Have you ever had trouble getting people to fall in love with your blog?

If you’re wondering how to get an enthusiastic audience to come to your blog over and over, this simple guide is for you.

Rabid means intensely passionate. A rabid fan is worth 100 casual readers. Maybe even 1,000.

Without rabid fans, your blog will fall short of its potential and your business will suffer as a result.

Building a rabid audience is like building a community: it can be hard work, but it’s well worth the effort.

Step 1: Create a mouth-foaming object.

In my Blog Community Building guide, I call this an “object of adoration.” It’s the centerpiece at the dining table. It’s the campfire at the campfire. It’s the glistening bowl of Toasty Oh’s, milk splashing in from the sky, in the middle of the cereal box.

It’s something to gather around and talk about. Something to focus on.

Something people can get rabid about.

These MFOs or OOAs work best when they create a gathering place around you and your products/services.

Step 2: Get lots of toothpicks.

And cut your object in pieces and stick the toothpicks in the pieces and hand them out to everyone. As they walk away chomping, call out, “Tell your friends!” Better yet, say it with a smile as they curiously take your offering from your warm hand.

Step 3: Watch for the foamers.

They’re out there. It’s a scientific fact of nature. Someone who sees what you’ve done, who’s tasted what you’ve concocted, will discover it and experience an epiphany of ecstasy. They’re baking soda and your stuff is vinegar.

Look closely, though. Sometimes the foam bubbles only on the inside.

Step 4: Reward Rabidity.

Rabidity is unbridled excitement.

Scene 1: It’s Christmas morning at 4:13 am and you’re 5 years old and Mommy and Daddy still haven’t woken up. The unspoiled wilderness of unopened joy awaits. You’re not just foaming. You’re frothing like a freshly made root beer float.

Scene 2, Fantasy: By 6:13 in the morning you’ve thundered through every last shred of wrapping. You glance upward plaintively at your loving parents. They snap their fingers and POOF! A brand-new mountain of gifts materializes before your dinner-plate eyes. Rabidity rewarded.

Scene 2, Reality: 10 o’clock came and went and all Mommy and Daddy got you among the shimmering boxes, bows, and bags was undies and socks. Rabidity rejected.

Which Scene 2 would you rather watch?

Which Scene 2 are your rabid blog lovers watching?

Rabidity is easy to reward. Just give them more, more, more.

That’s one of my favorite books to read to the kids. Especially the part where …

See, now you’re curious. If I don’t reward that smidgen of rabidity, I’m rejecting it. There is no middle ground with foamers.

Especially the part where Little Guy’s Daddy catches that baby up and smooches him right on the belly button.

What kid isn’t gonna laugh and beg, “More, More, More?”

That’s It … Lather, Rinse, Repeat

That’s it. Do those four things and you’ve started to build a rabid blog audience.

In coming weeks I’ll share more detail on each of these steps.

images by Dictionary.com and liber

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Step-by-step tips on this topic next week.

Which step is the hardest for you?

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Yesterday I answered the question, “Where is your blog community?”

It’s in the mind.

But minds scatter online attention across vast fields of URLs.

Which is why, for example, it’s not uncommon for your Twitter account to sparkle while your blog gathers dust or vice versa.

It’s not enough to just get more “friends” or “followers” or commenters in a dozen different places.

You’ve gotta unify the fragments and make each community member aware of each of them. You’ve gotta bring together the logs so your bonfire can be much bigger and brighter and hotter than any smaller fire could be.

With that in mind, here are 8 ways to unify your blog community so that your blog and social media profiles work together (not just apart) for your business.

For further reading, please see my free guide on How to Improve Your Blog Community.

Let us count the ways:

1. Monitor the Web
2. Cross-Fire
3. Cut Social Dross
4. Touch People More
5. Make People Touch Each Other
6. Create Adorable-Anywhere Objects
7. Invite People to Church
8. Reward Unifying Deeds

1. Monitor the Web

The more you know (and the faster you find out) about what people are saying that could relate to your blog community, the easier it is to respond in ways that make your community grow.

Set up search feeds or email alerts that tell you when social media users and bloggers alike are talking about you, your blog or your niche.

