Are you still with us? It’s day 18 of the Problogger series and we’re so glad to have you.
Where it all began.
In today’s lesson from the ProBlogger book, Mr. Rowse talks about geese. I’m going to tell you about me (because it’s all about me, right?).
In early 2012, I was blogging to an audience of approximately 3. In an effort to boost readership and learn what other bloggers were doing, I got on Twitter and put something about blogging in my bio. I gained a few followers and eagerly followed back. One such blogger tweeted out a post and there was this little yeah write badge on the bottom. I clicked the link and a grid full of opportunity was before me. Storytellers in neat little rows, waiting to be read, all of them new to me. I lurked for a few weeks, took a deep breath, and submitted my first post to yeah write #48.
Yeah, and?
The reason I tell you this is that most of us out in the blogosphere started out like the new kid in school. We had no friends, we didn’t know which group we belonged in, and perhaps we lurked in a corner hoping someone would see us and wave. But the fact is, for most of us, it doesn’t work that way. Most of us have to reach out and make a connection with someone, somehow. You’re here now, hanging out at yeah write. We are happy to have you. Let’s be friends.
But it goes deeper than that.
Finding a community of like-minded bloggers can do wonders for you. Your readership grows, you learn and you teach, and you gain a larger perspective of what’s going on in the vast world of the internet. Your community can lift you up when you need it, tell you what you’re doing right (or wrong), and give you inspiration to keep going.
Community is about reciprocity though, just like any friendship. You can’t just take and not give. Just as you want other bloggers to retweet you, share your work, or put a little sunshine in your day, you need to do the same for them. The best way I can think to do that is do for others what you want done for you.
*Share posts you find well-written, interesting, and relevant.
*Tweet, retweet, reply to tweets.
*Facebook isn’t just for personal pages anymore.
*Email a blogger you enjoy.
*Offer feedback. Give genuine praise. Offer assistance (gently and kindly, please).
*If the community or blogger you thought was fantastic isn’t for you, that’s OK. Go find another. They are everywhere.
Epilogue.
I’ve been involved with yeah write for almost a year and a half. I have met some incredible writers who have taught me so much about blogging and social media. I hope I’ve done the same for them. But more than that, I’ve made friends of the real, honest to goodness variety to share emails and cups of coffee with. That’s what community can do.
I joined Yeah Write for the 31dbbb challenge, more for the motivation and guidance to get my new blog going strong than for the community, but I have been pleasantly surprised with how welcoming and encouraging everyone here that I’ve interacted with so far has been! So thank you guys! I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone more, cheers! (*^o^*)
So glad you joined us, whatever the reason! That’s one thing I really liked about yeah write, how welcoming everyone was. My first week, so long ago, I jumped in and expected no one to really care. But the comments on that post were supportive and friendly, and everyone seemed genuinely interested in my post. That made linking up the next week that much easier. I didn’t place well that first week (37 out of 55), but I didn’t feel like I’d lost or failed, instead I felt encouraged.
This isn’t just about tooting our own horn here, it’s just to say that in this instance I felt nearly instantly rewarded for reaching out. There are countless communities, link ups, etc., where you can jump in and make new friends as well, and this is not to discourage that, it’s just that I found something here I didn’t even really know I was looking for. Sounds like something similar happened for you.
Loved this! I had been planning to write something for a while that I wrote today, all about how the online friend you’ve never met is the pen pal of the twenty-first century. I picked three people that I talk to online a lot that I don’t know and I realized that ALL OF THEM came from here. Even if all of them don’t submit every week, I “met” all of them here.
I just popped over to read that post. I love making new friends via the internet. (Wait, that sounds creepy.)
I’m glad to have met you here. You actually came up in a conversation with my IRL friends recently wherein I was saying I know someone who does roller derby. My friends were all, “Is this a blogger or someone you really know?” I was wondering what the difference is.
And three cheers for yeah write for introducing us all to one another!!
I have no desire to create and/or manage a Facebook page for my own blog. However, you got me inspired to go “like” the pages of bloggers I’ve discovered through “Yeah Write.” It’s a great way to follow their blogs without subscribing to each and every one. I love you guys, but I’m a bit of a neat freak when it comes to my email inbox. Feel free to blow up my Facebook news feed though!
