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I love the site that Brian has put together here. Over the last few months, it has helped me to increase my traffic and engagement on just about all of my blogs, and I have gotten to know a ton of amazing people that I might not have met elsewhere.

However, I have seen some things over the months that I have been a member of Blog Engage that really strike me as odd. I am going on a little bit of a rant here, and it isn’t meant to be mean or call anyone out. I simply want a better experience for everyone in our fun little community.

A site like this is meant to be a community of friends sharing great content on our blogs. It is NOT a place to just spam for links, votes, or anything else for that matter. Having some concerns based on things I have seen, I thought I would share a few tips to help make your experience, my experience, and everyone else’s within our awesome community just a little bit better.

1) This community is about engagement. Spamming people as soon as they log in to vote for your post is bad form. I have had several times that I have logged in to chat with Brian, or to find something, or even to share a post (although most of that happens via the awesome RSS feed service) and I have been pounced on like a pack of dogs on a lonely stray cat.

I don’t know about you, but personally my voting is based on the content, not you begging for my vote. Please don’t spam me for votes. If your content isn’t on a topic that I am interested in, or know anything about, I won’t vote for it just because you beg me to.

However, if you have something that might interest me (you can see the type of stuff I like through my own profile…) I don’t mind a chat share, but let me breathe.

Don’t start panicking!

Blasting me messages as soon as I log in, or blasting 10 messages if I don’t answer you right away is a sure way to make sure I DON’t vote. I personally read every single post that I vote for, and sometimes that takes a bit of time so please, be patient.

Generally, if something gets my vote, I also will vote on it at other social sites, tweet it, plus it, and if it is actually niche specific, share it on my fan pages. On top of that I will comment, and engage you properly when I share your stuff. Please, reciprocate, and do the same.

2) Do You Actually Read The Posts?  This ties in with what I said before, but please, we work hard to write these posts, and we are sharing them here to build relationships within the community. Ok, well at least I am, I can’t speak for everyone.

Please, read a post. Don’ t just vote to increase your vote count. Although I have met and found some really amazing bloggers through here, looking over my traffic stats the other day, I noticed one of my blogs had a TON of votes, yet only 1 person actually came to my site via blog engage. That’s a little off to me.

I don’t mind you not voting on my posts if you don’t read it, but voting is basically the same as you saying this is great content that you should read! I like to see my vote count go up as much as anyone, but I would rather see people on my site than a simple vote to be honest. I am not here for votes, but for the relationships that we can build together.

3)  This site is called Blog ENGAGE… Please don’t forget that last part. Engage people, treat them how you would like to be treated, and be nice to other members. Think about how you like to be treated, and we will all have a better, and more exciting experience.

This is an amazing community, and I have met loads of really great bloggers through it. I don’t want to see it become a deathly spam pit like so many other blog sharing sites have. If we all work together, and show a little respect, we can all get a long, get some really great traffic, and continue to find awesome content to share with our readers when we go home to our own blogs. I also recommend reading Ivan’s post on winning the blog engage game. It has more great tips to increase your engagement, and make this a better place, not just for you and me, but for everyone who visits our little corner of the web.

If you really want to see how to make this a better  place, I would recommend chatting up some of the amazing weekly top engagement winners, like Miss Ileane, Karen, and Kharim (as well as all the other great bloggers who have won this sweet title in the past). They know how to play the game, and they are all awesome bloggers to follow anyway. Be nice and respectful, and you can get to know these great people.

 (This rant is the sole opinion of the author and DOES NOT IN ANY WAY reflect  Brian’s opinion, or those of the great staff that he has put together!)

About James Pruitt

I am James, and I am a blogging addict. I live, eat, breathe, and obsess over blogging (just ask my girlfriend). Check out my Forum Marketing Strategies Guide today where you can see how you can improve your online business, and build stronger relationships within your life at the same time. Also, Get these free forum marketing tips to discover the biggest mistakes to avoid in forums and break the biggest myths that lead you to failure.

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