We’ve talked diligence and design, but this third and final installment in the essential elements of blogging is the most important :
Generosity begets generosity.
I’ve learned that if you want people to pay attention to you, you have to start with paying attention to them first.
It’s how you build community. You can write great content, but if you’re not actively engaging with others through their blogs and social media, your blog will remain a lone little island of you, your mother, and that stranger in Romania.
Also, I should distinguish between positive and negative engagement.
It is the difference between demanding versus inviting, marketing versus dialoguing.
No one wants to be put on the spot to share or endorse your work. No one needs another sales pitch.
When we share good, honest, vulnerable, true stories in our work and engage others in their honesty and vulnerability and talent, we don’t have to beg.
If we give and share unconditionally, if we admit that nothing is original and that creativity is cultivated best through community, everything will grow organically.
My blog didn’t start growing until I started connecting with others through comments, Twitter, and content sharing. I didn’t meet other writers until I fell down the rabbit hole of the blog world. The tandem of blogging and tweeting has connected me to the deeper network of writers that have inspired and changed me. And I learned to engage them without expecting anything in return. I learned to build relationships.
A short but extremely important list of people I’ve discovered :
Ally & Darrell Vesterfelt | Jeff Goins | Samantha Shorey | Joe Bunting | Leigh Kramer | Lore Ferguson
And this is why I won’t ever stop doing my Inspired By series; it’s an unconditional exercise in hospitality and giving credit where credit is due. I would be an empty, inert vessel if I wasn’t reading and exploring other blogs and books and articles every week. What I read has an enormous influence on how I arrive at my own content. I share because otherwise my content would be two-dimensional, and in a sense, dishonest. I share out of gratitude. I share because I want you to be inspired to explore and grow, too.
Check back tomorrow for a full list of lovelinks that helped me develop good blogging habits, or jump in right now by perusing my “Inspired By” links in the column to your right.
Share your own thoughts : What are the golden rules of blogging? Or if you don’t blog, how have you learned to be generous in your work?
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