I learned 1 lesson over the past 4 years of being an online entrepreneur.
Who you know counts as much as what you know. I have seen people with a poor command of the English language make fortunes, selling their goods and services to English speaking audiences.
I have seen mediocre online entrepreneurs grow stunningly massive networks around them, becoming wildly successful in the process.
Yes, you need to create value for people but if you can expand your online presence quickly you will stand out from virtually all online entrepreneurs. You can make money online at a steady clip if you are willing to simply meet a ton of people through multiple channels.
Be super patient. If you are willing to follow the below tips on a persistent basis you will steadily expand your presence day after day. The key resides in persistently doing what few people do. Most bloggers have puny networks because they never choose to reach out and build their friend base.
They feel publishing a few posts will magically attract massive, targeted audiences. That ain’t gonna happen!
1 – Guest Post as Much as Possible
I write 1 guest post or more daily to leverage my presence and make friends with fellow bloggers, commentators and readers. No better way to increase your revenue potential. If you reach a massive, targeted audience each time you post, watch how quickly your own blog audience grows. As your audience grows, so does your traffic, and we all know by now that targeted traffic, equals more revenue potential.
Write, write and write some more. Be patient. Some bloggers are way backed up and it might take a week, 2 or more to place your post. Write, submit to various blogs and watch the traffic and opt ins flow in.
Here’s a list of blogs you can start with to submit your guests posts. Be on high alert though, because these blogs have high authority and will not accept sub-standard stuff. Just make sure you don’t ask to guest post the wrong way.
2 – Comment like a Champion
I comment on 10 or more blogs daily. Commenting expands your presence at a quick pace. People will see you and believe that you are in 20 places at one time. Your face pops up again and again, and you are golden.
Awesome! Just post a helpful, usable comment which makes an impact and also use a smiling head shot as your gravatar to stand out in the minds of your target audience. Another way to increase interactions via commenting is making use of the ComLuv network and the CL Plugin. If you are on G+, you may want to watch this video on how to embed Google Plus comments on your blog. All these really helps, specially if you are just in the beginning.
3 – Follow the Leader
One of the easiest way to expand your online presence is by following blogging pros. Study people with massive, targeted readerships. These folks know what they are doing and the crowd also seeks to improve their results on a persistent basis.
Knowing this you are wise to follow their advice. Take note of any new, powerful presence-expanding strategies they share through their blogs.
Example: I followed 1 blogger in particular who would not let the “guest posting is the best thing on earth for growing your readership” argument go. I mean, the guy just beat this horse dead, again and again, and finally, because I was so annoyed with listening to him, I just had to put his advice to the test.
I wanted to prove or disprove him. I was not quite sure. After writing my first blog post on an authority blog I saw 12 extra email opt ins through via this guest post alone. That is some serious stuff! I expanded my presence quickly because I followed a leader, became swayed by his advice, acted on the advice and reaped some pretty neat results.
Key Takeaway
Guys, when Francisco sends out those super informative links each week, read them, and take notes. Learn from the best. Learn from the experts. Learn from people who have expanded their presence quickly. Success leaves painfully obvious clues if you are on the lookout for these clues.
Be patient. You can do amazing things online if you act intelligently each hour of each day. This gig becomes easier and easier and easier if you do things like guest posting, writing helpful comments, and of course, publish your own content. I suggest guest posting aggressively as a newbie because: you will expand your presence by leveraging big blog audiences and you will become accustomed to receiving criticism, a must for any successful online entrepreneurs.
Your Turn
Do you use these tips to expand your online presence, as a newbie or veteran?
Are you struggling to build your online blogging network?
What tips can you add to this list?
Siddhartha Sinha
Ryan Biddulph has written a great post by the help of which one could grab the position fastly in the internet web world especially of blogging world. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us
Hey thanks Siddhartha!
Nirmala
It is an excellent post from you Ryan!
Agree with you and hope it would help the newbie to improve their online presence.
Yes, am following all the ways which you’ve listed here and here adding the few simple ways to increase the online presence.
1. Use blog url as digital signature in emails n forums.
2. Participate in forums, Q&A websites and social networks.
3. Create a good profile in About.me
Good stuff Nirmala, love the About Me advice!
