Ausblogcon2011: Building your blog community

It takes a community to build a blog. Yes, it starts with great content but it continues with comments, feedback and a whole lot of love.

Have you returned some love lately?

BUILDING YOUR BLOG COMMUNITY

Moderator: Allison Tait – Life in a Pink Fibro
Catherine Oehlman – Squiggle Mum
Christie Burnett – Childhood 101
Leigh Sundstrom – Absolute Leigh
Mrs Woog – Woogsworld

What’s a blog community?

LS: It may be your followers, comments, friends and relationships.

MW: It took four to five months before I got my first comment, since then my blog has grown in a natural, organic way.

CO: Sometimes I find the community comes together in different places. Some will be on Twitter, Facebook or radio. I think we all remember the first comment that wasn’t from a relative.

Comments

LS: If commenting on other people’s blogs, leave meaningful comments.

CO: I used to be really good at responding to comments. If someone who I haven’t met before makes a comment, I’ll say hi. You can jump over to their blog and say hi. I’ll only respond on my blog if I’ve got something to say that needs answering. The way someone contacts you is the polite way for you to comment you back.

LS: You have to interact in a meaningful way.

CB: Finding time to comment is about prioritising your time and being kind on yourself.

Blog link-ups

CB: My blog hop – We Play – started because there were so many great ideas out there and I thought, “how can we bring them together in one place?” There’s been a great response to it but that wasn’t the aim.

CO: Make (your blog hop) easy to link.

AT: I started Weekend Rewind for selfish reasons – there was lots of really good stuff in the archives that hadn’t been seen.

CB: Be choosy about whether you fit in to the blog link up. My community is the people who actually interact with a me. Not followers.

Blogrolls

Mrs W: I use my blogroll to keep up with my favorite bloggers.

LS: You can show off some great blogs in your blogroll – some blogs you may have not have been otherwise able to show off.

MW: The friendships formed through the blogging community have been unexpected and wonderful.

Trolls

CO: When I had a troll comment on my blog, my blogging community stepped in to my defence.

LS: If you’ve got trolls then you’ve arrived. Deleting them depends on the comment.

CO: Disagreements are ok; trolls are not.

Mrs W: I don’t need someone to email me and tell me I’m a bad mother – I know I am!

CB: extend the conversation with your comments

What makes a successful blog?

CO: Success is making a difference to me; to my readers.

MW: I measure success if I enjoy writing the story – the essence is in the story telling.

What turns people off?

LS: Don’t make it hard to comment – make it as easy as possible.

AT: Anonymous comments – if you’re not going to put your name to it, don’t comment.

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More from Aussie Bloggers Conference 2011

Creating blog content

The pre-events

The outfits

SEO and blog monetisation

Social media and you

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I’m SO grateful for my Aussie Bloggers Conference sponsors