Your blog is real estate you own- you nailed it Mark. Tomorrow Twitter and FB can disappear, we have no control over them. But our blogs are our homes and yes inviting our friends and building a great community in our homes matters.

Happy to see you back online, the community missed you!

Hi Mark, as soon as I saw the title of this post, I knew my brain would click into overdrive!

You may have already read it, but I wrote a post recently titled “Why I’ve Decided To Cut Down On Blog Comments”, where I talk about how visiting so many blogs and leaving comments got to be too time-consuming and heavy. I’ve since decided to only comment on blogs that have commented on mine, with me throwing in a retweet for good measure.

I’ve found that this has freed up more time for what I love doing: writing. I now plan to post more regularly, and those comments that I do leave, they will be better in quality as they won’t feel so laboured and forced.

In terms of community, there’s already a group of ‘regulars’ who repeatedly come back to comment on my writing, and I’m happy with that. What I had a problem with, was the many comments I was leaving on other blogs that went unanswered. Sure, I might have gained a little more traffic, but I decided it wasn’t worth it.

BTW, I haven’t copied this from that post, this is fresh writing. But now I might copy this and paste it into my post anyway because this sounds good!

John – one of my very favorite home away from home spots is your blog. You’re a very thoughtful smart individual. I’m always learning on your blog. I’m sure many thousands of people will be pleasantly surprised as they discover you and your house!

Thank you for your continued support and inspiration : )

Hey Stu – You’re the first message I woke up to sir – Good Morning : )

You strike me as a quality person – it shows up loud and clear in your writing. I’m honored and thankful to have you part of my blogging experience. I’m a student of life and business and you consistently feed my hunger for both.

Your post on “why you’ve decided to cut down on blog comments” was great. I pretty much follow the same process with my blogging efforts.

Quality is all that matters when building and being part of a thriving community where all who are part get value from each other. That kind of community will attract like-minded folks who desire to grow with the community instead of just take from it.

Funny, this post was a reply I was writing to John’s post – haha!

Thanks for all you do Stu – I appreciate you very much : )

Thanks for the kind words Mark, they mean a lot to me! I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, so there will be plenty more content coming your way

I can see how blog commenting can take away too much time, believe me. I do read, RT, comment less often on those blogs that don’t extend that courtesy to me once in a while, but I’m not quite ready to stop just yet. IDK I think I’d be doing a disservice to my readers and my own writing if I limited my reading and commenting elsewhere too strictly. If it’s a good post, I’ll share it; if I have something worth adding, I’ll comment. FWIW.

My blog has helped me be more productive by creating a community, building honest-to-goodness relationships with peers. I’m learning, growing, evolving as a writer and communicator. I’m more comfortable and confident in my writing and approach; I know I don’t have all the answers and that’s ok; it’s about my blog, my opinions, my approach and what works best for me.

That is an awesome attitude Davina – I’m so happy we’ve connected and have an opportunity to get to know each other and grow personally and professionally as a result.

I’m truly grateful to meet awesome people like you who are getting things done — that is very exciting to me. It makes this exercise all the more fulfilling and rewarding.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing — I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more of each other in the blogosphere in 2011 : )

The process is what is so amazing to me. I’m not a professional writer – blogging is the most writing and thinking I’ve had to do professionally in my career — I have the talking part down

I really am learning a tremendous amount about myself and and many new things from others. It’s been a gold mine for me.

However, in line with your thinking – It’s all about the connection… That happens with two way communication. I have absolutely no interest in one-way conversations or relationships – there is really no point in that to me.

Onward and upward Davina!

[...] that can help you start, build or expand any business right now: Twitter, Facebook and a blog. Your Blog should be your home base for all of your social media efforts. There are other platforms you can [...]

Mark,
Nice post my friend – I could not have said it better myself. Your blog you own and control. All the other social media outposts should simply be used to engage your audience and invite them to visit your home base.

Comment streams become conversations.
Jim

Hey Mark, this is a great post! Everyone getting into (or already in) online marketing should read this. There is too strong of an emphasis on social media websites these days. But with these sites, you lose almost all control of your content. Look at the guy a few weeks ago who lost 4,000 pictures on Flickr by accident. If he had set up a nice blog to showcase them, that would have never happened. Ultimately, I feel social media websites main goal should be to engage with your community with eventual hopes of getting them back to your blog.

Thanks for the post!

Great minds think alike?? haha

Thanks for stopping by Jim – your support is encouraging.

I think it’s important for people to understand that they can leverage awesome platforms to connect with others like FB and Twtr… But they need to control their content and their future on their blog.

Tomorrow, FB or TwTr could be gone… and there will be another platform that takes center stage. Regardless, the social footprint and content (your blog) that got you traction in the first place will still be there serving its purpose; revealing to the world who you are and what you’re about.

Have a great weekend Jim : )

I agree that blogging is the most valuable social media platform. Through blogging, I’ve developed wonderful relationships that have impacted my life and have presented me with great opportunity.

What I’m most excited about is the longer term implications of relationships that I’m forming today.

Mark – I value your knowledge. Sounds like just a nice thing to say…but I really mean it. There’s one thing I’ve developed over th years and that’s a sense of who the players are. And YOU’RE A PLAYER!

Yo Jk – alwasy good to see you sir : )

I think we’ve developed some of the same senses over the years!

What I really like about blogging communities that thrive is that most of the participants are students of life and business in general who all contribute great insights, tips and information and take some away.

We’re all making each other better through effective blogging practices and that is pretty cool.

I’m positive there is more education value through connecting with the right people in the blogosphere than many college campuses offer.

Thanks for popping in Jk – see you soon : )

Hi Bradley – thanks for stopping by and sharing a piece of your mind.

People need to realize that all of that hard work and effort they put in to creating quality content is adding tremendous value to the social networks their sharing it on. If for whatever reason they happen to be gone tomorrow, all of that effort is gone.

By simply posting all of the content you create on a blog first, then sharing it on all of your favorite social platforms, much of that traffic will find its way to your blog and that traffic you own!

The hard part is creating the content… it’s easy to put a blog up and post the content you want to share there first. If you’re going to jump in and go to work, you might as well build some equity take out for yourself in the process.

I hope to see more of you Bradley — I’m off to make sure were all connected up in other communities

Cheers to you!

Found your blog — all sub’d up : )

You hit the nail on the head, you don’t own the traffic on social platforms. And that’s what it’s all about for brands.

You hit the nail on the head, not just the social platforms traffic. And what is all about brands.

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