Blogging 101 – Day Three: Say Hello to the Neighbors

Welcome to the commune. Think 1960s commune. Like the old hippies collaborative village, blogging is a communal experience. You have to admit that you write to get people to read and interact with your posts. A private diary would be your preference if you didn’t want anyone to read your posts. Day three in my blogging course has me being brave. Today, I’ll engage with the blogging community, the first step in building an audience.

The assignment I was given today was to follow five new tags in the Reader (https://wordpress.com/) or another tool like my personal favorite Feedly and five new blogs.

Spending your time reading other blogs makes good use of your time. Why is this true?

Did you know that publishing posts is only half of blogging — engaging with the community is the other. It is true. Considering what other bloggers write will inspire you and sharpen your thoughts.

I love meeting new people online. I later meet some of them in real life at writer’s conferences or even church. Part of what makes blogging a rich experience are the relationships we develop with people around the world. That only happens when we engage — just look at The Commons. Plus, reaching out to other bloggers is the best way to have them return the favor. Even the Bible says in Proverbs 18:24, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

The first step is finding people you want to connect with. I am not talking of trolling, cyber stalking, and selecting someone because of their glamour personal photo. Instead, follow topics you care about to discover a world of blogs. In the WordPress.com Reader, topics are are organized using tags.

The easiest way to get started is to take a tour of the Reader. Next,  review the tips on using the Reader to find and follow blogs that speak to you.

As you browse them, follow five new blogs, too. On WordPress.com, you can follow any blog by clicking the “Follow +” button in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Many times the blog’s owner will return the favor by following you. This is especially true if you blog on similar subjects.

If you don’t blog on WordPress.com, you can still use the Reader to browse.

Happy hunting as you find some new blogs to follow.   Oh, I followed five new blogs that use the tag “writing.” Their links are listed below.

1. https://joesigurdson.wordpress.com/
2. https://daveversusshark.wordpress.com/
3. http://skywalkerstorytellerworks.com/
4. https://morganaene.wordpress.com/
5. https://lovebutterfliesandelephants.wordpress.com/

Oh, you don’t have to move to a 1960s style commune to get a communal experience. You can get the experience through blogging.

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Jimmie Aaron Kepler is a novelist, poet, book reviewer, and award-winning short story writer. His work has appeared in over twenty venues, including Bewildering Stories and Beyond Imagination. When not writing each morning at his favorite coffee house, he supports his writing, reading, and book reviewing habit working as an IT application support analyst. He is a former Captain in the US Army. His blog Kepler’s Book Reviews was named a 100 best blogs for history buffs in 2010. You can visit him at http://www.jimmiekepler.com.