Ten minutes ago I received an email notification that Chris Brogan had responded to a comment I made on his blog. Chris is one of the rock stars of social media and the blogosphere. If you look at my Feedburner chicklet you’ll see that I am averaging around 650 or so readers a day, Chris has more than 45,000.
My posts probably average about 7 or 8 comments. I am guessing that Chris averages about 15 times that amount.
The point of all this is not a shameless attempt to get Chris’ attention and hope that he mentions me so that I can share in his traffic. Rather it is to touch upon the feeling that I got when I received that noticed that he had replied to my comment.
I was very pleased. It made me happy. He acknowledged me. It helps that I appreciate his work and that I think that he is a leader in the field. I am especially appreciative because I recognize how much time it must take to respond to comments.
The point here is that if you want to build a community on your blog you need more than great content. You need to find a way to acknowledge people. You need to take a moment to shine a light on them and acknowledge that they are important and worthwhile.
If you do that you’ll find that they’ll keep coming back and they’ll bring friends. It is a worthwhile venture and something that brick and mortar businesses would do well to observe. We’re more than just numbers. We’re more than the prospect you hope to close or the sale you just made.
Treat people well and you’ll reap many rewards. It is worth the effort.
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