While bloggers that see incoming traffic to their site from another blog will notice they received a link, not everybody is addicted to the statistics of their site. An automatic pingback or a manual trackback send a comment to the specific blog post that got the link, tracking back to the site that sent it. This is a common practice, that enhances the interconnectivity – networking.

Read here more about networking through blog linking.

The latest version of Wordpress, while having lots of great features, stopped sending these notifications. Scheduled posts also stopped appearing amongst other problems.

Luckily, this excellent platform has a large community of people that care about it. A patch appeared quite fast. Dennis de Bernardy posted a patch here. It instantly solved the problem. Thank you Dennis!

Stay tuned for the regular schedule of networking posts coming up later on.

Adding a fellow blogger to your blog roll is a big step in your relationship with the person. When you add such a link, the link appears in all of your blog’s pages, and every casual user will see it. This is much more significant than linking to the blogger in a post.

It should be reserved to cases when you’ve already done serious networking with your fellow blogger. Some people will analyze your blog and will even think that you are close business partners.

Let him know

So, when you have deeply considered this step, and made the decision to add someone to your blog roll, you might discover that the other side didn’t notice. The reason is purely technical: a pingback isn’t sent. When you link from your post to another post by writing a link post or a by “linking by the way“, a pingback is sent. If your fellow blogger hasn’t blocked pingbacks (or trackbacks), a link back to your post will appear on his post.

When you link from your blog post to the whole blog, your associate might see the reference in his incoming links (although not many people follow this section) and will see some traffic. Incoming traffic will be seen in the other two cases as well.

But when you add him to your blog roll, it might not be seen in the incoming links section. In addition, the new link on the sidebar isn’t always seen by your readers, and won’t ignite instant traffic to your fellow blogger.

So, I would recommend following up the event of adding to the blog roll with a short email. A short email saying that you appreciate your recipient’s blog and added him to the blog roll will do. Adding to the blog roll and and following it up will add value to your relationship, and is an excellent act of networking.

Asking for a link back? This is a sensitive issue. If you feel close enough with your associate, you can ask him for that. If you’re not sure, you can still give it a try. Writing something short like: “I’d be grateful to have my blog on your blog roll as well”, can be a polite way to ask.

This completes our series of post about networking via links in blog. Apart from these four methods, do you know of other ones? We’d be glad to hear.

Facebook Networking Done Wrong

When a person you don’t know befriends me on Facebook, I politely ask the obvious question: Do I know you? When I have the patience, I also add a few more words, such as: We have mutual friends, but I don’t seem to recall you.

Many of these people aren’t serious and ignore my message. After two or three days, I reject their friend request. I don’t know them, and they missed their chance of explaining me why they want to befriend me.

Recently I’ve encountered many cases of a different sort: they respond to my message, telling me that they have a blog they want me to read or a page to become a fan of.

I would be quite reluctant to befriend someone using this approach. Facebook friends are not necessarily friends in real life. Some people have many hundreds of friends, and some have thousands. Despite this fact, Facebook users don’t automatically approve friend requests from anonymous people. This may be rightfully considered as spam – Facebook spam.

Facebooking – a better approach

If they want to promote their blog, the least they could do was check out my Facebook profile and see that I also have a blog. Having spent this minimal effort, they could check out my blog, read a post or two and respond there with the address of their blog. I would expect them to respond to the post and not just promote their blog. This issue deserves a post of its own.

If I didn’t have a blog linked from my Facebook profile, approaching me on Facebook isn’t ruled out. The better way to do it is send a message on Facebook. A message would work much better as a first step of networking for someone anonymous.

A polite message, stating that they don’t know me, but think I might be interested in checking out their blog could work. If I get too many messages like this, I might ignore them, but I may also respond to such a message and indeed pay a visit to their blog.

Sending a message can work out as a first step of networking in Facebook. Sending a friend request will probably be rejected.

Further reading:

• Networking on LinkedIn
• Networking to MySpace

Linking to the whole blog means linking to the home page. The main drawback of this method is the lack of focus. Your readers aren’t directed to specific content but to a person.

Another issue with such a post is that there’s a chance that your gesture may be received as flattering – a stronger approach than you intended to do.

Writing a post praising the person you wish to connect will probably intimidate him, and will make the a follow up by email quite hard.

