Network, Network, Network – part 1, Blogs
Consider this our third most critical tip, at least when it comes to the chronological order in which you’ll act on our advice.
You’ve started dictating your articles and transcribing them, and that work-flow has become a no-brainer. You’re cranking out content constantly. You’re introducing yourself to YouTube, with the occasional video being uploaded here and there, as you get used to the tools. All in all, you have a strong introductory presence, and your work-flow behind building that presence is a lightweight new habit.
It’s time to Network .
Like so many things, the internet makes this incredibly simple. Start with blogs, and then expand to YouTube. Go to Google Blog Search – you get there by clicking the “More” link at the top of the Google Search page. In that list, you’ll see “Blogs.” Click that and you’ll be able to search the web in a new way – socially.
Start searching for your topics. Start browsing blogs. Do this in a fairly high-speed fashion, keeping sites open that you like, ignoring sites you don’t. It’s better to ignore an important site in the short term, than it is to make a negative statement on that same important site. As a new blog networker, you may not know the difference, so just go with the law of attraction.
As you start reading these blogs, you can start commenting right away, but keep it simple. Don’t immediately mention your site – that is terrible etiquette. On sites that offer a link to your site with every comment you post, you might even consider withholding your address the first couple times you comment. This adds weight to your participation in the conversation, because you’re explicitly -not- marketing.
Bookmark as many blogs as you can keep up with. I recommend between 15 and 50 to start out with. You don’t have to read every post by any means – but you do want to stop by all these sites and leave a comment at least once a week. Use the same name, avatar, and style . Take part in the conversations. Subscribe to follow-up comments on some posts and genuinely follow-up.
Very quickly you will be recognized and welcomed, and by then, it’s good to put a link to your site in that home page field that almost every blog offers its comment posters. As this conversation evolves, you will strike up positive contact with some of the writers. You really don’t even have to ask about linking – you link to them as a sign of respect, and they very often will link back.
This is a two-part article. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the same effort on YouTube, which is slightly different. We’ll also wrap up with the “why” behind this method – it might seem counter-intuitive, but in fact, it’s the best way forward.
