Friendly Friday – Building Community
As I mentioned the other day, my blog has become much more active in the last few months.
There are any number of reasons why, and there are plenty of good internet posts about how to build blog traffic and establish a more stable online presence and community. Let me, briefly, mention a couple of things that have really helped this blog grow:
Post consistently. I’ve made it a habit to post 3 to 5 times each week. I typically line up my posts for the week and write them all in a block of time on Monday morning and then schedule the posts to publish throughout the week.
Respond to comments and emails. I’ve learned a lot from interacting with readers of this blog, both those who stumble upon a single post that interests them, and those of you who are regular readers.
Be yourself. If you read this blog much, you’ll get to know me, as much as you’ll gain some insight into general aspects of writing and literature. There are plenty of people with more education and a better grasp of all thing literary, but I hope that the personal flavor of this blog brings something else to the table.
When others share your blog with their circles, your blog benefits significantly. The re-Tweets and links and recommendations of others is the way social media helps you build a platform and increases your reach beyond the “usual suspects.” They are invaluable, and much appreciated.
That being said, now that I’m inching beyond the MFA years, one of the ways I will replace all of the positive community aspects of the MFA-centered life is to be more active in a virtual writer’s community.
That’s where you, good reader, factor in.
I would like to begin to compile a list of my readers who have their own blog presence. Many of you I already follow or know about, some of you may be blogging without my knowing it. I don’t mean to leave anyone out.
So, if you would be so kind, please use the comment section below to tell me about you and your blog, even if I already follow you. The blog URL is a good start, but a few sentences that describe what you blog about, what makes your perspective unique, what you hope to bring to the discussion would be most helpful, as well. Who are you? What are you doing? What is it you hope to do? What a good place to begin a discussion.
In addition to this comment section being a place for us to begin to make new connections, I will be compiling this list for use at a later time.
Happy Writing!! Have a great weekend.