Even so, there are a few cases in which such a link will work well:

1. A new blog: If your fellow blogger just started a new blog, you can write a short post about this event, link to him, and wish him good luck. The context of the new blog will make your out-reach more comfortable, and may earn you points with that person.
2. Mentioning a meeting with the blogger: Similar to the case of “linking by the way”, you may mention the person you’ve met at a convention (or elsewhere) and link to his home page. This method also makes the “big” link more smooth.
3. List of bloggers: If your fellow blogs about a specific topic, and you’re writing about it, you can mention his name (with a link) at the bottom of the post, using text such as: “Bloggers who also write about these matters are: …”. Putting his name alone in the list might be a little too strong. Adding another name or two will help.

I’m sure there are other examples in which you can link to the whole blog in a way that will be moderate. The goal is to reach out and network, not intimidate. Networking is never instant.

Further reading: the introductory post about Networking through Blogs – 4 Ways of Linking. One more post to complete the series…

This type of linking method isn’t that complicated. You write a post that relates in one way or another to what someone else wrote. It’s better to focus on something that you would write about anyway. And while you’re writing your post, you link to your fellow blogger’s post when you relate to the topic he wrote about.

This method is the best way to link, and you can repeat it as many times as you wish. Here are the main advantages:

• Writing such a post is more “natural”: You write a post on something that you have interest in or something that you can contribute through. This makes the post interesting and worthy for your readers. It fits into your regular writing, and doesn’t stand out as a link post. So, these kind of posts can be repeated over and over, contrary to link posts that can be tiring.
• No risk of over-flattering: When the link to your fellow blogger is a natural part of a serious post, he’ll be pleased that you’ve noticed him, but he won’t be intimidated by a post directed only at him.
• Discussion: After seeing the incoming link and some traffic from your post, your blogger might join the discussion on your post. A deeper post triggers deeper interaction. And, what’s networking about, if not social interaction?

This method of linking is the best way for networking. It is an approach in the right dosage – serious enough to be noticed, but not direct to scare off the other side.

The disadvantage of such a post is that it takes more time to write. But if you want to give your readers quality content, you have to put some effort into it, don’t you?

When I talk about a link post, I’m referring to a very short post, which is usually not longer than 100 words. This kind of short post focuses solely on the link. You can look at such a post as a road sign. It briefly tells you where to go.

Advantages of a link post

• It takes no time to write. Apart from being a short post, it’s content is based on the linked post. Adding a small note of your own will enrich the content, but it’s still short.
• A link post drives traffic to your fellow blogger’s site. Since it’s focused on the link, the click through rate will be high. Like the aforementioned road sign, it tells your readers: “Go there!”. Sending traffic is naturally appreciated by your fellow blogger.
• If you’re promoting a cause, a link post is an excellent and quick way to show your show where you stand. It isn’t necessary to elaborate on your exact opinion. You just take sides quickly. Being part of a group is another networking opportunity.

Disadvantages of a link post

• It’s not really original. Linking to specific opinion tells also something about yourself, but in someone else’s words. Try not to write too many link posts. Remember that this post isn’t an isolated approach to someone, but just another part of your blog. In many cases, the blog is your “large business card”. If you have many links that you want to share, Twitter is a better choice for most cases.
• Too direct: Making a link post could be perceived as flattering by your fellow blogger. If it’s the initial connection with him, this way might be too direct.

Conclusion: All in all, a link post is easy to do, drives traffic, and especially useful for joining a group. It shouldn’t be used very frequently, and in most cases it’s better to use it after an initial acquaintance with the blogger that you’re linking to.

Do you have any link post experiences that you wish to share?

The song you’ve just heard is titled “She loves everybody”. While this song helped them reach out to a larger audience, it wasn’t a huge hit, and wasn’t enough to promote their debut album “Love the Future”.

Traditional musicians rely on their record company to promote their act by using Public Relations offices, posters in record stores, etc.

But D.A. Wallach and Max Drummey took a different path: they’re promoting their music through networking.

The band has set up a website that features various information about the band, news about shows, etc. The added value comes from their activity on the site. They update their blog quite frequently: they release a post approximately every two to three days.

They’re also active on MySpace, Facebook and and other social networks. All these sites give samples of their music, and ask you to further engage with the band. With a unique name as Chester French, it’ll be easy to find them online. In some cases it isn’t that simple to search people on social sites.

