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A friendly place to find help & encourage one another |
I had two phone conversations today with two different friends of mine. Although we chatted about many things as we caught up, both of them eagerly steered the conversation to blogging and shared that they knew n.o.t.h.i.n.g about the medium - and could I please explain it to them?
Have any of you shared this experience? You mention that you are a blogger, and your conversation partner looks at you a little cross-eyed, because they really don’t even know what a blog is, let alone what a blogger does.
I had a bit of a heart-sinking moment in this morning, realizing that the people I most want to reach are the ones who would NEVER come looking for this site.
Bloggers live in and write for a very small world
I briefly mentioned this in one of my more popular blogging articles last year. Blogging is growing (points for stating the obvious, perhaps?!)… but it’s growing for people who are already savvy internet users.
So I just decided to pull a few stats for this post, and I was shocked to find the following:
In the last 7 days, my RSS Explained for the Blogging Newbie page has been viewed over 200 times and the Newbie Blogging category has been viewed about 75 times.
I changed my index page (outside this blog) early Monday morning, and posted a link to a (now ancient) post called “Blogs and Blogging :: Explained“. The index page doesn’t get nearly as many hits as the blog pages. But that post has already been viewed an astonishing 100 times in about 60 hours.
Looking at the 137 sites that have referred traffic to eMoms at Home in the last few days, a measly 6 domains are not specifically blogging related: 5 search engines and Kiva.org.
A divergent target audience
Let’s face it - our most loyal readers are in fact other bloggers. We help each other out, teach each other tips and tricks, but I have to ask…
What about the people who need the information we write about, yet don’t know how to find us?? These people don’t even know how to subscribe to an RSS feed yet, they don’t know Technorati exists, and a Google search on “blogs” turns up 369,000,000 hits!
Are we just “blogging to the choir” as we seek attention from each other, focusing our efforts on getting RSS subscribers and links… from other bloggers?? It drives traffic and better Technorati ranks, but by nature it continues to build the wall between bloggers and people like my friends I talked to this morning.
Most of us started our blogs in the first place as a way to give back - to share our knowledge in a way that should be accessible to all. Which means we both want and need to be writing for and attracting non-bloggers to our sites - which puts us in a bit of a predicament. Writing for bloggers and non-bloggers is at best tricky and at worst impossible.
Interrupting the Conversation
Blogs are conversations, yes. But have you ever walked into the middle of a conversation at a party, with a bunch of people you hardly know? Specifically a group that already knows each other well?
- References are made to things previously said, with an assumption of understanding
- Rapport is already established between the group, while you would likely feel like an intruder or a bit awkward
- You probably wouldn’t jump in and offer a contrasting view unless you had already stuck around long enough to get past the somewhat uncomfortable intrusion… that is, as long as you had a compelling reason to want to join the conversation in the first place.
- Frankly, the only way you would want to jump into the conversation would be if the rest of the group paused and invited you to speak
-
If they kept on talking and didn’t acknowledge your presence, you would likely walk away thinking they were a bit snobbish and cliquey.
Is it our responsibility to break out of the blogging clique?
I have to say I’m asking more than telling at this point, because I’m feeling a little stumped.
- Should all blogs have a little ‘welcome’ section that gives new visitors an overview of how things work?
- Should we be paying more attention to SEO referrals and targeting keywords that non-bloggers might use?
- Should we reach out to local online publications such as town newspapers and offer to syndicate our content?
- Could I be so idealistic to think that we could coordinate an education outreach to the people too intimidated by the overwhelming amount of information they would have to sift through in order to get in the game?
Weigh in.
This is a big question - with bigger answers.
We could be the forerunners of a paradigm shift.
Or we could be risking exclusivity and isolation at a cost of never achieving what we set out to do with our blogs… reaching the people who we wanted to reach in the first place.
Please, bloggers, keep this conversation going. I don’t have the answers on this one.
And if you aren’t a blogger, I am now pausing the conversation, and inviting you to speak.
And if you have no idea what a blog is, you’re on one now, and you can click that little “Leave a Comment” link right here and talk. The floor is yours. 
