Epiblogger

Since Lee and I are partners at Epiblogger it only makes sense that once and a while we write joint posts. The first section is by Lee and the second section is by me, Rhett. Are you ready for tag-team posting?

I never quite understood the saying “it takes a community to raise a child” until I had kids. Now that I have kids I realize that I can’t teach them everything they need to know. I need others to be a part of their lives to help raise them. Blogging is no different. For a blog to be a success it requires the work of the blogger (or bloggers in our case) and more importantly the readers. The question is how do you create a community around your blog? Unlike Rhett, I have no problem with lists so here are a few ways we are hoping to build a community here at Epiblogger.

• Reply to Comments - Building community takes discussion. Take the time to thank people for leaving comments and reply to them.
• Take Part in the Larger Community - You have to take part in other people’s blogs as well as your own. If you never go out and take part don’t expect others to take part in yours. Get out there and leave comments on other people’s blogs, Stumble their posts, Sphinn them, link to them etc etc. Be active in the larger community and the larger community will return the favour.
• Offer a Full Feed - I know a lot of people are worried about feed scrapers taking their feed and republishing it on other websites without attributing it to the original author. I know it sucks when someone steals your hard work and tries to capitalize on it, but if you want people to take part in your blog and comment let them read it the way they want to read it.
• Offer an Email Feed - Not everyone uses a feed reader, and some just prefer email. Offer people the opportunity to subscribe by email if that is what they prefer.
• Encourage Conversation - I actually have a degree in Psychology and I was always fascinated by non-verbal communication and how people communicate whether they want to talk about something or not. Try to leave your blog posts open at the end to encourage people to leave their thoughts. If blogging is about conversation then the door needs to be left open for readers to have their say.
• Be Genuine - People sooner or later see through fakes and phoneys. If you are only blogging for money then people will eventually lose interest in your constant bragging about your earnings and move on to blogs with more substance. People want to read blogs about real people.

It is important to remember that building community is not something that a computer can do. It requires a human touch. There is no magical WordPress plugin that will automatically create community. It takes time, work and commitment, a lot like raising a child. Also remember that we are all human beings on the other end of the computers and we all make mistakes.

What ways do you use to help build community on your blog?

Lee and I read one another’s posts before they go live. Today, as I reviewed Lee’s post, I knew we had to do this one together. The first reason is because he accused me of being a list-hater and the second because he got me thinking about community and specifically commenting. I love community. It’s one of the main reasons I am passionate about the internet.

On Wednesday I wrote about bringing the audience to you and not going to them and I was intentionally trying to buck the current blogging trends off of my back. My new blogging friend Melissa, a fellow writer, was quick to remind me that I was wrong. Maybe not wrong, but that I shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss methods that work—like writing list posts, for instance. She made a good point.

As Lee said, it is important to reply because it builds community. Not only do replies stimulate great conversation, but show the commenter that you appreciate them taking the time to begin a dialogue. However, keeping in mind that I am new to professional blogging, Melissa’s comment was the first time that anyone has challenged me here. It’s pretty easy to respond to praise. But to reply to Melissa, I had to skillfully disagree. Actually, at first, I wrote a small rant, but I thought better of that. I didn’t want an argument, I wanted a conversation. I wanted to be confident, but remain open to different ideas. Honestly, replying to Melissa’s comment took me longer than writing the initial post probably. I was freaking out a bit. Not because I didn’t believe in what I had to say, but because I didn’t know how she would react.

I am going to disclose something to you. Because, as we are in community, I trust you. A little after replying to Melissa’s comment I had convinced myself that I was being rude and then it would get out, like a virus, that Rhett Soveran from Epiblogger is a big jerk. I wasn’t able to edit my comment so I contacted Lee and asked him to add Thanks for the comment Melissa at the beginning. That would definitely smooth things over, right?

I knew there was something wrong with my reply. I thought maybe a little courtesy wave would smooth things out, but it doesn’t. You can’t say, hey, you are a great person and then slap them in the face (hyperbole). I realize now what the problem was: there wasn’t enough trust for my comment. I don’t regret being confident in my ideas or my vision for blogging, but community is about trust. I realized yesterday that if I replied like that to a close friend they wouldn’t think anything of it. But Melissa nor the majority of you know me. Getting to know me and the way I write and reply takes time, it takes time to trust me and vice versa. Therefore, I believe I should have kept my reply confident yet aware of the level of conversation that was appropriate. Community, like blogging, is hard work and while we seek it out, we also must realize that it is sensitive and requires trust and caring

In my defense, if you give a mouse a cookie… (If no one knows this reference I might go batty (this is a joke—see you are getting to know me more and more everyday))

Finally, to sum up my feelings on lists—I hate them. But only because the internet is saturated with them. They remain, with or without my approval, an affective device.

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