I was thrilled when Nick asked me to write a post for you about how bloggers can really connect with each other.  I’ve always said the man is a genius and now he’s proven it by inviting a giant doofus onto his blog.

But let’s try it out anyways.

The First Question

First, you have to be able to answer this question honestly: why do you blog?  Really, why do you do it?  It takes time, it can be thankless work for many, and most bloggers never make enough serious money to live off their blogs.

It happens, sure.  But usually not.

So, why are you blogging?  Think about it.  There’s no wrong answer, but you should have an answer.

So I Know Why I’m Blogging— Now How Do I Connect?

Whatever your reasons for blogging, the way to connect to readers and other bloggers is mind-numbingly simple.  It’s so simple that everyone knows it.  And you can prove that everyone knows it because you can’t throw a rock across the web without hitting a blog that says:

BE YOURSELF

Now, don’t roll your eyes yet.  All clichés started out as original thoughts and truths.  It’s not the fault of the saying that it got repeated so many times that it started to sound trite.

In your real, offline life, how do you go about connecting with people?

Easy: by being yourself.

Why do your friends like you?

Easy: Because you’re you.

Whether you’re a salesman on your blog or you’re making crafts out of hot dogs and bottle caps, you need to make connections.

Personal Connections

Remember this: there is another person on the other side of the computer screen.  They are not a statistic.  They are not mere subscribers and click-through rate buffers.  Whoever sees your words is a breathing, living human who has anxieties, fears, failures, successes, goals, and all the other myriad characteristics that are the result of living.

Meaning: if you really want to connect, either for business, pleasure, blog traffic, or all of the above, your blog has to be an extension of you.  Not a self-serving guess about what you think people want to hear from you.

I got a compliment once on World’s Strongest Librarian that I’ll always treasure.

Josh, I read all of the book reviews that you write, but I don’t like to read.  Great job.  Also, I read all of your strength training material, but I hate to exercise and won’t ever start.  Keep ‘em coming.

This floored me.  I asked the reader to explain.

I don’t read it because of what it says.  I read it because you write it.

I can’t explain what that person meant, but I don’t have to.  Whatever I’m doing—whoever I am—it brings that person back over and over.  I’m not going to argue with him.

Whatever Nick does here on SiteSketch 101, you can see Nick the person, for better or worse, throughout everything on the site.

He’s real, I’m real, you’re real, and there’s no point in all of us hanging out and helping each other and reading each other’s blogs if we’re not going to treat each other like people.

So:

Go be yourself.  In “real” life and on your blog.  It might not get you an army of followers right away, but it’s going to get you the right followers…the ones who need to hear you saying something.

Even if it’s just you saying the Same Old Thing.

If that weren’t true, there wouldn’t be a billion “new” self-improvement books coming out this year.