I think you’re partly right on this one Wendy. Many blogs are being read mainly by other bloggers - particularly those of us with blogs about blogging. It doesn’t surprise me that your blog would be being read by bloggers in the majority because ProBlogger is similar.
Having said this - the longer you blog and the more traffic that you start to generate from search engines the more begeinner/prebloggers you’ll find reading you. It takes time though to get to this stage.
Outside of the blogging about blogging niche I think there’s more non-blogger readership going on. I know at my Digicam sites that very few of my readers are bloggers - most just want info about digicams and would have no idea that they are even on a blog - this is the way I want it. I don’t promote those sites as blogs at all but rather as…. websites.
I think a mistake that some bloggers make is promoting themselves as a ‘blog’ - in doing so they could be losing readers as some people will either be confused by the term and/or distracted by it.
Jumbled thoughts…. sorry
Wendy,
Your post is very timely as I am getting ready to launch a post that - although primarily geared towards other bloggers - is also going to serve as a medium for people who read blogs (bloggers AND non-bloggers) to learn more about how people become successful. You and Darren are both going to be pinged by me to participate, so look for that post in the next 12 hours or so.
Now, as far as your question, I do see this as an issue. I am constantly beating up my newsletter subscribers to try and get them to the blog, because the content on the blog puts the content on my website to shame simply because of frequency if nothing else.
That being said, I totally agree with Darren that this is more of an issue for blogs about blogging. My blog is mostly about personal development/empowerment, and although I haven’t crunched the numbers, a quick glance shows maybe 40% of my traffic comes from Google.
If there is to be a new initiative - which I would totally support and partake in - I think the primary question to answer would be HOW we were going to reach new people. My blog and my website are already built and continue to grow with SEO principles in place, which likely accounts for that 40% Google figure.
If bloggers are going to band together to inform the masses, putting together one united banner would seem the most effective way to spearhead the effort.
Maybe a site with consolidated content from many blogs, but that runs heavy on hand-holding newbies, and low on standard blog fair such as memes, trackbacks, plugs for other sites, etc.
All of that being said, I’m not sure if I really actually said anything, so I’ll apologize for my jumbled thoughts, too!
I have been thinking about the same subject as I am a new blogger.(less than 1 month)
I was thinking that a social network on Ning as a possible answer. You can feed blogs to the network, have forums, create subject pages embed video etc. There could be guest bloggers and allow the new bloggers a leg up when they need it. Also there will be a lot of of baby boomers joining us in the near future. I don’t have the expertise by myself to do it. But a group should be able to create it. I will volunter time to the project.
Hi Wendy,
The vast majority of my traffic is coming from social networking sites like Stumbleupon (I get 1000-1500 hits/day from Stumblers) and LiveJournal. However my search engine traffic is growing like crazy. (for example, Google “therapy appointment.” There I am!) I get a small percentage of traffic from other blogs.
That said, the people who are _interacting_ with my blog, i.e., the ones leaving comments, writing me emails, etc, are other bloggers who have an interest in mental health.
So two communities seem to be growing out of my blog; 1) the “blog-centric” community of other bloggers who share my mission to help people with mental illness, and 2) the “helping” community of people who are coming to my blog for help with their mental health issues.
Since my mission is to help people suffering with mental illness, my traffic growth and marketing efforts are almost entirely focussed on social networking and search engines. However, I think that the small but growing community of mental health bloggers is absolutely wonderful, so I will also be very active in that community as well.
I guess one nice outcome would be if some of my “helping” visitors decided to start blogs of their own. A few have already written me asking for advice on how to get started. I generally send them to Problogger.
Scott
Read the July 2006 Pew Internet and American Life report on Bloggers “http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP%20Bloggers%20Report%20July%2019%202006.pdf”. It certainly lends some credibility to Wendy’s perceptions - but also shows that the audience is expanding. A few selected and useful stats:
The report surveyed 7,012 adults, which included 4,753 internet users, 8% of whom are bloggers.
In February 2004, the Pew Internet Project added a question to our internet activity survey: “Do you ever read someone else’s web log or blog?” At that time, 17% of internet users said yes. Since then, the percentage of blog readers has increased to 39%.
Of bloggers surveyed, (49%) believe that their blog readership is mostly made up of people they personally know.
