Wayne Liew Dot Com

Wayne Liew Dot Com is all about simple blogging tips, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to get yourself free blogging tips updates.

Networking with other bloggers on the blogosphere, no matter they are in or outside your niche, is vital to building your reputation and the coverage of your blog. There are literally thousands of blogs being created daily and among the creation, most of them are by new bloggers who had just stepped into the blogosphere.

Bloggers who have stayed for some time on the blogosphere are smarter, busier and sometimes, they became arrogant because of their successes. At this point, they are hard to be approached, not to even mention about networking with them. Not every bloggers are such but what if this is the worst case scenario happening to you or maybe you see people more experienced than you harder to approach?

False Impression On New Bloggers

This guide, as understood from the title, works for those who are facing the problems above and all the bloggers out there looking to improve their blogging peers network.

Photo by: geeknerd99

What we normally link new bloggers with are the following:

• Simple questions that take up your time
• Crazy over something you see as plain
• Giving up is common among newbies

Think again. New bloggers can bring you benefits that you have never thought of and the most importantly is that it is still a network for you to tap! Read on to find out what are the good things if you network with a new blogger.

Continue reading Networking With New Bloggers - Pros and Cons

Bloggers always network or needed to network for the sake of information sharing or getting ourselves heard. We make friends, whom sometimes we don’t even meet before via such networking. A simple interaction such as an enquiry or a discussion can link two or more bloggers together.

Photo by StuSeeger

Making more friends, especially friends that share the same interest - blogging, has benefits that are being mentioned time after time. Today’s blogging tips on blog networking will be on what are the don’ts to avoid when interacting with your blogging pals.

You might think you know your blogging pals a lot but the truth is never be seen until he/she eventually become your real life friend. Thus, there are certain measures that you will need to uphold in such interactions.

10 Hindrances in Blogging Pals Interaction

Read me, link me, write about me!

If you are a Digg user, you will probably encounter this. People add you as a friend just to shout you their story so that you can Digg for them. Don’t shoot your blogging pals or contact them just because you want their attention for the benefit of your blog. This is just plain annoying and not only that you won’t successfully achieve what you are trying to achieve, you will also break the relationship that has been formed.

Back-stabbing

You can talk bad things about A to B but you’ll never know that B actually knows A and probably their bond is even tighter than yours with A or B! The safest way is to avoid back-stabbing. Talking bad things behind others’ back is immoral and you will lose two friends at once when your back-stab plan is being foiled. Anyway, why do you back-stab in the first place?

Be a busybody

When it is said that a subject is a secret or not to be mention again, don’t go all out to dig for it! Also, when your friend has already mentioned that something is personal, don’t ask why or what! You might think that you are being caring but you are more like an intruder into other person’s life.

Don’t know when it is time to stop

Anything has a limit. The number of times you seek help, demand for explanation, requests for discussion and even a joke, there is a limit. People don’t provide all the time in their lives for you. Be considerate. Ask them questions sparingly. Whatever interaction that you make, know the limit and know when to stop!

Photo by dboy

Being emotional

Sometimes we are controlled by our emotions. Incidents such as a theme editing mistake that spoils our whole blog, frustration because of no response by your friend will sometimes change the tune of the language we use. Refrain yourself, tell yourself that your pal might just be busy with something or they just accidentally miss out your message. Give them some time and nudge them after some time if an event is urgent for their attention.

Being sarcastic

When your blogging pals are sharing with you their success encountered in blogging or a discovery which they have found in a delighted mood, don’t break the scene with a "So what?" or "People found that ages ago". Come on, you might be telling the truth but adding in a complement is not too much to ask from you right?

"You are a complete dumb!" in an interaction

Every person has their own ego. In an interaction, explain yourself in a form of discussion rather than you dictating the whole process. Give your pals chances to talk. When they are wrong, don’t make them shameful of themselves! Put in your thoughts and a line such as "My findings are not quite consistent with yours, maybe we can perform some investigation on this?" will correct them and not make them felt ashamed in front of all people.

