Chapter 5: Getting Involved on Other Blogs

In This Chapter

Why connecting with other bloggers is important

Seeing how to connect with other bloggers

Minding your manners

Blog carnivals: The good and the bad

Your blog will grow if more people find it and like it. But, for your blog to grow, more people will have to find it and like it. An Internet marketing Catch-22, if you will.

You have a pretty simple solution, though. Other bloggers have already gone through this process. They’ve attracted the readers and have a loyal audience. If you strike up a conversation with them and they like what you have to say, they’ll pass you along to their audience. Instant publicity.

This approach might sound manipulative or cynical, but it’s not. Established bloggers keep their audience by presenting great information. Some of that information is stuff they write on their own; some of it, though, is new stuff — quite possibly your stuff — they find in day-to-day research. (See Chapter 4 of this minibook to read about tracking other blogs.)

So, think of this progression as a kind of online social compact: You present content with great value. Other bloggers find it and pass it along to their audience by writing about it and linking to your post. They get some credit for finding what you wrote. In exchange, you get more visitors and more links.

Your job, then, when you first launch your blog, is to connect with some of those bloggers.

Connecting with Other Bloggers

Step 1: Find the bloggers with whom you want to connect. You might have already done this, or put some thought to it, if you’ve been through Chapter 4 of this minibook. If you haven’t, use a Google blog search, Alltop, or the search engine of your choice to locate a few really authoritative blogs.

Step 2: Make contact. However, you can’t just start sending those bloggers unsolicited e-mails in hopes that one of them will respond. They might, but you probably won’t like their reply of Stop e-mailing me.

Instead, have a quick look at Book VII, which covers social media marketing. Set up a Twitter account and “follow” bloggers there. (No, that doesn’t involve stalking. Following has a very legit meaning in the world of social media, so read all about it in Book VII.) Write about their posts on your blog and link to them. Introduce yourself with your content and your comments on their content.

Take your time with this. No blogger likes to be harassed with “Hey, link to me!” e-mails and comments.

Leaving Great Comments

The best way to first introduce yourself to a blogger is by contributing to her posts. The easiest way to do that is through comments. A well-written, well-thought-out comment can lend a lot to a blog post. It prompts discussion in a way that only audience participation can, and bloggers appreciate it. For example, readers can turn a post about Internet marketing tips into something more: a public discussion of the value of Internet marketing, with a live, growing list of tips and details about the topic.

Here are a few tips for writing a good comment:

• Read the whole post first. Otherwise, you might jump to incorrect conclusions.

• Read all the other comments left before yours. See whether you want to reply to those.

• Don’t be afraid to bring up a conflicting viewpoint. Just make sure that you present it well. Being ornery won’t make you any friends.

• Don’t link to your site unless there’s truly something relevant there.

And, a few ideas for responses to a post:

• Agreeing and adding another idea/point/tip

I totally agree with your post. You might also want to consider flipping the pancakes right before you serve them.

• Agreeing, but with a qualification about one tip or another

I totally agree with your post. But regarding butter in the pan: Folks can use a little nonstick cooking spray, instead, if they’re calorie conscious.

• Politely disagreeing with one point, and offering an alternative

Great post. One other viewpoint, though: Buckwheat pancakes can taste just as good if they’re not overmixed.

• Following up to someone else’s comment

Frank’s point about chocolate chips is a good one. I’d add that you can use dark chocolate chips and make your pancakes a good cough suppressant, too.

Write truly useful comments! Don’t slap a two-sentence comment that contributes nothing on someone’s blog and expect him to publish it. The best test: After you write the comment, read it. Does it add something to the post that wasn’t there before? Or does it just restate something and say you agree? The former is great. The latter is a waste of bits.

Come back to the same blog and comment on different posts, too. The blog author will notice that you’re a contributor.

Avoiding foot-in-mouth syndrome

When you’re speaking to someone in person, your body language, tone of voice, and expression tell her whether you’re kidding, angry, or trying to be nice. When you type a comment on a blog, though, you can’t communicate those emotions.

