Jonathan Phillips wrote a post yesterday, Getting A-Listers to Notice Your Blog vs. Social Networking. In the article Jon asks his readers which source they would prefer to send them traffic. He mentions that his experience has shown that visitors who are referred from other blogs are more likely to stay on the site longer and more likely to subscribe.
I agree with the points that Jon made throughout the article and I wanted to build on those thoughts a little bit by listing a few ways to get the attention of A-list bloggers. For some new bloggers who are still trying to build an audience, getting the attention of an A-list blogger can be very difficult.
Some of the most common techniques are linking to other bloggers, emailing, writing guest posts, and ordering paid reviews. All of these methods certainly can work (and have worked for a lot of people) but they’re difficult because A-list bloggers get so much of this stuff.
I’d like to focus on a few methods that less people are trying. These five methods will get you noticed by the blogger, and hopefully it will lead to a link or an endorsement if they like your work.
1 - Write a Follow Up to a Post.
This is exactly what I’m doing with this post. I’m taking an idea that I like from Jon’s blog, expanding on it and hopefully adding some value to his article. When you’re reading other blogs look for ways that you can follow up on an article. Expand on the ideas presented by the other blogger or even respectfully disagree and backup your opinion with some examples and facts.
Once your follow up article is posted on your blog, email the blogger and let them know about your post and include a link to the article. This is a good way to get a blogger to notice your ideas and your ability. Odds are they’re going to at least read the article, and if they like it maybe you’ll get a link.
2 - Create an Exclusive Giveaway for Another Blogger.
Free giveaways are used by many bloggers to attract new subscribers and to reward current subscribers. Develop a new e-book or informational product and offer it exclusively to another blog to be used as a giveaway to their readers. In order for this to work, your product will have to be very high quality and also extremely relevant to the topic of their blog. If an A-list blogger does use your product as a giveaway, it could be a great way to get your name and work in front of a very large audience.
3 - Offer a Special Discount for Their Readers
Every blogger loves to be able to give something of value to their readers, in part because it helps to build loyalty. If you offer a product or service that would be of interest to a lot of a blog’s readers, consider making an offer to the blogger to provide a discount for readers. To avoid the appearance that you’re just looking for free advertising from the blogger you’ll need to make the discount very substantial and not something that can be found anywhere else. Otherwise they’re likely to see that there’s more in it for you than there is for them and their readers.
4 - Buy and Donate Something for Another Blogger to Give Away
A number of blogs run contests and give away prizes to their readers. How about providing a blogger with a prize for them to give away? They’ll certainly notice you, and maybe they’ll mention to the readers that you’ve donated the prize.
5 - Provide Them with a Free Service
If you provide a service that another blogger would be interested in, consider providing it free of charge. A few examples would be a free logo design if you’re a designer or maybe some free photographs to use on their blog if you’re a photographer. If you provide quality work they’re likely to refer you to others in the future.
While these ideas aren’t guaranteed to get you a link or a referral from an A-list blogger, they should at least help you to get noticed.
29 comments from readers
1 Bruno Aug 1, 2007 at 3:56 am
I’m pretty new at this blogging thing but doing a Google Blog search works pretty good.
That’s how I found you after all!
2 Bruno Aug 1, 2007 at 3:58 am
One more comment actually…
Your blog is set to ‘ rel=’external nofollow’ tags…
That’s not a good idea and will prevent knowledgeable webmasters to contribute content to your site…
3 Web Design, Blogging & Marketing Blog - Bloggeries Blog Forum Aug 1, 2007 at 6:07 pm
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4 Vandelay Design Aug 1, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Hi Bruno,
Thanks for reading and for your feedback. It’s interesting that you mention the nofollow tags because I am just about to download the DoFollow plugin which will take away the nofollow tags.
I wouldn’t necessarily agree that using nofollow tags is a bad idea. The vast majority of blogs use them, and I think it’s a matter of personal preference. The tags don’t prevent anyone from contributing, although taking away the nofollow tags may encourage more comments.
