Does this sound familiar?
You’re an aspiring blogger looking to make yourself known in a popular niche. All the blogging books and blogs tell you in order to do this you have to network heavily including commenting at other top blogs to bring in traffic. You do. You don’t just comment you become THE top commenter. You add your opinion to every single post and even drop some links if you can get away with it. As soon as your blog starts picking up momentum you forget that other blog. You don’t come by and comment or participate in community activities anymore. There’s no need to, you only wanted to link to your own stuff anyway. You disappear into the sunset never to be seen again.
Does this sound familiar?
You have 250 Twitter followers, which is fine except there are no “big name” Tweeters who are following you in return. While you have some great conversations with your friends, Tweeting links to your stuff hardly sends traffic your way. You begin following the power Tweeters, those with 5,000, 10,000 or 50,000 followers and one or two follow you. These are the folks you care about. You begin asking them to retweet your stuff. It doesn’t matter that they don’t know you from Adam or that you don’t really care much for helping them to promote their own stuff. If they can give your blog posts a retweet or two you’d be set and never have to talk to them again.
Does this sound familiar?
Certain blogs enjoy a liberal link love policy. They don’t have to do this, they simply enjoy sharing with their communities. Thanks to them, your blog is on the map. Half of that popular blog’s community now visits your blog. You won’t come as far as to say that other blog is responsible for your beginning popularity but you know it’s true. However you never link to them in return. Not because they don’t have good stuff to share, but because you’re afraid of sending readers to the “competition.”
Does this sound familiar?
Every day after you blog you contact everyone in your arsenal and ask them to give your blog posts Stumbles, Tweets, Diggs and more. Everyone says yes. However, you never take the time to see what those other bloggers are doing. You never ask how you can reciprocate. If you are asked to reciprocate you forget or you don’t don’t it because you don’t want to seem spammy.
Does this sound familiar?
You look for the top blogs so you can guest post and build awareness around your own name and brand. Do you spend time in this blogger’s community when you’re not guest posting? Do you link to his blog or participate in her discussions? Did you choose this blog for any reason other than numbers?
Does this sound familiar?
An online acquaintance knows some of the top bloggers and social media people. You approach her for an introduction so you can promote your book. Your book is an online best seller because she helped to arrange for a review by a leading social media guru. Your acquaintance never hears from you again…until you wants her to review her next book.
Are you using your online friends?
Most blogs have transient communities. Readers come by and learn, comment and share and move on. For many it’s a matter of getting a new job or having less time to spend. For others, it’s because they don’t need those blogs or bloggers anymore. Now that they’re popular, they have no use for the people who helped them to get there. Think about how you got your start in the online world. Think about how you achieved the status you have now. Chances are there are a few people who helped along the way.
When was the last time you said thank you? When was the last time you gave back in return?
Discuss…
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