There’s this exercise I keep recommending in my posts about networking, gaining an audience, and becoming better as a blogger.
And it’s quite simple:
1. Find the most popular ten blogs in your niche.
2. Read their ten most popular blog posts, the ten posts with the most comments, and the ten most recent posts from each of these blogs.
3. Now, it’s time to figure out what is it that made them popular in the first place:
- When did they start blogging?
- How do they blog about their niche?
- How often do they post?
- How long are the blog posts?
- What style do they write in?
- What about the visual layout?
- What kind of relationships do they have with other bloggers? Do they interview other bloggers? Do they allow guest posts?
- How do they interact with their readers? Do they reply to comments?
- What about mistakes? What do they do wrong about content creation, promoting their blog, or interacting with readers?
Why do you need to ask these questions?
Doing this type of analysis is not so you can copy other blogs in your niche (even though you’ll most certainly want to emulate certain aspects), but rather to figure out a different angle.
What is it that they’re NOT writing about? What is working for them, what isn’t working?
Also, now that you know who the top players in your niche are, and you kind of know them, you can connect with them, maybe even guest blog for them.
And, yes, you can comment on their blog posts, and some of their readers (who are also your potential readers) will visit your blog.
Considering that this analysis “costs” you nothing but time, I highly recommend it.
Beginner or not, this exercise is well worth the time and energy.
Do you know who the top bloggers in your niche are?
Do you plan on trying this analysis?
I tend not to view other bloggers as competition, but I think that there is a virtue to getting to know other bloggers in your niche, for sure. Other bloggers in your niche can also help you grow your perspective, as has been the case for me.
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This is a good idea Cristian, but it will take time like you said. I will give it a try
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Being a writer, I do try to interact with blogs of similar content as mine. I also find it rewarding to reach out to blogs which are outside of my niche. Yes, it takes some time and effort, but the payback is worth it.
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No, and maybe. It seems a tad overwhelming, but I can see how this would be beneficial. Thank you for sharing!!
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I so appreciate this. Still finding my direction, but am loving the flash fictions I’m posting. I’ll have to follow this advice.
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Thank you. I am glad my post inspired you.
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Right. Now for the work before the work; identify my niche.
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How important do you think it is to upgrade to premium or does it have no bearing? I have connected with all of my followers by at least reading their content but only have around 300. My hope is to educate through what I share, so reaching more is definitely a goal. I will try what you’ve written here, thank you.
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It depends on how well you take advantage of the plan. The truth is, most folks don’t need it. If you do not plan on adding advertising, selling products directly, then you probably don’t need it.
The one thing I am quite vehement about is a custom domain. That is it.
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