Fully 90% of bloggers say they have read someone else’s blog, compared with 39% of all internet users who say they have done so.
87% of bloggers in their sample allow comments on their blogs; only 13% do not allow them. Eighty-two percent of bloggers say they have posted a comment to someone else’s blog, but there were no statistics on general internet users commenting on blogs.
I’m not a problogger, but a personal blogger looking for entrepeneurial business information and motivation. I have found this site - and others - to be quite warm and informative. Thanks!
It could be that many non-bloggers are more familiar with the use of a forum. They might have questions, but they go to their favourite forum, and post a question there. When they happen upon a blog, they might just read the information without understanding that they can comment - perhaps not even wanting to. They might be more inclined to try sending an e-mail to the blog owner.
This might change gradually, but it will take a while for the realisation to dawn that there is no great difference these days between a weblog and a website.
Here’s a thing: Commenting on a weblog might be considered to be too daunting. Our commenting system is set up to look like you need certain information to comment - and email address is required, a website is optional, but is that necessarily clear? These could be details that give visitors pause.
It could be that bloggers have to change. If a blogger wants their site to be visited by more people, they might have to concentrate on writing solid pillar articles - made prominent, visible and easily accessible - with the understanding that visitors are coming to read and glean information rather than participate.
We might also have to get used to the demarcation between internet users and internet content creators. One is a very high percentage, the other very low.
Maybe the issue is getting more people into blogging. As of last November, I had only heard about blogging. I though bloggers were a fringe element, like anti-government wierdos living in Idaho or somewhere. I started blogging because I read a book on the subject and was intrigued with the idea. Once I got into blogging and reading blogs, I realized that I was very much like the bloggers whose blogs I read, interested in new technology, interested in ideas, open to new things. Now, I see blogging as one of my main sources of information about the world–the other being talk radio. Newspapers? Who reads them anymore. TV? I haven’t looked at TV in years. Yet I am very well informed. Like a lot of Americans I’ve found alternate sources of information as the old channels have gotten obsolete, or worse, ineffective.
Great post! Thanks.
Hi Wendy,
I think maybe the reason your site attracts a lot of bloggers is that you have a blog geared toward working from home and a lot of moms who work from home have websites and also blogs. So it makes sense to me that your audience would want to learn a lot about blogging - esp as a way to enhance their income. Also, because blogging is growing and people want to learn about it, if you have that content, (and your content on that subject is great) then you will attract lots of readers for it.
My blogging experience is very different - I do have a lot of readers who also have blogs, but I also have many that don’t - including clients and prospective clients. This is because I am tied in with my organizing services website (www.neatliving.ORG) which sends a lot of readers to my blog.
One of my largest segments of readers is other organizers and people who want to become professional organizers. I think the common denominator is that people want to learn when they visit blogs.
Addressing newbies in any field will get you lots of readers! As will addressing any specific problem that people commonly have. One of my most popular posts ever is still “25 ways I save money” It gets tons of traffic and has lots of links to it from other sites.
Another favorite topic on my site is product reviews. My other most popular posts are the ones I did on scanners for document management.
MONEY & BLOGGING
I get a lot of organizers asking me about my blog - is it worth it? does it generate organizing business? I would say it doesn’t hurt, but people don’t hire me just because I have a blog - and for the time I put into it, I would say it’s really not financially profitable, though it does generate enough income to pay for a few books a month or a dinner out. So it more than pays for the Typepad fees : )
But for those of us who have been at it a while, we know that we don’t really do it for the money. We do it to connect and reach out and to meet the cool people (like you : ) that just make life better! So that’s what I tell them.
If you have something to share, and you love to write and keep learning and you would do it for free, you might also make a few dollars. But it you do it just for the money and business, that is not likely to work. You have to have a passion about something other than money.
RE: Blogging Clique & reaching out
I don’t feel I’m part of any clique…and I don’t see you that way either! You already do so much to reach out and you do it really well!
Having a local newspaper column is a great idea for any local business. I have a local column in a newspaper where I run content that has appeared in my blog and sometimes I write for the column and then put it my blog too. It does generate more local business and readership for me.
