Joining a Community of Bloggers
In early November, I became an active member of the Blog Engage Community and it has been an amazing journey and an extremely rewarding experience. This image represents a small sampling of the bloggers that I’ve networked with since joining Blog Engage.
I was somewhat timid in my initial approach because I’d heard talk that it is not a good idea to join a lot of blog directories. You know, everyone is afraid of the big, bad, wolf known as Google and what might happen to you if you don’t follow every rule they make to a “T”. Yet, for every article that talks about not submitting your blog with too many directories, I find another that says directory submissions are the best thing since sliced bread. So I have to go with my gut, forget all about Google’s rules, and just “do me“.
Building a Social Network at Blog Engage
I looked around the Blog Engage site and right away I noticed something unique. I quickly caught on to the the fact that BE doesn’t look or feel at all like a directory but more like a place to hang out and rub shoulders with some of the finest bloggers on the planet!
Soon, I began to feel increasingly comfortable in my new BE skin and I started to submit, vote, comment, interact, follow, share, laugh, and tweet up a storm with my new found blogging friends. Oh, and you probably know already that I created two how-to videos for newcomers to the BE site.
Here’s a summary of my Blog Engage activity for the month of November:
- Joined on 11/2/09
- Submitted 11 posts (not including this one) 7 are published
- Created 2 screencasts Introduction: The Blog Engage Community
- Read, voted on, and very often left comments for over 125 articles from other bloggers
- Did my first guest interview with Karen from Blazing Minds Latest Blogger Interview with Ileane from Ms. Ileane Speaks (aired on Dec. 3rd)
- Wrote a review of Blog Engage on Shvoong (please rate the review)
- My blog was featured in a post on Freeman Legacy LLC
- Received my first Alexa review from Ms. Freeman
- Wrote my first Alexa review for Freeman Legacy LLC
- My blog was featured in a post by Jimi Jones in The Online Business Blog
- Mentioned in Share the love, who’s talking about Blog Engage
- Listed in Coolest articles on the week form the Blog Engage community
- Listed in Weekly Round Up – BlogEngage, iTunes, Google Wave
- Received comments, tweets, retweets, stumbles, backlinks, trackbacks and pingbacks like never before
- Created a Blog Engage Twitter List http://twitter.com/Ileane/blogengage
There is one post that I submitted to Blog Engage that did not do as well as I expected in gaining votes. Do Twitter Backgrounds Attract New Followers? hasn’t received enough votes to be published yet, but I am still hopeful that it will.
Published Articles for Ms. Ileane Speaks
- Introduction: The Blog Engage Community [Video]
- Twitter Meets Buzzom [Video]
- Searching for the Perfect Tweet
- Posterous – Life Streaming or Not?
- Top 5 Blog Topics
- Tweet Smarter with Retweet Links
- StumbleUpon Demystified
I want to thank each and everyone that helped make my first month as a Blog Engage member so enjoyable. Feel free to share your Blog Engage experiences or let me know if you have questions.
Smooches!
ms. ileane speaks 
This is another idea of promotion, good one! posting your activities!
Hi Hesham,
I am taking the advice of our Blog Engage friend Extreme John http://www.extremejohn.com/increase-your-blog-engage-votes-with-a-recap/
Thanks for the vote!
PS: I haven’t been on Facebook in awhile but I will check out the Fan Page for Famous Bloggers next time I login.
Hi Ileane,
congratulations to those positive experiences on blog-engage and thank even more for sharing them with us.
Actually I was suprised to read, that your article about Twitter-Backgrounds didn’t work that well. It was the first one I read in your blog, and – as commented there – it saved me quite some time! 🙂
DeSchneider,
Thank you for the feedback. Maybe some bloggers will take a second look and vote for the post now.
Simply awesome. 😉
Hey Kissie,
Are you becoming a WordPress.com blogger now too? That’s great news. Thank you.
I’ve had it for some time but recently I came up with a topic theme and that will be noted in my first post. It’s funny too.
