Postcards from the Funny Farm

This article is Part I of my series “Finest Hour of Social Networks” where I examine social networks and their effectiveness in raising real traffic (low bounce rate/readers who stay more than the duration of two ckicks!) This goal is important for monetization and for building a following to your blog. If these ideas are something you’re interested in, this series will help you achieve those goals.

It’s time for another series because I have a lot to say and I don’t want to burn out trying to say it all in one article. I hope you get something out of it. As always, your discussion is invaluable to the series’ evolution throughout. I really appreciate your comments. Ok, well here goes: One common thread that seems to run through every site I run across these days is the topic of building blog traffic. “How can I do it!” Whether you are growing your internet business or just trying to get more readers for your online publishing, it is the burning question in everyone’s mind. There are many ways published out there that you can take and use and make your own. Most of these ways really do work. Depending on how much a blogger puts into it, (including sometimes unholy amounts of time at the comp away from your family) they can work astoundingly well. At the same time, I myself have tried others of them only to come up exhausted and without a shard of new traffic. In the year and a half that I have been blogging, I’ve tried almost everything. I have tricks up my sleeve that I could share until the cows come home. I don’t get to them that often these days because there is other content I need to get to, content about psychology and inspiration and education. The stuff I am passionate about is my favorite stuff to share on here. At the same time, my primary audience here (as measured by visits and referrals) has always been innovative bloggers and noobs. Social networking can literally explode the traffic of my friends ad cohorts out there. It behooves me to share what I know about blogging. With content on this site it is a lot like my family and my work, I try to find a happy balance.
Because I have so much to share about social networking and traffic for bloggers, I am penning this series which will ultimately consist of IV parts as outlined below:

Series: Finest Hour of Social Networks
Part I
BlogCatalog
Entrecard

Part II
Facebook
Fuel My Blog

Part III
Twitter
Social Spark and other monetized social networks.

Part IV
Final Thoughts

Taking these on in ABC order, today’s part focuses on two powerful social networks: Blog Catalog and Entrecard. Join me as I analyze how these 2 services can increase your blog’s traffic no matter whether you are a noob or someone who’d been doing it so long you are starting to burn out … or maybe you are somewhere in the middle. I believe these services can revolutionize the traffic of your blog.

Blog Catalog has been around at least as long as 2005 when I first started checking them out. They have been through normal gradual changes for a company run by young guys and they have emerged in 2008 to be a daunting force for the Technoratis and MyBlogLogs of the world. Blog Catalog has stayed solid at listening to the customers and at innovating the marketplace as best they can. They have come up with some really fun widgets that I use along with so really helpful services in their site for bloggers. The end result is a giant set of tools to increase your blog’s traffic. Here is how I use Blog Catalog to reach out and increase my blog’s traffic:

1. Friend’s list - This is such a great feature. When someone decides they like my blog they add me as a friend on BlogCatalog. I get an email alter and I check their blog out. If I like their blog I can add them if not, they remain my one-way friend anyway. This is a great way to access networks of bloggers with your like-minded favorites etc.

2. Discussions - I hang around BC Discussions daily. It is an excellent way to promote your blog and get help or givehelp with blog issues. more important than anything, it’s a way to sample people and their blogs so you can develop relationships that last. I have commented on blogs through this service years ago and to this day they are still visiting my blog and I theirs.

3. Widgets - BC offers incredibly designed blog widgets. You have to try them all to see which work for you. For me, I like the discussion widget because it shows where I have been talking out in the sphere for those would be interested. I suppose it’s a status message kind of like Twitter or Facebook that way. The difference is that there is no limitation of characters and the thread can interact indefinitely (as many do!)

Through using these three facets of Blog Catalog I have met hundreds of people but just between 15-20 people who remain friends and/or fans of mine and who frequent my site. I get backlinks (this refers to when another site links to you) that bring in traffic perpetually and that increase your ranks with the search engines. I highly recommend you join Blog Catalog, pimp out your profile there and then take part in the three amazing service I listed above. You will see an increase in your traffic.

Now for the second and newer of the two in our discussion today: The sophisticated looking Entrecard.

Entrecard works like this: You create a 125×125 “Entrepeneur Card” or Entrecard for your site. Then you upload it to your profile and pimp out the other parts of the profile. At that point you need to do two things for the service to get you traffic: 1) You need to “drop” your Entrecard on other blogs, and

2) You need to advertise on other blogs. These two actions are theoretically harmonious because every time you visit another Entrecard site and drop your card on it, you get 1 “ec” point. The site you dropped on also gets 1 ec in the process. It is good etiquette to return the drop, but not everyone does it. In your profile, there is a section called “Drop Inbox.” This shows the last 80 or so drops on your site. Many people use that page as the way to “drop back.” The idea of dropping back on everyone is really a foolish idea. It can take hours sometimes to go through them all. I have developed a way to drop every day that takes me less than half-an-hour and I drop over 80 a day. If you are interested in hearing how, just look at the button below my Entrecard that contains the words about “Above the Fold.” It’s something I am trying to promote and hope it catches on.

You get ads on other sites by paying for them in “ec’s” In other words, the more dropping you do and selling of your own space, the more ec’s you have to buy ads.

