So you’ve been blogging for a while, and you don’t seem to be getting anywhere.  NO ONE IS LISTENING!  

sleep is the enemy by striatic

Well, shouting isn’t going to help either, I promise.

Okay, so it actually might, if you’re willing to shout in the right direction and to the right people.

Let’s look at my photography tutorials blog as an example. In the early stages I wrote, and wrote, and wrote. That’s what you’re supposed to do right?

It is, only I wasn’t getting heard. By anybody really. At the beginning of next month we’ll start actually tracking all of the numbers for that site so you can actually see the growth.

Writing good quality content on your blog is very much the foundation for attracting readers and keeping them loyal.  But a house isn’t just a foundation.

You have to have walls, windows, a roof, furniture, etc.  These things are the “extras” you can put into your blog like reviews, interviews, and anything else to spice up your regular content.

So you have a nice pretty house built but still, no one sees it.  You need traffic. 

In order for that traffic to get to your house it has to have a good sidewalk, street, and many access points with signs pointing people towards your house.

That’s where incoming links come in.  Not the kind you pay for BTW.  The kind that come organically. 

One of the things I figured out early on was that other bloggers link to each other.  Big A-list bloggers link to other A-list bloggers and B and C-list bloggers list to B,C, and A-list bloggers.

Does this work?  Will those blogs actually link back to you?

Some will and some won’t.  You can of course try the “shotgun technique” and link to every blog in your niche hoping that some of them link back, but most of them won’t.

I’ve really clamped down on who and where my links go.  My links fall within three “categories” if you will.

• Relevant Material- I will link to another article that has specific information that either compliments or counters my statements.  Also, I will link to articles that are more “technical” than the article I’m writing at the time.  My style of writing is conversational and I try my best to keep everything in “layman’s terms” so it’s easy to understand.  I don’t particularly care if these blogs ever link back to me, this is about ensuring that my readers walk away with enough information and that I didn’t waste their time. 
• Reciprocal Linking- I have worked really hard to ensure that my blog receives links from other blogs.  So when another blog links to me, I try my best to link back to them at some time in the very near future.  I’m not perfect at this as I’m sure I’ve missed a few in the past.  I do not link back to every blog that links to me (spam blogs, scraper blogs, and blogs that are copyright infringing in other areas).  I can usually figure out some way to link back to another blog even if it isn’t in my niche if I’m creative enough.
• Hopeful Linking – This can get a little tricky and I don’t do it as much.  Using tools like Technorati and Pr checkers I keep tabs on where the other blogs in my niche are in relation to search engine and traffic.  I target blogs that are slightly higher than mine.  Not the A-list bloggers.  I rarely see them throwing much link juice back down and every Tom, Dick, and Harry is already linking to them trying to get noticed.

Yes, this does take some time, and research (especially in the beginning) but you’ll be able to streamline your work flow and with some practice it will just come naturally.

Remember that the Internet is still a “web”.  Links are the foundation of that web and if you don’t put in those links then don’t expect others to link to you either.