Finding Blogs to Read: The Beginners
In the second part of “Finding Blogs to Read,” let’s talk about finding the lesser known blogs — though I’ve titled this Beginner, not everything here is how to find beginner blogs. In fact, most you find won’t be just starting out but they won’t have the huge communities around the blog that the popular bloggers have.
The easiest way to find “the beginner” bloggers is to remember what you do to network and promote and head straight to those hot spots. Those who are not popular are still spending a great deal of their time networking and building an audience so they’re going to be at all the traditional networking places.
Blog Catalog
If you haven’t become part of this community, you’re behind the times. Small, medium, and large bloggers alike have flocked to Blog Catalog. And there’s a reason for that… it works.
To find the bloggers here, browse the directory for those in your niche, join some groups and create discussions. You’ll be amazed at how many people you will find by taking part and how much traffic you’ll gain just by being part of a conversation.
Forums
More on the conversation aspect, forums are another great place to find those you never knew exsisted. And to boot, you’ll get a feel for their writing style just by how they present themselves in the forum.
Here’s some suggestions:
Don’t just register, that won’t do you any good. Participate and talk to other bloggers to discover their blogs.
Guest Posts
When your popular blogger features a guest post, pay attention to who wrote the post if you enjoyed reading it and then check out their blog. If you miss clicking through to the guest poster’s site you may pass up something awesome.
Google Blog Search
Not only useful for finding the popular bloggers, blog search will pull up anyone that matches your search criteria so it’s important to check here to find all types of bloggers. Hit it up again and check for those popular keywords that fit your niche. You just might find someone new to network with.
Why smaller bloggers?
It’s over rated that if you comment on the popular blogger posts that you’ll get traffic. Indeed you will but you’ll be one comment in the sea of many. Networking and reading blogs from those less known will enable you to become part of the community from the beginning, build a networking relationship, and still will provide you with great information.
Your Turn
So, how are you finding blogs to read? What’s your method for subscribing and searching for blogs?
July 13th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Thanks for the heads up on the forums - I’m off to check them out.
July 13th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Great post and some really good ways of searching for blogs. I tend to use Technorati and search keywords related to my blog, i also find stumbling the marketing section of Stumbleupon can be a good way of finding blogs.
I only subscribe via RSS Feed as i am currently subscribed to over 300 blogs and that would mean a lot of email otherwise.
July 13th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
You’re a great blogger !! And I hope to be half as good as you some day !!
MrsEd
July 14th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I’ve had the best luck just chasing links. I go through the blogrolls of the blogs I regularly read, and then the blogrolls of the subesquent blogs, and so on.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Crazy as it sounds, I’ve found some good blogs just by researching a particular problem or concern I was having at the time.
I have never heard of Blog Catalog but am excited about that one.
I much prefer to be part of a smaller, tight knit blog and get to know everyone rather than, like you say, in a sea of commenters.
Great post, thanks!
July 15th, 2008 at 10:23 am
I’m a member of BlogCatalog, and you’re right, it does work to find new, great blogs, and to promote your own. It’s also a fun place to connect with others through their discussion boards.
I posted about an award, and wanted to let you know that your blog is one of the ones I chose to award it to :) http://focusorganic.com/arte-pico-award/
July 15th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I love your point about smaller blogs being great places to build a reputation and get involved with readers. You do get lost in the bigger blogs, but in a small blog if you have something good to say or post often. People will follow your link.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Did you read my blog or my mind? :D I have been wondering how on earth do I find those small blogs out there that nobody knows about but I want to read - and comment before they disappear and loose interest with the lack of attention… As the blogs that I would LIKE to read are not those buzzz ones that race on the top of Technorati all the time. Thanks for this! I’ll see what I can find now! :)
July 16th, 2008 at 3:36 am
I find a lot of great blogs by seeing who is commenting on the blogs I visit.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:55 am
@Nicola: You’re welcome, hope you found a few that you’ll enjoy. :o)
@David: Technorati was a suggestion I made for finding more popular blogs but I didn’t touch on searching the site using keywords nor did I mention using any social networking sites (just went a different route). Both are excellent points.
@MrsEd: Thank you.
@Kirsten: In the beginning, I did the same thing. But as I am digging more and more for different content, this doesn’t seem to work for me anymore. Glad it’s working for you!
@Taryn: That’s not crazy at all. My business partner, Mindy is really good at doing the same thing.
Enjoy BlogCatalog, I saw your note that you’ve signed up so I hope it works out as well for you as it has me.
@Stefanie: The discussion boards are a great place to find blogs and for ideas on new posts. Thanks for the link to your award, I’ll check it out! :D
@Holly: You hit the nail on the head, more people will follow your link in a smaller community and certainly even more so if you add something of value to the conversation.
@Sebastyn: LOL Glad I could post this at just the right time. :D
@Tom: Agreed! And this method has been good in the past for me as well but since I’ve fallen behind on my feed, I’ve fallen behind on finding new blogs through this method.
July 20th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I like to find other blogs from the blogs I read, through blog catalog, and other non traditional means.
I think the most blogs I find and read on a regular basis, come from links or comments on the blogs I already read on a regular basis lol
I guess I read by association, but I also try to find new blogs to read. I love to find the smaller blogs, as the blogger is usually more involved in the comments and discussion. Huge blogggers don’t really have the time to comment on 154 comments they get for each post! lol, Especially if blogging is only part of their total online presence.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:44 am
@JK: I agree! Though I’m not great at blog hoping with commentators and blogrolls (usually because I lack the time, not interest) but when I had more time, it was something I did often.
And your statement about more popular bloggers not participating in their comments I agree with. Though I do think some of them could manage to take 5 minutes per day to answer just a few of their commentators questions and create a bigger presence in their own community.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I’m with you all the way Katy…I mean, I would try to comment on every single comment, no matter what. But, I think there comes a point where…that’s all you’d be doing!
Not that I’d mind doing that….I see no problem splitting my day in half. One half commenting to all my commentators and the other actually doing things to further my business.
I doesn’t even have to be half, even just a couple of hours. I don’ t know…I just don’t ever want to become someone who gets to “popular’ to shmoooze it up with my readers. I feel without them, my success is NADA! :)
I’ll be in contact with you about an upcoming project… I think you’ll like it :)