Most of the people who contact me through the column don’t have computers or have them and barely know how to use them let alone read blogs. But they do learn what a blog is via my column as my bio points them to my blog! : )
I don’t think we need any coordinated outreach about blogging per se. I think if we each just keep focused on generating the kind of content we do best, whether it is educational, thought-provoking, self-help, funny, witty, entertaining, controversial or whatever, there will be something for everyone and people will find you.
Thanks for your great blog!
Hi Wendy,
I completely relate to your comment about joining the conversation half way through. So many blogs I find I feel a little lost at the beginning, until I start following the blog for a while. But, we risk people not hanging around to get comfortable.
One thing I did on my daughter’s blog (http://www.hannashome.com) is put a side bar column, “New to Hanna’s Home? Read how we came to be.”
I get people clicking those all the time because Hanna’s adoption story is really beautiful and gives context to why I have a blog for her - so the birthparents can watch her grow and know they made the right decision.
It’s worth doing something like that or a welcome section for newcomers to give them context and links to a handful of archived posts that can bring them up to speed quickly.
Thanks for posing the question. It gets me thinking beyond my current habits and assumptions.
Warmly,
Paula O.
This post raises some great questions. It’s much easier to write for other bloggers. They all use RSS to follow regularly and they are much more likely to participate in the discussion.
The problem with this is that writing about blogging related topics leads the average reader to automatically ignore your site. More than 99% of people could care less about driving blog traffic, the latest meme, etc.
But, if you can break through the barrier and get non-blogging, non-internet savvy people to start participating, you have a huge opportunity for growth. I think this potential out weighs the short term benefits of writing for bloggers.
Wendy
This is such an important question, especially for those of us who are looking to reach beyond the confines of the blogosphere and create change in the wider world.
It’s easy to look at the sheer numbers of blogs and bloggers and forget that, even with the size of the blogosphere, it remains an infinitesimally tiny aspect of the globals community.
But while the blogosphere might be small, percentage-wise, it is the leading edge, and the place to be. Here we get to connect with other leading-edge thinkers and doers, crystalize ideas, products and services, and make connections with others all for the purpose of creating positive change in the world - beyond the blogosphere!
Hi Wendy!
Phew, I don’t know how I’ll be able to address all your issues and the great dialogue ahead of me. So I’ll try my best to focus on sharing some useful thoughts:
1. Blogging — love it and so do you!
Remember Darren’s Problogger.net has the most readers but his affiliate income from this particular blog is the lowest.
So, if money is an issue, maybe this is the perfect time to sub-niche to other blogs, like your personal coaching blog. That one, by its own nature, will be more SEO-based and will drive non-bloggers, and readers interested in having you solving their problems, hence the affiliate programs you recommend are more profitable.
Why you’re helping bloggers solve our problems here, we’re less likely to stray away and click on Google Ads.
A perfect example: is I have a blog (sub-niche) which I think has 2 feed subscribers (1 being myself), no PageRank, no alexa ranking, I only wrote in it for ~ 8 months, and haven’t touched it in nearly 2 years. Yet, I get SE traffic and affiliate income from that site.
Here it is: http://shoestringbookpub.blogspot.com/
3. You’re building a loyal and growing community, so giving advice as you are is practicing good business!
You’re starting to build your informational products, your ebook, and this will begin your funnel-profit system.
I’m a firm believer in giving, giving, giving…I give so much away for free, but the pay back in affiliate income, book sales, quality JVs (joint ventures) etc. is well-worth this initial start-up phase for you.
Remember, Wendy you didn’t even have your 1st year anniversary…a start-up entrepreneur is considered a business owner when you sustained and became profitable in your 43rd month.
You are FAR ahead of schedule.
4. As for local media and diversifying your internet marketing techniques. This is an area you know your falling short, and rightly so–you’ve dedicated yourself to building this prosperous blog, you had no time to dedicate elsewhere. It’s okay!
What’s great is, while your veturing into Internet Marketing, Public Relations, SEO/M techniques and discussing your experiences, successes and headaches, your Google Ads will change to higher-priced clicks, and in turn be more profitable for you.
I know all the editors personally and professionally of all the local newspapers, free periodicals, etc. in the Greater Toledo area (1) because I’m a freelance writer and (2) I’m an active PR chick. I’m in the media all the time, I’m called as an Expert opinion, yadda yadda…and everything I do is duplicable and easy-to-do.