Improper use of language

Yes, what I am meaning here is foul words, bad words or not-so-nice words. Avoid using them in any way. The Internet is an international medium and is being reached by millions of users with different cultures. The famous four letter word might be a common word in your community but it might not sound too good in somewhere else. Build up your vocabulary on words to express feelings such as anger and disappointment rather than just foul words.

Faking

Be honest with anyone when you are online. Having things that are contradicting with your words being poked out by someone is the last thing you want to happen to cause a massive blow to your credibility. Keeping bad things is difficult but keeping a lie from being discovered is even difficult! Don’t fake and be transparent in any of your interaction. Maybe this is why it is important to show screenshots of earnings to make people believe that you are making a lot of money.

Photo by jurek d.

Use them as a tool

No one likes to being used and I would hate it! Don’t ever brand your blogging pals with names like "SEO Expert", "Content Promoter", "Code Troubleshooter" or even "Ideas Provider" so that you can always use them for your own benefit. This is not the way you treat a friend! You might think that they are completely frowned to your usage but if the day comes when you realized that they have been knowing this, it might be the day they stop replying your mails.

Definition of A Blogging Pal

It is hard to define whether a blog visitor, a person who contacted you, a commentator or a blogger whom you visit his/her blog frequently is your blogging pal or not. I have blogging pals that are formed from all the above categories since networking is so important in blogging nowadays.

All I can tell you is that when they are your pal, you will take the extra time to put in extra effort when they need your help. Someone that is interested in befriending you will show you the following signs for example:

• Contacting you frequently
• Commenting frequently on your blog
• Praising and giving constructive opinions on your plans and works
• Offering their help free of charge

Don’t feel obliged to return the favor if you don’t have the time but at least have a group that will support you all the time is a motivating factor in blogging.

My Stories on Blogging Pals

From the day I started to turn my old blogspot blog towards a blog with ads, I started to make friends all over the blogosphere. I will not mention here via linkbacks as it will make this post a long one. Wayne Liew Dot Com actually made me more friends than before.

I get to know more people who are devoted to blogging (this is a blogging tips blog), people who are willing to help, sponsor and provide opinions. Most people can be my friend but if you meet me in real life, no long and elaborated blogging tips please.

I make friends and I will try my best to keep them. They are the best ever "asset" that I have. They can be everything. They can be by source of inspiration, they can be a motivator and most important of all, they remind you that you are not alone in this difficult blog eat blog world.

Photo by ktylerconk

Feedback on Blogging Pals and Your Interaction With Them

Blogging pals can come and go anytime. You might not know everything about them and this is why it is important to uphold the few tips above when you interact with them until you are more confident about the relationship.

Don’t tell me that you don’t have any blogging pals. If this is so, you should get one now immediately and Wayne Liew is available!

Do you consider yourself to have a lot of blogging pals? What will you be aware of when interacting with your blogging pals? What will be the point when you consider them as your real friend? What exceptional experience you have when knowing blogger friends?

Subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed to get the latest blogging tips on blog networking.

Photo by blmurch

On the first day you set foot on the Internet, I am sure that you realized that you are not alone. You register for ICQ and Windows Live Messenger to connect with others, you joined forums for discussions and you set up a blog to get your message across to others.

You cannot get away from conversations and discussions on the Internet. Even in the comment section of a blog or a social media content, you can find people discussing. These are some major places that you will need some conversation skills to blend yourself in.

• Forums
• Blogs
• Chat Groups
• Social Media
• Comments

The 10 Useful Conversation Tips

Ask relevant questions

This is more than important in a conversation. People are discussing about a car’s performance and you jumped in with this question, "Why Google demoted my Page Rank?". What you will get in return is a cold shoulder or even a more cruel answer like "**** off! What has Page Rank got to do with cars?"

I know irrelevant questions make you stand out but how many will pay you attention for a long time? Choose the right medium for your topic. For example, choose Sphinn, StumbleUpon and Digital Point as your conversation medium online if you are interested in blogging.

