9.206 comments.
After only 3 and a half years on Blogging From Paradise I am headed towards 10K.
If you consider I shut down comments for 2-3 months a while back I am cooking.
How did I build such a community?
I followed the 3 tips below.
Why build a blogging community?
Success flows to bloggers with large, loyal tribes who:
- promote bloggers
- endorse bloggers
- hire bloggers
- buy blogger courses, eBooks, etc
Without a blogging tribe you have a tough time becoming a pro blogger.
With a loyal, loving blogging community the sky is the limit.
1: Build Friendships with Influencers
By connecting with, helping and bonding with blogging influencers you grow your tribe exponentially.
Watch this video where my friend Alonzo Pichardo and I chat about how to connect with online influencers:
We both keep growing bigger and more loyal communities through the power of helping one another.
One blogger can succeed moderately but 2 bloggers working toward a common end succeed wildly through the power of leveraging.
If you want to grow a large, loyal community, help influential bloggers by promoting them and by commenting genuinely on their blog. Patiently build friendships with blogging big dawgs. Help people and look for nothing in return to lay the foundation for a rocking, tribe-building, friendship.
2: Make it Easy for Readers to Comment
Readers want to be heard.
Make it easy for readers to comment on your blog.
Receiving over 9,000 comments grew my community at Blogging From Paradise to epic-ly loyal levels. Folks know they can share their thoughts freely on my blog. BFP is a 2 way street, not a 1 way platform for me to spew my viewpoints all day long.
I want to hear you.
I listen to you.
Take this attitude to build a thriving, loyal, massive blogging commenting.
I’m flummoxed by how few bloggers put a genuine effort into developing an active blog comments field.
My friend Janice Wald does a smash up job maintaining a thriving blog comments section at Mostly Blogging. She pops in to engage readers and regularly ends blog posts with multiple questions to keep the engagement train going.
Use an easy to navigate blog commenting system. Encourage comments by asking a few questions throughout your blog posts.
Respond to comments within 1-2 days of receiving each comment.
Grow a thriving community through maintaining an active blog comments section.
3: Be Authentic
I recently wrote a guest post on my friend Prince Akwarandu’s World Writers Hub:
1 of the Toughest Blogging Obstacles to Overcome
I dove into a touchy topic; how critical bloggers create massive obstacles for themselves.
This is me being honest, genuine and authentic.
Being genuine is a rare trait in blogging because few have clarity and confidence to share how they feel in honest fashion.
I have no issues tackling a topic that ruffles a few feathers. My readers love me for this.
I also discovered my community becoming more loyal and larger as I wrote from an authoritative, authentic energy.
People love someone who writes with clarity and confidence. Folks love bloggers who write their truths.
Be you. Blog you.
Grow a large, loyal community by being authentic in all you do. Communities crave honest bloggers who never try to be anybody else.
If you have read one blog post on BFP you know that I try not being anybody else.
Bonus Tip
Take your authentic factor into overdrive; share details of your life away from the laptop.
Most readers become bored to tears of bloggers who talk business and blogging all day long. They want a human being behind the blog; someone who takes vacations and follows sports and has a life outside of blogging.
I filmed this eye-popping 1080 p video of the village where my wife and I are living in Thailand for the next 6 weeks.
Try adding videos of your offline life to your blog. I guarantee that your blog community will eat it up.
