Building Credibility: Creation vs. Commentary

I recently spoke on a panel of bloggers to a bunch of artists that are part of Portland’s Working Artists Network. One of the key points I tried to stress was that one great way to build up one’s credibility and reputation online is to be an active participant on blogs, forums, and other interactive discussion related to your field. As a photographer, it’s well worth your time to pay attention to forums such as photo.net, the various groups on Flickr, and some of the popular photography blogs.

How much time should you be spending as a participant on a forum or someone else’s blog? If you’re leaving meaningful comments and participating in the conversation, I’d argue that participation elsewhere is as important as your original content creation. If it’s that important, it’s worth your time. If you spend half an hour per day writing for your blog, try to spend at least half an hour per day leaving comments, participating in forums, or being helpful on Twitter.

Your blog isn’t the only place to build online reputation; build it by providing your insight in various forms of communication.

Photo by foxtongue, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

1. Building Influence: Broadcast Messages or Personal Touches?
2. Build Your Network by Leaving Blog Comments
3. Guest Posts are Win-Win for Bloggers Building Content

Tagged as: blogging, comments, community, whuffie