** Continued From: Blogging in the Material World! - Part #1

In the first part of this series, I explained that I’m new to this blogging thing. I’m learning as I go and I’m sharing these experiences with you, dear Froggers. In part one, I showed you how I arrived at the decision to purchase blog software. I told you I chose to buy blog software and use my own domain and my own web hosting. I also showed you some other places where you could get free hosting and free software as well as paid.

In this article I’m going to show you what I’ve learned about the blogger mindset.

"If you want to create a successful blog then you must realize that most of the people who read blogs are other bloggers."

Bloggers are very communal. They link to each other. They build and join webrings. They have online meeting places where they share, review and rate each other’s blogs. They use newsreaders to search for and browse blogs. Bloggers build their pages with several similar qualities. You don’t have to join this world in order to publish a blog but doing so is pretty good idea. If you want to create a successful blog then you must realize that most of the people who read blogs are other bloggers.

There are blogs that stand alone. Both surfers and newsreaders visit these über blogs. You’re probably already familiar with some of these more popular blogs like Doc Searls, Instapundit and TalkingPoints Memo. These busy destinations receive traffic from many sources and are even linked to from news sites like Google and Yahoo. Yet even these über weblogs cater to a mostly blogger-based audience.

If you examine each above-mentioned site, you’ll notice a list of text links that lead to other blogs. You’ll notice they mention other blogs in their entries. A great many of the ads these sites display are advertisements for other blogs. The big blogs know their fans and their fans are primarily bloggers.

So how do you hook up with the blogging community? Here’s a couple of places I found helpful:

Webrings
http://dmoz.org/Computers/.../Weblogs/Web_Rings

This DMOZ category is a list of webrings for weblogs. Remember webrings? You joined one and they would add you to a group of linked, similar web pages. Then you would put a special HTML code on your blog that a reader can click to visit other sites in the ring. Sites would link to you. You would link to other sites in the webring. Blog webrings work the same way. You link to other blogs and they link to you.

Blog Collaboratives and Cliques
http://dmoz.org/Computers/.../Weblogs/Collaborative
http://dmoz.org/Computers/.../Weblogs/Cliques

These places are similar to the alliances cited at The Truth Laid Bear. A clique is a group of blogger who write blogs about a specific thing or subject. A collective is a blog with multiple posters. These are really just variations on the whole communal aspect of blogging. Webrings, online communities, cliques and collaborations. Bloggers share their blogs and link to each other.

The Truth Laid Bear
http://www.truthlaidbear.com

This site hosts a thing called the Blogosphere Ecosystem. This is a ratings system where the number of inbound links from other blogs determines blog popularity. Another cool feature is their New Blog Showcase where members of the Blogosphere critique fresh blogs. This site even has a list of blog alliances where those of like minds join together. If you don't feel like signing up for the Blogosphere or submitting your blog in the New Blog Showcase, you can still learn a lot about blogging society just by studying the site.

Visit the links I’ve provided in this article. Join a webring or four. Many of these places are adult-friendly. Get your blog critiqued by your fellow bloggers. Add links to other blogs onto your site and try to get other blogs to link to you. Read some of these other blogs. Join in the camaraderie and review a few blogs yourself. The more you participate in blogging society the better your chances of operating a flourishing blog.

In my next article in this series I’ll share with you some of the places I’ve found where you can drive traffic to your blog. For now, go to the sites I’ve written about in this piece. If anything they show you how bloggers think. What they consider a good blog or a popular one. You’ll see the hierarchy and the structure. You’ll come to understand that bloggers have as many resources and tools as do adult webmasters. Now go do some research!

** Click Here For: Blogging in the Material World! - Part #3