I’m not really one for New Year’s Resolutions, and there’s certainly been no shortage of those in the blogosphere lately, anyway.
I am, however, one for blogging resolutions.
In some form or another, I’ve been blogging for over a decade now. One thing that I’ve never managed to pin down was a regular process for commenting on other blogs that I read and love. There’s really no good excuse for this; it’s just an aspect of blogging where I’ve dropped the ball. Though I know how important commenting is for personal reasons (show love for your blogging friends!) and professional ones (SEO, anyone?), I’ve never managed to stay on task.
Pretty much like every time I’ve decided to take up going to the gym.
The part that’s sort of funny is that, as an editor for Business 2 Community, I read so much … and I love it. B2C has such a wonderful host of contributors — it’s pretty much where I’ve educated myself as I’ve transitioned from teaching to the world of social media. I’m always learning something new, expanding previous knowledge, forming opinions about post topics, and feeling the need to pass really stellar posts on to my Twitter followers. Many times I’ll even send a tweet to the writer regarding the post. So what’s stopping me from hopping over to those blogs and leaving a comment? Who knows. But I have a plan, so here’s hoping it sticks.
Making Comments a Part of Blogging
Blog Comment Communities
I’d been toying with the idea of really committing to blog commenting for a while when one day the blog gods parted the clouds and sent me a sign in the form of the fabulous Amie Marse, CEO of Content Equals Money, whose work I knew from B2C. Amie connected with me and invited me to become a part of her LinkedIn group, Content Generation Firms, a group that — you guessed it! — includes a community of bloggers commenting and sharing each others’ work.
This was obviously the perfect way to make myself accountable for blog comments, so of course I joined right up. While the group is a good pace for me, personally, there are many other communities devoted to blogging, commenting, sharing, and so on. Another one you might want to check out is Triberr.
It is my sincere hope that I will continue taking an active part in this group. Not only does it keep me commenting, but it also motivates me to blog more frequently.
Dusting Off Ye Olde Google Reader
One of my tendencies is to, with the best of intentions because I’m genuinely interested in the topics, overload myself with blogs to follow. I’ll open my reader and see that I have 56 unread posts and, after having already read dozens of others, it seems like a losing battle.
No more.
I opened my Google Reader yesterday and cleaned it out. My intention is to add blogs back slowly and work on building up my comments (which isn’t to say I will never comment when I come across a great post on the Web, but I’m going to give myself a few of my favorites to focus on first).
Job Search + Blog Comments = Love?
I’m always thinking about the various aspects of my social media participation in the context of my quest for full time employment. Like any serious job hunter, I’ve got a solid idea of where I’d like to work and what I’d like to do (if you’re in the Philly area and you’re looking for a writer with a strong interest in social media and content creation who wants to continue learning, email me!) I also have a list of agencies and businesses that I keep my eye on. I hope it’s not unreasonable to think that if I am active on their blogs, that might help my resume get a second look someday.
And you?
Do you have any kind of process for blog commenting? I’d love to hear about it! If you don’t have a process yet and are wanting to comment more, what steps will you take to make that happen?