Provide detailed answers

Don’t be lazy to type a few more words. Typing a few more lines will not only prove that you know your stuffs but also, people will pay attention to your reply because of the WOW factor with such a long reply.

Reply like you are typing a blog post . Over at Digital Point, you get rep points from other members for providing quality replies or if they find your replies helpful.

Listen to what others are saying

There’s always something to say in a discussion but as a discussion goes on and on, many things might have already been mentioned. Repeating it won’t get you the answer again.

I know some forum threads have up to 100 replies for a topic and some blog posts have over 100 comments but taking your time to scan through them rather than posting replies that looks like nothing but rubbish to others.

Photo by pedrosimoes7

Add value to the conversation

Add a piece of information, add a useful and relevant question that keeps the topic alive or even a disagreement which is supported with a source. Too many comments and replies nowadays are not adding value and worse, they degrades the value of a post.

Replies like "Nice one" and "I second you" won’t get you anything. Even though in forums you will get post counts, people will not see the number as valuable since a search on your replies will know that you post rubbish!

Avoid one-liners

I am not saying that one line replies are bad or don’t have value but with the number of spam increasing everyday, people is starting to have this thought "Spammers don’t read and just want to spam because they want attention, thus, they are the one posting one-liners."

Sometimes, we have to follow the norm of this society. People see others who wear torn and dirty clothes, sitting by the roadside as beggars. If you are not one but if you are wearing a torn clothes and siting by the roadside, people will think that you are a beggar!

Be creative and unique

Find your style. It can be a word that is being repeatedly used in your replies. It can be a sense of humor. It can also be a style in using word formatting such as colors. Getting yourself a style and be unique can bring your replies attention since plain text and replies will not make you different from others!

Offer free information

Are you a blogging tutor? Stop promoting your guides or courses in discussions. Try giving your readers personalized tips on how to improve blogs of others free of charge. I am sure that you realized that most successful blogs out there are successful because they provide guides and information, free of charge!

Going extra mile in gathering the information via Google and include it into your replies will certainly make it more useful than the replies of others.

Photo by MegElizabeth_

Be open to comments and criticism

Everyone will have their own errors and not everyone is always correct. When you have said something wrong or got the idea of something wrong, it is normal to get scolded, laughed and given sarcastic comments on the Internet.

The best way is to ignore or to apologize. I am not saying that you must be a coward to survive but if you don’t have firm facts and good interpersonal skills, you won’t get people supporting you and worse, people might see you as a trouble-maker.

Get Your Facts Right

To avoid the consequences of getting scolded or other bad experiences in a discussion, the best to do when you are on the side of providing information is to gather enough pieces of data and collaborate it with other pieces before you spit in out in the discussion place.

Sites like Wikipedia, blogs and also opinions from experts in related issues proved to be important in confirming the accuracy of your information provided. Getting the facts right also will not spoil your reputation as a false information provider. Having a clean record on the Internet is really important.

Photo by Payton Chung

Give more than you take

At times, we see discussion places like forums and chat rooms as places to scrape traffic. We tend to self-promote, sell our products or even bait other users to click on affiliate links (which I always do ).

The advice I am giving here is that, "Don’t just provide a link and always think about what have you contributed before taking benefits from others." I know some people out there will click on links easily but to get the best result in your effort to optimize community marketing is to give more than you take!

Your Feedback On Online Conversations

Do you have any advices for any other readers in participation of conversations? What do you think is the most important thing in participation of a conversation? What I think is that it is just like our daily conversation but the difference is, the whole thing is on the Internet.

Subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed if you want to get more tips on blog networking.

Some people find it hard to learn how to blog properly or sometimes they need a role model to keep them up in blogging so that they don’t give up easily. I know some of you might be wondering, “Where I can find a role model or a tutor and what are the factors that I need to consider?” I will be giving out tips on this with this post.

