Why you need blog networking in your blogging career

I’m happy today. It’s because our blog has just been reviewed in Our Blog Review and in Free Blog Reviews. It might not be obvious for now but these links coming from outside will do its magic later on when they start pulling-in visitors and changing our page rank status. In case you don’t know, this is related to our topic which is all about networking your blog.

As it is called, blog networking has something to do with connections. And those connections are with your fellow bloggers. Linking with other blogs, visiting and dropping comments, guest blogging, getting and making reviews, exchanging favors with fellow bloggers, etc, it’s all part of building networks. It’s like creating a community wherein you interact and benefit from each other. The idea behind networking is to let others discover us and gain audience to whom we shall write for which is the very idea of blogs these days.

What are the benefits of blog networking?

If you think blogging as if you’re in isolation like what other top-bloggers claimed they have been doing all these time will get you to success, think again. If you don’t write as good as they do and if nobody took notice and spread the word that you’re producing quality content, do you think Google’s indexing alone will save you? I don’t think so. In truth it will be easier to elevate your visibility in Google’s search results if you resort to a good networking strategy, which is an equivalent or perhaps SEO in itself, rather than relying on Google’s indexing capability.

With that said, here are the possible benefits you could get out of blog networking:

More visitors – With all the links from blogs you have connected to it’s only logical that there will be referral traffic from their site to yours.
More readers – And with all those visitors, certainly there would be those who’d want to hear more from you.
More comments – Of course, if you’re able to catch their attention, they’ll most certainly comment.
Higher Pagerank – Those referral traffic and inbound links only mean one thing: Good SEO technique.
Learn something new – Your connections and the community you’re building will teach you a thing or two. It’s almost impossible to not learn anything from them.
More opportunities – The more connections you have, the more possibility of getting opportunities to further your blogging cause.
More earnings – The traffic, the SEO, the readers, and you still doubt that you’ll earn anything.

If you’re really dedicated in boosting your blog’s overall performance, then by all means give networking a try.

How to do blog networking?

If you’ve been blogging for sometime now, blog networking is nothing new. If you look from one blogging tip to another you’d instantly recognize that it’s nothing different, it might be a “boost your traffic” topic, or “how to start blogging” tip. But, if you’re new to blogging, or perhaps you want to refresh what you’ve learned before, then read on.

Link prodigiously. Blog about other’s blog or post and link to it, create a blogroll of your favorite blogs, ask for link exchanges, it’s all about linking to others to get links from them in return, but don’t expect too much too quick. There will be some who’ll be more than willing to link to you while others won’t. If you really think a particular blog deserves to get linked to, it doesn’t matter if that blog links to you or not. Just link to it and perhaps that blog will also link back later.

Get reviewed. Having the opportunity to be reviewed by other sites is a great idea. More than having a link from the reviewing site, it’s also a form of recommendation that your blog can benefit from. Additionally, you’ll know how other people see your blog. If there’s any negative feedback, than you’ll be able to spot and change it. Don’t forget to link to the reviewing site also, or maybe write about how great they reviewed you so that others will know where to get the same raving reviews you’ve had.

Visit blogs and leave a comment. If you want to get comments flooding your comment section, don’t you think other bloggers desire the same? Leave comments if you find interesting blogs or if you wish to share your knowledge on a certain topic. Don’t spam. Comment from one blog to another and, surely, you’ll also get comments in your blog. Who knows, they might decide to link or write about your blog as well. Confucius said; “Do unto others what you want others to do to you” (or something like that); so don’t forget to answer their comments and/or comment back to their blog.

Interact with people in your niche. This is the best way to get to know new friends who could perhaps help you on a particular topic that you don’t understand. You could also learn new things from them or, maybe, they could help you promote your blog. Try to subscribe to their feeds; this will keep you updated on what’s the buzz in your niche for the moment.

Socialize within communities. Join and participate in social networks and forums relevant to your niche where you can pitch your ideas or get new ideas from your fellow bloggers. There’s blog catalog where you could get additional traffic to your blog depending on how active you participate in the forums. Additionally, you could boost your subscriber count or your technorati faves or perhaps get as many link exchanges here. There are many things in store for you here depending on the groups you join inside. There’s also twitter where many bloggers get a lot of traffic and exposure by twitting their ideas or answering the twits of others. I personally haven’t tried it yet; but with all the reviews and buzz about its highly addictive features and power to considerably improve your traffic, I believe it’s worth giving a try.

Guest blog. I’m giving this a try next time. Why? It’s because doing guest blogging will greatly affect your traffic, readership, and reputation as a blogger. By guest blogging you’re showcasing your talent and giving your blog an exposure outside your blog. Bloggers do this to boost their traffic and to build alliance with the blogger or the blog to whom they guest blog.

Offer your service. If you have skills which you could offer to others, why not voluntarily offer your service. It always makes a good impression from others if you could help them out of their quick sands. Are you good at graphic design? Offer your help to entrecarders who are in need of 125x125 designs or to bloggers who are in need of a good banner or graphic icon. Offer free reviews if you’re good at it. Offer free consultations when you have the time. Simply offering help when needed will get you a lot of network connection in no time.

For my last comment about blog networking, if possible give more attention to smaller bloggers than the A-listers. Everyday, these big time bloggers get all forms of requests to connect, as attested by the A-listers themselves. It will therefore be difficult for them to notice your plead for connection and they will also often times be choosy about to whom they’ll be connecting with. These smaller bloggers might not be able to match the prestige and the amount of traffic these A-listers can provide but where do you think these hard-working small bloggers will be heading in the future? They might be on their way to becoming A-listers and won’t it be sweet to be the one of the first to register on their blogrolls when that day finally comes?

These are just the easiest ways to do blog networking that I could think of. I am sure there are a lot of other ways to network your way to success. You may leave it in the comment section if you have more ideas about blog networking. For now, I’ll be leaving you with great resources that I found and where I based my article from. Enjoy.

How to Promote Your Blog through Networking
Networking within your Blog Niche: 7 Essential Tips for Bloggers
9 keys to networking via blogs for introverts
How to Blog: 4. Blog Networking
Benefits of Offline Blog Networking

technorati tags: blogging tips, networking

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