When you have been blogging on a self-hosted website for a significant amount of time, you begin to realise the immense importance of the blogging community at large, and especially the one in India. Though bloggers function entirely online, their frank communication, in-depth understanding of each other’s work and easy camaraderie, often creates strong bonds akin to close friends or family. Blogging community members in India specifically, often bolster the engagement on each other’s blogs and always welcome new members with open arms!
I have been blogging for over three years but only discovered the vibrant Indian blogging community a year after publishing my first blog. Once I discovered other bloggers, they connected me to more bloggers and the network kept growing. It gives me immense pleasure to say that I have made some wonderful friends through this community, whom I can lean on whenever required.
Soon after being introduced to the blogging community in India, I began participating in various blog trains, blog hops and blog contests. Now, I consider myself a veteran participant in these events and hence have decided to host my own blog train with my friend Cindy Ann D’Silva of Blogaberry. If you are new to the concept, let me tell you about the amazing benefits of being part of a blogging community in India or anywhere in the world.
- INCREASE YOUR READERSHIP
Above all else, bloggers are writers. However, before feeling the need to express themselves through writing, most if not all writers are readers. Hence, bloggers are willing readers of other bloggers’ content, and the favour of reading content is almost always returned. Even if you are no social media maven, nor have knowledge of SEO and other tactics to help your blog gain organic traffic; once you are a part of a blogging community, you can rely on it to provide steady traffic to your blog.
- GROW YOUR BLOG’S AUTHORITY AND RANKINGS
In this day and age, a blog’s success is measured by numbers. This includes the domain authority, the Alexa ranking, the number of subscribers and monthly blog visits. For new bloggers, struggling to raise their numbers, the blogging community in India is a safety net. Often, we become each other’s first few loyal subscribers. By participating in blog trains and blog hops, we exchange valuable back links which are instrumental in the growth of our domain authority numbers. Further, the traffic we provide to each other’s blogs, simply by reading and commenting on posts, helps our rankings grow!
- PARTICIPATE IN AND WIN BLOGGING CONTESTS
Everyone loves a good contest and the blogging community in India offers many opportunities to participate in them. Most blogging contests offer prizes to the best writers and posts which can be in the form of cash, vouchers or physical prizes. Even if it’s just a token, the recognition of winning goes a long way to help your blog’s visibility and growth. In case you are wondering about the different types of blogging contests, here’s a quick explanation:
Blog trains are essentially link chains, where each blogger links to one before and one after, in addition to linking to the hosts of the blog train. On the other hand, blog hops don’t mandate linking to other participants, who are only required to hop from one post to another, read and comment. Other blog campaigns such as Blogchatter’s My Friend Alexa also offer prizes, but are community-building and rank improvement exercises instead of being serious contests based on the worthiness of content.
- GET OPPORTUNITIES TO EARN MONEY
Interestingly, quite a few of the sponsored brand campaigns on my blog, have come through fellow members of my blogging community in India. As a fairly tight-knit group, we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Hence, when brands ask us to recommend other bloggers, we know who will be the right fit and happily recommend each other on the basis of the brand’s requirements.
- LEARN FROM OTHERS AND IMPROVE YOUR OWN CRAFT
As with most other professions, bloggers readily lend a helping hand or offer advice when it comes to any query related to the craft of blogging or the tedious technical issues we often have to navigate. Some of the more established members of the blogging community in India, offer workshops and classes to teach the nuances of making one’s blog grow organically. I myself have participated in a few of these workshops, and conduct them too. Even if you don’t have the time or the inclination to be part of workshops, you can always learn new things just by observing the best practices followed by blogging community members. This pertains to the creation of content and to learning the various methods to promote that content.
Apart from these five essential roles that the blogging community in India has played in my blogging journey, there are many other ways I have benefitted from being part of an engaged community too. These include the wonderful personal relationships I have formed and a detailed understanding of the digital environment we function in. If you are a new blogger or one that shies away from being part of various blogging groups, you should seriously consider joining a few. I assure you they will provide an immense boost to your blog and your general well-being!
This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy Ann D’Silva and me, and sponsored by RRE Studios and SHOWCASE Events.
*This post is not sponsored but it contains affiliate links to a self-hosting domain service. Please support my blog by using my links!
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