ProBlogger: The Unmissable Secret of Long Term Blogging Success.

The Unmissable Secret of Long Term Blogging Success.

Posted: 02 Jul 2010 06:24 AM PDT

In The Myth Of Great Content Marketing Itself, Darren said that:

The reality is that many blogs produce quality content that doesn't get read. The reason isn't that the blog's not worth reading – but in many cases it's because nobody knows to go read it.

Later, he said:

Letting your content market itself DOES work IF you already have an audience to help with that process by spreading word of it through word of mouth. YOU need to be the one who starts the process.

It's time to hustle and get word out about your content.

I agree. Most of the apparent success you see on a blog is based on what happens outside of content creation. The main secret to kicking arse online is knowing the right people.

Yes, I'm talking about the networking.

How Networking Leads To Blog Success

Image by Sudhamshu

Do you ever see posts with high profile commenters and tonnes of retweets that seems to echo around the blogosphere? All that happened off the blog. The connections were made months before a favour was asked. The person had provided enough value for the person to not even considering saying no to a request for help.

I recently wrote a post taking readers step by step through my networking methods. This guest post will take you through specific observations that helped me garner the attention of the big guns – and keep it.

Be A Filter. Be Seen.

I owe the discovery of this concept to Dave Navarro at The Launch Coach

"the busier and more successful someone is, the more they rely on people they trust to filter decisions for them. They don't have the time to take in an process all the pros and cons of some new unknown quantity, so they simply look to their "influencers" - the people who already have established trust with them – for recommendations. "

Positioning yourself as a filter is a great way to get on the radars of awesome people.

I became a filter by accident and it's a role that I've embraced. I'm known as the person that hooks people up. I did one consulting call and was interviewed for two paid programs in the past week. In all three cases, I asked the person is there was anyone I could connect them too.

This doesn't have to be a bad thing. In many cases, it means getting them featured on a certain blog. They get publicity. The blogger gets quality content. I get the happiness from making awesomeness happen.

The key to being a indispensible filter is being so darn useful that the A-listers clamor to get to know you. However, before you can get to know them they have to know who you are.

So – how do you get to know them?

Meet them on their turf and go where they are most comfortable. This is where they will me most receptive to your attempts at connection.

For many people, this is Twitter. For others, it may be a uStream or an interview. Be where they are, and without being spammy show how intelligent and helpful you are. In some cases, they'll get to know you and ask to take the conversation elsewhere.

Taking the conversation off that platform

Image by Moriza

Take the conversation to phone

It's weird, but hearing someone's voice encourages them to be more emotionally involved. They are more likely to remember you and be willing to help you out down the track.

I know this because I've Skyped a lot of my blogging friends. It's hard, especially when you are introverted. It has lots of awesome networking opportunities. You can pick up little pieces of information to leverage later, such as birthdays and children. You can also bond over accents or similar work.

For most people, this means talking to them on Skype. You can also talk to them via conference call products or by a regular phone.

Take it to email

I try and funnel most conversations to email. This makes it a lot easier to form a connection and figure out how you can help each other. I have one email for most people and a separate email for those I have a preexisting relationship with. This means that I can give a priority to those I am willing to help out.

This may not be practical for some of the bigger names. They generally get so many emails that yours will get lost. In these cases, it's worth getting to know the person that filters their email if you definitely need their attention.

Meeting in real life

In most cases, this is unlikely to happen. That's just the way the internet works. There is often too much hassle involved in meeting up unless you live physically close to them. I have three main ways I meet people:

If a social media friend will be in the same city as you, casually offer to meetup. I got to meet Yaro Starak and Melinda Brennan this way.
I also to conferences that my friends will be attending. This means we get to hang out during the sessions and can make additional connections with some of their friends.
My other method is tweetups. I limit the ones I attend because they can be tiring but they are an awesome place to develop new friendship circles.

How to be incredibly useful.

Image by thebittenword.com

Know what they need before they know they need it

Imagine. You are craving an ice cream. You don't have the time to go and buy the ice cream but then someone offers one because they instinctively know that it could help you right then. Now, imagine that you could help people find solutions that could save or earn them thousands of dollars. They'd be pretty darn grateful, right?

That's what I do and it's how you can get a lot of the big guns to view you as a peer in a short period of time.

To succeed at this you have to be good at reading between the lines. You have to:

Be able to see when they are hinting towards needing help such as them tweeting about feeling sick.
Know what type of person/product they like being referred to.
Know about the various solutions that they haven't heard of. This can require a lot of research.

It's hard work but you eventually develop processes so it requires very little time. One you reach a tipping point most of the people come to you on a referral basis.

Connect them to people that profoundly change things for them

I know I changed Dave Navarro's career when I reviewed How To Launch The **** Out Of Your Ebook on this blog. That connection has led to so many opportunities and experiences for me.

When you do something amazing, the person will be grateful for a long, long time. People still thank me for mentioning the in the 30 Bloggers To Watch post. And, when I recently needed help, they all rallied around to support me because I'd done so much for them previously.

You don't have to help in a huge way. Sometimes, it can be a small favour that spurs a person on. Ideas include:

Get a review copy of an information product on their behalf
Review their product on a popular blog
Highlight them in front of an influencer
Connect them with people with complementary skills

Givers get. Simple.

I help you build your influence at jadecraven.com. If you want to know whats hot in the blogosphere before it goes mainstream, check out my How to Network Fast Course. People come to me whenever they want their stuff to be shared and I only share the best with my readers.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.