i've been blogging for a long time. i continuously add and remove blogs from my greader and in a previous post, i detailed what type of blogs make the cut [read: get added to my greader] and what gets cut loose. i'm always looking for great blogs to read and i do this through other people's blogrolls.
although the internet is a cold, anonymous place, i think that every person who has a blog has made one or more great connections in the blogosphere. some, like myself, have even become friends in real life. i even dashed my fears aside and went vacationing to vegas with fellow bloggers, two of which i've never met! the result? amazing friendships and a bond that will only flourish.
it was because these connections started with good blog etiquette.
it was because those blog owners took the time to interact with their audience.
we spend so much time writing content and posting pictures so our readers can see who we are and what we look like so they can put a face to the name. basically, we want them to identify with us through our writing. even if our writing is a bunch of mishmash, all jumbled up about nothing and everything, readers like material that is real and honest.
and because we spend so much time carefully thinking about topics, putting in the time to write something we think will appeal to our audience, we sometimes forget about the comments. we sometimes forget that our readers might want a response back. heck, i know i was guilty of that at first. as a reader of many blogs (i have about 30 listed in my greader + another 25 which are tech feeds) i'm the type to keep returning to blogs if the content is real and i can relate to the posts. i leave comments because 1) i think it's nice 2) i want the writer to know that someone thinks their posts are interesting and 3) i'm sure it makes the writer happy that someone has taken the time to reach out and interact with them.
i know my blog isn't anything fancy; it's actually a jumbled mess of random thoughts, my obsessions that i feel i need to share with the world, words about my family that i just can't hold in any longer and just a space to reach out to my blogosphere pals to let them know that i'm alive and kicking and i'm honored when people leave me comments. it makes me smile when i get an email notification that someone has taken the time to read the jumbled mess that is called my thoughts and left me something to read. in return, i get a little gift - i get to interact with their blog. so i reach out to them via email with my response and i also take a little trip to their blog to see what they wrote. i leave comments which could be about anything and nothing. i add them to my greader if i like their site. most of all, i tell them thank-you for visiting my blog because after all, out of thousands of blogs out there, they took the time to visit mine.
