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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Blogging Philosphy: for Pro or newbie - Real heroes are readers

 I talked about reconnecting with our neighbors, and other people we meet everyday during, filling gas, standing in grocery lines, at post office, and so on, To see original post click here . Blogging  is also like online community that we meet on world wide web, how do we connect with them all, get to know them?

Many people blog for different reasons, for some it is connecting with far away relatives for family update, for others it is making money, or writing about subject close to their heart, place for rant, rave and other life's philosophy, some people use it as an online journal to some people write about things they want to change in their life such as debt reduction, getting fit and so on.

Whatever, your reason might be, none of us could survive without people's support, real people behind the screen. These people could be in the same city or be in different country, be it readers or blogger. Wherever your readers are, they are "REAL" people, how to be sensitive towards them?


For "Pro Bloggers": Bloggers who are very successful and blogging is their full time job.

No matter how expert or successful they may be, all of us have feelings, fears and emotions. They may not have time or chance to respond to all people who wants something from them. It is not personal, they are just bogged down and it is hard to differentiate between people who wants some piece of action/help from them to people who are true fan. Leave them comments (if they allow it), send them email or find other ways to communicate. Do not stalk, let it go, if you do not hear from them. They are very busy and can use some down time for hundreds of fan trying to get hold of them. You can still learn a lot from their writing, their tweet messages and their interview on other popular blogs.

Do not be envious, when their post gets 100's of comments such as , great post, I agree with you's, while you wrote similar post a weeks ago, which was excellent and similar by the way, got merely a few comments. The problem is not your post or your writing, problem is no one knows who you are and where you are,yet. Besides, everyone wants to hang out with popular and successful people, and while some commenter might be posting comment just to advertise others about their new blog. (I am guilty of this myself)

If you are "Pro Blogger" overwhelmed by thousands of fans, try to be grateful and be kind to those upcoming bloggers. As a expert on your field, you can educate and help wonderful causes and I see many great bloggers doing that, giving back to community. I know of a few successful bloggers mentioning new upcoming blogs on thier blog, helping newbie bloggers, I have found many gem blogs that way that I read now.

Remember good old days when you really could reply to each comments and knew your readers.  I know of some bloggers still try to response to each comments personally even when comments are in range of 80s or more. That is a dedication and weather they know it or not, I think people who read their blog sure appreciate it.

For small or Newbie bloggers:

Try not to be jealous of someone's success, while it does not seem fair, when you are working hard on your blog, not making any money or getting many comments, it is hard to measure your worth. Remember that very popular blogs that you are so envious of, were once small and newbie blogs themselves. While some may have been lucky to find success sooner than others, most of them have worked hard just like you. Key is consistency and do not give up blogging, even when there is no money, no comments; keep doing your work.  Lord Krishna (Hinduism) has said  "Keep doing your work without expecting any rewards, it will come in due course". Follow that great wisdom and you will be lot happier while climbing the success ladder no matter where it takes you.

Blogging now is lot easier compared to a few years ago, when a bloggers had to know html or other type coding to actually do blogging, so I have been told. We new bloggers have it lot easier so let's count our blessing. There are social media and other tools available for those technical savvy to help achieve success. If you are in this for get rich quick reasons, I am sure failures comes easy as there are not short cuts for making money or be successful.

I know of a few blogs that gotten so much publicity due to guest postings, twitter messages and Facebook friends connections, but that person may have worked very hard for it, you may never know. So relax, let go of any envy you may have and do blogging for yourself, for your true fans and readers and leave rest to destiny. Without hard work nothing is gained.

For commenter without blogs:

My hats off you all, as you comment for article and yourself and without ulterior motive. Some of you visit or subscribe to blogs, making them a successful. Without commenters and readers, we will not be anywhere. Thank you from bottom of my heart for taking time to comment. For many bloggers like myself is true measure of writing and self worth.

So be kind and comment often, not only on this blog but other new one, successful ones, we all need readers feedback. Sometimes simple "Thank you" is enough, other time "constrictive" criticism is welcomed, as long it is not in form of personal attack, remember we are all real people with real feelings right, just like you.

My way of connecting

I reply to my each comments and emails and I usually check out commenter's blog (if he/she has one) and comment there too.I choose not be part of any social media right now, as I do not think I can do justice to it fully with my kids, family and other responsibility. In future, if it is possible, will see. I see this is my minimalist way of online life for now.

I go to blogs that interest me, despite they are in same subject blog as me or not, I have many interests and it goes into my reading others and writing here. I comment on posts usually like and love to share my point of view. I try often post comments on new blogs more as I know some people have been kind to me when I was a brand new blogger (I still feel newbie) and I am passing the favor I got.

Web  is big place and it has a place for all of us, pro blogs, medium size blogs, small blogs, niche blogs,mishmash blogs, and parenting blogs and many more. Blog about something you are passionate about, which has value to help others at the same time, it will be sustainable and has a chance of success.

We are all real people with real emotions and we have an opportunity to connect online to friends whom in real life we could have made.  Let's connect by being our true self online and be kind to each other online too.

Zengirl

5 comments:

Vaishali said...

Hi Zengirl, good ideas. I often hear from new bloggers who get frustrated and want to give up a month or two later because they believe not enough readers are coming to/commenting on their posts. I always tell them to just keep writing great content and focus on that instead of readership-- once people realize you love what you do, they will start loving it too.

Betsy Bargain said...

Zengirl,

With this post, you give newbie and experienced bloggers something to think about. I agree with you that the most important thing is good content. If your writing is good, people will eventually show up to read it. A little promotion on Twitter or Facebook doesn't hurt either ;), but I can understand you have to set some limits on how much time you can spend on all the various social media sites. Family comes first!

zengirl said...

Vaishali,

It is easy to feel bad, when you hear stories from someone making big so quick, so it is like an advertisement, one may feel bad about not having traffic. But patience is always a virtue!
Thanks for stopping by, I love your blog and your passion shows through in it.

Betsy Bargain,
I think this topic might be on other new and not so new blogger too. I am not sure if writing good content alone is good, in today world marketing is tough but I like writing so I am resisting to join social media. Does it hurt me? May be, I am not sure, we will find out soon enough. So far, slow is going on fine.
Were you able to use up yogurt? Curious.

Coach J said...

It seems like meta-blogging is the subject of the week! Everyone (small and big names alike) are tackling this subject. I think it's fascinating how subjects go viral in the blogosphere; we're all pretty incestuous. :) Thanks for the different perspective.

zengirl said...

Coach J,

Thank you for posting your comment here first time. I did not know all blogs or matter of fact any blogs are tackling this subject. I am sure I am out of touch, if you are kind enough to let me know which ones, I will sure to check it out.

Thanks again.