Top Blog LIsts: Why You Should Pay Attention in Your Niche

Somebody likes us, really likes us. We didn't win an Oscar or make Time Magazine's Top 25 blogs, but Mitch Mitchell put us on his list: 9 Best Blogs for 2009.

Build A Better Blog: these ladies, Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman, have put together a supreme blog about business blogging, and if the rest of us want to find a model to follow as far as gaining blogging prominence, these are the two ladies to follow.

This week also announced the new quarterly Top42 Content Marketing Blogs. Even though my other blog, WritingontheWeb.com slipped from #3 to #12, it's still an honor to be on the list. Be sure to check out this list for the other sites who are writing about content and how to leverage content for marketing purposes (like writing for your blog...).

Why are top blog lists important? First, it's a great way to short cut your research. If you want to publish a great business blog, you need to know what others in your field are already writing and publishing. You can't blog in a vacuum.

How often are you participating in the Blogosphere in your niche? How many blogs are you reading regularly and commenting on? If you need to find other blogs in your field, visit Alltop.com or Blogs.com. This is one of the four keys to successful business blogging, as we teach it in our Build a Better Blog Learning System.

Secondly, it's just plain smart to build relationships with these other bloggers by leaving meaningful comments on their blogs and joining in the conversation. It's also one of the top ways to build traffic back to your own blog.

Comments

[Marci Lall]

Congrats ladies..

both of you do an outstanding job and deserve the recognition!

[Matthew Franchise]

Yes, congrats also - I found your blog via here http://view.fdu.edu/default.aspx?id=3068 which is another great recommendation. Seems some people like you peeps so going to have a good look around and see what all the hype is about! ;-)

[Neil Sequeira - ReadyContacts]

Congratulations! Paying attention to your niche is very sound advice. Great post.

[Daniel Tetreault - SEO Specialist]

Wow. great accomplishments, ladies. I also had an opportunity to view the writing on the web blog too. Great content there too. I was wondering if you could provide some feedback. What is your number one tool to build comments or a 'relationship' with your readers? THE MOST important one...if you could advise me this just one thing, what would it be?

Daniel Tetreault.
Sidney, BC

[UPrinting Postcard Printing]

cool. you ladies should keep on writing and inspire more people

[dr-patsi]

Hi, Daniel. Thanks for stopping by my WritingontheWeb.com blog as well. Well, you asked for some advice, so here goes... let me gently slap your knuckles for leaving a link back to your own site in the body of your comments. (Not here)... You are great at writing meaningful comments on blogs, you don't need to spoil it by trying to market yourself.

Some blogs will simply delete your comment if they think you're marketing in the comment section on their blog. You don't have to be so blatant. If bloggers like what you comment, they'll check you out and go to your site.

#1 tip: be real, be authentic, and participate in the conversation, don't be afraid to be contrarian and stir up discussion. But don't market your own site(s).

[Georgia Stath]

I totally agree with you. You should always be looking at what the competition is doing.