Whenever I give myself room to breathe, everyone around me gets nicer.
It’s an odd thing to write under the masthead Successful Blog. It’s such an opportunity, such an “Okay, Big Shot,” moment. It’s a chance to model best practices, not just write about them.
The writer’s credo is Don’t tell, show. How much closer to that could I get than this?
I can talk about building community by answering comments relentlessly, but it’s so much more powerful when I do it and my readers actually experience how it feels. I can explain how to correct your public mistakes, but again how much greater impact it has when I actually do what I say. If I do this job right, everything I do has the potential to have a tiny positive effect on the blogosphere.
So I share with you my learning curve at the end of one month. I’ve learned.
- That people respond positively when you treat them like people who are worth talking to. They pitch in, share ideas, and form a community that’s fun to be part of.
- That when someone takes a negative viewpoint, it works better to take the conversation offline.
- That the blogosphere doesn’t need me to keep it working right.
- That keeping focus on my readers takes care of almost every problem. (Except how I’m going to pay for my son’s college. 🙂 )
In 1972, a friend said to me “You always leave the other guy a place to stand.”
That advice has served me every day since. It works with everyone from 6 to 106. We all need a place to stand–no matter how scary we look. It can be the smallest thing. Here’s a fun read about Giving the Other Guy a Place to Stand that explains what I’m talking about.
If I could choose one best practice to pass on, that would be the one–that everyone in the blogosphere leaves lots more room for the other guy to stand.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