In time, you too will be!
Stay posted, my special report of PR 101 on a shoestring budget will be coming out.
Please stop being hard on yourself…if you’re doing this with your traffic, search engine ranking, etc…imagine us loyal readers way behind you…so, my very last thought is:
“Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver but the other’s gold”. Us, goldies…not only will be your loyal, dedicated customers…but, most importantly we will be your ranting and raving Affiliates promoting your awesome products, because we already believe in you and experienced your success!
Peace & Empowerment,
Ponn
No, really…one last thing…as for having or developing a “blogging clique”…call it as you may…we will be your followers and grassroots affiliate promoters pushing for your products to succeed…and we’ll all succeed as a “clique” (geez…I hate this word, cuz I’m so “anti-clique”) making money online together!
~ Ponn
Boy, I agree with Darren on his last point…
I find that a blog to nonbloggers creates a number of responses - few of them positive. Either they don’t get it all, don’t see its potental, or are stuck with the idea that the blogosphere is a place where tech geeks spew off about their favorite personal topics.
I think what’s needed is a conscious effort by us bloggers to somehow educate those who don’t blog. We’re all so great at sharing our knowledge and ideas openly with each other it seems natural to do that with nonbloggers.
How? Don’t know. I’d love to explore it though.
I do know this, I’m going to send a few nonbloggers/beginning bloggers to this post and have them offer feedback.
My experience confirms what others have said earlier. Around 50% of my readers come from search engines, with only desultory SEO. Another 10% come from Stumbleupon. Approximately 20% are repeat visitors. This tells me that most people who visit my site are looking for a specific piece of information, and are not other bloggers. Most of the repeat visitors I assume are other bloggers.
Syndication is something to think about. Many blogs are cover areas of interest to a larger segment of the population. I often think of us as columnists we can get immediate feedback.
To the searchers, I think we appear as references, to be used like a library. Seldom do they leave a comment or email.
A lot of your work here lately has been blogging related. It isn’t surprising that you’ve had the results you’ve had.
Rory,
In response to your comment:
“Here’s a thing: Commenting on a weblog might be considered to be too daunting. Our commenting system is set up to look like you need certain information to comment - and email address is required, a website is optional, but is that necessarily clear? These could be details that give visitors pause.”
Have you read some of the comments on my blog? Some of them have shaken me to my foundations. There are some incredibly brave comments there.
I have also had people email me to say that they are terrified to leave comments because of privacy issues. I have tried to address that by making it very clear that my blog has a tight privacy policy, and that I am also fully in compliance with Canadian privacy law. (we have very strict privacy laws)
I think your point reveals one of the biggest hurdles to blogging. There is definitely a big trust component to blogs that doesn’t exist with larger “information” websites or even with forums and chatrooms. My favourite bloggers are the ones whose blogs are honest extensions of themselves…witness Steve Pavlina’s biography as the classic example. By revealing that there is another human behind the scenes; bloggers who are open about themselves build a strong trust with their readers, and the readers respond by commenting and returning to visit the blog.
For me, comments are a sign of a healthy blog. If I see a blog with little to no comments, I always check the blogger’s biography. More often than not their bio is either missing or too vague. I think that is a fatal error. To paraphrase Mr. Pavlina, “if you don’t share yourself on your blog, then how do you expect your visitors to share themselves with you?”
It can be very easy to fall into the trap of “build it and they will come.” There are millions of blogs, and readers vote with their feet. Even if you have the best content in the world, your readers will still walk out on you if they don’t feel a personal connection with you. And you can’t connect with readers unless you include something of yourself in your writing that encourages them to trust you.
Hi Wendy,
I am a new blogger, referred to your work by Dawud Miracle.
In my very short experience I have become aware of the remarkable amount of really GOOD information available on blogs and how quickly we can expand lively community through blogging.
I get the sense that the word is gradually getting out about how useful and enrichening the blog world can be. I don’t think the community will stay insulated for too long.
Thank you for your valuable sharing.
Stuart Baker
HOLY COW.
I KNEW you guys would have some amazing things to say about this!!! I’ve read each and every one of these comments, I have to just tell you that this is really helpful, enlightening, and encouraging.
