Don’t be shy when promoting your blog

Do you breeze into a room and everyone turns and looks, or do you feel like you are up on the ceiling and noone has noticed you? When you blog, do you feel like the biggest baddest blogger on the planet and everyone should read your post, or do you write and hope for just a tiny reaction, a single comment, a backlink on another brand new site, or a place at the end of a mighty long blogroll? However you feel, the bottom line is, if you blog you need to be in there networking and attracting people to you and your blog. If you are a shy flower, read on for some inspiration.

I was watching a cat the other day and was amazed at how in a matter of days it had turned from a timid little townhouse kitty, afraid of its own shadow, into a cock sure cat with its nose in everything in its new rural surroundings.

When the doors were opened on a new garden and a new outdoor world, it was the first to run out and roll and jump and play with flies and stalk butterflies, while its killer older brother stood and just looked around from the door, lost and overwhelmed. The little guy also walked straight up to a dog and said hi while his brother, the bold one (haha), stood transfixed with arched back, claws out, spitting like a sailor.

As a life-long supporter of the underdog, this revitalised little cat is right up my alley. And what struck me was how its timid naivety was its greatest asset. Because unlike its more aggressive brother who made no bones that it was aggressive and stand-offish and street smart, this little thing took its “adversaries” aback by appearing so nonchalant, thereby gaining immediate acceptance. You know, you can just imagine the dog thinking, Bloody hell, this cat must be a tough ‘un coming up to me like this, I better be nice else I am going to get a good hiding.

But the reality is, that cat is so naive it doesn’t really understand where it is at or what could happen to it. Luckily it has enough innate survival skills to know when it is time to step back, but even then, it does the opposite of what you expect from most other big bad cats. It doesn’t act all big and then turn and run like hell, it just moves backwards and then huddles, staring at what it is supposed to be scared of, apparently not fased, just giving some space for tempers to cool down.

I don’t know, maybe I am humanizing this thing too much or misreading the signs, I am not a cat whisperer, but what it made me realise was that the internet is a great platform for the shy folks in life to really shine. There is no need to feel daunted by anyone because at the end of the day, all the internet is is a digital world, and if you can write and make a case with words, hell, you don’t need to have good body language or know how to posture or any of that more complicated real life interaction stuff.

So blog about what you want, and who you want, and make a good case. And then, when it is time to network and promote the post, remember the cat and don’t be afraid to email some of these big boys and tell them they are the focus of one of your posts, and they should check it out. What is the worst that can happen? They ignore you, or worse still, blog about you in a negative way. There is no such thing as negative blogging when thousands of people read what you have to say!

I am going to go through all my past posts on The Pisstakers and just make sure that the people I have linked to are aware of their mentions, and see what happens. The good guys will get back to me and the lesser bloggers won’t. At least then I will know where I stand with the network I am a part of up to now. And then I can appraise and move on – a little more street smart.

Random Posts