How to Be Popular in Blog Networks

Blogging is nothing if not social in nature, which is why starting and maintaining a blog is often an enlightening and satisfying experience. When you first establish a blog, though, the going can be lonely because no one knows your blog exists yet. That's why to get a jump start on the social aspect of the activity, many bloggers opt to join blogging networks. If you want to know how to make the most of such ready-made online communities, here are a few tips to help you do just that.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Web browser

1. Decide the topic you want your future blog to focus on.

2. Use a search website like Google to research the online communities that already exist and cater to readers interested in the subject that your blog will cover.

3. Visit all of the communities that your search located, making note of particular quirks, such as the tone of the blogs and members, the general look of the website, and how frequently members participate in discussions.

4. Read the user agreement thoroughly to understand what rights, if any, you will be giving up if you decide to start a blog hosted at the community.

5. Join the community anyway if you really like it, even if you decide not to start a blog. You'll still have the ability to comment on other members' content and become friends with them.

6. Set up your blog if you want to and if the community allows members to name their blogs, choose an appropriate one that makes the subject immediately clear.

7. Begin writing posts that fit in with the community's spirit.

8. Compose comments that are in keeping with the tone of the community and that are helpful and informative when you decide to join a discussion on someone else's blog. Other members will learn from your words that you are a respectful participant who shares a common interest, and that will make them more likely to visit your blog later.

9. Return the favor when members comment on your blog posts to show you understand the interactive nature of blogging and to gain more enjoyment from discussing a common subject with other interested people.

10. Participate in the communal efforts that blogging networks sometimes sponsor, such as joint posts, groups, charity events, and even gatherings outside of the virtual sphere in the real world. As you get to know the other community members better, you'll continue to learn and grow closer to them. Then when their circle of friends in the community expands, so will yours.

11. Befriend several members of the community's "in" crowd. Every network has one. But, unlike high school, gaining entry is often as simple as making a thoughtful comment or two on an admired member's posts.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid joining a community and then contributing to strife and negativity. Refrain from jumping in the middle of disputes between members, particularly when you first arrive and don't know anyone that well. Also, minimize or resist expressing any unflattering comments you might form about the community and its members. Just as in real life, such behavior can make you unpopular instead of well liked.