You also gave some great feedback - and you’re right, rI’m in a unique position here. When I write about blogging, traffic soars. So I have to continue to create content that current readers are interested in - while sneaking in posts every now and then to welcome new visitors into the “family”.
Very, very thought provoking stuff!
Just like Stuart, Dawud is spreading the love.
I like the usual info you’re sharing and I’m completely fascinated at the number of men responding on emoms.
Mindfully,
Maverick
Maverick - I have to totally agree with you in that I’m fascinated myself at the amount of men that come to hang out around here.
Got any clues as to why that is? Because I’ve been trying to figure it out for a while!
Oh wow I’ve sat here for a good 15mins reading the post and the comments that have been left.
As a fairly new person to the land of blogs, I too notice that most of my visitors come from other blogs because of the comments/feedback I leave on other people’s sites.
My site, I would say is a blog. I use to run a small gallery of my digital photography but that kind of died away and my new incarnation of my website is in the blog format. Though it has a mix of alot of things I suppose. There are some small PHP tutorials, drawings made by me and then various tidbits of information. Would you consider it a blog? Sure, what is a blog really?
Most people I talk to say a blog is more like an online diary, but most of the time it is not personal and I mean personal in a way that you don’t let skeletons out of the closet type of thing. But yes it is personal in the sense of they way people post information on their site, they give their opinion, thoughts etc right?
I should stop, my thoughts will start getting mixed up and I’ll stray off topic!
Again the information here in these comments is wonderful and I will definitely have to re-read them to soak it all in!
Well said. There’s definitely a sense of clique-ness when it comes to bloggers. Heck, me, John Chow and our crew have lunch every Saturday and blabber all day on each other’s blogs.
One of the best ways to welcome new readers is with a “Top Posts” page so that they can read your…greatest hits, so to speak…and get familiar with your style. I plan to create that page once I’ve been around for about six months and have something more continuous.
Wow! I am so impressed with this post. That you really care so much about helping new people get started.
I do think the above suggestion about highlighting the info for new people is useful. For example, I just came and started reading and only through this post, did I really see the info for Newbies. I’m not sure if there is some place in your right hand column that would be more noticeable.
I’m really excited by your eMoms blogging forum though. I have a couple of questions/issues that I’ve had trying to begin blogging and now I know where to take them.
Finally, possibilities to reach out beyond the blog are:
- write articles
- create a lens on Squidoo on the topic — Squidoo is doing well on the search engines and it sounds like you already have the material that you would put in yours.
If you do stop by Squidoo, which is a very friendly community, check out:
http://www.squidoo.com/pollyklaas/hq -
the Polly Klaas Foundation lens challenge is taking entries till March 20th. And stop by and visit –
http://www.quidoo.com/DogTips — Random Dog Tips for Random Dogs — hmm… wonder who put that one together?
I am new to blogging myself. The reason I started a blog is because I love to write, and I have lots of information to share — however, I did not understand blogging when I started. This has caused my mindset, and my blog, to be more geared toward non-bloggers. It’s funny that you write this, as I’ve been thinking that perhaps I need to gear my blog toward more bloggers — but maybe not? You’ve brought up some very good points.
Ironically this post is having the exact opposite effect that I wanted, because to respond to each point made in these comments would keep me busy for the next week! But in an attempt to do so…
@ Tyler - welcome! And you definitely made sense in your post!
@Ed - great idea - and I Stumbled your Do Women Fart video - my god that was hysterical!
@Scamhunter - you know, Squidoo is a brilliant idea - I hadn’t realized it also had a community aspect to it. I’ll definitely check it out!
@SusieJ - I have found I really have to balance things for differing needs of subsets of readers. I have moms, dads, entrepreneurs, and bloggers that mostly read here. So I write some posts for all of them, and every now and then, I throw up a more specialized post just for one of them.
So my advice would be to embrace what you have, AND reach for what you don’t have.
SusieJ - Darren carried this part of the conversation to ProBlogger today - for a great read on balancing content, go to:
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/03/10/the-balancing-act-of-where-to-pitch-your-content/
A few thoughts…
I don’t want only bloggers to read what I am writing about in my newbie blog, and I note that there is a lot of mutual support and referral going on in the blog world. For those of us looking for business referrals as well as an opportunity to easily share in the blog world, the medium of blogging seems to offer awfully quick potential for connecting and becoming better known.