You can also subscribe using RSS (instead of email) and then manage it via Feely (when you want to go in there). That’s what I do.
Feedly. Sorry!
I have a page on Facebook for my writing and I agree that it’s one more thing I have to keep up on. I ignored it for a long time and only recently started making more of an effort to post there. I’m not sure if it’s helping or not, but I figure it can’t hurt. But hey, every tip won’t be fore everyone and I think that’s fine. We have to do what works for us and skip what doesn’t right?
It’s like you are speaking a foreign language. Note to self: Google “RSS.”
Thanks for the suggestions. I love learning new things (even if it intimidates the hell outta me.)
RSS is a feed that dumps posts into a reader so you can check in at your convenience. I used to use Google reader, but then I’d forget to go there since there were some things that went straight to my email. For me, one more place to have to check makes it harder for me to keep up. Of course, my email has about 500 posts in it right now that I haven’t read yet, so you can see how well my method is working. I think, like anything else, you play around with something until you find what fits your life. I know there are a few different readers, but I don’t really know much about them, personally.
Spot on Michelle! The yeah write community has done so much for me. Besides increasing traffic, it has really helped my writing (so the tagline is true!). I’ve tried a couple of other communities but have yet to find one I like as much as yeah write. And it’s so wonderful that some of my yeah write buddies, like you, are now my IRL friends. Yay!
I haven’t found a community that feels as much like home as this one either. And yes, the wonderful IRL friendships are wonderful. I love that we can hang out and talk shop in person, but also get to know each other on a deeper level. It’s fun and makes blogging more fun too.
I can see the value of a blog FB page, but I’m not ready to commit to it.
I made sure to like yours 🙂
Making commitments is hard when there are already so many things that need doing. I definitely hear that! Thanks for the like!
As someone who still considers themselves a new kid, do you have any suggestions for Twitter pages to follow or facebook groups to join for general bloggers?
Thanks
I’m probably not the best person to ask. I follow some bigger groups like BlogHer and Type A Parent and that introduces me to new bloggers, though I can’t say I’ve formed strong bonds through those types of organizations exclusively. For Twitter, I tend to follow the suggestions or follow back those who follow me. Then I’ll pick posts out of my feed to read and if I like them, I’ll go back for more. If not, I move on or unfollow. Because everyone’s tastes are different and it takes a little time to see why someone’s blogging, it’s hard to say what someone else would like.
Anyone else care to weigh in on this one? I feel unhelpful here.
Yeah write yeah write yeah write!!! I found my community here too!
Yay!! No joke, some of my favorite people on Earth I met through here.
Three cheers for Yeah Write! I never would have kept blogging without all the support from the wonderful people here.
Do we have t-shirts or tote bags with the Yeah Write logo?
I thought there were t-shirts at one point, but I can’t remember now. Someone must remember though – I want to say last summer maybe.
I remember first getting involved with yeah write at around the same time you did. I haven’t been as faithful as you, mostly because I feel that I should not participate if I don’t have the time to comment on and read everyone’s… Having the moonshine grid available lessens the guilt for sure!
To get to the point: I’m glad I get to be part of this community and it really has made a difference for me. It feels good to connect with other writers who “get” how you feel about writing!
I’m taking this week and next week off the challenge grid actually just because I can’t participate, even if I could get a post written. The moonshine grid is perfect for dropping in and hanging out when you can, though.
I like the challenges, the growth and the commitment to helping each other improve that this community fosters. That’s what drew me in and that’s what keeps me.
So glad to have you here Kerstin!
So true Michelle. What a great analogy — “most of us out in the blogosphere started out like the new kid in school.” Thinking about all your great points, blogging is like most things in life. Your place of worship, your work place or neighborhood, everything has more meaning when you find a smaller group to share life with. No man is an island, right? Even as much as we might think we’d like to run off to one and bury our heads in the sand some days.
When I first started out, I’d see all the back and forth on Twitter and in comments and I’d wonder how do they all know each other? It was lonely when no one was talking to me. We all have a lot more in common, I think, than we realize sometimes. And, let’s face it, everyone loves a cheering section, right?