majiknetwork

Some people will know exactly what I am talking about and others will need more information. What I am talking about is your comment section. The section for comments on your post is a mini forum that you have to keep up. When people leave a comment it is important for you to remember not to ignore the comment.

The comment section is an excellent place for you to build your blogging community. As I have said in other posts, your comment section is a mini forum for your readers to exchange comments and ideas on your post. Replying to some of these comments is absolutely necessary as most will come back to see what you have replied to what they have said and are encouraged to add another comment.

Comments are essential to the popularity of a blog. The more comments on your posts the more appealing your blog looks to others just finding your blog for the first time.  Relevant comments will give you more to say in response but other spam like comments should be deleted.  It is very important to recognize your readers by responding to their comments.  Building your community is extremely important to the health of your blog and responding to comments helps to build your community and encourages readers to come back more often.

In the past I have neglected to respond to comments and have had trouble building a readership for my blog.  Since I have started to respond to comments more people are encouraged to comment on my posts.  It may only take a minute or two to respond to a comment but a lot of bloggers (your main source of traffic) find it rude when you don’t respond to comments and will not come back.  In closing, remember to respect your readers and when they take the time to comment on your post, take the time to respond to their comment.

I have been using the social media site Stumble Upon for a little while now.  I have not managed to get a lot of traffic from other people Stumble my page but there are a lot of members on that website.  Some days if someone “Stumbles” you page you could see anywhere between ten and a hundred hits but most times the traffic is not of high quality.

For short term traffic gains Stumble Upon is good, for long term traffic gains I would have to say that it is not good.  It is a tool to help you socialize and gain readers but you have to socialize within the website to gain any readers at all.  I have not liked the whole system very much but I have had a few hits from someone liking one of my posts enough to give it a thumbs up in the Stumble Upon tool bar.

I am still going to do some more socializing within the website.  I just wanted to post about a brief overview of the website so you know that a more in depth review will be on its way over the next month or so.  Each social media website has to be given a fair chance before you can draw any conclusions from it.  For example I have been using Entrecard on all three of my other blogs and I am still learning how to get quality traffic out of it.

My initial perception of Stumble Upon is that it is good for short term gains but not for long term quality traffic.  As always you have to socialize with the right people in your niche to get the quality and quantity of traffic you are looking for.  Being social seems to be a key factor in how well a blog will do.  What do you think?  Is Stumble Upon good or bad?

Being active in forums help bring in traffic; right? Of course it does. You have to get your own brand of blog out into the marketplace for people to read. Advertising alone will not bring you the traffic you desire but staying active is crucial to the health of a blog.

I have been working on a posting schedule for this blog and I have not yet nailed it down. Part of it is because of the demands of being a specialized employee, the other part of it is that it is hard to keep four blogs active at the same time. Thank God for weekends and scheduled posting.  This allows me to work on posts ahead of time and spend more time socializing with other people in forums throughout the work-week.

It is important for your readers to have something to read every time they stop on your blog to visit.  The more active you are on your blog the more you have to discuss in forums.  Think of writing as an exercise for your mind while you are working on creating new content for your readers.  Exercising your muscles is important to a healthy lifestyle; so is exercising your mind with writing.  One thing I have learned while I have been keeping a blog website going is that the more often you post the better your traffic tends to get.

Keeping your blog active can be difficult if you are not a full time blogger.  Most people who run blog websites part time are hoping to monetize their page enough to eventually quit their day job.  I must admit the life of a pro blogger  is definitely appealing; but you are not going to get there if you randomly post.  Your readers need some kind of idea of when you will be posting next or you will lose them; not to mention that you may encounter a spell of writers block.

 Staying active is good for both the reader and the person writing the articles that people are flocking to read.  The reason for this is that it keeps you thinking and enhances your creativity so you can write higher quality posts.  Quality and quantity are very important.  When you have quality posts and you offer them quite frequently the reader has more to explore on your page keeping them there longer and hopefully inspiring them to comment.  Plus you have more to advertise in the forums you frequent.

Staying active in both post frequency and socializing on forums is crucial to growth.  Everybody is looking for the next big thing, keeping active and current helps you with not only attracting new readers but also keeping your loyal readers appeased.  What do you think?  How active are you on your own blog website?

