How To Build A Community Around Your Blog

[This post is for us industry folk.]

I've been working on this little project for our recent Twitter Luncheon that we had in Sherman Oaks. Mostly because I found it timely and relevant for what we're all trying to accomplish with blogging and social media, and it is.

If you think about it, we all blog towards a common goal: to build community. Why community? Because it matters less how many hits you get to your site and it matters more how many of those visitors remain loyal over time. The thing is, loyal readers take the time to comment, or contact you through your site contact form and engage in any other way they can. Loyal readers allow themselves to be receptive to your message. Think about it, you don’t do business with a complete stranger, you do business with someone you’ve met.

How then do we engage with our readers in a way that ensures they’ll be back? How do we create loyalty?

How do we build our community? You know, earn new subscribers?

What do we write about (a.k.a. blog about)? Do we just focus on the market statistics? Or do we write about everything and anything that comes to mind?

What social media tools should I utilize to enhance the reach of my message via my blog?

The answers to these questions and more are all here in this collaborative piece... Many thanks to the various authors who contributed their time and knowledge!

How To Build A Community Around Your Blog [Click to Download]

When you're finished reading, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

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[Update:] Visit my new site at: www.Ribeezie.com

Comments

[Jo Soss]

Nice project! I enjoyed that it was an easy read. You chose your authors well. Lots of great insight and instruction without taking too much time to read. Great job!

[Rebecca Levinson]

Hi Ricardo,

What a great collaboration. I agree with Jo,because the flow was there, the time to read was minimal. What a great non-intimidating post for new bloggers, but a great refresher as well for anyone. I learned of two sites off this EBook today: sharethis.com and openid.net. Also, I had jott.com had been recommended to me before, and now I will make sure to take a look at it.

[Bucking the Real Estate Trend]

Hi there,
Many thanks for the twittered advance of the great 'Community' info you sent me early this morning. I printed it out and have read most of it... very interesting and impressive, Ricardo, and very much appreciated. Gives me some fresh ideas from some of my idols.
Really, sincerely appreciate being included.
See you in San Fran in July.

[Ricardo Bueno]

Jo: I'm excited that such a small group could provide such an insightful read! Thanks for your feedback Jo. I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

Rebecca: I think that this series of contributions serves well as an introductory course to blogging and also as a refresher course on the things we could all do better.

Now I agree that there are a tremendous amount of tools out there that we can utilize to promote our blog, our message. The trick is finding a right balance, a right mix so that we don't get bogged down and remain productive instead.

Thank you both for stopping by and enjoying the book!

[Ricardo Bueno]

Susie: I'm glad you took a step in printing it out :D I appreciate your gratitude but many thanks goes out to the contributers who took the time to write something up! Thanks for stopping in to complement on the final product. Feel free to pass it on to anyone else!

[Chris Brogan...]

That's quite a lot of resourcs. Interesting work, and I'm glad you were able to share it with your community. I see lots that I agree with in there. Wish I had more to add, but just wanted you to know that I'd seen it and read it.

[marti garaughty]

Hi Ricardo, I just took a quick look at the final product, you did an awesome job of putting this all together and I want to say thanks again for asking me to contribute an article.

I had a quick look at the topics from some of the other writers and will give it a thorough read in the next day or two, you have a ton of great content.

This is an excellent example of what can happen with social networking.

[Ricardo Bueno]

Hey Chris,

Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it. You were (indirectly) a great deal of help in putting this together.

[Ricardo Bueno]

Marti,

Thank YOU for taking the time to lend your thoughts to this piece. It was you all who helped a great deal in making this happen.

Everyone who participated provided a lot of fantastic insight which makes this well worth the read more than once.

So again, thank you for taking the time to contribute... Now just sit back and look for upcoming pieces in the future.

[Colleen Kulikowski]

Thanks so much for sharing!

[Irina Netchaev]

Hi Ricardo, just finished reading this e-book and have to say that you did an OUTSTANDING job selecting authors, pulling it all together and making an easy read out of a difficult and challenging subject!

Thank you!!!

[Ricardo Bueno]

Colleen: that you for stopping by and for your support! I appreciate and so do the authors who devoted their time.

Irina: Why thank you very much!! I know that the writers appreciate your words as much as I do since they took time out of their schedules to contribute.

[Angela Maiers]

Ricardo,
I completely agree that loyalty is key. I feel such a community with my readers and have learned so much in turn from their knowledge and expertise. This is an incredible project and a must read for bloggers in all fields. I am so thrilled to share this with the education community. Sometimes we are missing the mark that blogging is about the community and connections not just an opportunity to teach lessons to the blogosphere. Thank you for pulling this together and making us all better bloggers and communicators!

[Ricardo Bueno]

Angela,

That's the great thing about conversations...they open up the discussion for greater insight and depth of knowledge! Sometimes, you learn so much more from your readers than they take away from you (that's not necessarily a bad thing).

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and take notice :-) I really appreciate your feedback and support! And I know that the writers who took their time to commit to this appreciate it just the same.

Thanks again Angela! Feel free to share it and pass it along.