Day 2 - Expanding on comments/discussions and submitting site to google and yahoo.

It is approaching 24 hours since I set up this blog and I have had 18 visitors, 2 comments and 4 comments on the discussion I put in the coffee shop. Not bad but time to promote some more.

First, did I write something? Well that’s what you are reading now. I am going to keep stressing the importance of frequent posts. I aim for a daily release but 5 or 6 a week is more realistic for me.

Second, once I post I “ping” my blog. This tells search engines that there is something in your blog. I use www.pingmyblog.com. That site will ping a large number of different indexes at the same time.

Third, I tell all of my friends and family who read the internet that I’m writing something and they should go check it out. Let them know that you put new things up frequently so they should keep coming back.

Fourth, I trade links with my friends and family who blog. Nobody loves me more than me so I’m going to trade links with my other blog. To do that from the dashboard, I click on “layout.” Then I click on “add a page element.” In the popup window, I click on “blog list,” “add to list” and then type in my other blog’s address. I suggest being very free with giving links to other blogs. Don’t demand that they link back. You can always remove the link at a later point if you feel the relationship is too one sided.

Fifth, I have two comments. Comments are one of the best methods of promoting your blog in the beginning. I will go to each person who commented on my site and try to return the favor. I try to return comment for every comment I receive. It builds better relationships and builds both of our blogs. Think of commenting from a few points of view. A. It is simply nice to comment on someone else’s blog. Being nice is well nice. B. Commenting on someone else’s blog encourages them to come visit my blog and hopefully comment. C. Even if the blog owner does not come and visit, my comment frequently brings in their readers to look at my blog. It becomes a free advertisement. I may even ask to exchange blog links.

Sixth, several people commented on my coffee shop discussion. I will reply to them in the coffee shop and will visit (and may comment) on their sites. By replying in the coffee shop, I keep interest up in my discussion and I keep is near the top of the coffee shop list.

Seventh, there are at least a half dozen other new blogs posting for attention in the coffee shop. I will visit several of them and post comments.

Finally, I am submitted my blog to google and to yahoo. This will tell the search engines that my blog exists. Unlike pinging, I only need to do this once. Submitting can be done easily by visiting these sites:
Http://blogsearch.google.com/ping
Http://www.google.com/addurl
http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

That will be it for day two.