For example, for Visionary Blogging, I subscribe to feeds available at search results pages for the following queries:

• http://search.twitter.com/ – “visionary blogging” OR visionaryblogging
• http://search.twitter.com/ – “easton ellsworth”
• http://search.twitter.com/ – “blog consulting” OR “blog consultant” OR “blog consultants”
• http://search.twitter.com/ – “blog improvement” OR “improve your blog”
• http://search.twitter.com/ – “blogging tips” OR “blog tips” OR “blogging advice” OR “blog advice”
• http://blogsearch.google.com/ – all of the above queries (sort by date at top right, then subscribe via link at lower left)
• http://blogsearch.google.com/ – link:visionaryblogging.com (sort by date at top right, then subscribe via link at lower left)

2. Cross-Fire

The more you fire links between the different websites you use, the easier it is for people to follow you, befriend you and identify with your community. So, you could:

• Link to your blog posts sometimes in your Twitter/Digg/YouTube/etc. (social media) updates.
• Link to your social media accounts in some of your blog posts.
• Link to your social media accounts in your post footer.
• Link to your social media accounts in your blog’s header, navigation bar (the menu you may have across the top) or sidebar.
• Link each social media account to all the others. (e.g. my activity feed on BlogCatalog)
• Link to your blog and your social media profiles in your email and forum signatures.

Don’t go haywire, of course. Less is often more. A little goes a long way, but a lot may not go much farther – if fact, a lot may even set you back. So maybe just link to 2-3 of your most active or relevant social media accounts in each case.

3. Cut Social Dross

Repeat after me: It’s okay to abandon social media accounts.

When is it okay to leave your StumbleUpon or Mixx or whatever account gathering dust?

Answer: When actively updating that account means failing to update your blog or another social media account that would be more likely to strengthen your community.

I have a Digg account, but I don’t use it much. That might change in the future, so I’m not about to delete the account forever. But I let it sit there because I’ve found that Digg isn’t a very effective place for me to market my blog consulting services compared to, say, Twitter.

The corollary to this, however, is also critical: It’s NOT okay to starve social media accounts (or your blog, for that matter) when doing so means letting fertile soil sit there without planting seeds in it.

4. Touch People More

No, I’m not talking about making them reach for the hanky as you tell that story about Great Aunt Bertha’s bunions. (Ever wonder why they’re actually crying?)

I’m talking about increasing the number of touch points that you have with people.

A touch point is a place where you can reach out and touch someone. Anything with a comment box, an email form or a chat window.

So when someone leaves a comment at your blog, visit their URL if they leave one. And maybe:

• Leave a comment at their blog.
• Say hi via their contact form.
• Search for them on every social media and social networking website you use and add them to your friend lists.
• Start a meaningful conversation with them through each of those touch points.

So touch people more, and touch more people.

5. Make People Touch Each Other

This is a natural extension of point #4. Suppose Mickey links to your blog post from his blog, and suppose Goofy does, too. But suppose they don’t link to each other’s posts.

Here’s your chance to make a great little love triangle – er, touch triangle – between you and Mickey and Goofy.

It’s pretty easy. Just ask Mickey what he thinks of Goofy’s ideas and ask Goofy what he thinks of Mickey’s. And maybe go the extra mile by finding their contact information and introducing them to each other.

Another easy way to do this is on Twitter. You can @ two or more people at once and ask them to talk to each other.

6. Create Adorable-Anywhere Objects

In my blog community improvement guide, I talk about objects of adoration. These are the first things you need in order for people to be able to join your community. They have to have something to talk about that’s yours.

The problem with these objects is that they’re sometimes one- or two-dimensional, so they can’t be easily seen from all angles. (Remember Flatland, anyone?) And those who can’t see them, can’t easily talk about them.

So create objects people can adore from wherever they are.

Say you have a great new product. You’ve just made a great text-only blog post about it. Everyone who subscribes to your blog will (probably) see it. That’s one dimension.

Now say you make a video related to your product and stick it in the post and on YouTube. YouTube users who have never heard of your blog will see it and some of them will come to the blog, and some of your blog readers who didn’t know you had a YouTube account will mosey on over to YouTube and the twain shall meet. Two dimensions plus some extra touch points.

Not only shall the twain meet, but both audiences will see and be able to adore your object.

Add a few photos to the blog post and share them on Flickr. Boom, three dimensions.

