I found the subject of “embracing your audience” interesting right off the bat. The way I found it was interesting too; It started with a web search. I actually Googled “great blog topics” because I kept waffling between fitness (Maybe next week?), romance (Again?), and family (Do I really want to go there??). So I clicked on http://www.chrisbrogan.com/100-blog-topics-i-hope-you-write/ which was the very first link listed. I found Chris’ website to be very interesting to a blogger such as myself, so I clicked around the site for awhile. Once I had decided on this blog topic, I wanted to see what else this guy had to offer. He had all sorts of helpful articles for writers and business people, and seemed like a very accessible kind of guy. He’s got pictures of himself all over the website—incidentally he’s got a different hairstyle in every one of them—points for creativity!  
On his front page Wednesday he wrote about influencers and how to influence your audience. I decided to give it a read because it pertained to the topic I was about to delve into. Some of this got a little deep and was too business/technical for me. As a blogger, I simply want to write a blog and have people love it. However, as someone who strives to be a writer, I should be reading this top to bottom. I started with checking off the list of things to do as someone who wants to “market” themselves; I need a social network such as Facebook (Check!), a Twitter account (Check! @BeckySwank), a good platform to blog on (check! WordPress rocks.), and to take a stand on at least one issue. That one had me stumped. I write about a lot of things, but none of them so far are necessarily political in nature. However, a lot of them are matters close to my heart:  empowering women, looking past physical appearance, basically to express positivity and inspire at least one person in every blog post. I guess my issue is to promote as fabulous a life as humanly possible; to obtain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As far as the American agenda goes, I’d say it is pretty political after all!
There was a list of “where influence comes from.” Following is the list:
■Outward signs of success.
■Earned social capital.
■Persuasive nature/demeanor.
■Perception of power.
■Sheer volume.
This was a list that spoke to me, and also challenged me. What are the outward signs of success? Well, I can see on my WordPress dashboard how many hits a day I get on my blog. That definitely puts a spring in my step and allows me the indulgence of writing another blog each week. Earned social capital—I’m working on it. Networking is something I am moderately adept at, and there is always room and time for improvement. I am also leaning heavily on my friends and family to help me out with this. Many of you have already helped spread the love! I am definitely NOT making money from my blog at this point, but that seed has already been planted. Am I persuasive? I’m not sure I’m trying to be, although I suppose I do want to persuade you to get the most out of this lifetime. Do I have a perception of power? If that power includes figuring out the labyrinth of WordPress formatting, then the answer is…yeah! The last one is sheer volume. Again, it’s a work in progress. So, on a scale of 1–5 on my level of influence I would give myself a 2.5. There is room for much improvement, but I feel very good about the writing I’ve done here so far.
You’re asking at this point, when is she going to get to the point? Embrace Your Audience!  Have I embraced my audience? I have literally embraced most of you, as you are my friends and family. But do you feel appreciated as an audience? Am I reflecting your accolades as I should be? I found a list of things to do to improve your blog traffic. (Thanks www.wordpress.com news.) Here are two things that had not occurred to me until this point: respond to every comment you get, and update your “About” page. I have not been responding to every comment; from here on out I will do exactly that. I adore your comments, and I should tell you so. As for updating my “About” page, I am guilty as charged. I didn’t really give it much thought at the beginning because I honestly didn’t know what this blog was going to turn into. Perhaps I should just say that, and give updates as I go.  
I could also reach out to you, my audience. Is there anything I am not doing that you would like to see? What topics do you want to read about? Do you request my (extensive) list of must-haves in a soul mate? How about creating a list of my favorite hikes? Would you like updates on when I am dancing or otherwise will be entertaining in public? Do you have a link you would like me to post for you on my sidebar? I’m open to suggestions, and I welcome your feedback with open arms—pun intended!