Why is community important to your success?

Having a community is like having the ultimate support group. Rarely do any of us go through life without the help of others. Building a community around you is vital to increasing your ROI and success with each new endeavor.

What do I mean by building a community? I mean giving your time, talent or treasure to help others. The secret to success is giving. The more you give the more successful you’ll become, I guarantee it. Now that we are approaching the Holiday Season, charity and giving are in the air and almost become second nature to most. This is the same feeling and approach you should have with building your community.

Going out of your way to help another person with an idea, link, promotion or an extra hand will eventually fill your community cup to overflowing. This can’t be faked. People know when you do something out of sincerity versus trying to gain something from them. Take the time out of each day to do something for someone else and see what happens. Pretty soon you’ll notice that people will be doing the same for you.

For example, a friend of mine just released a band new Beer Review Blog (bigbeerblog.com). The site barely has a half-dozen posts, but it is already racking up a dozen or so comments per post. Not bad for a band new site. The thing to notice here is the fact that Allyn has built/joined a community of like-minded individuals online. This has made the launch of his new site a success very quickly. A community can help your reach your goals much quicker.

Another example with community that I love is the ability to trade/barter with people you know. When starting a new business the best thing you can do is keep your cost down. I have had to worry about this with the launch of my new hotel booking site (whosgotroom.com). I was able to build the majority of the site in its current form for under a grand. This was only possible because of the community relationships I had built.

For all of these reasons I decided this week to set up a Facebook Fan Page called Friends of Griz and Vic. The community that has sprung up around these two Internet Marketers has been amazing. They have had tons of positive impact on many people’s lives. I for one quit my job and made a successful living practicing what these two preached.

I set up the Friends of Griz and Vic page to help others find each other and support each other for all of their latest needs or projects. The table is open for any ideas on better things we can do to enable one another in our own pursuits. Obviously, I don’t expect all of you to know who Griz or Vic are, but if you want to join a pretty awesome community online, here’s your chance.

So come, and build a community around yourself and give back to others. All it takes is a little time.

Not long ago myself and a few others participated in a contest. The idea was to offer up one ad space on all of our blogs to one lucky winner. The contest went a lot better than we could have ever dreamed with way over 1,200 entries (picked by random.org). Here were the contest hosts:

Geek Mom Mashup, Vrtualme, Jamaipanese, Best of Stupid, AxioBlog, The Big Bald Blog, Jason Boom, Unconventional Marketing Blog, Offended Blogger and GorillaSushi

Congratulations to NotJustAMama.com for winning the contest and a month long ad on 10 blogs. You can see her ad just to the right about midway down on my blog.

Stayed tuned for the next contest notice because it should contain over 40 different blogs. Imagine having your ad on 40 blogs for FREE! I just might have to try and win that one

Once again Congrats and Good luck on the next contest. Don’t forget that each month I try to hold my own contest, go ahead and check it out HERE.

I recently talked about the 3 steps to building a successful blog, and most of that is centered around good content and building your community. I have been blogging for just over 3 months now and in the blogosphere, that is roughly the equivalent of being an adolescent. Now I am going to sound like the Miss USA winner here and thank everyone who helped to build my blog and my community. So without further adieu, here are all of the people who have contributed to my blog. Drum roll, please!

Lindsay LUCKYLADY Robert cash boy Rachel Janet Jeannine Blake blogzilla Ty Hurd aeirin tyclayhope Tawna MarketingDeviant Joe Lundell wyche128 Ten Things Mark tazdog Susie Theresa laketrees Max Shanker Bakshi Gaje Master Mike Huang RPM Millionaire ravi karandeekar Ramona Iftode wtricks.com Filipino in Canada AdJingo Margaret BigPappa emarketed Aromatherapy Essential Oils Diane Jena Isle Louie Laurent Larry Brauner Metroknow – AlmostFit.com boris Michael Aulia Andy The Realtor – Cecilia kent Tom Chetan Adam Ruchit Surati MAGGIE AT COFFEESHOPMAFIA RegretfulMorning Robert MacEwan tony dee Jake Loraleigh Vance aliman Melo steve vladi Felix Mrs. Mecomber Deimos Tel`Arin Bryan Adrian Corscadden Jason Zedomax guinness416 Richard Dawn @ Coming to a Nursery Near You Chelle Cynthia Blue theaffiliatepost androo SiteHoppers Popular Wealth baldeagle kgaihc Rob Schultz Townboy danandmarsh Eric P. Martin Dave from Welcome Back Rosenthal Dennis Edell Shravan Jonathon Diane Scott guardian angel CindyS Justin JTPratt’s Blogging Mistakes arnold mikey777 Cassie Alfred Saforo Luke Ian Mandi BoBo Roxiticus Desperate Housewives Blue Licorice Jeff Millman Reena waterrose Jodith Marty ksc7 Sean Buvala curryegg Debt Free Revolution nabinkm Nicola Pedley Bill Stanley Wade Balsdon Saphrym Patsy ( Patricia Sawyer) Luke Charles NaijaEcash Jasko Karlonia Matt Ellsworth Carlo Dette Beth Amber W Scott Pooler jtrigsby.com MindBlogger Curt jamesd Ben Health Is Wealth Miranda ideasandmoney Cynthia Susie B Carter Mark stewartallyn Lafeeu John Lockwood John Bougearel Jeff Millman Sue Mrs. Mecomber Brazen Lass Crystal Chris Moran Brian Fitzpatrick Gary R. Hess issa Woody Morrisah Spears ukion Adam Doolittle A. Tim PinoyProducts 1 Million in 365 Day Enchanted Crafts Mike Roo Stewart Schatz Susie Octavia Zopito DiGiovanni Robert MacEwan Shaun Jacob Share Coop Jon Christensen Tina Su – Think Simple Now Amy Shane Lowry PinoyProducts Kimberly Clay heidi ATV Style Jackie Matt Marty ATV Urge TL money making blogger Nikolai Shanker Bakshi StanHayes sukosaki Frank Kanu Ohio Realtor WillThink4Wine David TYPELiFE JoNathan Blogsters Guild Look 4 Dream Girls Reward Rebel

If you are wondering if I copied and pasted all of those links and name the answer is yes. These are all of the people who have commented on my blog in the last 100 days or so. I would also like to thank everyone who subscribed to my RSS feed. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Kiss, wave, kiss, wave. Now all the world needs in a few more puppies to give a way.