7. Invite People to Church

Your community is your church. It’s your flock. You’ve got adorable objects (pun intended) that people can discuss and cherish. You’ve got church meetings, so to speak, in the form of blog posts and tweets and new content all over your social media streams.

But unless you want to hear crickets chirping, you need to warmly invite your adherents and prospective adherents to those meetings. You need to tell people about the next thing you’re doing and ask them to come be a part of the experience.

Doesn’t mean knocking doors down. Just means knocking doors. Hi, I’m Easton, I have this thing, won’t you come see it and let’s talk about it. You get the idea.

8. Reward Unifying Deeds

Often, this just means saying a public “Thank You” to the person who does something to help unify your blog community. Maybe they’ve left a comment that sparked a conversation at your latest blog post. Maybe they’ve invited some friends to participate in your contest or conference. Or maybe they’ve just started a fan club for your product.

Of course, if you can surprise that person with a reward that’s bigger, more thoughtful and more useful than they could have expected, all the better. That’s what drives people nuts (in a good way) and turns them into rabid, bursting-at-the-seams fanatics.

Blog Community Unification Resources

• Ensure your community has a brand by Martin Reed at Community Spark – In a way, your blog community is your brand. Martin shares some excellent tips on how to strengthen your brand identity for your online community.
• 25 Ways to Build Your Community by Chris Brogan at ChrisBrogan.com – Building a community and unifying it are two different things, but these building tips by Chris will help you get the people together and help you on the road to unifying them around you.
• 7 Tips to Build a Blog Community by Pachacutec at Firedoglake – Classic advice on how to start and strengthen a community around your blog.

Coming Next Week: A community-unifying project right here at Visionary Blogging. You and your friends are, of course, cordially invited.

How else can you unify your blog community?

Images by Rojer, Melle_Oh, littledan77, dameetch, lumaxart, Kapungo

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Your blog community is at your blog, right?

Duh. That was easy.

Wait a second. No, it’s just centered at your blog, but it has octopus legs at your Twitter account and at your Facebook page and at all your other social media accounts, right?

Um … or maybe your blogging community resides at all those places and in your email inbox and at the blogger conferences you attend? Maybe it’s everywhere?

Actually, it’s nowhere.

Community is only in the mind.

Your blog’s community lives only in the minds of those who belong to it.

And they belong to it only because they feel like they belong to it.

So helping them feel that way is the true secret to building a vibrant blog community.

Don’t get me wrong.

Community is real. It’s just intangible.

But it requires tangible events, and those require place and time.

And each blog post you write and each offline meetup you host – each event – is a tangible spark for thought and conversation and for people to mentally join your community.

But where should you focus your community-building efforts? What if there are more people talking to you via Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, etc. than in your blog’s own comment threads? And how can you unify all the fragments of your blog’s community so that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts?

I’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Thanks to David Sandusky for asking the question that inspired this article.

Do you agree that blog community is a matter of the mind?

photo by Jo Jakeman

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It’s called How to Improve Your Blog Community. It includes my best advice from more than three years as a blog network editor, social media event organizer and new media consultant.

Specifically, it covers the following:

• What a blog community is
• Why your blog community matters
• 4 common aspects of all communities
• 10 ways to measure blog community growth
• 5 steps to building your blog community
• How to get “unstuck” in your community-building efforts
• 6 excellent resources for further reading

Grab the printer-friendly PDF version (848 KB).

Let me know what you think! More guides coming soon …

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2. Free Guide: How to Improve Your Blog Commenting Skills
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Just wanted to say it. You deserve to hear it!

Thank you to everyone who has helped me get Visionary Blogging off the ground over the past few months.

Thank you for helping me make a successful transition from losing my job to creating a business.

Thank you for subscribing to this blog.

Thank you for talking with me on Twitter.

Thank you for helping me create my blog improvement service.

Thank you for supporting Blog Action Day 2008 (which I’m blogging and Twittering and promoting).

Thank you for leaving insightful comments at my blog posts.

Thank you for asking me great questions.

Thank you for giving me great feedback.

And thank you for letting me try to help you get the most of your blogging.

I wish you success in all you do and look forward to our future working and learning together.

