growing your blog with communities

I am not too experienced in the field of blogging community. At this moment I am a part of a few. Communities are something every blogger will recommend to you. The same they would do with commenting on other people's blogs and starting friendships. Communities are all about that. These are places to ask someone more experienced in the blogging world about your concerns or problems. This is the part that I love the most. Blogger families open different types of doors. What makes it all work out are strong leaders, knowing how to organize everything. It is hard not to lose balance between healthy "family" relationship and a facebook group where everyone does nothing but promote themselves. The biggest community that I am a part of has a few thousands members, so it is a potentially huge readers base.

Promotion is something we all want, and we shouldn't deny that. We dream to be noticed, our content loved, commented on, our views going up and staying there. But we should promote ourselves only when and where it's appropriate and welcome.

 Do not use it for your advantage only.

I recently became a part of a new, pretty huge blogging community on facebook, and what struck me at first sight was the enormous number of posts where people would just ask others to visit their blog or site. I was used to creating bonds first, then later on sharing where people can find you. I don't know, maybe it is harder with bigger groups, but I got somehow repelled by it. It was like a continous stream of advertisements and it was hard to make out people whom I could have liked. So for me it is either a disadvantage of bigger communities or a definite no-no when it comes to community savoir vivre.

 If you mastered some blogging aspect, share what you know.

And by being a master of something, I mean this one sleepless night that you spent trying to figure out SEO of your site, or Google Analytics set up, or Blogger > Wordpress transfer, or domain purchase, or monetizing your blog. There are so many things that you can teach people how to do, or show them your ways of doing something. People look for the helpful hand all of the time, and who knows you might end up having a new friend if you help someone out. Realizing that you may help someone make this one step further is a truly magical feeling! :)

Read the rules of the community you're a part of and obey them.

Of course everyone will forgive you if you do something wrong the first couple of weeks after you got approved. You're a newbie, you don't exactly know how the community works. After that period of time, you might be considered an ignorant. Some groups have rules so strict that if you promote yourself on the other day than it's set to do so, your post gets deleted and you might even get removed from the group. Following the rules is always beneficial in the long-term.

Be your true, loving self.

Communities give you the ability to make the connection with your potential viewer go to the friendship level. I don't know about you, but this is my ultimate goal. I avoid advertising my blog as it is. I would rather stay a little behind and let the other factors decide. The cool part is that if you take some time to find the right community for you, you will be surrounded with people with values similar to your own. If you want your content reviewed, there is of course a place for that too! Communities host special days or posts where you can share and send some love back, visiting other blogs and commenting on them.

You can look for guest bloggers too! (like I did recently) or ad swappers - that's cool too.

When I have decided to dedicate October for guest posts, communities were the first place I went. Due to the fact that I am starting fourth year of dentistry already, I would love to spend the first month of the new academic year letting some talented people take over Dipped in Rococo and entertain you while I am away and studying. I hope you will like that little temporary change. We have got some talented artists and blogger featured, so stay tuned!


So whenever you need a guest blogger or you are hosting a giveaway that you want people to know about, communities will be there to help you in the process. Quite nice, don't you think? But let's don't forget that communities are to share the passion for blogging. That should be the main reason you apply for a membership in one. To end this little post and let you an advise or two... If you want to be a part of a fun, loving community I would surely recommend you THE PEONY PROJECT, started by Betsy Fick :)

Got any experience yourself? Are you a fan of blogging communities? Tell me in comments.