Creating a useful and successful blog networking plan

Social networking isn’t that hard. Anyone can tweet, leave comments, ask for link exchanges, or IM readers and blogging pals. These are all general networking ideas that can work. However, if you’re focusing on the wrong blog networking tactics for your specific blog you’re wasting your time.

In my mind we network for one basic reason, to draw readers to our blog. Maybe you’re networking for another reason; to get read for personal reasons, to promote a cause, to get a job, or to gain clicks on ads, but it really all comes down to getting people to your blog doesn’t it? Bloggers want traffic and with so many blogs around the competition can be brutal. Following are some tips that can help you fine-tune a plan for your specific blog.

Your blog comes first: You can network to your hearts content, but without a decent blog to back it up, you’re not going to gain any long-term readers. Write good posts often. Write posts your readers want to read (you can even poll readers about this). Showcase older and popular posts that new readers may have missed in the past. Other good ideas include offering easy access to rss and email options for your posts, making your blog easy to navigate, and creating an attractive blog that will entice people to look around. Taking care of your blog insures folks who land there stay and visit and hopefully come back.

Choose some, not all networking options: You can’t do it all, so you may as well choose some social networking options you enjoy. If you hate Twitter, it’s just not a good networking option for you because one, you won’t stick with it, and two, I think people can tell when you’re not really into what you’re doing.

Be selective about links: If you’re into emailing people for blogroll minded link exchanges, make sure you do your homework. I get link exchange requests frequently at Tree Hugging Family, which as you might guess is an eco-minded blog. However, I get link exchange requests from all sorts of bloggers who have nothing to to do with green. I’m not going to link a blog out of my niche so these bloggers have just wasted my time and their own. Make sure you send link exchange requests to blogs in your niche or at least in a sub-niche. Note – it’s also smart to send out link exchange requests after you’ve been blogging a while. I tend to not link brand new blogs (under 5 mos) because I have no clue if they’re in it for the long haul, and I hate having to change my blogroll.

Speaking of sub-niches: It’s smart to network with other blogs in your niche, but you can widen the field by networking with bloggers close to your niche as well. For example, if you write a thrifty blog, there’s a good chance readers of a DIY home project blog or a budget gardening blog might like your blog too.

Use the readers you have already to make networking decisions: If you have some stable readers, ones who leave comments, and also have blogs, head to their site, to see what else they’re reading. Check their blogroll and visit those blogs to leave comments. Often your readers will visit other blogs that might be good to network with.

Network with the bloggers on your level: Not to apply labels, but if you’re a less than B-list blogger (or new blogger) trying to get A-listers to notice you is a lofty goal. You might have better luck networking with less popular bloggers. We all start somewhere. You might be creating a long lasting networking relationship with a new blogger now, but who know where they’ll be in two years or less. Case in point, I became friends with a brand new blogger a couple of years ago, she had emailed me asking questions, and we hit it off. Then she managed to become way popular in under a year (rare but cool) and because we were pals she had all my blogs linked at her site, which tossed me some decent traffic. That’s not the only reason I like her, but it’s a nice bonus for sure, one I wouldn’t have gotten had I ignored her emails early on. An added benefit of non-A-listers is they get less email, usually have more time, and tend to be more open to new networking relationships.

Chill out: Online relationships, like offline relationships take time to build and grow. Asking favors too early on, frequently bugging a blogger you just met, using spammy behavior, and expecting too much is not chill behavior. Allowing relationships to grow naturally makes for longer lasting connections.

Of course when it comes to networking, there’s always more you could be doing. What are some of your best ideas for networking that meets your specific blog’s needs?

Blogging & Online Writing Gigs for May 22, 2009

Some decent looking gigs today.

Bonus gig tip o’ the day: It looks like social media gigs are taking over lately; if you’re not on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites now is the time to connect.

Anywhere gigs:

Social Media Intern – can’t tell if you have to be in San Francisco or not.

Food Technologist Writer

Fashion, tech, home and garden blogs – freelance contributors wanted – NOTE: only decent pay if you blog fast.

Online Marketing Manager

Writer Needed To Post On Social Website for Search Engine Optimization (L.A. ) – sounds like they’re looking for low pay writers, but hey, bid what you like. You never know.

Writer to update website about kid’s parties

Online Social Networking Writer

Blogging for e-cards

Anorexia information needed for new website (Utah County)

Broadband / networking expert

Dating bloggers who are social media savvy

Copyeditor – Work at Home

Location specific gigs:

Web Editor – Arizona Capitol Times- Phoenix, AZ

Travel Website Content Developer - (Salt Lake City (Brickyard Area))

Content Manager/Writer – Priority will be given to residents of Western Pennsylvania, although residents of other nearby East Coast cities (New York, DC and Philadelphia) will be considered as well.