How many of you have heard that giving is better than receiving? One of the things that makes your website look popular is comments. When it comes to leaving a comment on a website you have just read the more relevant the comment the better. Good comments attract attention and that is what you are looking for. Getting the attention of other people who run blog websites is important for your traffic.

Most people have some way of tracking a comment back to the source and most leave a link behind to direct the author back to them. Taking advantage of this small feature requires tact and at times eloquence. You want to leave a comment that is relevant to the post you are commenting on as it will capture the author’s attention (as well as others who read the comment section) and lead them back to you. This is a little trick that requires you to give a comment on the topic being discussed in the post.

Dropping a comment on someone does not automatically guaranty that you will get a visit; it just increases the chances of people finding your page. Exposing yourself through comments will help to expose the work you are doing on your own blog. Relevancy is key to attracting others to come back to your website and will help solidify your reputation as a blogger. Remember it is not what you know but who you know.

Let’s take a second and ask ourselves a question or two. Why would I go visit a blog that is not in the kind of category I prefer? Appealing ads help get your attention but once you visit are you going to come back? There is no simple answer for the first question, and the second question is a matter of opinion. When ever some one drops a comment on me, if it is relevant and adds to the topic being discussed I am more likely to follow that comment back to the person who made the comment. Remember just leaving a comment can add value to a blog.

I comment on other peoples websites every day. Some time more than once on the same blog. The comment section can become a mini forum for your readers and a good commentator will draw on what others have said. Giving a comment adds content to the blog which is what robot spiders that crawl through your content are looking for, new content. Some people are willing to stop by and comment on one of your posts if you have first given a comment on their post. So in this case being the first to give a comment can be a good thing, with the amount of blogs on the Internet sometimes you need to leave a trail of bread crumbs to attract new readers.

In conclusion it is better to give than to receive because you are gaining others attention by giving freely. A comment you leave behind is a trail of bread crumbs that lead back to you so keep your comments relevant and others will follow. How many trails of bread crumbs do you leave everyday?

Lately I have been searching for new forums to talk to other people who run their own blog websites and I have found a forum over at Authority Blogger and I have been frequenting the forum everyday.  Sometimes I will spend about an hour a day on the forum.  There are many different discussion threads and all of them are geared towards helping you build a better blog.

One thing that these forums help with is getting your brand of blog the attention of others who blog.  One tip I learned when I first started blogging was that the majority of traffic to your blog website will be from others who blog.  The forum over at Authority Blogger is frequented by many people and you have a greater chance of getting traffic from this forum.  I have checked my stats with Google Analytics to find out just how much traffic I am getting from the forum and it is increasing every day.

 I have only been using the forum for about a week and have gained a reader or two already.  Forums are great places to increase your readership.  Just keep in mind that you always want to add a relevant comment to the discussions so that others with begin to respect your point of view and start reading what you have to say on your blog website.  What do you think?  Have you increased your readership by joining a forum?

Forums are one of you best tools when you are using social media to drive traffic to your blog.  You have to be careful when you use them, you have to use a gentle touch.  Basically you do not want to jump into every discussion with nothing relevant to say and leave you link because you will be labeled a spammer.

Instead the best thing to do while on a forum is to just be patient and look for a thread that looks appealing to you.  Pick something that you know a little about or have something to offer others to think about.  Remember there are quite possibly over a million blogs out there and over a million people running them.  If they do not like your point they will tell you, just watch out for people who are apt to flame other bloggers.

Keep in mind that you will probably never meet the people who you talk with on Internet forums so you do not want to get all worked up over what he or she said.  Be passionate about your opinion and respectful of others opinions and you will have no problems on forums.  There are many forums out there for bloggers I will be mentioning a few every now and then, please keep in mind that this blog is just over a week old and I have to build content.  I hope this post has given you something to think about.  Please don’t shy away from the comment button, your opinions are welcomed.

My advice on joining social media websites is definitely do it. I have recently joined a website that allows users to rate comments and track the number of comments you make and where you made them. The website is called Sez Who and I am looking forward to exploring the possibilities the website has to offer. I have recently started commenting more on other peoples posts; not just to leave a link behind but to help me become known to the blogging world.

