Blogology 101

For the last quarter, I’ve been writing a paper on the applications of social network theory to sites like Myspace, and it got me thinking: For us to be popular, we need a network.

In this case, if you want more people to read your site, you need to develop a network of people. This network doesn’t have to be every stranger in the world. Rather, it could just simply be you telling your friends about your blog, and asking them to spread the blog around.

Another thing you can do is go to various websites that deal with your blog niche and and post on them. However, if you go this route, DO NOT JUST SIMPLY SPAM THE SITE WITH YOUR URL! Instead, leave a post in a controversial thread and say you have experience in this. My recommendation: Enter a blog entry about the controversy, then offer a brief interpretation of your entry on the forum with a full link. Easy hits, and you’ll look credible to the people on the site, which may mean more readers.

A third move you can make is to join a few social networking sites to play your name. While Myspace and Facebook are good, if you really want to play the professional game, I would suggest joining LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a professional level social networking website for people to link themselves to. On LinkedIn, you can market yourself and your blog, and point yourself to some more readers. You can also network with other bloggers, as well as your co-workers and friends. Heck, it might even land you a job with a company as a blogger!

The bigger your network is, the more potential readers you have. Even if it’s only your friends, it’s still better then nothing, right?

Technorati Tags: social networks, blogs, blogging, networks, blog networks, LinkedIn