Internet Merchandising Content Associate (Burnsville, Minnesota)

Popular Web Site Needs Writers (Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette )

Alternative Health Writer - (West Palm Beach)

Seeking Motivated Energy Reporter – Energy Intelligence- Washington, District of Columbia

Seeking Marketing Writer for Healthcare Field (Longmont) North CO.

FYI: Not sure if I’ll be posting leads on weekends yet – pickings tend to be slim then anyhow. If I’m not around, I hope everyone has a fun and productive weekend.

Basic Networking for Bloggers

There are three places that a blogger should start with when it comes to networking…

Your own blog: You may be the master of facebook, tweet with the best of them, and have more Karma Points on Mixx than one human should legally be allowed to have, but if I try to communicate with you at your own blog, and you ignore me, I’m not going to be thrilled. I’m not gonna care if you’re friends with everyone at Digg if you can’t even take the time to answer a comment, respond to an email, or connect on a basic level by writing meaningful, personalized posts.

Networking via your own blog, is to me, the most important thing you can do to establish important blogger connections. I’ve had potential clients visit my blogs and via communicating with said clients, I’ve landed gigs. I’ve found co-bloggers and guest posters by communicating with readers of my blogs. It’s cool to try out various forms of networking, and you don’t have to answer every single comment, but overall, you can’t forget about connecting with people at your own little homebase.
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Social networking is fuzzy – what’s your take?

I was making a list of social networking methods for blogs, plus discussing it with Deb, and I realized that some of the methods I use are pretty fuzzy. Many social activities cross over with blog promotion and the other way around, and it all mixes up with building your own blog community. For example, if someone finds you through Technorati and you become pals and maybe score a gig through that friendship, is it blog promotion, or are you doing a little networking? Fuzzy business.

That said, I’m going to cover some blog networking methods over the next few posts, but some of the methods we’ll look at may cross over into blog promotion. Although networking is fuzzy, here’s my take. If you’re a blogger, you need to get out there, connect, and interact with others. If you do that, you’ll not only be networking, but promoting your blog.

Here is a sample of what you’ll see if you look up “social networking” online:
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What kind of social networking is the most beneficial for bloggers

It seems everyone is interested in finding the best form of social networking for bloggers, according to the recent post, “Is Network Blogging Tips the right name for this blog?”

It’s a bit of a loaded question, because straight up, the kind of social networking that will work best for your blog, is….

The social networking you’ll actually use. Bonus points if you enjoy using it. Read more

5 Lame Ways to Comment at Other Blogs

Looking to get your comment deleted from my blog? Comment like this…

1. “Hey, this doesn’t relate to your post at all but…. http://www.linkthatdoesnotrelate.com” – you lost me at “doesn’t relate.”

2. On one of my contest posts: “Everyone come enter my contest instead! at http://www.mycontestisbetterthanyours.com” – sad. Really even if you leave out the “instead”, I’m likely to delete you AND not enter you in my contest. This, in my opinion, is no better than spam. It’s just not cool. You already get to leave your url at my blog.

3. Say one of the following: “You suck” – “That last comment sucked” – “This post is stupid” – if my blog, my readers, or I suck so hard core, please back it up with why. I mean, it’s the least you can do, and it will save you from a delete.

4. On my post about organic shirts: “I love organic shirts, they’re so much better than regular shirts, my favorite organic shirts are from http://myorganicshirts.com” – then I look and guess what your url and email are – oh, big surprise, “myorganicshirts.com” this is slightly concealed spam within a semi-decent comment, but I’ll still catch and delete you.

5. “I HAVE A BLOG LIKE THIS! PLEEZE COME SEE MY BLOG LIKE THIS BLOG!” sigh.

You know, commenting at other blogs is one very cool way to promote your blog, and get more traffic. However, you do need to leave a real comment. The comments above are the types of things I see all the time. Often I’ll go check out the blogger and see that they’re working for someone else, say, a network blog, or an obvious company blog, which frankly boggles my mind. Bad comments are a terrible way to promote your client’s blog. If you work for someone as a blogger, and part of your gig is networking, you can do better than the above.

I promise, you’ll get more clicks back to your blog if you leave a comment that has one or more of the following traits:

• Relates to the topic.
• Smart
• Respectfully argumentative
• Questioning
• Helpful

What sort of comments frustrate you?