Any good blogger who receives quality traffic day in and day out will tell you that commenting is a very good way of letting others know who you are. The whole point of social media is not just to meet new people but to get to know people better. While I am at my day job I have no qualms with telling people about my blogging habits; sometimes I with hold some personal information but we all do at times. The whole point of joining these media websites from the perspective of a blogger is to introduce yourself to others who share your points of view.

For some one who wants to gain readers using the a fore mentioned website will allow you to gain a larger audience. If you are in blogging for making money online it is an absolute must to join any website that will allow you to sell your blog to others. I must mention that leaving relevant comments on other blogs in your niche category will help you to gain popularity. Relevant comments also help your rankings on Sez Who which ultimately will help you create friendships in the world of blogging. Having friends who are popular in the blog-o-sphere will help increase your popularity on many different website helping you to gain more traffic. Have you joined Sez Who? What’s your take on the website? Your feed back is invaluable to not only me but to the other readers who stop by and take a look at the comment section.

How many times have you been on a forum and read something about a blogger’s post making the front page of digg? What is digg? Well it is another social media website. I have not been a member of digg for very long but have already had two posts of mine dugg. You may have even seen the badge on some websites with a number with diggs beside. That is the number of users that have thought the article needed some attention.

Basically the website allows you to see who’s posted what and how popular the article is.  Another thing to keep in mind while using the website is the number of friends you have and how active you are determines how much weight your “diggs” are given.  Submitting others posts helps you to create friendships within in the sight but also on other social networks.

Most people who blog join more than one site to help bring traffic to their page.  Some people even go as far as hosting their own forums.  I have seen a few websites that will allow you to host your own forum on your own domain, but none that are free so far.  Anyway if you want to help boost traffic to your blog joining this website is a good idea.  Just remember that with all social media websites, if you want people to view your opinions you need to stay relevant and active.

Can websites like Facebook bring in lots of traffic to you website or blog? The simple answer to that is only if you use the website properly. You can create a page just for your blog and advertise your page through their social ads that they insert into everybody’s home page. Will you get a lot of traffic from simply having a page up with links to your blog? Only if you are marketing your product.

Facebook is a good social networking tool to keep up with your friends; but if they are not into blogging than your chances of turning them into readers are slim. However there are groups on Facebook that are for bloggers and you can find most bloggers on Facebook as well. I have not yet added any blogging friends to my Facebook profile; mostly because I don’t think it is a very good tool for advertising ones blog.

If you want to use a mainstream social media website you should look for a website with a forum at the very least. Any website that connects a blogger with another blogger should at least be investigated at the very least. Take your time while looking for a good website that offers you the ability to advertise your blog, and try to remember to add something relevant to gain others trust and respect for your opinion.

Using blog directories are a definite must in the world of blogging. Finding good directories can be difficult but if you are already networking to advertise your blog you have an excellent chance of finding one. One thing to remember about blog directories is that if you just submit your blog and never go back to the site; the blog directory will not bring in more than one or two hits every once and a while. Joining blog directories are great; but do you know how to use them.

The simplest way to use them is to submit your blog and head over to the discussion forums. This is where the action is. The people you find on blog directories are people like yourself and they can give you some advice as well as traffic. One thing you have to remember is that most people who blog belong to more than one directory and are active on more than one website. The reason I mentioned that is because every time you log into your account there is a cookie that the website leaves in your temporary folder which is unique to your own profile on the website. Most directories have a tracking widget that will show your avatar and profile name every time you visit one of their blogs.

It is important to remember that logging into you social media accounts on the web just because of the cookies that get put in your cache. Just seeing your avatar is almost enough to get others to visit you, leaving a trail of bread crumbs to your page is essential in building traffic. Adding friends and joining “Neighborhoods” will also capture someones attention. Little things can make a big difference in the grand scheme of things.

These are only a few tips to help bring you traffic with blog directories. In future I will be posting more on blog directories and how to use them to your benefit. But one thing you have to keep in mind while using different blog directories is to take part in the discussions and keep the same avatar for each directory.  Most people have a widget to display the avatar of who visited their page and if you are using the same one for each of these sites then they will always know it was you who visited their page.