Don’t Be a Creepy Jerry

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Everywhere in the blogosphere you’ll find Creepy Jerry’s … trolling blogs all day long but never leaving any comments. Why is this? If Creepy Jerry’s have the time to read, don’t they also have the time to leave a quick comment?

Are you a Creepy Jerry? Do you prefer to engage in the equivalent of one night stands with a variety of blogs? To read posts quickly and then slip silently away, never to be seen or heard from again? Or do you like to form a personal and long-lasting relationship with a blog, commenting and visiting on a regular basis?

As I’m new to blogging, I’m interested to see what might entice a Creepy Jerry to leave his world of trolling and lurking behind and become an active member on a blog such as mine.

Creepy Jerry’s of the world, I’m asking you to come out of your trolling closet and leave a comment today! You can even use a fake name if you’d like or simply be known as “anonymous.” Baby steps.

And if you're wondering, there is a real-life Creepy Jerry at my office who inspired this post. In fact, he's probably reading this right now, lurking in the shadow of his computer, never commenting, but always there.

RSS Feeds: Do You Need One?

Do you have an RSS feed on your blog? An RSS feed is a way for your readers to sign up to receive your blog posts by email or in their reader. It can be hard for people to remember all the blogs they like to read, so this is a quick and easy way to ensure your readers will be coming back for more.

Here’s an article I read today titled: BTW, WTF is RSS by Bob Dunn. It’s a good summary of what an RSS feed is, why you need it, and how you can implement it into your blog.

If you’re just starting out your blog, however, all the add-ons and widgets out there can be overwhelming. My blog is still a newbie and does not have an RSS feed just yet. When you're just starting out as a blogger, it’s hard to figure out which add-ons you really need or which your readers would even use or like. My advice is to not worry about it and just start out slow.

Build your blog a little each day and don’t worry about doing everything all at once. As you get the hang of things, you’ll feel more comfortable and you’ll begin to understand the type of add-ons and widgets that would be best for your particular blog and your audience.

Having trouble getting traffic to your blog or website? Voice of North America can help. Through Voice of North America, you’ll be able to post blogs and articles on a 50 domain network. This will help you get found in the search engines and increase your quality back links.

Social Media, Blogging, and You

Even wild horses shouldn't be able to keep you away from social media.

Remember Myspace? It was pretty much the first social networking site to gain an enormous following. However, most Myspace users were young – my guess would be under 25 at least – with most being much younger. This would mean that only businesses whose products or services related to a younger demographic would benefit from having an account or advertising on there.

But with Twitter and Facebook now leading the pack, the game has completely changed. More and more adults are now using both social networking sites on a regular basis. In fact, I received a Facebook request from my Mom just a few days ago—the jury’s still out on whether or not I’m going to accept that request! My cousins (of ages ranging from 26-39) and aunts and uncles (ages 55+) are all on there as well.

Just today, I read an article titled Adult Use of Social Media Soars by Sarah E. Needleman. She noted that 65% of all U.S. adults now use social media accounts and on a typical day, 43% of those adults say they visit sites like Facebook and Twitter.

If you’re a business owner, this news should be very interesting to you. This means that you’re now able to reach a huge demographic through social media and effectively target your intended audience, no matter what their age range is. It seems that pretty much everyone is using social media sites—if your business isn’t represented on them, you’re losing out on exposure, consumer interaction, and potential profit. 

If you’re a blogger, promoting your blog on social media sites is a very valuable tool. Whether your blog is just for fun or for profit, marketing yourself on sites like Facebook and Twitter make for a more personal experience for your readers and help you gain more followers.

I read a blog that I love called The Fitnessista on a daily basis and I’ve made sure that I’m also a fan on her Facebook and a follower on her Twitter account. I know right away when she posts a new blog because she updates both accounts and she also posts different content on her social media sites that cannot be found on her blog. If you do the same, you’re going to gain exposure and keep your current readers engaged.

What social media sites beyond Twitter and Facebook have you found to be the most beneficial to you?

If you’re having trouble getting found on the search engines, you might want to consider enlisting some outside help by visiting http://www.voiceofnorthamerica.com/. Voice of North America is a great way to market your business, gain exposure, and reach potential customers. You’ll get to blog on their site in all 50 states, helping you get found on search engines and increase your web (or blog) traffic drastically! 

Wherefore Art Thou, Comments?

Look at those fingers go! She can't type comments on your blog fast enough!

So you started a great blog, much like this one, filled with interesting and witty posts, yet you still haven’t received any comments. Don’t get too down . . . all blogs have to start somewhere, right? But instead of just constantly refreshing your screen waiting to see comments that never come, why not do something about it?

Here’s an idea—Find a few blogs that you like reading and comment on them regularly. I’m not talking about being a comment spammer, either. Most blog owners do not mind if you put a link to your own blog or website in your signature, but they do mind if your comments don’t seem genuine. Pointless comments like “Great post” don’t go over well because they’re clearly only placed there so you can get your link on their blog. Leave thoughtful and interesting comments that actually add something to the conversation and make sure to keep the convo going if people reply to your comments. This is a great way to gain exposure for your blog and increase the likelihood of building regular commenters of your own.

Once you start getting visitors and commenters to your blog, make sure you actually reply! Seems silly to ignore the visitors you’ve tried so hard to get, doesn’t it? But this is a common mistake many new bloggers make. Talk to your visitors, engage them with questions and polls, and by all means, respond when they comment on your posts. If a visitor leaves an especially interesting comment, maybe even give them a shout out in another blog post – this is a fantastic way to make your blog an interactive and rewarding experience for your visitors.

A way to reach as many blog visitors as possible (and get those commenters) is by checking out http://www.voiceofnorthamerica.com/. Voice of North America lets you blog in all 50 states, reaching people easily and quickly. Direct them back to your blog or your website and gain valuable exposure and watch those comments roll in!

Lastly, consider getting an add-on that lets your blog visitors sign up to be notified when a person replies to a comment they left. This will ensure they do not forget about your blog or the comments they’ve left! Here’s one I’ve heard of that works, ubt you’ll have to see if it works with the blog service you’re using first. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/comment-reply-notification/ 

I must say, my blog would like some comments, too. Feel free to add a comment or two or leave a tip on what you feel the best way to grow your blog follower and commenter database is.