Does the above issue gets oft repeated and hence seem familiar? You have chosen a subject most of your loyal readers, you believe, are very much keen to gather more knowledge about. Again you possess authority to write powerfully about the selected theme. Your writing style is lucid and interesting. You have also picked an offbeat angle to deal with the topic.
In essence, you have done almost everything right to get a killer blog post, which should fetch it countless readers on the Web. Now, you quietly sit back, anticipating the flow of links to roll in rapidly. However, nothing of that sort happens and you get disappointed. So why not as many of them check into and link to your posts created with utmost care. What exactly can be done about it? Let us try to work out how to rectify the frustrating situation…
Remember, great (content) on set parameters is not any longer going to be good enough. In fact, the Web includes so much of remarkable articles and content ideas that top bloggers and opinion makers have their hands full, lacking time and inclination to check it all, much even less proactively link to them in one go! If you seek links, time for you is to get greater than great, better than best. Importantly, you must be widely connected.
Keep in mind the fact that it’s not really what exactly you know, but it’s who all you know. An average writer acquainted with the Technorati 100 members stands a chance of becoming a popular writer than a real brilliant conceptual writer with no network to boast of. Got the point! Why? This because bloggers tend to link often to known people. They will do so mainly if they are familiar with you and provided you pen a good piece that will interest their own audience.
In a nutshell, the key to enhancing popularity of a blog is not merely brilliant content but also forming meaningful connections with popular niche bloggers. Well, you must be smart and informed enough to understand that other important people in your domain need to be told about the posts. You have sent a personal mail to the top influential bloggers respected in that particular domain so as to point them to those posts.
So how you should make friends and win the confidence of popular bloggers so that they are prompted to link? Common wisdom says that you should be linking to their articles, believing they will ultimately notice you and check your blog. It may work sometimes, but I feel, you must get more creative to drawn their attention.
- Create guest posts that get good traffic and comments
- Attend seminars and conferences the Web’s who’s who especially of your chosen niche are present
- Be ready to ‘vote’ for posts they are keenly pushing through social sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Del.icio.us.
- Email an irresistible poll question to them, and spark an intense discussion
- Leave truly interesting comments
- Interview as many of them in a podcast OR a post BY asking intelligent questions
Another principle of persuasion is reciprocity. If you are able to grasp their thought processes correctly and deal with their concerns, they sure will remember you. Find ways to be genuinely and practically helpful to them. If you are able to position yourself as a useful and relevant resource, they themselves will start cultivating a professional relationship. Soon they may well begin pointing their platforms to your content that will bring you great readership.