# 3 Lessons in Blogging: The F words – FRIENDSHIP
Mon 04 July 2011
, Jo Parfitt, Independent writer
In my last two posts I have shared what I have learned about the importance of FOCUS and FREQUENCY for the blogger. In this post I am going to talk to you about the final F Word – FRIENDSHIP.
When blogs first came into being they were called Weblogs, remember? Their goal was to be a kind of online diary. A log of daily life and innermost thoughts that you published out there on the Worldwide Web. Today, blogs are a key business tool but sadly many have lost their personality along the way.
I believe that a blog is an intrinsic part of your brand. It is your showcase. This is where you walk your talk and talk your walk. This is where you show yourself as you really are. This is where you can be authentic and honest and open.Why?
As the Canadian networking guru, Donna Messer, says: ‘People do business with people who are like you and people do business with people they like.’
You see, the first rule of networking is to build relationships and make friends, not to hand out your business card to as many people as possible. One way that complete strangers can find out whether they do actually like you or are similar to you is for you to demonstrate your authentic self on your website. You can use your blog to take the first steps towards building relationships with complete strangers. You can do this by being authentic, by writing about what matters to you and by sharing how things make you feel.
In April, when I was on the Ultimate Blog Challenge that I told you about in my last post, I had a second challenge. Not only was I to blog daily for a month, but I was also to write only from the heart. I was not allowed to write practical pieces. I could not hide behind interviews with authors. Instead I had to write about what mattered to me, what inspired me and to be frank about how my mind works. I had to admit that I am a poet at heart, that I am fascinated by spirituality and that I think in metaphors.
Well, as you saw in my last blog for LEAP, I did not get a heap more hits that month, but I did get far more sign ups and comments. That shows that my posts hit a nerve.
If you do business with people who like you then in April, without doubt, I found more people who seemed to like if not me, then what I was saying. I was open and honest and FRIENDLY. The goal of my blog was to make FRIENDS, knowing that it is FRIENDS who are crucial to the growth of my business.
Jo Parfitt has published 27 non-fiction books, is a journalist, teacher, editor and publisher and mentors others to write and publish their books. She has lived in Dubai, Oman and Norway and is now in the Netherlands. Inspiring and empowering people to write about what they know as memoir, articles or books is without doubt what she most loves to do. Her motto is 'sharing what I know to help others to grow’. She is well known for her books for expats, the most well known being Career in Your Suitcase. Her publishing company, Summertime Publishing, specializes in books by and for people overseas. Her live workshops for writing life story, books, articles and blogging run in The Hague and also by correspondence. You can find her blog at www.joparfitt.com.
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