This is a guest post by Tune Seidelin.
Are you getting more traffic, than the server on your cheap hosting account can handle?
Are you getting tons of links from other blogs?
And do you have core group of loyal readers, doing everything they can to help spread the word about your latest content?
If not, then you’ve probably been pondering questions like “what am I doing wrong?†and “what are successful bloggers doing, that I’m not?â€.
The problem isn’t your blogs design – you’ve probably spent countless hours (and dollars?) on it already.
And it isn’t the quality of your content either, that’s keeping success at bay.
No, there is one thing all popular bloggers have, that you don’t. But the good news is, you can get it too.
Nobody Knows About Your Blog
You might be wondering how I can be so sure, that it isn’t your content or design that’s the problem. And maybe your content does suck and maybe your design is horrible, but it won’t do much damage when nobody sees it.
The real problem is lack of people being exposed to your blog.
When people don’t know your blog, they won’t link to you. And without links you won’t get much traffic. And without traffic you will have a very hard time, establishing a tribe around your blog.
You’ve Been Lied to
But don’t beat yourself up about your lack of success.
It’s not because you don’t deserve success or because you aren’t working hard enough. It’s just because you’ve been doing the wrong things. And the reason you’ve been doing the wrong things, is because your assumptions about what it takes to succeed as a blogger are flawed.
And those assumptions didn’t come out of nowhere. They are most likely based on what you’ve been told by successful bloggers.
But you’ve been lied to…
OK, maybe you haven’t been lied to directly, but you’ve been working under the assumption, that if you build it, they will come. And that’s simply not the case, in today’s blogosphere.
You’ve heard all the big bloggers say that content is king and while good content is important, it doesn’t do you much good either, if no one read it.
No, there is another thing that comes before good content, that all popular bloggers have. But it’s not necessarily obvious to the outside observer and it’s not discussed in the open too often.
No Blog is an Island
The key to success as a blogger, is relationships (and hard work) – just like with anything else. But not all relationships are equally valuable.
Your mom is probably an avid reader of your blog and you have a better relationship with her, than you ever will with most of your other readers (I hope). But unless your mom already is a highly successful blogger (which is very unlikely for the record). Then she wont be able to do much, to promote your work.
The relationships that really matter, are the ones with influential people. And if you are a blogger, who want traffic. Then other bloggers, are the people you want to connect with.
You see, that’s the thing all popular bloggers have that you don’t – relationships with other bloggers.
Relationships alone obviously wont lead to overnight success, but they can result in guest posting opportunities, getting links to your good content and help promoting your products or services.
So how do you build relationships with fellow bloggers?
Give Fellow Bloggers a Hand
I’ll let you in on a little secret. Bloggers obsess over traffic and comments.
OK, maybe that isn’t exactly a secret, but you can still use the information to your advantage. Because the best way to get someones (positive) attention, is to do something nice for them, that they’ll notice.
But since you don’t have a lot of traffic on your blog yet, you can’t really send traffic to the bloggers, that you want to make a good impression on. But you can help them get the conversation on their blog going, by leaving good comments.
Not only will you be talking to fellow bloggers, but you’ll also help them generate social proof for their blog. And that’s a great foundation for a relationship.
Just make sure your comments don’t come across as spam. You’re trying to make a good impression after all, so take the time to do it right.
The secret to good comments, is to add value to the conversation. Here’s how you can go about it:
- Read the post first (this might seem obvious, but many commenters don’t take the time to read the article and it often shows in their comments).
- Think about how you can add to the conversation by referencing your own experience on the subject, asking followup questions or adding a new point or perspective.
- Write a good comment that adds value.
- Subscribe to the comments or check back regularly for responses to your comment, so you can follow up if needed.
And for the best results start by targeting small blogs in your niche – then build from there (as your network grows you can leverage it to connect with more popular bloggers).
Over to You
That’s my take, but what do you think makes a good comment?
If you like this strategy and want to implement it on the blogs in your niche. Then you’re most welcome to practice your commenting skills here, before you take on the world.
Just give it your best shot and I’ll respond to every single comment with feedback – if you’re lucky you could even get feedback from Kristi Hines.
And to make things a little more interesting, I’ll be giving away a free blog strategy audit (by yours truly) to the best comment*, left within the first 48 hours of the post going live.
*The winner will be chosen by me alone, based completely on my subjective opinion. And the winner will be announced after the 48 hours are up.