Finding the right tutor or role model will be extremely important if you want to get the right information and motivation throughout your blogging routine. Also, I don’t think you will want to waste your time learning things from some people who are faking out (sometimes cheating your money) or just not good in providing you with the right stuffs.

Considerations Before Choosing a Tutor and Role Model for Yourself

Knowledge

I am sure that you would not want learn things from someone who have nothing to offer. There are a lot of blogs and people out there who are posting contents that are either copied or consists of no essence. A quick peek at their archives and comparing their articles to some other blogs out there will let you see the quality of knowledge that this person possesses.

Experience
A role model and a tutor’s role is to teach you things and offer you steps for you to follow. As a follower or a student, I would not want to test things out with my tutors. Why should I? They must have the experience to do things that they ask us to do. The experience is also important when it comes to providing you solutions for problems. Experienced tutors will know more than enough to predict the outcome of a happening because they might have gone through it before.

Proven Results
All the bluffs are nothing if he/she didn’t show you the proof that his/her ways really work to get the results you want. I know that not everyone have bombastic stats to show to the world but a stats or two can provide you an assurance before jumping into conclusion that this person is the Mr. Right for you!

Cost

Some blog coaching or tutoring programs such as Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind will charge you for the course. If you are really serious about blogging, you might consider to join such courses but please, before you click the “Register” button, search for reviews and testimonials regarding the course. Weighing the quality and the money that you will need to pay might keep you out from wasting your money on programs that are not suitable for you.

Interpersonal Skills
The person tutoring you must have the right interpersonal skills or communicating skills to convey the information to you properly. Some people tend to understand slowly, especially if they are new in this field. The explanation provided by the tutor must be adjusted for the understanding of his readers. Writing styles is the key to evaluate this aspect. If you read the articles written by this man and find it too hard for you to understand even a single sentence, you should move on. The way the writer is writing just doesn’t suit you.

Availability
Let’s just be realistic about this. A big blogger with tonnes of e-mails waiting for his replies everyday will not have time for every questions. A blogger with a rather small blog might have the time to cover your questions more thoroughly. Why not write in to someone with the same or slightly low level of expertise that will ensure you a reply rather than writing in to a person with a high level of expertise but the possibility of a reply is doubted?

Humble

The role model or tutor that you are looking for must be someone who is humble. People who are humble will be more willing to teach and share things with you if you ask for it. Also, they might spend their precious time explaining something that you don’t understand to you thoroughly. If the person you chose is arrogant, you might not learn anything, get a cold shoulder from him and sometimes, you might only be reading boastful posts of his showing you the stats and earnings.

Niche
If you are a gardening blogger, don’t ask an entertainment blogger about ways that he used to get his traffic. This is rather silly. Don’t ever benchmark your blog with someone who has a better stats but is in a different niche than yours. Blogs covering different niches will have different plateau so it is unnecessary to make a blog from another niche to be benchmarked against yours. The ways used might be different from the supposed way that you should use.

Background
A blogger’s background is very vital. If you want to ask about search engine optimization, don’t ask me because I am working on this skill after winning the SEO Book from Kenneth. Ask people who are already meeting success related to what you want to ask. If a blogger is on a free host like Blogger, don’t ask him ways to backup your Wordpress database. A good person might tell you the truth that he have no idea about it but someone evil might teach you the wrong way!

Your Level

What is your level of understanding about the particular field? With all the jargons (technical words), will the explanation be made to you clearly? Will your tutor gets frustrated with you? Don’t be shy, just say thanks and leave if you think the continuous explanation won’t do you any good but confusing you more. Seeking explanation from peers for explanations and tutoring is essential as well. They will be more willing to help since they are in the same category as you.

Do you think you need help regarding your blog? Will you ask questions to improve your blog and bring it to another stage or you will wait for the answer to come to you? Have you ever approached someone to ask them questions about blogging and your blog? Share with me your experiences. Also, what do you feel about what I have written above?

Subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed if you want more tips on Blog Networking.