I admire your passion – and I know from history, whatever you choose to do – YOU DO.
What the heck! I just typed a long comment and I got an error message saying I already posted that comment and you can’t duplicate, huh?
The first comment is there. All is well. I’m sure your blog will do well. Keep me posted.
Well that is a pretty cool post! 🙂 You get around now don’t you LOL:)
Keep up the awesome work here and I suspect you’ll be getting even more recognition.
Thank you for the link love….
Hi there,
Glad you stopped by. You are very welcome and thanks for including me in your post also! I’ll be seeing you over at Blog Engage real soon.
Wow!! I wanna be like Ms. Ileane. You sure were busy. And it looks like a lot, but I bet it didn’t take a lot of time. And that’s exactly why I need to join this group! Another great find Ileane! You rock!!
Angela, Blog Engage would love to have you join our community. You will be a great asset.
Wow, you really had an awesome month and I hope it continues. You bring a lot of energy with your blogging and it is great to see that.
You’ve taken what I would say is the correct position. Google is nice and all of that, but we bloggers have to write for people, the rest will take care of itself. Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much for the shout out, much appreciated.
I’m honored to be a part of your post. 🙂
Excellent point Jimi. I started out writing for people and not Google. Google won’t make me happy, but connecting with great bloggers like you does. Thanks for the support.
You’ve done some great things at BlogEngage. Maybe enough to be assigned a “honorary member” title 🙂
It’s a great community I just wish the forum was more like Websitebabble but maybe with time it will.
Gordon,
Thanks for the kind words.
I agree that the BE forum doesn’t have the depth that the Website Babble forum has yet. I am going to mention to Brian that he should do a video on forum participation. He is doing such a great job with everything else I can understand why he hasn’t had the chance to focus on it.
Have you been babbling lately? I still keep up with it.
Many thanks for including a link to my weekly round-up, it’s great to see that you are enjoying BlogEngage it’s probably the best site on the net at the moment 😉
Karen, the pleasure is all mine. I love your blog – feels good to be a “top commentor”. Thanks for the visit and I can’t wait until the interview goes live (you can email me when it does).
yes. im very impressed with your accomplishments…you are awesome!
Nicole,
You started me on this, and your blog is great too. I’m very anxious to read your next post!
Btw- this mix CD you gave me is off the chains!
Love you!
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I agree. I like Blogengage as it’s more than just a bookmarking sites. I get to support the members’ page while at the same time network with them easily. I feel blessed to be in it and great pleasure to have you as a valuable member too.
Best wishes!
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Ching Ya,
I enjoy reading your blog and it if wasn’t for Blog Engage our paths might not have crossed. Thanks for your kind words and support. I will be looking out for your next submission.
I have seen you everywhere lately. You are a real go-giver! I love that you are supporting so many different bloggers and Blog Engage. I think you may leave more comments in a day than I do in a month, and we bloggers love comments!
It’s not surprising that you have compiled such a long list of accomplishments. Congratulations, and keep up all the great support your giving to the BE community.
Hi Brad, You are right, getting comments is great, especially nice ones like this. Thanks!
I should really go back and check out Blog Engage in more detail. The first time I went there I found it a little overwhelming and admit I didn’t give it enough of my time than it deserved – especially now since it seems to have been growing very well the last couple of months.
I’ve seen the blog engage button on heaps of blogs now! Brian has done a great job. 🙂
Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com
Hi Sarge,
I was intimidated by blogengage the first time I stumbled on it. Then Ileane recommended it so I knew I had to try it out. Haven’t looked back since. 🙂
Angela, I am so glad you are active in Blog Engage now. I see that you are getting plenty of votes.
How is your blog traffic?
I just added you to the Blog Engage Twitter List. Don’t forget to vote for this post!
Thanks.
It’s great! I’m sure it will only get better with more blogging and the more I comment and interact with others. I love it!
