Sunday, July 15, 2007

Getting Noticed in the Blogosphere

Technorati Profile

The best blog in the world won't be much use if people can't find it.

I've used search engines for years to promote websites, but it takes time for the organic approach to show progress: and I'm a bit more impatient now.

Just the same, I submit my blogs to DMOZ and a few other places.

Right now I'm learning how to use blogger communities and directories: both to get acquainted with others in the blogosphere; and to give my writing the chance to be read by as many people as possible.

I've had limited success so far, which isn't bad for someone who's less than a month into the blogging game. The only setback I've had is with Technorati, which seems to have had trouble 'seeing' updates to Another War-on-Terror Blog.

In the hopes that this is just a technical problem, I'm on the Technorati path again: and hence the rather odd phrase that leads this post.

5 comments:

Beth said...

I found you from your comments on my blog (thanks!), which really is the best way to be noticed, IMHO. Also, send trackbacks when you link to others' posts--that'll definitely get eyes on your blog as well! Here are a couple of good posts about trackbacks. (link) and (link)

Another good thing - blog groups with blogrolls, like Blogs for Bush or Blogs for Fred or whatever (actually, smaller blog groups are better, and there are tons of them). It'll at least get your blog name seen more, even if they don't bring in a lot of traffic. Eventually it will make a difference, though--sooner with the smaller groups, of course.

Ottavio (Otto) Marasco said...

Like you I am also somewhat impatient nowadays. I have submitted my blog to some big gun engines and various blog directories but this is no guarantee that others will not merely find, but engage in ones blog. I did not submit to DMOZ, well not yet anyway as I became concerned when I read one of their terms and conditions. It read “…I agree to be bound by the ODP's Terms of Use … To grant Netscape Communications Corporation a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, publish, copy, edit, modify, or create derivative works from my submission”… I wasn’t sure how to interpret this and stalled, who knows I may submit at a later date. What do you think?

It occurred to me recently that I was not commenting on other blogs and then I stumbled upon the following words on a “how to site”. “Give feedback and thoughts to other Bloggers. If you’re not leaving at least one comment per day, step it up a notch”…. It’s fair enough, after all, why should I expect others to read my blog if I am not reading any. These days I spend as much time reading and providing constructive comment on other blogs as a do creating content for my own, to date this is paying off.

Thanks for the commentary and link in your “Ten Really Good Questions About Iraq and the States” post. I have included your blog in my Blogroll; let me know if you have any reservations about this as normally I would ask first. Finally if its no bother can you recall how you stumbled upon my blog?

Thanks
ottavioatrealgriddotbiz

Brian H. Gill said...

Beth: Thanks for the insights!

Brian H. Gill said...

american interests: I can understand your concern over the "non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, publish, copy, edit, modify, or create derivative works from my submission" phrase in the TOS.

I wish more people would read their contracts and forms - that's another topic.

I routinely submit new sites to DMOZ. The phrase you cite, to the best of my limited knowledge, gives the DMOZ outfit the right to make your blog's title, description, and excerpts available to their own directory, and to those search services which use DMOZ data.

The intellectual property rights are still yours: it just gives DMOZ and others the right to distribute parts of it.

I hope this helps.

Brian H. Gill said...

ottavioatrealgriddotbiz:

I wish I could say how I found your blog. At the time, I was running around the Internet somewhat in the manner of a hyperactive puppy, and can't remember what led my to your contributions.

Reservations about being in your Blogroll? Certainly not!. I appreciate your custom of asking first, but I regard blogs as public forums.

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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.