Building Your Blog Community: Part One – Blogging 101

Starting a blog isn’t much harder than choosing a blog name and a platform, clicking a few buttons, and starting to write. But if you build it, will anyone come? And what will happen when they get there?

Today in The Motherhood, we had a great talk with an exceptional panel of bloggers who enlightened us on everything from the administrative to the creative, and gave guidance to beginning and longtime bloggers alike on building our blog communities.

Vera Sweeney of Lady and the Blog, Melissa Chapman of Married My Sugar Daddy, Nadia Carriere of Child Mode, Audrey McClelland of Mom Generations,  Annie Shultz of Mama Dweeb, Victoria Pericon of Veep Veep, Whitney Wingerd of Mommies with Style, and Megan Crume of Sweet Sadie Marie weighed in on the blogging questions you’ve always wanted answered.

If you build it…

First, of course, you have to build the blog. When asked whether it was more important to have a great looking blog or one with great content, the panelists were unanimous: it’s all about the content. Annie of Mama Dweeb noted, “Content is King! That is what they told me in newspaper class and that applies to blogging.” Even an ugly site with great content draws readers back, though an attractive site may keep them there longer.

How to make that site good looking? Nadia of Child Mode and Whitney of Mommies with Style advise that WordPress and TypePad have lots of easy-to-use templates and themes. Vera of Lady and the Blog recommends “adding more images and videos that are engaging for the readers.” She cautions, though, that it’s never okay to grab images from other websites, even if you credit them. If you use others’ images, you should be prepared to pay for them.

Along with good content and good looks, several panelists emphasized that regular posting is critical. Vera said, “You should carve out time each day. Even on the weekends I sneak over to the computer and get at least one post up.”

After you build the blog itself, it’s time to build relationships. Vera summed it up neatly when she said, “Building relationships is key to any successful business. With blogging, there are three types of relationships that need attention:

-Blogger to Blogger: Start linking to like blogs with similar traffic. Do weekly roundups. Post one another’s badges on your sidebars. Tweet one another’s work. There is strength in numbers.

-Blogger to Brand: Become friendly with reps. Attend events. Work on projects and keep the communication line open. Make them remember you.

-Blogger to Reader: Reply back to comments. Offer something special on your newsletter, interact on your Facebook wall. All these things matter.”

To build relationships with other bloggers, consider joining a blogging group (or a few). As far as building Blogger to Brand relationships, the panel was mixed about whether it was easier to build relationships directly with brands or to go through PR agencies.

What to do to get noticed by brands? Again, the panel emphasized content. Megan of Sweet Sadie Marie said to ask yourself who and what you’re passionate about–that will guide you.  Melissa of Married My Sugar Daddy added that “when you’ve got really good content, it’s easier to make brands notice you–and you will feel a lot more confident making those introductions when you’ve got the blog content to back it up.” Vera and several panelists also recommended having a media kit, something you can send to PR reps to showcase your brand relationships and past work.

As you build relationships, especially with bloggers and readers, you’ll build audience. Vera recommends increasing SEO by tagging your posts with keywords and repeating those in the post itself; matching your post title to its first paragraph, and using bullets and headers (which search engines love) throughout your post. Annie adds that it’s wise to think about specific terms readers might be searching for, and using those in your post title in lieu of something more generic.

Another way to grow your audience is the use of Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and the like to drive traffic to your site. Whitney says she uses “auto-feeds–everything I post goes straight to my Facebook page and Twitter feed–makes it nice and easy and I get a ton of traffic that way. ” For those who are not seeing success from those methods, Victoria of Veep Veep reminds, “Talk with others. If you write but never reply to e-mails or respond to comments or tweets, then they won’t come back.” In other words: engage your audience. Nadia recommends participating in memes such as Wordless Wednesday as a good way to connect with other bloggers and build audience.

…They will come.

Your hard work will pay off, the panelists agreed, but be patient and persistent. Annie said, “There is no such thing as overnight success with blogging. It takes most bloggers at LEAST six months of hard work before they see a dime.”

Several panelists offered their best tips for getting paid. Vera said, “Don’t be afraid to pitch yourself,” and recommended charging for contests, even if it’s only $25. “Something is better than nothing.”  Whitney cautioned, “Do NOT work for free with the promise of a later paid gig! There are so many of these ‘offers’ out there. You are worth more.”

As important as it is to know your worth and to be paid, don’t get hung up on earnings and pageviews. As Audrey of Mom Generations wisely observed, “It will come if you keep with it. As soon as I let that piece of it go and started producing content that I loved and was ultra passionate about, doors began to open.”

You can read the full transcript of the Talk here.

Next up we’ll be posting a second part summary of the Building Your Blog Community: Part Two – Advanced Blogging. Look for that post soon! Thanks!