Discovery Along the Blogging Path

By on September 7, 2007 in Blog Coach, Conversations with 10 Comments

How precious the facial expressions of a business pro discovering new, like-minded blogs. It’s like watching a kid unwrapping a birthday present.

And if folks follow instruction, discovery could happen on almost a daily basis.

After writing a post, I teach bloggers to pick a key phrase or two and go on a "blog hunt," using Google BlogSearch and Blog Posting Mantra #4.

Recently, a business leader wrote a post, and we found a key and recurring phrase. We did a Google Blog Search on that phrase – "being open to the possibilities"…and looked for specific nuggets:

Discovery_2

We "discovered" Suzy Strumpke’s Core Insight Blog. As it happens, this new blogger is also a coach and resonated with many of Suzy’s posts.  But here’s how we picked this particular result in the search:

  • Look for a Real Name:  Bylines such as wysidihfao; SmartNSexy or admin give us no clue to whether the blog will be a spamalog or not.  We don’t have time to dig ("Find a link in 5 minutes and get out), so we first scan for real names.
  • Look for Relevance: The summary provided in the search results will clue us in to how relevant the result will be to your blog post. Relevance is key! We don’t go on a blog hunt simply to link out, but also to extend the conversation outward. Be a resource for your audience.
  • Look for a Blog Site: Depending on the phrase, you may get a newspaper article, job board or other RSS-enabled result.  I suggest finding blog sites for a few reasons, mostly because it’s a great way to meet — and introduce your audience to — new people.

Before we even clicked on any of the results, we had eliminated most of them. It took us all of two whole minutes to find Suzy’s post – and it was spot on relevant. Just like any other part of the business blogging process, stay disciplined on time — and only click on results meeting the three criteria above.

How do you discover relevant blogs and posts?

Follow on Twitter or Facebook or on Google+

Find Your Social Media ROI

I hear it from a lot of business owners: “Where is the ROI with all this Social Media?“ If this is a question you ask yourself, maybe we should work together a bit more. We can work together solo, or via a professional learning community. Find and increase your ROI. There is a “there” there.

About Mike Sansone:

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  • http://www.straightpitch.com Jason Falls

    Great tips for browsing those pages of search results! Now if we could just get Goggle to eliminate the “by admins” and what-not, or at least de-prioritize them, the world would be easier to navigate!

  • Laurence-Helene

    This is a great tip thanks! I usually try to find the thought leaders within blogging communities – for e.g. marketing bloggers, technology bloggers, photography bloggers etc. The only downside is that you need to know who the thought leaders are first :)

  • http://www.thehomeknowitall.com Jim Stepp

    For the most part, I agree with your tips. However, there are exceptions out there, such as YouGrowGirl, TheHomeKnowItAll and others. These are business blogs that provide information and interaction with bloggers.

  • http://www.momentonmoney.com Art Dinkin

    I have to agree with Mike, Jim. You can not automatically discount writings done under a pseudonym, but someone who is willing to put there real name as the author is putting their reputation at stake. The difference is commitment.
    One trick I have learned to limit the amount of time I spend looking for other posts is to only look on the first two pages. You have to draw the line somewhere, right?

  • http://www.momentonmoney.com Art Dinkin

    Look at that. I put my reputation on the line without proofreading and realized I used “there” instead of “their”. Whoops!

  • http://www.prestamospersonales.es prestamos

    Really userfull tips, I agree with you at all, I think that the “by admins” is a big issue that Google have to remove.

  • http://stateofmindcoaching.com/ Jade Handy

    Excellent sorting procedure. I found was often serching for relevant summaries, but didn’t have a concrete procedure for rooting out spam,scams, etc.

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