Before I start this article of mine, I would like to thank Caroline Middlebrook who inspired me with her visit to Wayne Liew Dot Com which she has successfully grabbed my attention. I know people might think that this is because she is a rising star in the blogging niche now but I discovered another side of her commenting strategy which she didn’t write about it. I will write it out today and hopefully, you can learn something from this.

If this is the first time you pay my blog a visit, what will you do? Read through my About page, scroll through my Home page, skim across my Archives and after you are satisfied with the quality, you leave one short comment. What a waste of time! Today I will teach you how to tackle a blog which you are new to aggressively.

Why Should I Do This?

• Networking. If you follow my steps carefully and the blogger is not a “cool” one, I can ensure you that you are capable of making another friend in your niche.
• Traffic. Tackling the blog aggressively will take your name into the spotlight immediately and the current readers of the site will notice about you and out of curiosity, they will visit your blog.
• Links. The wave of attacks that you will be about to launch will give the current holders the blog’s top commentators rank a shock as you be pushing yourself onto the list.
• Reputation. Taking this aggressive approach will bring your reputation as a blogger to a whole new level but either as a valuable one or just a spammer (or the name once I was called – a whore).

Let me kick start the action plan on what I say as aggressive approach to take on a blog you just came across.

Know Your Enemy
Does this blog provide value in terms of contents? Does it have a huge base of readers? Is it dead? Is it a famous blog? Discard your plans of attacking a big empire with stones! All of these evaluations can be done at a glance of the home page, don’t dig deep any more, it is a waste of time.

After your evaluations told you that this is a healthy and a “just nice” blog for you, proceed on how to attack it. When doing this, be sure that you have logged into your MyBlogLog account so that your avatar will appear in the widgets if they have one. Minor destructions have been done. Let’s move on to the second phase.

Take Down Their Defences
Click on every permalink of posts in their home page. When you go into the page, write long but quality comments which add values to the articles. Quality comments will improve the level of attention given as the blogger will have to reply to you. The first few articles on a blog might still be getting attention from the readers so long and quality comments will get people to read it!

Attack Their Weak Spots

It is time to move deep into the Archives page. At one glance, pick out around 5 articles which the title grabbed your attention. Read through it, find out flaws of the articles, voice it up through comments and if not, question the blogger on certain things that he wrote. Don’t be shy of your act and kill him with facts if possible.

Broadcast Your Destruction

Don’t get my headline wrong. If you want everyone to look at the destruction you have caused, don’t write about what you have done because you will be seen as a whore. Instead, write a review about the blog you have just attacked by linking to it. Write about the posts you have commented and your long opinions about it. This will give several more things for the blogger to look at.

Demand for Surrender
This is a little bit sarcastic to the blogger but this might get you another friend. After all the destructions you have made, write in an e-mail to the blogger to tell him what you feel about his blog and maybe some personal questions like what made him started blogging and so on. If he replies, this means that you have made an impact on him.

Why Sudden Attacks Are Useful?
Do you know that most of the bloggers will want to approve their first time commentators? Commenting in an aggressive style as I mentioned above will give the blogger lines after lines of comments to approve and if he thinks that your comments is valuable enough, he will take a look at it.

You will also have your name appeared instantly on the Top Commentators widget rank after the blogger approves your comments in one shot. This is why the blog you are targeting must be in line with your quality and authority. Your rock might only become sand when thrown at their high and firm steel wall.

You will see increase in your traffic if you continue to launch sudden attacks on new blogs you discovered each day. It won’t take you much time. One new blog per day will be enough.

Warrior Retiring

What do you think of my battle strategy outline above? If you don’t like the warrior terms, sorry about it because I am just playing with a different style of writing, can you tell me if I passed or failed the test? Will you launch such attacks from now on? If you planned to do so, please tell me which blog will you be targeting so I can deploy some spies there to see how the blogger will react to my tactics.

Subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed which is FREE if you want to get more tips on Blog Networking in the future.