Blog Tipz

I want to pose a topic that might come off as a bit of a surprise for some, not so much for others. Networking takes a lot of time, developing relationships, getting the word out about your blog or products that you have launched or created, and ensuring that your image remains in a position that allows you to continue growing.

Even though I am not referring to the “social” networking aspect of growing a community around your blog per se, it is important to note that networking isn’t tackled by manner bloggers in the correct way.

Think about the web that blogs are supposed to be creating. Where are they? Why aren’t all blogs connected equally to one another? Of course, the larger blogs will always be in the middle, supporting those on the outside, but is this really the case? No, not by any means.

Linking: How It’s All Planned Out

When you start any new blog, you have zero links pointing to your blog. Naturally, as you grow that blog, people should begin linking in to it, as a sign that they like your content and want their readers to share in the experience that they had or take something from what you have to say.

If the author of that blog sees something that they like, but don’t necessarily want to return the favor, they will simply take note of it for inclusion in an upcoming post. Somewhat like stealing, they have left no credit for the person that originally thought of the content. But it’s all in the spirit of the community, right?

There are some blogs out there that have thousands of articles and don’t really see the credit for what the blog is really worth. This can be true for any company or website, for that matter. It only takes one larger blog for that blog to get on the ‘sphere’ of blogs and be recognized from that point forward.

Why the ‘Webs’ Are Broken

Trying to keep my points as straightforward as possible, the webs that were supposed to be created in this whole process are really only created by the leaders, the blogs that see greater than ten thousand visitors daily, for example. What often happens is that, during the process of growth, they ignore what is essential to their prosperity in the long term – the community and network that they strived to grow during the initial steps. It’s that what can bring the entire community against the site, and what leaves the rest of the blogs out of the picture completely.

Let’s assume that you run a blog that is moderately successful, with at least several thousand visitors daily. It is able to bring in a decent level of revenue, and has a decent number/proportion of subscribers. To paint the picture even further, this blog is well-received in the community and definitely within the “Top 100″ of blogs in the niche.

To get word out about the blog, you initially ran campaigns to get other blogs to link to yours, which could have been done through commenting, creating posts that would generate links, and creating a small community around the site.

But, as the blog grew, you decided that the blogs that didn’t really matter – those with few posts, few comments, and an author with “little experience” wouldn’t really be able to increase your traffic/revenue/subscribers. Therefore, you essentially left them at the last stop.

What This All Means

All this stems from the fact that many large blogs have a tendency not to link out the true community that they have helped develop. Yes, there are a few blogs that still do this, but they are far and few between. In order to maintain the momentum, gain the followers, and build up your brand, you have to associate yourself with the everyday person, the people who want to be like you.

If you don’t do this, there is no doubt that it will become harder and harder to maintain your image from blogs that may appear to only have a few hundred subscribers, but still hold so much power.

The web should be complete. There should be no holes, no weak areas, and therefore, nothing will be able to get through.

Even though I may not link out too often, I try to include everyone that is a part of this blog, responding to comments and making sure that I don’t appear to be greater than the next blog that comes along. After all, the spirit of the bloggers was not to become what we were trying to leave behind, but something new, publishing what we believed.