If you've been wondering what all the fuss about social networking is, you've been missing out on a great traffic generator.
You've been blogging your heart out for months and the only visitors you have are your mom and your best friend. How can you get other people to read your blog? Aren't they simply supposed to show up after it is created? Actually, building a blog doesn't necessarily mean that traffic will appear. You will need to spend time and energy bringing traffic to your new site, just as you would for a traditional website.
Why are you blogging?
If you are blogging because you want to keep a record of your day, chances are you aren't writing for a big audience. In this case, you may not need to worry about getting traffic to your blog. However, if you are blogging because you want to reach out to other people, to earn money as a professional blogger, or to create excitement about a product you are selling, then you do want to increase your blog's traffic.
How does social networking work?
Social networking sites revolve around people. Users tell everyone else what sites, blogs and pictures they like and their fans visit those online places. Participating in one of these sites may remind you of high school and the way everyone wanted to copy what the in crowd was doing. However, in this case, anyone can be a trend setting, popular person, simply by honestly recommending places he or she enjoys and being active on the social networking site.
Why should I care about social networking?
Social networking can drive incredible amounts of traffic to your blog. Write a post that is humorous or useful and you may end up with thousands of visitors from that single article. Some of your visitors will turn into faithful readers and rss subscribers. Others will link to your post, adding the bonus of long term traffic.
Popular social networking sites
- Stumble Upon - This site uses a thumbs up or thumbs down interface so users can help it understand the types of sites they like. When you give a thumbs up, Stumble Upon finds similar sites for you to surf. Stumble Upon fans call this thumbs up feature stumbling.
- Digg - This is the most popular site, but it is harder for new users to become established.
- Sk*rt - Sk*rt is a site very similar to Digg, but it is meant for women.
- Technorati - This is another of the top social networking sites and is very popular with many bloggers and blog readers.
