I knew when I started out on the theme of community that it would be easy to fall into the trap of:
a) focusing too much on blogging, and
b) repeating advice that’s already been given by others much better placed to do so than me.
I do have some blogging issues I want to cover though, and I’m going to focus on them this week. I’m also going to break my 3 days a week rule, and post each day. Both to get through the material, and allow me to move on, or back, to more of a focus on writing and language issues next week.
Coming up I’ve got pieces on: guest author guidelines; comment policy; reasons you might not want a community blog; and a focus on some of my favourite community blogs.
For today I’m just going to point you to some great resources on blogging and community. Spend enough time on the three blogs (ChrisG, Chris Brogan and Problogger) and you’ll pretty much learn all you need to know.
8 Tips for Building Community on Your Blog: Darren Rowse at Problogger
25 Ways to Build Your Community: Chris Brogan
How a Blog Can Grow Your Business: Chris Garrett (not exclusively focused on community, but the slides and/ or pdf download are really useful, and are based on an assumption that community building will be part of what you do)
And yes, that makes 34 things I don’t need to tell you about blogging and community 
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Hi Joanna, These are excellent posts, worth rereading. The upcoming topics you’ve chosen to write about sound very good as well.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..Welcome Bill Welter, New Blogger
Thanks Joanna – I’ll check these out. I can see how the community topic could wind up focusing way to much on blogging, if you hadn’t provided these links. Good idea. I give myself a mental slap whenever I’ve written too much about blogging.
Joanna,
yeah those guys are the real deal. However, some might find it difficult to become part of those bigger communities found at those sites. Especially, when people just want their feedback (could care less about what others have to say).
Also, some of those places (sites) have gotten to the point where the primary blogger no longer engages with his site’s audience.
Thanks for sharing Joanna.
For me, a really neat community is the one found at Thou Shall Blog (dot com).
-mig
Miguel Wickerts last blog post..Manage Your Life Using Web Notes
Brad I suppose I partly wanted to offer an introduction to some of the other questions so you wouldn’t all wonder where they’d come from. Some of the questions and issues have been bubbling away for a while, and I suddenly saw a way to bundle them together… or at least one after the other if you’ll bear with me this week.
Cath there’s some good stuff there – I really recommend the Chris Garrett slides in particular. Some good but simple ways to think about and describe the value added of blogging. I have a love-hate relationship with writing about blogging myself. Sometimes I get sick of it and want to focus on what I’m supposed to be writing about (and that’s when I give myself the slap too), but other times it seems perfectly natural and sensible to talk about the main thing that binds us all together, and we all find so interesting. And is guaranteed to get you good responses from your community of readers…
Mig those are very good reflections – that although some of these bigger bloggers have got good things to say about community you won’t necessarily get the feeling of community from a site of that size. I was struck when I looked at the posts I’d chosen how the language was all about building and growing, but your question makes me wonder… what is the point where things have grown to the point we want them to be? Because if they get too big some of the things we want to do like interact, and converse like this, would become impossible. Or certainly a lot harder to do.
Hmm, thanks for getting me to think about that, and telling me about Thou Shall Blog. Hadn’t heard of it before, but now signed up so I can explore more of what it’s about.
Looking forward to reading more about community. It’s one aspect of having a website that surprised me a bit. I expected it to a degree, but it has come from places that I didn’t necessarily predict.
Gennaros last blog post..Road Warriors: Bloggers In Motion
You have linked to some great resources there. I also applaud you for considering a blog as a community. It really frustrates me when people reject the whole concept of a blog being able to foster community.
Community building is a huge topic and can be overwhelming – it definitely needs to be broken down into bite size pieces if you are going to write about it (which is precisely what you are going to be doing, from the sounds of it).
I’m looking forward to reading your upcoming articles.
- Martin Reed
Martin Reeds last blog post..Community building: Getting members active and addicted
Gennaro I guess I didn’t expect it either – and it’s certainly the part that pulls you, as well as the reader in. I hope the posts coming up add something to the mix… as you’ll see from this post I don’t want to just rehash old ground. Trying to add value to my community
Martin hello. Yes, I’m a great fan of community blogs and feel proud to see this site developing as one. I do think it’s worth thinking through your reasons why though… hence my post tomorrow on some reasons not to have a community blog.
I also agree there are many different dimensions to it… and fascinated to see that your site is devoted to exploring just that. Going to head over and explore just now.
I’ve taken on board your recommendations to go check out the resources you’ve mentioned in this post. These are great resources.
David Atkinsons last blog post..Can Facebook,Twitter and MySpace Teach You How to Write?
WoW, all these 34 secrets about blogging and community were tremendously remarkable, Joanna. Thanks for the brilliant tips!
wilsons last blog post..My Nephew’s Tooth Pain Story!
David glad you found them useful – I think there’s a lot of good stuff in there that will help to get you going in the right direction.
Wilson I thought so too – and really didn’t see how I could add to them!
Hi Joanna! LOL! Clever way to do 34 things! I was all prepared for a list and had to laugh when I got to the end. Such wonderful advice and you have pointed to three masters in social media. I have read many of their posts several times and keep returning as I still have so much to learn. Although, I must say I do the same with your posts! There is a wealth of information here.
Karen Swims last blog post..Say What? The New Age of Comunication
Oh thank you Karen, but I suspect I was being slightly lazy in my creativity with this one! Really just looking for a way into the blogging / community issue, and they really are great links.
PS I’m always learning from you too
Joanna, you weren’t being lazy. You simply chose not to re-invent the wheel. If good information already exists out there, why waste time and energy redoing it?
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndromes last blog post..Get rid of your somedays: personalized help now available
Alex, thank you. Sometimes simple and easy is best… plus I don’t want to make assumptions about what others are reading. I know my commenters probably read these blogs already, but I doubt a lot of my readers do. That one is always a bit of a conundrum.