Rule of Blogging #1: Establish Relationships
May 1, 2007
From when I first started blogging up until a few days ago, I thought I could become a decently successful blogger and make a nice little sum of money all by myself, without making any contact with anyone. Boy, was I wrong!
I’d been reading on other blogs that if you wanted to be successful, you’d need to visit a lot of other people’s blogs and leave nice [non-spam] comments. That you’d need to actually establish some relationships. I’d always ignored that though. I didn’t really think it would make that much of a difference. But this weekend on Friday and Saturday I thought, well, it’s worth a shot. I might as well try it out.
And guess what. As of the time of writing this, my previous post has 14 comments. The most comments I’ve ever had on one post was probably 2. And I got so many comments because I commented on OTHER people’s blogs and participated on OTHER people’s events. And when I signed my comments on those other blogs, I would sign it ‘~Tay at Super Blogging’, and make that link to my blog.
And then the comments rolled in, including people wanting me to favorite them on Technorati because of the train/exchange I finally decided to participate in over at Dosh Dosh. Not only did people notice my blog and visit it, but I’ve had a lot of new Technorati favorites now.
I notice that I’ve had more visitors, too. And all from spending some of my weekend checking out other blogs on similar topics as mine, and dropping a couple comments here and there. Now besides having more visitors, comments, Technorati favorites, etc., I’ve also had a few people tell me they’re going to link to me on their blogs because they like mine so much.
Do I regret not establishing relationships with fellow bloggers sooner? Yes, I do! I think if you’re going to be a successful blogger with people actually visiting your site, you’ve got to spend some time crafting relationships with other blogmasters and THEIR visitors (and your own visitors, too)! Even if it’s just spending a minute leaving a comment.
So get out there on people’s blogs. When you leave a comment, try and link to your blog somewhere in it. Nothing like, “Check out my blog!!!” Like I said, when I signed my name I made that my link. And this has brought new visitors into Super Blogging, and helped me more than I could have ever imagined.
That’s why I’ve made establishing relationships rule of blogging number uno. And I might elaborate more on this topic some other time, so keep your eyes peeled!
Rule of blogging number two coming up soon… ;)
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5 Responses to “Rule of Blogging #1: Establish Relationships”
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I agree with you that stablishing relationships is absolutely important, I’m also working on extending my IM network by leaving contact info on one of my posts ( inspired by daniel from dailyblogtips).
A well thought post. It would be a pleasure to explore what we may do together…
I have a few referrals I can pass along as well. What better in life than mutual benefit, eh?
I will look forward to hear from you, Kilroy’s The Gonzo Papers
We couldn’t agree more. You NEED to be involved in the blogosphere in order to get anything in return. It’s not a cash machine, though some people think it is. It’s a place where real people can connect with other real people they wouldn’t overwise ever have contact with. We over here at blogskinny.com really enjoyed your post today very much. Thanks for the words.
Dee - I should get into using IM again, with others. It would surely help. I might try to extend my IM network sometime also ;)
Kilroy - Thank you! :)
Al - Yes, I’ve met some great people here, blogging, and I plan to meet hundreds more. Thank you very much.
[...] That you need to be able to establish and keep up relationships. You need to be able to form and keep relationships with other bloggers. You need to comment their blogs and be at least a little bit social. No one will ever notice you and your blog if you don’t! To read more on this, click here. [...]