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Use Niche Social Networking Sites to Gain Readers

Posted: 03 Feb 2009 01:05 PM PST

Many bloggers attempt to use social networking sites to gain new readers for their blog. In this post Kevin Palmer of Social Media Answers shares some tips on how to do it.

One of the most undervalued places to find readers is a niche social networking site. Right now there are niche sites for just about every subject imaginable. Would you like to share your love of old cars? Not a problem. Want to connect to other mothers? There are tons of sites. Do you want to reach out to other people that pose as vampires? Believe it or not there is a site for you.

Here are some of the benefits of joining a niche social network:

You know other members share the same interests.

Instead of having to hunt through groups on larger sites or looking for people through keywords in their "about me" section you know right off the bat you share the same interests. Just by participating on the social network you are going to be connecting with people that may be interested in reading your blog. It is a targeted and focused environment for you.

Tip: Try spending 10-15 minutes a day just adding friends and interacting. Not only will people find your blog but also you will discover loads of others.

Smaller community but a larger voice.

Sure the pool is smaller compared to larger sites but you can be a big fish in a small pond quickly. You can quickly obtain an authoritative voice in a niche social network by listening, participating, and sharing.

Tip: Participate in forums or large groups to establish your voice and become a go to source of information. Sharing your knowledge and helping others out has lasting benefits.

Most of these sites link to your blog, pass on page rank, and bring a flow of traffic just from filling out your profile.

I have registered on over 700 social networking sites in the past few months and I was shocked to see the sheer number that pass on page rank when I link to my blog within my profile. Additionally by just setting up profiles and including my blog information I was getting a steady flow of traffic to my site even though I hadn't "officially" launched yet.

Tip: Take time to actually fill out your profile. Have a document that already has your about me, favorites, and other typical topics you find on social networking sites ready to go so you can cut and paste your info from it.

Additional features like social news voting and forums are a great way to gain readers.

I found multiple sites ranging from sports to art that had their own social news section that was active. In testing a few of these out for a client I realized that the conversion from visitor to subscriber was high. Compared to traditional social news sites where it is very low.

Tip: The traffic from here can also lead to voting on traditional social news sites as well. Use these features to drive people to posts you really want to push on Digg, Reddit, or other sites. Make sure you embed buttons on the post to give them a cue.

Now don't just run out there and register for every niche that might apply to your blog. There are a couple of things to watch out for:

Is the network active? Make sure you check out the forums or any place that shares content from other users that has a date. Check to see if there is a constant and recent flow, it is a good measuring stick to show you how active the site is.
What is the target country for the site? - If your site has a regional appeal you may want to check to see where the site is based out of and where the users are from.

I highly recommend picking out a site or two and experiment with it. Investing a little amount of time per day or even week can go a long way on these sites. On my blog I have a pretty comprehensive list of niche social networking sites, which is always evolving and growing, hope this helps as a starting out point.

Tags: Blog Promotion

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How to Stand Out as a Blogger [VIDEO INTERVIEW]

Posted: 03 Feb 2009 06:01 AM PST

Yesterday I did a video interview with Eric Hamm at Blogopolis Blueprint on the topic of standing out from the crowd as a blogger. It goes for around 15 minutes and in it I talk about a number of techniques that bloggers can consider to find their own unique voice as a blogger and differentiate themselves.

I’m going to post a post in the next few days with a similar focus to this interview - expanding upon some of what I covered.

In chatting with Eric and his co-blogger Sean Platt I found that they’ve just released an useful resource for new bloggers called the Blogopolis Blueprint. I asked Eric if i could get a copy of it for review and he was kind enough to give me access.

The Blogopolis Blueprint is designed for those who are either about to start a blog or who have recently started one. It doesn’t pretend to be for anyone with advanced knowledge of blogging but rather Sean and Eric have put it out there with the Pre-Blogger and New-Blogger in mind.

It focuses upon a variety of topics of interest to these new bloggers including:

A history of blogging - short but good background
Features of Blogs - some qualities that blogs have
Getting Started - some general tips on getting going with blogging
Comments - tips on leaving them on other blogs and hosting them on your own
Blogging with a Buddy/Collaborative blogging (something Eric and Sean are great at)
Guest Posting - as a way to grow your blog
Planning for successful blogging - some things to add into your plan as you move forward
Secrets of Success - keys to remember as you blog

This e-book teaching component is 46 pages long and a good solid introduction to blogging.

Also bundled with the teaching are two other components.

1. WordPress Quick Start Guide - which is a more practical 24 page guide to getting going with an introduction to platforms, suggestions on finding a niche, hosting and domains, a guide to selecting a blog platforms, some suggestions on getting the perfect theme for your blog and some suggestions on essential plugins.

2. The Blueprint Workbook - this is designed to help you take what you’ve learned from the other components of this Blueprint kit and to apply it. So often these online teaching resources share great principles but don’t actually give you a way forward. This workbook gives you a variety of practical ways to bed down what you’re learning as you read the ebook. It gives questions to ask yourself corresponding with each chapter in the ebook.

My Verdict on Blogopolis Blueprint

Let me say it again - Blogopolis Blueprint is a resource for beginners. If you’ve been blogging a year or more and have a handle on the basics you probably won’t find this as useful as some of the other resources on the market which help you take your blog to the next level (Blog Mastermind would be a better place to start if that’s you).

However if you’re starting or about to start blogging and have no idea where to start then this is worth considering. Unlike some other resources on the market this is not a membership site where you get ongoing interaction and teaching - however it also is a one off payment rather than a monthly one so cheaper than membership sites.

One of the things I like about this resource is that it has both the more general teaching about principles of good blogging as well as some practical tips and then the questions for helping you to unpack it. The only thing I’d like to see added would be some ‘homework’ or takeaway ‘tasks’ for each chapter. The ‘workbook’ does give some steps to get started - but perhaps some further exercises for each chapter would be helpful. Other than that I think it’s a good investment for new bloggers.