Bloggers: Learn to network if you want to promote your blog

Guest article written by Jeremy Day, author of http://www.insightwriter.com There is nothing like being well connected in the blogosphere. We have all heard the stories of getting an article on the front page of Digg or some other site that causes the server to crash. Many bloggers wish for this kind of exposure, but overall it doesn’t really do much for your site except add maybe a few interested readers to your RSS. A better way to do things is to build your site “organically”. What does it mean to grow your site organically?
1. You comment on your favorite blogs that are related to your content. If you comment regularly on a related blog eventually those blog readers will take notice and visit your blog and subscribe to it. The key is that it is related to what you are already writing about. No one on a blog about technology will really want to come and read your blog about cats. Well, maybe a few will?
2. You plug into social networks. Technorati, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, FriendFeed, Stumble Upon, Digg, Reddit, MyBlogLog, Yahoo! Buzz, Del.icio.us, and the rest of them. You don’t need to belong to all of them, but pick a few you really like and use them regularly. Many people will be able to find your site this way.
3. You are a contributor to a related forum. Us geeks love forums because we love information. The hottest and most relevant information can be found on forums. If you seem like you know what you are talking about people will find your website and visit it often to get that juicy information you provide.
4. You write great content. All the above assumes you can write and already have great juicy content on your site. There is always a balance, but you are always better off writing a better article then actively trying to promote your site.
5. Last but not least, network with your fellow bloggers. In the “real world” I have gotten a lot of traction in my efforts because I knew some people that could really help me accomplish what I wanted to do. The old cliche is true. Sometimes it really is who you know. If I somehow got a guest post on Problogger it would probably crash my server. So if you want to get traffic, be a part of the community. Go and find a place to write a guest article like this one. (Maybe Marko will let you guest write here?) Sign up for MyBlogLog and join the communities there. Be a member of Technorati, Twitter, or one of the many other great services out there. You can certainly find me on all of the above, and I have already met some great people on all of the above.
So if you want traffic, links, and subscribers, build your site organically. Do the above and I assure you just about everything else will fall into place.
Jeremy Day can be found @ http://www.insightwriter.com where he writes about how we can use this information overload of our modern society to our advantage. He also writes a blog about blogging @ http://bloginsightwriter.weebly.com Thanks for reading!