Networking For Blog Success

Submitted by Chris Garrett on January 7, 2006 - 9:17pm in
Promotion

Sometimes it's not just what you know, who you know (or get to know) can make a big difference. Have you considered networking to promote your blog?

The value of "other people" in your success depends on your own situation but for myself I have to say that communities and certain individuals have been instrumental in whatever success I have had.

You can't just go up to people (or their blogs) and say "like me like me!", you need to show your worth and engage people in discussion, perhaps even show you can be valuable to them.

Putting yourself out there and introducing yourself to people can be a scary prospect, plus the idea of "pimping" yourself might send a cold shiver down your spine. Luckily you do not need to go to these lengths!

Other bloggers

Get to know other bloggers. Comment (intelligently) on their own blogs. Link to your favorites regularly. Find out where bloggers hang out. There are conventions for real world rubbing shoulders and there are forums for virtual hob nobbing.

Forums

Forums often allow you to use signatures that contain a line of text and possibly a URL. Just by taking part then you are getting your blog address out there. Better though is to really take part and answer questions, put forward interesting thoughts and get known as someone to turn to for information and interesting dialog. If you do this before you launch, and you are well known and liked you might even have a chance to drop your URL more prominently.

Discussion Lists

Like forums, with discussion lists you can include your URL in your email signature and just like forums it's even better if you make yourself known and heard.

To really drive traffic link through to posts that might be useful in the discussion. Often frowned upon in forums, dropping links in email discussions is more often allowed or even encouraged.

Summary

I am not talking about using people. People like to do friends favors, make more friends and you will get more favors! Even better if these friends you make are influential in your niche.