Thus, a comment that seems innocent to you could offend the blog author, another commenter, or every single person who happens to read what you wrote. That’s a big deal.

You can’t avoid every misunderstanding. However, you can minimize the risks. Here are some pointers on how to stay out of the doghouse:

• Don’t be sarcastic. Sarcasm relies on tone of voice. A 50-word comment can’t communicate it.

• Don’t be nasty. Ever. If you have nothing nice or helpful to say, don’t say anything. It’s okay to disagree, but you can do that without being nasty.

• Don’t make jokes unless they’re really clear.

Make smart, polite, and helpful comments, and you’ve taken the first step toward building a blogging relationship.

Sharing Other Blog Posts

If you have a well-followed Twitter, Google+, or Facebook account, consider resharing great posts you find on other blogs. This kind of content curation increases your value to your readers. It’s also something that bloggers notice. If you share their stuff, a time will probably come when they’ll share yours.

Linking to Other Blog Posts

The next step is linking to other bloggers. Links are the lifeblood of the blogging world. When you link to someone’s post, she will appreciate it.

If a post really catches your attention, you can post to your own blog in response. Here are a few styles of response posts:

• Use the link list. Pick three or four related posts that impressed you and write a short summary of each post, write why you like it, and post a link.

• Cite another post as support for an argument you’re making in your post, and use a link.

• Cite another post as an additional resource and link to it.

• Use the step-by-step review and critique. Write a post reviewing each point in another blogger’s piece. Add your own clarifications, changes, and additions.

Most bloggers are obsessive. They check their web analytics reports to see which sites are sending them visitors. If they see you’re one of those sites, they’ll look at your blog. If they like what you’re saying, they’ll reciprocate. Those links help you move up in the search engines. More importantly, links are like a reference: The blogger who links to you is saying you’ve made an impact with him. That will get you visitors.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

One quick note: You must always give credit! If you reference another post, link to it and give the author’s name.

That’s a given — or, it should be a given. But plagiarism is common online, and bloggers are always on the lookout for it. So never quote a blog without giving a link and a reference.

Also, don’t use nofollow links to deny links from your blog to another. Many blogging tools will automatically have nofollow links in comments. That means search engines will ignore those links. You’re using nofollow if your links look like this:

<a href=http://www.mysite.com rel=”nofollow”>link here</a>

You’re denying the other blogger the search engine optimization benefits of the link. So give credit where credit is due: Remove the nofollow.

Writing a Guest Post

One great way to build traffic to your blog is to guest-post on another blog. In essence, you can offer to write a piece for another person’s blog. Bloggers want great content. Guest posts help them build that content, even if they’re on vacation, taking a break, or are too busy writing a book to post to their blog. While you build relationships with other bloggers, be on the lookout for guest-posting opportunities.

Bloggers look for guest authors to cover when they go on vacation, to help expand their coverage, or to lend extra expertise.

You can’t really invite yourself to guest-post, but you can offer to trade guest posts with another blogger. He writes a post on your site, and you write a post on his.

Here are a few points to remember when guest-posting:

• The blog owner gets some control over what you write. The blog owner will review what you write, and he’ll probably suggest a few ideas that he’d like you to write about. That’s his right.

• Put in extra time on the writing. When you’re posting to another blog, it’s like you’re going to a car show. A little extra polish never hurts.

• Be clear with the blog owner about linking. Is it okay to link back to your own site? Will he likewise do it for you?

• Provide a little biography of yourself. Chances are that the blog owner will want to include it with your post.

The Art of Asking Nicely

You undoubtedly hate it when your neighbor starts using his turbo- charged leaf blower at 8 a.m. on Sunday. That’s just bad manners. Blogging communities dislike those kinds of disruptions, too. If you want to become a valued member of the community, you need to mind your manners. Ultimately, that’s great for your blog and your company’s image.

• Never

• Ask a blogger for a link more than once.

• Ask a blogger for a link if you haven’t already corresponded with him.

• Always

• Say please.

• Say thank you.

• Reciprocate. If a blogger links to you, link back at some point. If the blogger comments on your blog, check in on his blog once in a while and see whether you can comment there, too.