Starting a blog can be a highly effective means for acquiring links. Of course the success of the blog will be highly dependent upon its content quality, the market space it operates within, and how it is promoted. Something that should be noted by bloggers is that operating a successful blog is a big commitment. If you’re not publishing new quality content on a regular basis, you will not be successful. How frequently you update will depend largely on the niche in which you are operating. Some blogs may necessitate a weekly update, while others may require as many as several per day. The simple fact is that if you can’t commit to a blog you will be simply wasting your time.
Successful blogs are based very much upon building a solid reputation within the community. Quality informational content or very entertaining content will be the keys to success. Remember a quality blog takes time to develop. Don’t expect overnight success as you need to build your readership over the long term. As your readership grows, your blog will gain popularity and authority which of course will result in people linking to your quality content.
The best place to acquire links for your blog will be from other bloggers. This is best achieved by networking with other popular bloggers. Earning the trust and respect of other bloggers can be a laborious process, and isn’t something that is generally achieved over night. Below are few key points to keep in mind while building relationships with fellow bloggers.
- Firstly be patient. As with any relationship, trust and respect must be earned over time. In the blogging community.
- Target a large portion of your content towards the interests of those you wish to build links with. Give them something to discuss that interests them, plus of course something that they may potentially link to out as a point of discussion.
- When you begin receiving links from major bloggers, this tends to get noticed by other lesser known bloggers, which often results in further linking of your pages.
While interacting with other bloggers is a point of importance, don’t forget to communicate with your own readers. If someone comments on one of your posts, it is important to reply with a personalized and detailed response. You may wish to take this to the next level by delivering an emailed response with a link back to the post for further discussion. This all works towards deepening the interest of the commenter, inciting a dialog between you and the commenter, and pulling other commenter’s into the mix. By nurturing discussion and dialog between you and your readers you create a feeling of community which results in trust, authority, and more potential for naturally occurring inbound links to come your way.