My traffic has grown nearly 50% through Entrecard which has felt really good. On the other had, the bounce rate for those hits is remarkably low so. People click through like wildfire just to get ec’s. I must admit however that I have received some ad business through Entrecard and many comments by new readers. So I can’t say it’s just empty traffic. I guess the higher the numbers, the better the chance you have of gaining new fans. In the same way, how can anyone know if they like you if they never see you? Entrecard can be a little complicated and clicking through all those sites can be cumbersome. It works for me to raise traffic and to get my 125×125 “Messy Marvin” PostCards avatar out there. I’m not sure if one day’s link actually registers with the search engines, but that isn’t really why I do it.

Social networks like these are exploding traffic for many people I know. If you want more people coming to your site, to read the words you write or buy the things you sell, I doubly encourage you to start with these two. Get registered and begin to explore what works for you. If you have questions, contact me or leave a comment. I firmly believe these two social networks can and will revolutionize your traffic records. Let us know how it goes. I’ll leave you with this: We spend a lot of hours on the computer with internet businesses our and blogs: why not try and make each one our finest!

Next time in my series: Finest Hour of Social Networks

Part II
Facebook
Do people actually use this blue book? If so why? Can it help my traffic?

Fuel My Blog
Somethings Cooking! Will it help my traffic?
And much more to say on these two services I have used for some time now.

What do you think using Blog Catalog and Entrecard to build traffic?

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe via -or-

It was an amazing Safari last week. I read some great blogs by old friends and added several new ones through the binoculars. Most my new blogs here were discovered through Entrecard.com. Just a little plug for them, they are cool. Check these out. As always, each post received a well deserved Stumble. If you have a post you’d like me to consider on a safari, please drop me an email.

Ask Mimzie Great Q&A in the spirit of “Dear Abby.” Mimzie has other styles of posts where she truly cracks me up with her wit and sassiness. This is a neat little section of her blog. You should check it out and if you like it: subscribe. Oh, and of course you can send in questions.

FreshPeaches I have always loved fresh peaches. This great diet/nutrition blogger tells you all the buying secrets.

My Top 5 Songs From the1960s What are your favorite songs from the 1960’s? Malcolm gives his awesome 5 and invites your input in his comments.

4×4 Sources Of Writing Inspiration: Group W... This is a great creative idea for a writing challenge. If you are looking for a backlink and want to write something creative, do this one with me.

Name Brand and Generic OTC meds A story of how a cougher learned why name brand meds cost more.

My TiVo thinks I am deceased I love TiVo and I found out one of my new blogger friends does as well. Is this something we should feel guilty about? nahhhhhhhh.

How to Use and Optimize for Google Image Searc... Having an alt and title tag within your pictures is an SEO must. In fact, if you don’t have the alt’s it will fail a validation. Katy writes a great post as always with photos showing you how to include these. If you are not doing this, I highly recommend reading this post.

Deflated While the trip do donate platelets didn’t pan out as she had hoped exactly, this post is phenomenal because she manages to photograph step by step her trip to give blood. That is dedication to blogging. This is an interesting post.

Danny Boy Jessica the Rock Chick wrote this little gem of a post about being Irish and about St. Paddy’s Day. The words are poetry as always but the peak of the think is the picture of an actual green river. I don’t even think it’s photoshopped.

Organized, I am Organization is such a powerful tool. This post shows how Marcia is getting her computer stuff organized and in line. I believe when you are organized, you can do anything! Oh, and she’s using Flock as a browser now which is also a great move!

Four Days Off A great reminder to her readers that work is just work and not something to get a “bleeding ulcer” over. I think we all could use this reminder in the form of a diary entry.

Damian A post about being cursed (or blessed) with the name Damien. She gives lots of examples of Damien through history that often get ignored in favor of the OMEN fame.

Movie Review: Vantage Point Is An Original, Exciti... A movie review on the famous “BlogCritics” about this clever, original suspenseful film with an all star cast including Dennis Quaid and Forrest Whittaker.

Do you Know Where Your Widgets Are? Article that examines which widgets are worth your time and which aren’t by giving some basic principles.

FuelMyBlog is an awesome service I have been using for blog marketing and networking. They were kind enough to publish my guestblog today about widgets on their site. I have been studying and using widgets for over a year now and have learned a thing or two. I put that knowledge in this guestblog. There are a few widgets out there that everyone needs to have and some that definitely should have never seen the light of day. Then there are those that are custom suited to a particular blog type. It would be nice to get a discussion going about widgets. I know I could still learn a ton myself. If you are interested in reading my guestblog and joining the discussion at FuelMyBlog you can read it at the url below:

blog.fuelmyblog.com/2008/03/do-you-know-where-your...

If you are interested in having me guestblog for your blog for free, read the page explaining the process and contact me.  Thanks!  I hope to hear from you.

I’ve been reaching out in the past couple weeks to new blogs hoping to find some new connections.  My existing faves all rock and I enjoy reading them, but my goals for 2008 include getting more traffic and so far I have learned the best way to get traffic is through making connections and visiting and commenting on other blogs.  Here are some ways I am finding great new blogs currently that you may want to try if you’re not already:

1. The following widgets: MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, Entrecard, Spottt, and BlogRush.

2. The Blogrolls of my favorite blogs and Bumpzee.

How do you find new blogs to read?