Getting Your Blog Started: The Facebook Test of Doom

The Field of Dreams is an effing liar. I previously used the discrediting of the line ‘if you build it, they will come’ in a post from a blog I started around 5 years ago. Since that time (and probably before I used it) people used the analogy to refer to the fact that just because you build a blog doesn’t mean that people will show up to read. I am using it here again for two reasons:

• It still holds true today
• I really didn’t get the movie at all

I have been posting to this blog on and off since 2009 with no real schedule, nor a strategy and of course: no comments. To me, aside from the Google Analytics stats, this is the benchmark of how rad your blog is. Now that I am freelancing and specializing in blogging, I should put my money where my mouth is and at least have a blog where the comment section does not have the comforting silence of space.  Maybe some crickets would be nice.

I have cooked up a scheme that should work to bring visitors to your site, and hopefully start to build a little community around your blog. Of course if your blog is really terrible, then no amount of promotion will help you.  I have worked something into my strategy that should let you know that your blog is not worth reading.

Today’s post is covering the first step that you can take to ensure that now you have built it, they will come. I like to call it:

Step 1: The Facebook Test of Doom

If you head to a blog and see a ton of posts, but no comments are you likely to leave a comment let alone read the post? Probably not. There are a number of ways that people will judge your blog before they even read it. One of these ways is by the number of comments. You need some kind of credibility before someone will read your post and make a comment.

In order to get comments on your post what you need to do is take the strategy that you took when you were a kid selling chocolate bars, or Christmas ornaments for your school trip: Hit up your friends and family. You couldn’t sell that garbage door to door because no one really cared about your trip or wanted the expensive shit chocolate. In theory your friends should care about you, which gives you some credibility. Hopefully this technique should garner a few comments for you.

Publish your post on your Facebook wall and encourage your friends to read and comment. 1 of 2 things will happen here:

1. You will get some comments and your blog will look like people actually read it
2. Your friends will tell you that your blog is terrible

The great part is that your friends should be honest with you, and if your blog is a sack of crap, they should let you know. When you publish your post to Facebook try tagging a few friends that you think would be interested in the topic of your post. I have a few blogger friends which I will tag when I post this to Facebook. We will see what happens.

Over the next few days I will write about the other steps of the strategy. I could have done it all here but it would have ended up being a really really long post. If you want to catch the rest please subscribe to my RSS feed, or catch up with me on Twitter.

There is a comment section below, if we really are friends I suggest you use it.