This is a guest post by our top contributing author and travel blogger Ryan Biddulph. He is the founder of Blogging From Paradise, his course 11 Fundamentals of Successful Blogging and the author of more than 126 eBooks.
I see one tough trend among bloggers these days.
Unfortunately, the trend has been going strong for years.
Facebook crashed a few moments ago. Bloggers complained or simply noted the site being down. Some bloggers invited blogging buddies to connect on new social media websites. Others railed against Facebook. Some sat patiently, waiting out the outage.
But I guarantee a tiny percentage of these bloggers:
- wrote and published a post on their blog today
- read comments on their blog today
- replied to comments on their blog today
- improved the user experience on their blog today
While bloggers scramble to connect on new sites or bemoan not being able to connect on Facebook, they are not spending time and energy connecting on their blog. Ummmmmm…..you are a blogger, right? Bloggers blog. Bloggers spend most time writing and publishing blog posts and guest posts. Or bloggers spend most time writing and publishing blog posts and genuine blog comments.
I find it odd how most bloggers spend most time connecting through social media but have no time to blog. I also find it odd how these folks call themselves bloggers when they are amateur social media connectors for all the time spent on social versus their blog. I am a blogger. I spend many hours daily on Blogging From Paradise and other blogs in my niche. Since I am a blogger I spend only a few minutes connecting on social media.
Bloggers spend most time and energy connecting on blogs.
Bloggers struggle, fail and quit by spending most time and energy connecting on social media. Since where your attention and energy goes, grows, giving your focus to social allows your social followings to grow. But growing a large, loyal social following matters little if you spend little time creating and connecting on your blog because people will know you as a social media guy or gal versus being a blogging guy or gal.
Scrap social media for a bit.
Connect on your blog. Spend 30-60 minutes daily rendering some helpful service through your blog before doing anything else. Bloggers create a non-posturing crutch related to social media. Most believe you need social media to connect with readers. But social media is one way to connect with readers, not THE way. Genuine blog commenting connects you with readers. Guest blogging connects you with readers. SEO-optimizing blog posts connects you with readers. Publishing helpful content on your blog connects you with readers.
Why would you spend hours connecting on websites
you do not own?
Spend most time and energy connecting through your blog because you own your blog and set the rules. Frame social media as a secondary or even tertiary connecting medium behind your blog and email list. Never wait around to work because Facebook crashes. Stop migrating to new networks for connecting. Connect through your blog. Connect through a genuine blog commenting campaign.
Donna Merrill would still be connected with her tribe if social media disappeared overnight because her 1000’s of blog comments, 100’s of blog posts and loyal email list exist completely independent of social media. Facebook vanishing does not erase her 1000’s of genuine blog comments. Twitter disappearing does not erase 54,000 backlinks pointing to Blogging From Paradise. Donna and I spent years creating and connecting through online real estate we and our blogging buddies own. Our work vanishes only if our blogs vanish or if all of our buddies’ blogs vanish.
Connect primarily on your blog. Use social media sparingly. Build a rock solid foundation for your blogging business by spending most time creating and connecting on cyber real estate that you own.
Video – Study the Solopreneur – Blogging From Paradise with Ryan Biddulph
Developing posture enough to spend most time and energy on your blog feels uncomfortable to many bloggers.
Think, feel and act like a solopreneur to gain this level of confidence.
I did an interview a while back discussing the solopreneur mindset.
Hi Ryan,
I’m seeing the same trend. Not many bloggers are visiting and commenting. Rather they Tweet it out or share on other social media sites. We both know how valuable blog commenting is. It is great that you are spreading the word. The “newer” bloggers are not putting this into action.
When Facebook crashed, it didn’t bother me at all. Things like this happen from time to time. Its business as usual. So I used that time to create some emails and follow-ups.
Those who were freaking out had most of their business on the rented space of Facebook.
Hey, it was also a Mercury Retrograde and tweeks are expected lol.
-Donna
Hi Donna, I too see this same trend Ryan mentions in the post. Facebook crashing didn’t bother me at all either. Like you say here many are reliant on FB for most of their business. Blog commenting is so valuable and an awesome way to connect with other bloggers. The day Facebook went down provided perfect opportunity for people engage by leaving comments on other blogs. Have a wonderful weekend Donna!
You have both been on the blogging ball for a long time!
Ryan