Learning To Navigate The Blogosphere

Whether you are just getting started in corporate blogging, or you haven’t been paying much attention to other bloggers, the so-called “blogosphere” can be a little confusing.

There are literally thousands, if not millions of blogs out there, and if you’re trying to network through them, the task can be a bit overwhelming.

There are a few tips however that can help you learn to navigate successfully through the blogosphere.

What is the blogosphere?

It is a term that was coined to describe the intertwining of blog sites, the general atmosphere of the community and the fact that bloggers are really in their own little world.

You can become a member of the blogosphere just by becoming a coporate blogger, but you’ll need to know a few things before you get started. Otherwise, your best efforts may just be shooting yourself in the foot.

The first place to start is understanding RSS feeds, and social networking sites. If you don’t have the basics down for these two very important items, everything else may be more complicated than necessary.

Take some time to go through places like Google+, Facebook, and Twitter to see what is going on. Chances are, you’ll be able to come up with some great ideas for your own blog during this process.

Next, you’ll want to start thinking about setting up some great relationships with other bloggers.

This has many added benefits, such as being able to write a guest post for another blog (or having someone do the same for you) and you’ll be building up some strong contacts that will help you increase your traffic and your exposure.

Take the time to hunt down other blogs in your niche and start by leaving thoughtful comments in their blog section, making sure to leave your URL.

This is quiet marketing, but it can be very successful. Once you have your own little network built up through your contacts, you should find that your traffic increases as a natural result.

This is particularly true if you are utilizing social networking sites to promote your blog.

Remember, you don’t necessarily have to promote just your blog. You can develop a reputation as a valued contributor by sharing good links with your network and involving them in your blog.

Try to keep your promotion efforts as quiet as possible, to avoid being labeled as a spammer.

People in the blogosphere have a very low tolerance for behavior like this and you can quickly develop a reputation that is very hard to shake.

Taking the time to become a valued member of the blogosphere is time well spent.

This is your opportunity to develop yourself as an authority on your subject of choice, and to build up real relationships with your readers and with other bloggers.

By reaching out to them and becoming an active participant in social networks, comment sections and forums, you can start to grow your corporate blog very quickly and with little extra effort.