Saanvi
Great post bro…i was thinking to tell you that you should post about SEO As we use Blogger platform And its hard to get more traffic.Thnxxx for sharing i have implemented all to my Blog..hope it maximises ma traffic
Cool thanks!
Blog commenting and guest blogging are by far, excellent methods to establish online presence. It is about getting our faces in as many places as possible.
You write 1 guest post a day? That’s awesome!
True Lisa.
Sarah
Excellent post Ryan. I’m a new blogger well will be and now I’m beginning to read more blogs ( which I read many many before). I’m learning ways to market and get traffic rolling! I’m a new mom 2011 and working on a few opportunities to grow now and blogging I’m very interested to start rolling! I hope you can follow me and be a helpful hand and helping me succeed and I will do the same in return! Stay poste
I will be happy too Sarah, thanks!
Paula S
I believe for the the hardest part about blog commenting is time. I’ve got children and a regular day job and sometimes I just don’t have energy at the end of the day. I need to make time!!!
EXactly Paula!
Anh Le
OMG “1 post or more daily” – that’s real hard job. Great respect from me! I know it ain’t easy to get attention for beginner bloggers and of course hard work will pay off. But it requires a certain amount of time for blogger to reach the 1st result they want. Hard but worth it!
Yep Anh Le, thanks for sharing!
SR Cloud
I don’t think guest posting is a force for good, personally. I mean, I can see how it would work in the short term, but I’m not so sure a blog or indeed a blogger stands to gain much if, in the longer term, they cannot be told apart from all of the other blogs/bloggers out there.
Just my view is all.
Give it a shot dude and test it out 😉
Silviu
Hi,
This is a very challenging post. Expanding my presence online. The dream of all bloggers… . Mine too.
The problem is : How fast can you expand? If you are going too fast and create dozens and dozens of links a day you may attract Google’s attention and get a severe penalty. Even if you know how to attract traffic from other sources than Google it is not ok. You must avoid the danger of being perceived as an annoying presence, a kind of spammer or something.
Another danger is to post only on high authority blogs. When the only links you build are from sites or blogs with PR 5 or higher … this is odd. It’s a sign that you have built your own links.
I think it is better to post first on PR1 blogs then PR2 and so on. This way you will have a natural growing process and you are safe.
So my question is “How fast can you expand your presence naturally and safely? The following is just a guess of mine:
1 guest post a day
1 post a day on your blog
at least 5 comments a day.
Thank you very much for sharing this article with us. Also thanks for the list of blogs. I will study it carefully.
Have a nice day
Silviu I like those numbers buddy, thanks for sharing!
Organized
Hi Ryan, thanks for sharing useful tips. In my case I have been able to build some presence online, but the results I get do not match the effors at all. Traffic these days seems to be more valuable than gold.
yogesh pant
hi Ryan,
it is quite a fact that now-a-days, the globe is shrinking to a village and what matters all is the online presence. It was very true that with the knowledge what you have, the number of people to whom you can share also matters equally.
Nikhil Naik
Guest Posting is the obviously the order of the day. Like you put up – “follow the leader”, it is also important that in the blogging world, you find a role model whose footsteps you could follow in order to become more successful. Well compiled article!
Vanessa M
Thanks Ryan for this article, as a newbie blogger I found it extremely helpful! Great tips and I’ll definitely try out the guest blogging.
I would add also that it’s important to connect with your audience via as many social platforms as you can – get involved on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Tumblr etc. and don’t be shy about getting your ideas out there! As you so accurately said, it’s who you know that matters as much if not more than what you know, and a big part of that is building a solid online network.
Great article 🙂
Barbara McKinney
Awesome Stuff.Guest blogging is a good way to be everywhere online and reaching out more people– bloggers and blog readers alike. A lot of bloggers also appreciate those who guest blog on their site so it really creates a good relationship between bloggers aside from increasing much traffic to your site.
I’m following your advice and posting a helpful, relevant comment. *just kidding*
This article has some good insights nonetheless. I know that commenting and guest posting are great ways to increase my presence, with an added bonus of building great relationships with fellow bloggers. Now I know where to start and just need to be consistent.
thanks thesse are the most easiest things a blogger can follow and it really works … one thing i want to add is that if you add some interogative questions then this also increases your preasence