My personal sharing/support network is invaluable and highly prized!
Another note is echoing other comments that relate to websites having links to blogs, and the website world is recognized as a larger, broader venue, so a website reader can become a blog reader without ever specifically looking for blogs.
My last thought is that in the blogs I am most intetested in there is typically a warm, trusting dialogue going on that really is feeding goodness and sharing in the world. At the very least this is a forum for “spreading the love”, which is one darned good reason for existence in itself.
Thanks, all.
Hey Wendy, great post.
Blogging is such a powerful phenomenon… it’s given private individuals like you and us an amazing voice, reach, and opportunity to reach untold number of people. I think we’re just beginning to see it’s impact on the Internet and on our culture.
Jeff Kee just put out a great post on “The Internet, Blogs, Community sites, and the Ultimate Democracy”:
http://blog.jeffkee.com/2007/03/04/the-internet-blogs-community-sites-and-the-ultimate-democracy/
Some great concepts, it’s definitely worth a ready.
Ok, lots of comments and thoughts already, but I have to weigh in
This first part is something I already shared with you yesterday by email, but I think it’s helpful here:
While you intended eMoms to be a a resource for the work-at-home parent, in reality I find your site to be very helpful to non-parents too. I don’t have kids for example. Well, there is Cujo, my psychotic little Yorkie that can absolutely do no wrong.
In practice, your site is a great help to blogger entrepreneurs all around. I would say it’s a great help for bloggers, alongside ProBlogger, John Chow’s site, and a few others.
Of course you also have the occasional Law of Attraction influence here and there. Overall, I’d say the energy around you, your site, and your community is just good and uplifting, and frankly that’s healthy for us all. People want to be around people who make them feel good.
As Scott metions about his site FindingYourMarbles.com, we’re definitely also seeing two communities converging - or at least cohabitating…
It’s interesting… our site is a Dating / Relationship advice column (yeah, a blog) - but most of our Top Commenters don’t have websites.
Seriously, look at our sidebar “top commenters” widget - the majority (6 of 10) of these folks don’t have websites. Not to say bloggers (like you and Ed Mills) aren’t quite active at our site, but non-bloggers are really getting into it too. Which is really great.
And as Ed points out, sure there’s a sense of clicque-ness… that’s just human nature. People gravitate toward people they have something in common with, people whose company they enjoy, and who make them feel good.
So I think that in part you and ProBlogger are seeing so much feedback and involvement from bloggers BECAUSE bloggers are a large part of your niche.
Ok, I’m rambling a bit… I have about 3 other angles I wanted to attack, but that’s plenty long for little comment box.
Blessings all around.
Have an awesome day!
Dan
Agreed. A surprisingly large amount of men come to emoms.
I also agree with the whole “non-parent” usefullness of this site as well.
I’m a newbie to the whole blogging scene too. That’s a good idea to post something handy to see for beginners.
It can be a little intimidating mixing with some that are so established, especially when you’re still trying to learn the proper protocols for things. I had no idea blogging was so big or that people actually did it for a living. It’s like a whole other world out there, but it’s exciting too.
I’m not really a problogger either because I’ve only begun to get my feet wet and am having fun exploring work at home options.
Sandra - I can totally relate! I was scared out of my mind to send my first email to Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger - and now I consider him a great mentor and dare I say it ‘friend’.
It just takes a little courage and perseverance = just like with anything worth doing well. Keep it up and you’ll be a problogger in no time!
I am a new blogger who is also technologically impaired- I have a blog BUT got one message that I haven’t even confirmed for posting- I WILL DO THAT NEXT! and I have another message from a client that I would like to post in the blog- she said FINE– a nice poem about decluttering that she had written … but I don’t know how to do that.
I bought the book BLOGGING FOR YOUR BUSINESS but found IT hard to understand SO FAR…
So sure — obviously people become REAL bloggers somehow!! But meanwhile- my blog is sitting…and there’s a time issue…have been working on learning Spanish — need to learn blogish as well!