Tags: advice, blogcatalog, blogging, entrecard, mybloglog, network.
Categores: Blogging Advice.
Note: Double post today! Read my Shopping post below!
I’ve been seeing an increase in blogs on hiatus, and as a result, a decrease in the amount of quality visitors lately. In an effort to expand my blog circle, I gave blog networking a try. So, I thought I’d write a review for a few of the blogging networks I belong to, as well as some important tips to ensure blog networking success.
Entrecard vs. MyBlogLog vs. Blog Catalog
Entrecard is great for increasing hits, but not so great for increasing comments and blog buddies because of its inherent design. Entrecard users are supposed to ‘drop’ their card (their blog’s ad) on another Entrecard user’s blog. After it’s dropped, the owner of the blog will view card on their dashboard, and reciprocate, if they are interested. Dropping cards, among various other ways, will allow the user to gain Entrecard credits, to be used as currency to buy ads on other blogs. The more the user actively participates in Entrecard, the more expensive the ad space on his blog is, the more he will gain from ads. As such, not many will bother to comment. This also means that there are many low-quality blogs, who are out there just to generate hits for the sake of PayPerPost and other paid blogging programs. The search for high-quality blogs is a very arduous process. But if all you want is to increase hits, this may be one of the most efficient networks out there.
Honestly, I haven’t spent much time on MyBlogLog, mainly because I’m not a fan of its interface. However, I found it very useful for tracking visitors. I’ve been able to put names and faces on who visits my blog without looking through IP addresses on my hit counters. I’ve also been able to do the same to MyBlogLog friends, and have been able to find some real offline friends and their blogs in the process. I feel like a CIA agent when I’m on MyBlogLog. LOL! But then again, of course, the reverse also holds true. That means others are able to track my web surfing habits if they look around MyBlogLog.
Of all three, BlogCatalog is the best at doing what it’s supposed to i.e. network bloggers. I have met many of my subscribers and blog buddies from Blog Catalog. And I can vouch for the number of great blogs on the network. It’s one of the best places to check out blogs from every niche and meet people from every creed. And it is all thanks to the infrastructure of the network. On BlogCatalog, each blog page has a rating, a rank, a review section and a ‘Similar Blogs’ section. The owners’ page allows for a short biography, a ‘Shout’ section meant to be something like a Facebook Wall, amongst other network-friendly sections. There is also a discussion board and a groups section for users to hang out and mutually profit from. There’s no point system or crappy interface to misguide you. So, people who sincerely and actively participate earn their share of blog buddies and subscribers. The more you participate, the more often you blog, the higher-quality your blog is, the more your blog rank increases. Blog rank starts with 0 (worst) to 100 (best). FYI, Nanyate?! ranks a whopping 75.7! So, low-quality and spammers get weeded out in the process, and have their blogs stuffed right to the back of the directory.
The Key to Blog Networking Success
Whether you’d like to increase visits, comments or blog buddies, there is a recipe for being successful - and a very simple one at that. All you need is active participation. Search the directory. Seek out new blogs that you are genuinely interested in. Comment on them. Leave a shout. Add them as a friend. Subscribe to their entries. And I will guarantee an increase in your comments, visitors, rank and blog buddies. By becoming a member and simply listing your site, you gain absolutely nothing. Okay, maybe just a few visits.
The amount of effort you put in is directly proportional to your returns. Case in point: of all three networks, I spend the most time at BlogCatalog. That resulted in around 10 blog buddies, a handful subscribers and many links exchanged. I’ve also managed to expand my readership far beyond personal bloggers. MyBlogLog is where I spend the least amount of time at, I’ve only managed to find one long lost friend. As for Entrecard, I’m still quite new at it. So, there aren’t any notable returns as of yet.
What do you think of blog networking? Have you tried it? If so, what networks do you belong to? Which ones do you like best?
Tags: blogging, chinese, google, hiatus, history.
Categores: Daily Life, Opinion, Site Updates.
EDIT: To read the post above, please request for password, as the post may be sensitive to certain people. All requests from regular commenters will be accepted. The rest will be based on my discretion. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I was reading Mr. Javo’s post on why blogs have taken over the internet, and it suddenly provoked many questions… Why is it that I blog? How did I start blogging? Why am I still blogging?
Come to think of it, I started blogging in 1999 with the advent of blogger.com. I joined primarily out of peer pressure. Everyone who owned a domain at that time started this new thing called blogging. I was never comfortable about publishing my life to the public. And I thought…who could possibly care about the adventures of some 13 year old living in Asia. But I gave in. And I have to admit… I really didn’t like it.
Yet, as much as I didn’t like it, I continued to blog, domain after domain, year after year. Then came Mezza-9.net. The blog was mainly an excuse to learn how to design layouts - to design at the caliber of the best cream of blogger-designers of that day. All my posts were about updates I have made. Nothing from my life was ever revealed. I received insane amount of comments - close to 100 comments per post. I received fan mail. Had insane amounts of visitors. And I was the 6th most important Ivy in the world according to Google and the #1 on Yahoo, beating out the band Operation Ivy and even Ivy League. But I wasn’t happy. What started as a road to be a good designer, ended up as a slave to more comments, more fanmail, more everything to please my visitors - at the expense of myself.
So I reluctantly closed Mezza-9.net. And blogged in low-profile until Nanyate.Com.
Even now, I still don’t fully understand why I blog. And much like Mezza-9.Net, I put my entire soul into Nanyate?!. I spend so much time thinking about what to write so that my entries are entertaining enough for you. I spend almost an hour on longer posts sweeping for errors, so that it will be easily understood by most of you.
Then I would smile when I see my subscriber count hit 50, and frown - even if its for a micro-second - when plummets to 30. I would smile when people leave me comments. Not for the number of comments but for the quality of comments. I would get so happy to see that people actually read my entries and notice the insignificant details I add on. Each and every comment means a lot to me, and as such I try to answer to most of them. Some of these great comments even set the precedence for future entries - Melle’s question about me leaving Canada for good and Soyuzno’s request for my Korean kimchee pork recipe. (Both that I will answer next month, btw.)
Not to mention, I would get especially happy when I see my visitors visit each others’ sites and leave comments on each others’ sites. I feel like I’m part of a circle of people.
Maybe that’s precisely why I blog - to be part of a circle of people; people who want to be heard, people who dare to be heard. But most of all - people who yearn to be recognized from the faceless crowd we call society. Because I too want to be heard.
So, why do you blog? How did you start blogging?
Sudden Hiatus until April 10
As much as I love blogging, I have to go to another hiatus. My Chinese professor just told us that the final ‘test’ will include material from all 20 chapters of the textbook, instead the 8 he promised a couple months ago. I can’t believe he changed the exam two weeks before the final exam. So now all my free time is going to be devoted to that stupid exam, as well as a research paper I have due on the same day.
I know I shouldn’t complain, because I will be done with my undergraduate degree in two weeks. But I just can’t wait to see the real world.
Edited: Updated to Wordpress 2.5
I found no errors when I updated my new blog at LanguageDiary.Com (surprise! I released the URL, though there’s nothing there just a placeholding theme), so I updated Nanyate.com. Please let me know if there are any errors as Nanyate uses a lot more plugins. Thanks!