If you haven’t done so already, feel free to add you name to the Blog Registry, too.

If you’re a regular reader/commenter here, you are a part of that awesomeness.

For that, I say “Thank you”.

Today’s Lesson

When I started blogging, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as “community”. Sure, I saw people commenting on other blogs, but to me, that’s all they were; comments.

Little did I know comments are the building blocks of a blog community.

My community was born when a blogger named Akemi commented on this blog. Via her blog I met Cath, who in turn introduced me to Ian. The three of us visited each others blogs, commented and followed each others progress. Slowly more bloggers entered the circle and each of us began growing our respective communities.

Some of the members (for lack of a better word) frequented one or two of our blogs, but not necessarily all of them.

That’s how blogging communities work since all blogs won’t appeal to everyone.

When I made it my mission to help new bloggers “get found”, I started a series named “New Blog of the Week”. Each week I hunted for new bloggers (usually 3 months old or less), and showcased them and a sampling of their blog entries on this blog. I’d ask my community members to visit them, read their posts and leave a comment.

My community obliged. (See how great they/you are?)

In the process, their communities grew, as did mine.

How about you? How can YOU build a community?

1. Be visible. Get out there. Visit other blogs, leave comments and answer the comments on your blog.

If you’re new to blogging, I’d suggest finding other new bloggers to connect with. Take time to read their “about” page and see if they’re someone you’d like to befriend. If they’re answering comments, chances are, they’re looking to grow a community too.

Not all bloggers will reciprocate by visiting you, but some will. These are the ones who can potentially become part of your community.

Also, when you leave comments on another blog, you’re leaving bread crumbs. The readers of that blog may be intrigued with your words and click over to your link. All the more reason to leave meaningful, heartfelt comments.

2. Link to the posts of your new online friends or share their post(s) on Twitter, Facebook or your favorite social networking site.

Remember, it’s all about karma.

3. Form a pact with another blogger (or two) and agree to help each other succeed.

Here again, promote the posts of one another. If you feel comfortable (and safe) taking the conversation offline, email each other behind the scenes to discuss your strategy.

4. Continually visit, read and comment on the posts of your new friends. Continually answer the comments on your blog.

Just like real life friendships. a blog community needs to be nurtured. Make time for yours.

5. Don’t get hung up on the size of your community.

Blog communities take time to form. Patience is key. Build yours on a solid foundation.

6. Keep in mind, community building is not tit for tat.

We might be a part of another blogger’s community, but that blog author may not be part of ours. And the same holds true for us. Someone may be a part of our community, but we’re not a part of theirs.

Remember, just like in real life, we and our blog/topic may not appeal to everyone. Don’t take it personally.

7. In time, some of our community members will move on, comment less often or even disappear.

It’s not easy to sustain a blog, therefore we can lose community members . Add to that how bloggers are also using their blog(s) as a stepping stone to other endeavors.  Enjoy the time you have with your members.

8. Some people believe blog communities are dying due to social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Although commenting on blogs may have decreased over the past few years, communication on blogs “feels” more intimate. Personally I prefer commenting on blogs vs on social networking sites, however, community can be built on social networking sites, as well.

In the four and a half years I’ve blogged, there has not been a blogger I’ve met that I’ve forgotten.

And even though we may no longer visit each others blogs, when we bump into one another online, it’s like seeing an old friend.

Today’s Assignment

If you’re a seasoned blogger, what hints would you give a new blogger about forming a community?

If you’re a new blogger, what’s your biggest challenge in forming a community?

Care to share?

P.S. As for Akemi, Cath and Ian; Akemi appears to have left the blogosphere. I see Ian occasionally on Facebook. Cath remains to be a great friend who is on a blogging hiatus, however we continue to communicate on Facebook.

P.S.S. I ended my New Blog of the Week series after a year and a half. The complete list of the ninety bloggers I showcased is here (in my sidebar under “Featured Blogs From the Past”).

