How to make the most of Blogging Communities
The past week, I was quite active in blogger based communities like MyBlogLog, BUMPzee and blogcatalog.
In this entry I am going to tell you what I’ve been doing (more specifically on MyBlogLog) and how I’ve been trying to get people to read my blog.
Let me tell you that it always takes time and dedication to lure people (from anywhere) to come and read your blog. Blogging communities make it a tad easier to connect to people and socialize because everybody has one thing in common - Blogging !
I’ve had a MyBlogLog account since before I even had a blog ! But I never used it actively, not even when I began a blog. I naively thought that all I had to do was to list my blog and visitors would come !
The importance of commenting cannot be over-stressed
Professional bloggers like ProBlogger and BlogBloke frequently mention that one of the best ways to increase your blog’s presence is to comment on other blogs. New bloggers may not realize this immediately and most are shy to comment, feeling that their comment might be dumb or might be ignored ! Believe me your comments will always be read and no comment is a stupid comment. Besides, blogging is all about socializing - if you’re a hermit, you aren’t getting anywhere.
Now that’s only one side of the story ! If you are a new blogger, it’s better not to leave those comments on your blog hanging. Instead, try to reply to everyone of them. BlogBloke for example takes the effort to reply to every comment, and that creates a warm feeling and leaves a good impression his visitors.
One thing I’d like to mention is that you may not get the amount of comments you’d expect, in the first few months. Remember, everybody starts at the bottom !
The same rules apply when you are on a blogging community. Normally, when you visit someone’s profile, they reply back saying, “thanks for stopping by” or something similar. That’s fine, they’re being friendly folk.
But you need take an extra step ! First, visit their blog (if they’ve listed one) and check it out. Then go back and send them a message on how and why you liked their blog. Don’t stop there ! Take a look around in the neighbourhood and visit their friends blogs and their friend’s friend’s blogs leaving complements as you go along. You’ll get the hang of writing short and unique comments after you’ve done a few and you’ll have lots of fun doing it !
(Also you’ll probably be able to tell splogs from blogs and also if the entries on a blog are original or plagiarized)
Don’t forget to visit the new members and welcome them to the community, as well as complementing about their blogs too ! Yes this is time consuming but don’t get stressed out ! You’re out there to meet new people and to have fun getting to know them.
A heads-up though: only 5% of those who view your profile will also visit your blog ! Also, there is a 15 message per day limit on MyBlogLog. Who said it was easy ?!
Complete that profile and spice it up !
People take more interest in a profile page that is more complete and they will click on a picture the looks good. When I changed my picture on MyBlogLog, I noticed a considerable increase in the number of profile views. Enough said !
Be honest about who you are and what your blog is all about. Add tags that really describe you and your blog. I’ve seen profiles with tags spanning every word in the dictionary and listing blogs that are nor really theirs ! Dishonesty is the biggest turn-off !
Your blog design is also an important factor that will determine the first thoughts of a visitor - should they stay and read on or should they leave. So clean up that clutter and make your entries more prominent.
Lastly, the quality of your posts determines “blog stickiness”. Generally, quality improves with time and the number of entries you write.
Concluding words
There is no magic formula for getting more traffic to your blog. What works for me may not work for you, so experiment and use trial and error to determine what strategy is best for you.
One last thing
Guess who made it to the “Hot Members List” yesterday on MyBlogLog !
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Do I need a Blokester invitation??? 
There are no comments yet !
Excellent post. It’s quite the food for thought. Congrats on being in the Hot spot!
I wanted to thank you for the visit and the comment. Hopefully Drew will find the energy that he needs to continue on. I do like him, but so far I’m not seeing the fit with P.i.R.
Thanks again!
Excellent post on how to use social networking sites to our full advantage. There’s some stuff in there I never thought of. Like contacting friends of friends. I’ve never gone that deep into the blog family tree before. I guess I’ll have to set aside an afternoon and start schmoozing more.
Regarding the picture… now you know why I removed mine and use a caricature
By the way Jaffer, I would like to invite you to guest post this article on my blog. Let me know.
…BB
Hot member huh….. nice tips…
Great post…being fairly new…I picked up a lot of tips…thank you and congrats on being in the Hot Spot too…well done!
Thank you very much “JustYou”. I am glad you liked it !
very useful info. thanks so much for sharing ;_)
congrats on being a hot member BTW………..
Thank You Ivy !
you’re welcome. added you to my links BTW. i find your site to be very insightful
Ivy, I still have a lot of ideas and things to fix on this blog but things are going slow due to the load from university !
Thanks again !
hey dude, thanks a lot for the tips. Now I’m really goin’ places!
Hey ARN ! I am glad it’s working out for you as well !
Hey Jaffer!
I dunno if its just me, but my browser kinda gets lost in your blog…
Don’t get me wrong, but I was just wondering if its got to do with your new design; ever since your blog moved to maniaravings.com, everytime I click someplace, it seems to take me someplace else. (like comments always get me to the start of the article and stuff like that)
mind taking a look? Thanks bro!
Well, there is still a lot of coding to do and I haven’t really had the time to finish everything.
Can you be more clear as to what exactly happens ? Which browser are you using ?
Thanks !
well i use IE. the problem is, half the time when I click on a comment link, all I get is an empty page, with the blank comment field below.
Thanks bro!