I once read somewhere that if you plan on launching a site within a niche, it’s a good idea to hang around the various sites that already exist for at least six to twelve months. Comment on those blogs, make connections with the owners of those blogs and if possible, write a guest post or two. Why is all of this important?
As I get ready for the launch of my own project, I’ve discovered that there are many people who have been willing to lend me a hand. Many of these individuals operate websites within the same niche that I plan on launching my site in and it struck me as odd to see competitors offer their support. However, it would seem that after spending a year and a half within the community, I’ve developed relationships with key individuals.
Within the past year and a half, I’ve written guest blog posts for a number of sites, have networked with people on skype, through Twitter, and via email. I’ve left comments on many of the blogs within the WordPress community. Through all of these interactions, I’ve been able to create a list of great relationships with people who operate notable websites. Thanks to these relationships, I’m able to plan out a successful launch of my blog through guest blog posts, articles on high trafficked blogs, and individuals offering to lend me a hand with anything I need help with. I’m in a pretty good position thanks to the year and a half I spent building relationships with notable figures. This all confirms that the advice given at the beginning of this article was right on.
Performancing has covered the topic of launching new blogs quite a few times already. Here are a few posts from the archive worth reading regarding the subject.
HOWTO: Launch a New Blog The Easy Way
Blogging Mistakes: Launching an Empty Shell
7 Steps to launching a Great Blog
Launching A Blog
Launching new content : all at once, or progressive ?
Last but not least, David Peralty and I will be starting a new series on Perfcast where we’ll be discussing all aspects of blogging from the pre launch, launch, monetization, publishing content, marketing, etc. The first episode within this series will air next Thursday January 15th, 2009 on Perfcast. We would love it if you showed up in the chatroom to share your ideas and experiences.
3 thoughts on “Planning The Launch Of A New Blog”
Congrats with the new blog, and your point on being part of a community really helps a lot. I’ve been in that situation to, I’ve learned that if you have connections and lots of friends in a certain community they are always willing to give a hand on whatever problems you have.
Hi Jeff,
Great insight on how to launch a successful blog!. . The more I read on the blogging and online topic, The more I see it mirroring offline business and social interaction.
Look forward to your first Perfcast in 6 Days!
Cheers,
Derrick
Fantastic post and great points.
I spent most of last year getting to know great people. I wasn’t really expecting anything in return, I just wanted to get to know them better and be part of their world.
Within minutes of launching my site, I had loads of my friends tweet to congratulate me. You were on of the people that ending up linking to the article It only took 2 or 3 people to mention it before it really started taking off.
Seriously, one tweet has gotten me over 1100 visitors within the past couple of days. That, in turn, has led me to guest post opportunities which will in turn bring in more traffic.
I can honestly say that just participating in the community can get great rewards. Whenever someone did anything nice for me, I would go out of their way to do something nice in return. Even if was just tweeting them, saying I loved their latest post.
Good luck for your new site Can’t wait to see how the launch goes!
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