P.S.S.S. If you’re not sure where to find other bloggers, click on the names of the bloggers who comment on this blog, and/or check out my “Free Blog Registry” – where over 500 bloggers have entered their names and a short description of their blogs. (While there, add your name, too.)

With blogging you’ll often hear the words, “link love”, but the technical term is “referral”.

In fact, if you look at your statistics, you see a category under the same name. Click on the links and you’ll see who and how someone is linking to your blog. (These are also known as “inbound links”.)

Today’s Lesson

With traffic coming to our blogs from a variety of sources, referrals could have the biggest impact. After all, these are fellow bloggers announcing our blog, product or services are worth checking out.

These inbound links can bring us more traffic and increased sales.

Being listed in the blogroll of a fellow blogger is another way we get referrals.

Being tweeted or Facedbooked about, helps too.

Personally, I like linking to others in my posts, but let’s look at what a few other bloggers are doing.

Here’s a small sampling of bloggers who use a blogroll:

1. Chase March of Silent Cacophony shows “Blogs to Check” in his sidebar.
2. The Farmer’s Wife lists “People I Read”
3. On Tammy’s Studio, you’ll find a category named “links”.
4. Susan Deborah, over at Meanderings and Reflections, titled her blogroll: “Let us go then you and I…”

You’ll also see bloggers doing extensive (and time-consuming) list posts:

1. Praveen of Geeks4Share wrote a post titled, “List of 60 High PR [page rank] Do Follow Blogs That Use CommentLuv

Other examples include:

1. Gail at Grow Map, who uses Twitter to “tweet” or “retweet” the blog posts of others.
2. Betsy at Passing Thru, includes the names of “Online All Stars” (bloggers) on her “Services” page and provides short write ups, as well.
3. Wendi and Deb of Blue Sun Studio include links to fellow bloggers in their ezine (newsletter).

Although some bloggers feel if they link to others they’ll lose readership, I’ve found the reverse is true.

It’s all about karma and good things will come back to us tenfold.

How sweet is that?

Today’s Assignment

Do you fear linking to others will negatively affect your readership?

If not, what is your favorite way of promoting the work of fellow bloggers?

Care to share?

P.S. This is the perfect opportunity for me to thank all of you who include me in your blogrolls, link to my posts and help to promote my blogs. I am truly humbled and honored to not only be mentioned, but to be your online friend. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Although I don’t think about it often, I still do.

I was scared to hit “publish” the first few times, and I worried because I kept switching my theme.

I didn’t know any of the blogging terms either.

Being self taught, I spent most of my non-writing time searching for help, but even when I found help, I usually didn’t understand what to do with it.

I was pretty naive.

Today’s Lesson

When I think back to when I first started blogging, I didn’t have too many expectations except for thinking I could make lots of some money by having a blog.

• I wasted a lot of time signing up for affiliate networks and tweaking my Google AdSense ads.




• I didn’t know that without thousands of visitors a day, making a decent income from a blog was out of the question. When I figured it out (that I needed traffic to make money), I wasted time trying to get more traffic, too. Instead, I should have been learning more about SEO (search engine optimization) and spending less time looking for an “easy way”.




• I wanted comments. Little did I know I should have kicked the “If I build it, they will come” attitude and should have spent time visiting and commenting on other blogs.




• Although I worried about changing my theme so often, I should have realized without a steady stream of visitors, it really didn’t matter.




• I love numbers, so for me checking my statistics became a daily obsession. Instead of wasting time watching the numbers rise and fall, I should have spent time either writing and publishing or learning techniques which would take me closer to my goals.




• Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook can be fun, but they can also be addicting. Before signing up, I should have asked myself if the benefits of participating in social networking will outweigh the investment of my time.

Truth be told, I wasted a lot of time on blogging activities I should have postponed until later or maybe not even got involved in, but that’s in the past.

What about you?

Today’s Assignment

Looking back, if you had to do it all over again, where would you have spent more time?

Where would you have spent less time?

Care to share?