Monday, July 21, 2008

Making bloggie friends.

Hi peeps. It is always nice when I get...out of the blue...an unexpected comment, and then take a little virtual trip over to their corner of Blogland and have a nose around. It has only dawned on me relatively recently that the best way to get your blog read is, first to link to other people as much as poss, both in the text and in the blogroll (frankly I still don't quite understand how they manage to link back to you but they do), second to read other people's blogs and comment, comment, comment.

You can lurk as much and as admiringly as you like around other people's blogs but you will only count as a faceless 'stat' unless you establish a presence there by commenting, if possible, on a regular basis. It helps if the blogs you go to are based around the same 'niche' or area of interest as your own, because in this way you become a part of an online community; become known to the other bloggers and regular commenters within it and get a feel for who among them particularly interests you.

As I've always said I am still very much a novice at the art of blogging. I am quite in awe of the many, brilliant young women bloggers there are... Dumped by a Hallucination and her many cohorts for instance but they have essentially grown up in a different world to the one I did. But I am loving the learning process, I have to say, and if I still have few comments, the kind Zania has helped me to understand that it is not necessarily a direct reflection on my general rubbishness.

It is true that it is indeed difficult to know what to say to someone who is going through extreme mental distress: that is one factor that might influence a lack of comments on depression blogs in general. But in my case there are other factors at work as well. I do need to be more blog-sociable, cross-reference more, link more, comment more, and as for the world of tagging and key words, that is still a complete mystery to me, but I'm confident I will get there in the end!

But the essential thing to remember in all this is that I love blogging. I blog because I thoroughly enjoy it, because I think the Internet in general and blogging in particular is one of the very best things about living in these times, and we might as well enjoy it. I don't blog entirely in the hope of having an appreciative audience, although naturally, that would greatly add to the satisfaction. I blog for the sheer joy of blogging and because now I've started, I really, really don't want to stop.

Take care all!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Zoe, thanks for the comments, I have to admit I've been dropping by you blog for a while without commenting, which is totally remiss of me and a bad habit - I always take ages to finally comment on blogs. Anyway, loving reading what you write and just dropping by to say "hi"! :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi again Zoe,
and thanks for the link. It wasn't asked for, but it is much appreciated :)

I knew you had placed a link to Fraying Edges in your sidebar a few weeks ago (I found it on my stats), so I came over and had a look. Read lots and liked what I read (I like your blogging style). But failed to comment. All I can say in apology is that I had a few family things going on at the time and was not that much in the mood for commenting.

But I still watched and saw you were wondering why you didn't get many comments, and it hit a nerve with me too (especially because I get comments on my other blogs, no problem, but my opwn personal depression blog, hardly ever - until now...), which is mainly why I made that post and linked to you and Cosmo (WTBD).

It's true what you say, if you want blogging friends, you do have to get out and about a bit and leave the odd comment, especially when you have a blog worth reading, like this one.

The only thing I find about commenting though is, as you say, it can be very time consuming. I only make comments nowadays when I feel I have something to say, otherwise the whole thing can get a little stressful and take you away from blogging (which is actually what we all want to do in the first place - blog because we like blogging).

As for tagging and keywords:
There are loads of blogs on the internet which can tell you how to do that. Here's one which might help (it's for blogs set up to make money by the way):
Beginners Guide to SEO.
But there's loads more out there which you may find more suitable.

I use the same tags as I do keywords, but you can use a couple more - it's mainly thinking about what words people are going to put into Google search (or technorati for tags) when they are looking for a blog on your subject.

Hope that helps, but don't worry too much about it, unless you want to make money from your blog. It's taken me months to get where I am with keywords, tagging and social bookmarking and all the rest.

Plenty of time to learn and your blog is great anyway!

Take care,
zania

Anonymous said...

OMG!
That comment was the length of a blog entry!
Sorry about that :)

Zoe said...

Thank you so much Chuckles. That is very reassuring! It is not always easy to know where to start with comments, I fully understand that. I've realised there's a bit of an art to writing a blog in a somewhat open-ended fashion, or even asking outright questions and thus inviting audience participation, as it were. I know I didn't particularly do that before but I am learning.

I am very much enjoying your blog as well...love the sinister clown!

Zania, thank you so much for such a helpful and informative comment: there's lots of food for thought there and again, I am massively reassured by the fact that I did have some (wonderful) readers even though I didn't always know it! I'd be interested to read your other blogs as well.

I have yet to work out how to find out my 'stats' on Blogger. I have been thinking of moving to Wordpress for some time now and already have opened a blog there but became faint-hearted because I wasn't sure my tecchie skills were up to it. It seems as if all the blogs I like are on Wordpress, and I certainly prefer the look of the templates.

Anyway, that's a whole other story...the great Wordpress versus Blogger debate! Thanks again guys! Zoe

Anonymous said...

Thanks Zoe, I hate clowns so it seemed right somehow?!
I started off on blogger but have found wordpress really easy in comparison, you don't need any techie skills and there's loadsa easy tutorial type things, anyway have fun!

Monica Cassani said...

you sound great Zoe!

just so you know, i know I've been remiss...brain fog and haze, but you are on my blogroll now...

I often just don't get around to the things I intend to do and I forget everything...

It's painful and embarrassing at times.

and also...just so you know...there are always many more readers than commenters...

not everyone likes saying their bit, though us bloggers generally can't shut up!!

love to you.

Polar Bear said...

hi there

And I hope you continue to blog. There is quite a community of us mentals out there - and it's good to be able to share our experiences.

Keep blogging then, and I'll be back.

Anonymous said...

Zoe, your blogs are interesting. For one, a delightful command of language aids you. Do you read the dictionary?

We got a new kitten. She is so cute - beige, maybe orange later.

I have been tending geraniums in a container. I like the way they smell.

Take care.

- Annette

Anonymous said...

Hi - I've been away, so I'm only just getting round to catching up on bloggy business. Thank you for your kind words; what's this 'different world' of mine? (Wales? :P)

Suzy x

Anonymous said...

Hi, I think you left a comment for me like that actually, I was so pleased, 'oh, wow, someone's reading my blog :)'.

Beware it's an unstoppable habit - I find myself composing entries on holiday in my head!

Sheryl said...

Just stumbled upon your blog. Wow. I really am thankful to read others that I can relate to. Thank you.