Well, I had a disastrous afternoon of panic, today, when the monitor SNAPPED off my laptop.  After several failed attempts to stuff metal parts and wires back inside and hold everything together with electrical tape, I had the expected meltdown, ate some chocolate and found an HP on clearance at our local Wal-Mart.  Balance was restored to the universe.  I was able to transfer all my files and data without losing a single thing, except the last blog post I had been working on — this blog post.  So, now it is five minutes after midnight, I have retrieved all my emails and bookmarks and pictures and backups; and before I go to sleep, I still feel compelled to share with you, the phenomenon that is Triberr.  Have you built YOUR tribe, yet?

I was introduced to Triberr, three or four days ago, when I received an exclusive invitation from another mom blogger.  By using the code she sent me, I was able to log on and become a member of her tribe.  Is it just me, or at first blush, does that seem like a strange concept?  I still wasn’t sure what it was all about, but I trusted her and it was supposed to be good for my blog.  By the end of that same evening, I started to realize what was happening.  I wrote a new blog post, which in the past had always been auto-tweeted to my followers, via an add-on for WordPress.  Now, something different was happening though.  My  blog post was tweeted out to FIVE times my normal number of Twitter followers.  It was being tweeted by every other person in the tribe I had joined!  That’s when I got serious about understanding what Triberr is about.  I personally believe it is probably the most powerful amplification tool available to bloggers, since Facebook and Twitter.  It increases our reach, exponentially; and since it’s still in beta, I can only imagine the improvements and added features it will offer, as it matures out of its toddlerhood.

When I joined my friend’s tribe, my account was given three tribes of my own and I was declared to be their chief.  I totally ignored them, not understanding what it meant, until after my blog post that evening.  When I realized what was happening, I went straight to my account on Triberr and started reading and learning about how to build a tribe.  The simplicity of how it works is somewhat mind-blowing, if you understand a few key things.

• Set up your account correctly.  Membership is exclusive and you must receive an invitation to get started.  Once you accept that invitation, by joining a tribe, you will need to do two things:

1)  Link up your blogs RSS feed – This is as simple as going to settings and typing in the url where your feed is housed.  If you use feedburner, like I do, the url will look something like http://feeds.feedburner.com/yourusername.  This is what will notify Triberr, and thus your tribe, anytime you publish a new post on your blog.  They will then be able to tweet that, because you will:

2)  Link up your Twitter handle.  This is also done under Settings.  Once you publish that new post, Triberr will send a tweet to all your followers AND to all your tribe members’ followers. Do you see how these numbers can multiply?  Each tribe can have 7 members.  You join one tribe and are given three others to build.  Over time your news could be broadcast to the twitter followers of 28 individuals, besides yourself.  Imagine what that will do to get the word out about your blog and what you have to say.  In 48 hours, I have seen a tremendous jump in traffic to my site.  There’s no question that it is a result of the increased exposure.  My posts are now being tweeted to more than 15 times my personal follower list.  That’s after just three days!

• Build your tribe wisely.  Your first instinct will be to invite as many people as you can, as fast as you can, to build your tribe’s numbers and get the largest number of tweets out there into cyberspace.  I think that is a mistake equivalent to buying email or mailing lists and hoping for a 1% return on a mass marketing.  It’s a huge expenditure of your energy, for little return and the return it generates, may not be good for your blog.  Think about your reader demographic.  Who is already reading your blog and who do you know who has a pool of similar readers?  You are going to want like-minded individuals in your tribe, who have similar readerships to your own, so their followers will be more likely to have an interest in what you have to say, be comfortable with your blogging style and want to visit your blog.  You also want your tribe members to be people you know and trust, at the very least, people whose blogs you have studied and you know they match your Twitter followers.  Your reader’s trust in your integrity and blog content are critical to your reputation as a blogger and you should build a tribe of people that you know won’t jeopardize that.  Know your readers, know your niche and look for tribe members who fit them.  My experience over the last two or three days is that care in building your team will make a huge impact on traffic to your blog.  I’m so excited to see what happens from here!

There are other features, that are really cool, as well, like being able to have a personal tweet amplified through your tribes.  This isn’t automatic, but it’s as simple as each member clicking the checkmark by the tweet in the tribal stream on their account page (It’s like a cue.) to approve it.  The check mark will turn green and the tweet will be cued up to be tweeted to that member’s followers. There is so much more I could share, but these are the basics.  This is definitely all you need to get started with a phenomenal blog-amplifying tool.

So, if you haven’t discovered Triberr, yet, and you’re ready to take the next step in growing your blog, I would highly recommend visiting the website and doing a search for tribes that fit your blog’s specific style.  Then request an invitation from them and start your own Triberr adventure.  I can’t wait to here how it is working for you.

And, if you are a family-friendly blog (my kids would be safe surfing your site and ads), with a focus on any of the following: cooking, frugality and saving, home and garden, family, DIY decorating and household projects, etc., send me an email at glendasembree [at] gmail [dot] com.  I still have invitations available for my tribes.