Sincerely, Easton

Photo from Persistent Illusion

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My goal is to provide you with nothing but the finest resources on blog improvement anywhere on earth. Please check out my Blog Improvement Checklist (complete) and Blog Improvement Resource List (work in progress) for examples of my work.

I’m actually just fixing up the last part of the commenting guide right now so don’t be surprised if you see a dangling participle or misshapen paragraph. I hope you don’t mind.

You can read it online or download a printer-friendly PDF version.

Thank you to everyone who helped me write it.

Please let me know if you find it useful and how I could make it better!

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When you’re looking for the perfect flower to give to your lover, do you want any bent petals?

When you order a meal at your favorite restaurant, of course you don’t want it to come out to your table

half-cooked.

But is blogging like that?

Patrick from Spiritual River left this intriguing comment on my perfectionism/procrastination post:

When it comes to blogging and perfectionism, one of my irrational beliefs is that if I can just make the perfect post, if I can just come up with a truly useful and mind-blowing post, then somehow this will skyrocket my blog to popularity.

I’m starting to see that this is never true. It’s not that great and polished content isn’t important, or that it has no value. The real question I need to ask each day before pushing publish is: “is this content concise, and is it relevant?”

I think the irrational belief in my head is that the only thing that really qualifies as being “perfect” for a blog post is something that is:

1) Useful
2) In depth (long)
3) Polished (good grammar, no typos, maybe an inspirational pic or two)

But I’m starting to think that the better recipe for link-worthy posts is:

1) Insanely useful
2) Concise (shorter)
3) More relevant (the post delivers more thoroughly on what was promised in the headline)

I think those ideas work well with the concept of eliminating perfectionism and getting out concise posts that get to the point.

Thanks Patrick.

The Role of Perfection in Successful Blogging

There’s a time and a place for perfection – wholeness, completeness, error-free-ness.

I’m using “perfect” not in the sense of “incapable of becoming better,” but rather “not requiring any changes.”

When you insist (as I sometimes have) on only publishing blog articles that feel “perfect,” you run several risks.

1. Wasting time

I’ve written recently about how not to waste time in your blogging. Waste is when you don’t put something to the best possible use.

In the case of your blog, the time you spend on building it is precious. Every extra minute spent editing a post is a minute you could be spending to write the next post, or to network with blog readers and commentators, or to learn a new blogging skill.

2. Stifling feedback

There’s impact and then there’s feedback. Perfection often generates tremendous impact but discourages  thoughtful response.

Have you ever poured your heart and soul into a blog post and found that no one seemed to notice – even though you begged and pleaded for input and suggestions and follow-up thoughts?

Could it be that your content was a little too good? That readers felt its power internally but felt that there was nothing left to say except, “Great post?”

3. Being boring

Did you watch swimmer Michael Phelps in the 2008 Summer Olympics?

How about golfer Tiger Woods in the 2008 US Open?

The most fascinating moments during the victories of each man stood out for their imperfection.

Phelps losing his goggles. Phelps finishing with a chopped stroke to win by a hundredth of a second. Woods secretly wincing through a double stress fracture in his left tibia and still (just barely) beating everybody else.

Blowouts in sports are boring (except for diehards). Blowout blogging is boring too.

4. Alienating your blog readers

When your writing is too clean, too flawless, you risk scaring people a little – or causing them to view you as prideful.

Moral: Don’t always try to be Superman.

Bleed a little.

So when is blog content perfection a worthwhile aim?

When you’re striving to achieve an effect that requires it.

Dan Zarrella could have written a stub instead of a perfect (as in complete, not needing correction or addition) viral marketing glossary. I think he chose the perfect route because he wanted people to talk about his glossary as a polished product and not a work in progress.

If Dan had wanted instead to get a bunch of people together to create a glossary of terms, there would have been no need for perfection – in fact, he probably would have intentionally avoided the appearance of completeness.

Is there such a thing as the ultimate perfect blog post?

I’m not saying there is “The Perfect Blog Post.”

Just that there is always “A Perfect Blog Post” for each time you sit down to compose – or, maybe more accurately, a set of potential approaches that could be considered perfect.

And that sometimes (but not always) you shouldn’t blog that way.

And the choice depends on your vision for your blog.

I sure hope this post ain’t perfect. I really need to hear what you have to say in the comments below.

How do you decide to write a “perfect” blog post or not?

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