They offer the visitors to join their VIP service. These VIP members get free copies of their music so that they will be “ambassadors” of Chester French, and spread their music. They use SalesForce to manage their network of fans. Also here, up to date tools are utilized…

The most fascinating part of their networking is their personal responses to emails from fans. In this article in the Gadgetwise blog (under NY Times), Wallach describes how he personally networks with the fans:

“We respond to every single email we get,” he said. “I do an hour in the morning and an hour at night. A lot of them are just, ‘I wish you’d come to my city,’ and we’ll write back, ‘Us, too.’ We try to keep it personal and intimate. So it’s not just ‘Dear Friend.’ It’ll be, ‘Dear Paul, thank you for coming to see us in Baton Rouge. We’d really like your ideas for how we can spread our music around in Baton Rouge.’”

This way of promoting music via social networks and personal communication with fans is gaining traction, and it’s an excellent example of how networking is used in the entertainment industry. Networking isn’t exclusive to business

Why link?

Linking to a fellow blogger draws his attention in a positive way. In his blog dashboard he sees an incoming link from you, and he also sees incoming traffic. He also may get new readers to his blog, readers that came from your network.

This a gesture of good will that is taken positively. It can lead to having him thank you via your blog, or perhaps by a personal email. So, a link is good way of igniting a connection.

4 Ways to Link

1. Link Post: Your fellow blogger wrote an interesting post, and you wish to share it with your readers. If you have something to add upon it, it’s even better. Writing a short post that is focused on the link is a fast and easy way to link. This is the most efficient method of sending traffic, since it’s all about the link. Read more about networking through link posts.
2. Referring to a post “by the way”: This means writing a serious post, in which you mention the other person’s post. This is the best way to connect, since you don’t only link, but also express yourself. This kind of post takes more time to write and pushes less traffic to your fellow blogger. The advantage is that the discussion can last longer and the connection can become deeper. He can relate not only by thanking you, but also by discussing and perhaps linking back. Read more about referring to a post “by the way”.
3. Linking to the whole blog: You can write a post about the person you wish to connect with, and link to his blog. While this is a big gesture, it isn’t focused, and can hardly trigger a discussion. In such a post, there’s a fine line between a gesture and flattering. Read more about linking to the whole blog.
4. Adding to the blog roll: Adding a blog to the blog roll means a permanent link on all your blog’s pages. This is naturally the biggest gesture, but it’s very problematic for initial networking. First, it may not be noticed if it doesn’t generate traffic. It’s static content. Second, adding a permanent link is accepted only between good blog friends, and isn’t accepted as a first move. You should add a person’s blog to your blog roll only if the both of you are tightly networked.

These are the 4 major ways of linking between blogs. We might enhance on each method later on.

Do you have other methods? Networking and linking experiences you’d like to share? Your comments are most welcome.

Maintaining a blog is an excellent way to present yourself on the web. Contrary to social media sites, a web log enables you to control the design, write how much you want and set the agenda.

Having your own domain name also enhances your presence on the web and makes it easier to find you via search engines.

So my blog helps me present myself, but we’re here to talk about networking, right?

The best way to communicate with a blog is commenting on other blogs. If you wish to communicate and connect to another person who has a blog, head there and comment on one of the latest blog posts.

Commenting Tips

It’s important that the comment won’t be something like “Nice blog, please come and see mine” or “Hi there, please talk to me”. The comments should be related to the content of the post. The community around the blog (or blogger) appreciates serious comments. And so does the person you’re aiming to connect to.

It’s OK to disagree with the content of the post and to offer a different opinion. You shouldn’t try to be provocative to draw attention. This has drawbacks and might be considered as offensive. Explain why you don’t agree in a polite manner.

If you agree with the content, adding another angle is better than just writing something like “Great post!” or “I totally agree!”.

While everyone likes compliments and feels good when other people agree with him, such comments don’t have real added value. When there are many comments to a blog post, these small comments are don’t stand out and don’t draw any attention.

The Next Phase

By commenting on another person’s blog, you draw his attention to see who you are. He might check out your blog and also leave a comment. Initial networking has begun – a small virtual relationship is under way.

After becoming familiar with each other, it’ll be much more appropriate to approach this person via a private channel such as email. You’ll feel more comfortable doing so, and the other person will already know who you are when you approach him.

In future posts, we’ll discuss other aspects of networking through blogs.