Thanks for reading. I hope to see you around here again.
5 Bruno Aug 1, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Hi Vandelay,
Can you send me the link for that pluggin? Also, about the link thing, I’m now setting up a task that will submit articles to over 100 article banks.
The good thing about it is that all sites are also live, I’ve checked them out one by one. Most don’t have a very high page rank, but having 100 inbound links never hurts, especially to kick start a new site.
I’ll also have things set up so that the client gets emailed with a link to the actual article once it’s done.
I’ll also have a submission report so that they can check it out. Once it’s done is it something you’d be interested in offering your customers for a link building campaign?
Cheers!
Bruno
6 Bruno Aug 1, 2007 at 11:20 pm
PS. The task is developed using macro automation, mouse moves and keystokes, so the submission process is actually identical to manual human submission, unlike most software applications out there.
7 Jon - SmartWealthyRich Aug 2, 2007 at 3:04 am
Hey Steven, thanx a bunch for the linkage, and for writing a follow-up post (point #1 in your post hehe).
You got really good ideas, I like #4, sponsoring a contest is actually pretty cool, I’ve never done that, but it is something I’ve been thinking about since some time (or get someone to provide something I would give away on my blog)
8 Vandelay Design Aug 2, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Jon,
Thanks for visiting. Yeah, I haven’t run any contests yet either. It’s hard to find time to do everything you want to do!
9 Vandelay Design Aug 2, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Bruno,
Here is a link you requested to the DoFollow plugin. About your project, let me know when it’s done and I’ll take a look at it. Thanks.
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12 Don@AffiliateWatcher Aug 5, 2007 at 12:02 am
Great tips you have here! I’ve tried Social Networking and to me, it’s very time consuming.
I’d rather visit A-listers and comment on their post. While this in itself doesn’t seem to bring me as much traffic as Digg or StumbleUpon, if (and when) an A-lister mentions my site in their blog, that alone will open a flood gate of new visitors.
Don
13 Vishnu Aug 5, 2007 at 12:11 am
The article is great, but I think inspite of everything the key to attracting traffic to your blog or website is Quality Original Content this is the major key. Links are great as long as you connect with quality blogs or websites if you link with BS , search engines like google will read your site as BS. So be vary.
14 googlingnet.com » Blog Archive » Problogger Handy Blogging Tips Aug 5, 2007 at 5:33 am
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15 Vandelay Design Aug 5, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Don,
Thanks for reading. I agree with what you’re saying. There are a lot of benefits in getting links from others.
Vishnu,
I don’t disagree that creating quality content is the key. If you read through many of my posts you’ll see that over and over again. Thanks for the feedback.
16 ZeVin Creations Aug 6, 2007 at 9:26 am
Thanks for this article — very inspiring on how helping out fellow bloggers also helps you.
Keep Making Gifts Within A Card
http://zevcards.wordpress.com
17 Affiliate Business Cash » Blog Archive » More Great Reader Blog Tips Aug 6, 2007 at 12:25 pm
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18 Michael Aug 6, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Some great information, something to ponder and a great addition to the original article.
19 Vandelay Design Aug 7, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Michael,
Thanks for your comment. Hopefully there is something you can put to use here.
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26 The Old Vic Aug 28, 2007 at 6:33 am
Thanks for the tips Vandelay, finding ideas for blog posts is not always easy but certainly writing follow-ups seems like a good idea which I hadn’t really explored, so I’m off to find some. You’ve got a nice looking blog too! I am in the process of changing one of my blogs to Wordpress from Blogger and will be documenting the change. WP at the moment seems like it’s a lot more complicated to figure out than Blogger, but hopefully it will be worth the effort.
27 Vandelay Design Aug 28, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Hi Vic,
Thanks for reading. I’ve never used Blogger, but the basics of WordPress aren’t too difficult once you understand how it works. I recommend reading a lot of the articles available at the Codex on WordPress’s website. They cover all the basics - and then some.
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