I remember all too well my first days of blogging. It looked like such a snap! Create a blog, write creatively and then the admirers would come, right? Um, No!
Back then I was a creative writing blogger so I was sure that soon I would grow a fan base.
Soon I decided maybe I should pursue other avenues so people could find me when my fans weren’t showing up to admire my talents.
Join a couple of blogger communities, build a Facebook page and reach out a little.
Building a fan base didn’t seem hard. “Like” people and they would like you back, right? Um, No!
It seemed like there were a lot of inconsiderate people who didn’t return likes and so my day of liking 80 pages resulted in 20 “likes” back and disillusionment sent in. This blogging thing was going to be a little harder than I first imagined.
I held off from joining hops as too often I had seen comments left on nice posts and deep meaning from those that disregarded the profound messages with comments of “Visiting you from the hop, follow me back” Gasp! Nothing like telling the world that their recipient of the crude comment had been desperate enough to prostitute themselves out by signing up for a hop to gain comments! I was naturally gun-shy and resisted but at last relented.
I joined hops, more disillusionment set in as I soon discovered that in most cases it was a ‘no show’ not a hop. In my excitement of hoping to bring several people to my page I actually visited every single person on a Simply Stacy hop of which over 240+ people signed up. I visited everyone and left a quality comment which resulted in 3 people visiting me back(one was the hostess of the hop, Thank you!). On that day those that left the crass ‘visiting you from the hop’ would have been welcomed.
I soon learned the code ‘will follow back’ left behind names as those that had learned the burn game of hopping with no shows and gave the subtle hint and promise of returning your visit with theirs. Eventually I gave up hops all together as it became more of a ‘Sit In’ as each blogger waited for another to show up so they didn’t receive the ‘hop burn’.
I found bloggers who became friends and together we supported one another in visiting each others pages. I learned a valuable word through that experience, “Support”.
In this world of Blogville, blogs do not survive on their own without a key number of friends that help one another. Some may feel they are better writers and some may feel they are better in the social marketing area. Regardless of talents the best blogger is the one that shows up to be supportive and appreciates the support they receive from others and never looses sight that your only as good as the support your receive from others.
about gracehodgin
Grandma Blogger encouraging grand parents to remain active in the lives of their grand children and to inspire imagination and creativity.
When Grace is not writing articles for her blog then she morphs into GracieLoo and is off to ZombieZoo where she is the resident Grandma who hands out cookies, kisses, band-aids for booboos and reads stories to her beloved ZombieZoo Residents.
Oh amen sister. Let me see, where could I repost THIS for all to read???
“Supportive” seems to be the last thing you think of as a new blogger but the first thing you think of when you’ve been blogging for awhile. “Support”, It is something that separates the new kids on the block from the veterans. LOL
Wonderful post and SOOO true….. You always need SUPPORT….Thanks Grace for putting this out for everyone to see.. we are in this together, we are a family, a team and friends….we can’t do it without each other and I’m loving it….
So true. Great post!
I thi k I walked the same path! I will be sharing this. Great post!
Great post! I agree with you completely – I try to support everyone on any “hop” I join in on, but sometimes I too feel like I am adrift on a lonely raft, in the sea of bloggers. That’s when the doubt that I am doing anything of value sets in.
But I keep trying.
I totally agree with you. I tried the hop thing and visited page after page to get a few people who returned visits. I think the best way to support other bloggers is to join a small group and find people who have similar interests. I am thankful to everyone who leaves comments on my page.
This is so true and so timely. I’ve been thinking the same thing. Mostly I chalk it up to how busy all our lives are, but I do try to support as much as I can.
You are right and sometimes we do get busy. I know on the holidays it gets hard for me to keep up which is why I ask people to let me know if they like my facebook page so I can return the like as it is hard sometimes to stay on top. I’m not perfect either but I’m like you as I do make an honest attempt to be supportive back.
I hear you, sister!
I think this is so important.. not enought bloggers in my area ..support the ones you have and encourage newer ones!! (So glad that you bought this up )