Hi Ileane,
It’s absolutely fantastic the support and inspiration you’ve given over at BlogEngage – which is definitely the most personally interesting site that I’ve come across this year. When I first came across Brian in Keller Hawthorne’s contest I was quite simply taken aback by the amount of creativity, thought & care behind this project …
Well, a bit of a rush right now – but I’d just like to quickly suggest two things . One, that your blog becomes a “Site Of The Day” at whatawebsite ( please just let me know if you want to be included – and please say yes!) . Two, let’s get some heads together soon and make a real concerted effort to promote BolgEngage in the internet more effectively ( The power of a motivated group is enormous & we should harness that. I’ll create a blog post about this soon by the way & maybe you’d like to be involved with that somehow? )
Ok, must dash ( football friends waiting in the park!!)
Best wishes from Hamburg
Will
Will,
I’m on your site now, looking over your recent picks. I would be honored to be included on the list. Please let me know what else I need to do and I look forward to our Blog Engage promotion chat!
Thank you!
That was a top tip John shared and it’s great seeing it in practice here Ileane. BlogEngage is certainly great and the community of active bloggers makes it a much richer experience than many similar styled sites.
Karl
Hi Karl,
Thanks for visiting my blog. I have a question for you. How has your traffic changed since joining Blog Engage?
Hey Ileane,
My site has been on the new domain for just over three weeks now and we have lost a lot of our search placement because of it. Our traffic is rising and BlogEngage has helped by being in my top 10 referrers every day. I’d love to see it being my number 1 or 2 referrer one day!
As we work on securing the pages we were ranked high for in SERPs it will be interesting to see how BlogEngage fairs in our stats (maybe I just need to be adding better content 🙂 ).
Karl
Hi Karl,
I’m glad that Blog Engage can contribute to the revival of your traffic. From what I’ve read on your blog I don’t think the content can get much better because it is fantastic. You should see all of the “To Do” lists I’ve created based on your posts. As soon as I get one or two items checked off, you do another post and I start all over again. lol
Thanks for taking the time to comment here.
Ileane, that is so nice of you to say. ‘Thanks for taking the time to comment here…’ you can be sure that you will see me around here in the future as well!
Warmest regards,
Karl
I just joined it, seems very helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Ben,
Let me be the first to welcome you to the Blog Engage community. Let me know when you have submitted a post so I can check it out.
Cheers!
Awesome Ileane. Great to hear. Congrats on the success thus far with BE. Sounds like it was a good thing for you to do. I will have to look into it myself. Great article about it also. Got me curious about it. Well-written.
Hi,
This is pretty cool, I was responding to your question on Website Babble just as you were checking out my blog. Thanks so much for stopping by. I’ve encouraged a few of my fellow bloggers to join Blog Engage and each one has had a fantastic experience. It is a great way to get high-quality targeted traffic for your blog. I hope to see you joining soon.
Let me know if you need any help getting started.
I joined BE and if I accomplish a small fragment of what you did in November alone, I’ll be so proud of myself. First of all, joining was a huge step toward progress.
See you there …. Oh, I shall give that Twitter Background thing a vote too.
I found Famous Bloggers on there as well, and glad I did.
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Thank you for introducing me to blogengage.com. I can’t wait to check it out.
Hi Rose,
Nice to meet you! Well, alrighty then….
The pleasure is all mine.
Nice shout out there!
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Ileane,
Thank you for the warm reception to Blog Engage. We had seen ExtremeJohn mention the community before, but had not decided to look into until recently.
Congratulations on your success and for making a dynamic experience!
Your friend,
Source Blogger
Unfortunately my experience with blogengage hasnt been something to boast of. But it is my mistake as i am not much active on be. Good to see that you have made some good friends.
Hi Ricky, Maybe in 2010 you will start being more active with Blog Engage. If you let me know when you submit a post, I’ll be sure to help by giving it at RT and a vote. Thanks for the comment.
Im not in BlogEngage. thanks a lot,. Im going to join in it straight away.
Great, I’ll look for your submissions!
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