Get to Know the Blogosphere

Blog improvement—Step 2 of 3

Wikipedia defines the blogosphere as made-up of “all other blogs and interconnections.”

With millions of other blogs out there, it’s likely many are in direct competition with yours. You can learn a lot by reading similar blogs and blogs related to your industry.
By getting to know the blogosphere, you can gain broad exposure and drive traffic to your blog. You can communicate within your niche to gain exposure, make new friends, and solidify your presence in the community.

Use sites such as Technorati to find the most popular blogs, and blogs related to your industry.

Learn what works well for others and see if you can adapt to improve your blog.
Find new markets for your information—cross-post or comment on related blogs to reach potential new readers.
Discover other “influencers” in your field and keep up with what they’re saying.
Comment on other people’s blogs—when you post a comment, you’ll usually be asked for your website’s URL, so a link to your blog will appear with your comment.
Take a stint as a guest-writer for other blogs that relate to your area of expertise.
Make connections with other bloggers who share your interests and passion. Form a tribe committed to commenting on each others' posts in a meaningful way. Bring traffic from their blogs back to yours and promote each others posts.

Now that you have a better idea of what’s out there, continue to improve your blog by incorporating feedback from your readers.

Review all steps at a glance on the How to Blog page.

Content Lead: Justin Herman
Page Reviewed/Updated: May 16, 2012