Comments on: Are You Building a Blogging Community?

By: sbishop

sbishop — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00:13 +0000

I haven't checked out that site before…the site Forum is a great way to bring back readers and really get a following, good call. It's a brilliant strategy for continuous traffic…but the platform has to be right to get the initial users interested with interacting with the platform.

By: Angelo Beltran

Angelo Beltran — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:44:59 +0000

CSS-TRICKS is a site that has a great community following. All thanks to their built in FORUM and great content.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:36:34 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by timjahn: RT @thescottbishop: Are You Building a Blogging Community? http://goo.gl/fb/hQLG...

By: sbishop

sbishop — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:05:04 +0000

I think the shotgun approach will almost guarantee failure. You need to find what your audience wants, where they want it…and give THAT to them. Better to be great and laser focused than everything to everyone. If you offer to many options I think you get spread to thin and end up moving nothing forward. Def a lesson I've learned the hard way too many times…but it seems to remain true. Keep proving the great content!

By: sbishop

sbishop — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:01:30 +0000

Thanks for weighing Elisa. Agreed, a lot of the types of opportunities to connect with your audience depends on the audience. On one hand I think it could be a good opportunity to educate them. On the other hand, prob better to offer and communicate where they're most comfortable.

With so many options for communication…I feel like I'm herding cats sometimes. There are def some posts that are designed to get more comments than others…but at the end of the day as long as you're involved in the dialogue, what's the difference where it takes place. I appreciate your opinion, thanks for joining the convo.

By: Tim Jahn

Tim Jahn — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:18:32 +0000

Thanks for the mention, Scott! You're right on with the purpose behind my newsletter - it's a conversation, separate from the weekly interviews I do, that aims to share the ideas and techniques behind what I do with readers and viewers to help them apply the ideas to their own endeavors.

Great ideas listed here. I think the key is to find a combination of these tools that works best for you, and not try to worry about harnessing everything under the sun.

Good stuff man!

By: Elisa Doucette

Elisa Doucette — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:17:04 +0000

Scott, this is a pretty great list of building community on a blog. But I think one thing to especially consider in the comments assessment is that a large part of a blog's community are NOT social media/networking aficionado's. I used to get REALLY worked up about the lack of comments on my blog.

Now don't get me wrong, I love comments and engaging in discussion with people. BUT I also get a lot of emails, Facebook messages, IRL conversations and mentions from people who read and loved a particular post but would never comment. In fact one of the nicest I ever got was from a young woman I didn't know who really got something out of a particular post and emailed me to let me know that she had sent it to her whole family.

So yes, comments on a blog are awesome. We all want to figure out how to get more of them. But we need to also remember that we who are "fluent" in social networking think nothing of hitting "reply" on a website. Others would never, but may be some of our most devoted followers.

By: sbishop

sbishop — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:22:59 +0000

You being an expert in community building, I really appreciate that comment and I couldn't agree more with you. BTW, I'm watching the game now.

By: sbishop

sbishop — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:21:27 +0000

Great question. These concepts are only appropriate for a brand or individual who is looking to utilize their blog as the front for distributing content and center piece for connecting thru them.

Agreed, if your blog is not constantly on the top of your “to do” list and update frequently, none of these will work. But if it is, then finding ways to connect and interact with folks will help to advance the base and loyalty of your readers.

By: TheCoolestCool

TheCoolestCool — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:15:53 +0000

Agreed, I just read this during a commercial break and must agree that blogging communities are the future. (Go Canada!)

@Scott Thanks for setting up such a solid challenge – It was tough but worth it…