Tips for joining the A list

by on February 14, 2006

I keep getting asked “how do I get more traffic?” Or, “how do I get TechCrunch to notice my blog?”

Quick: go to Technorati and do the brrreeeport search. Now, which headline and opening text grabs you? Makes you wanna click? Hint: we’re all being slammed with hundreds of sites every day. The more interesting you can make your headline, the better. Think about what your headline will look like in the search engines and use every one as an opportunity to grab a little bit of traffic.

Now, look at the 98 brrreeeport results on Technorati. All are on the same topic, right? But some headlines stand out from the noise. Which ones grab your eye? The one that says simply “brrreeeport report?” Or the one that says “brrreeeport beats Mohammad cartoon?” Conflict is a story telling device. Use it in headlines!

Also, notice that Technorati has a way to “claim” a blog and if you do that you’ll get a little picture next to every one of your posts. Posts that have pictures win!

One other fun thing? Brrreeeport is a “top search” on the Technorati home page right now.

Need another tip on how to join the A list?

Here’s another one: be different. What do I mean by that?

Well, Dan Wieringa asked me for some help with his blog. It’s a decently written blog, but it isn’t getting much traffic.

First notice how his blog looks very similar to tons of other blogs? That’s hurting him.

One of TechCrunch’s popularity secrets is that he uses lots of graphics and screen shots. Makes his blog more pleasing to the eye. Sorta the way Technorati looks better than Google’s blog search.

Another thing? Dan’s title tag is boring. You need some personality! Look at Darren Barefoot’s title tag. Lots of personality and gives me some sense of who Darren is. Oh, and his blog’s design sticks out too. Different. Clean. Personal. Who wouldn’t fall in love with that smile? Yeah, Wordpress.com makes it hard to change the template right now (Matt Mullenweg promises that’s changing soon, but in the meantime you can get ready by doing the other things — come up with a better title tag, write better headlines, work on finding interesting content that’ll help you stick out of the crowd on search engines and memetrackers.

Another way? Steph Booth taught me this one: tag often. Tag frequently. Tag better. In Wordpress.com your categories are also tags. Don’t worry about using too many tags. The more tags you use, the more likely someone will find you in a search engine.

Another tip? Make friends with other bloggers. You know, if 15 z-listers link to you, are you a z-lister, or did you just move up to the m-list? Hint: it doesn’t take that many links to be seen as an “authority” on Technorati. Well, unless you’re Om Malik and then Technorati just thinks you don’t have any authority. Yikes. But, anyway, usually you will get noticed if a few blogs link to you and it’s not hard. Got a good post today? Why don’t you email a few people (one at a time, not in a group) and say “hey, I think you’d enjoy my post today on xxxxxx.” Don’t beg for a link, just show some passion about what you’ve written or posted.

Or, heck, do what I’m doing this week — just say screw it all and go skiing. See ya from the slopes tomorrow!

While I’m slushing at Keystone, Colorado as part of the Bloggy Mountain High trip (yes, my way was paid for, so this link is a sponsored link) why don’t you stick in your own URL and toot your own horn and join the A-List! Or, at minimum, post a good tip for getting noticed!

  • "Categorites" :-)

    Glad to see I bugged you enough to get you tagging!
  • Steph: thanks! Heh.
  • - Post to your blog with a frequency that mirrors high school girls chatting on the phone about boys?

    Come on Robert, you are a guy who works for Microsoft, people go “Ahhhhh, ohhhhh” at your every word, but for us regular weenies, blogging usually comes to an end after we realize that nobody really cares about our little insignificant worlds.

    But on a positive note, those who blog about things that they are passionate about eventually find others who have the same interests, these are not at the same levels of an “A list” member BUT this is what blogging is all about.

    Break a leg! (Well not really, you know the saying...hehe) :)
  • Ah, don't think I should take all the credit for that. Keving obviously did a good job of nagging you at NV ;-)
  • Ew! Kevin, not Keving. Sorry for the noise.
  • Nice tips!
  • Hey Robert,
    I like the A list tips. You should maybe do a blog tip when you can. Loved Naked Conversations. I just finished it.
  • Definitely appreciate the feedback. I was hoping "Content was King", but the blog world seems to need a dose of "curb appeal" as well. A huge thanks for taking the time to think/white this out. Definitly will be working on it ASAP.

    Dan aka 'admitting-I-have-a-boring-blog-name' (for now)

    :)
  • I've got another tip: be active in the community, participate in the conversations. Say interesting things, add value when you comment, and people will go and see who you are.
  • A-Listednesss.

    Here are what I think are the top 5 A-list techniques other than promoting Technorati (seems to be a pre-req) and having snazzy post titles.

    1) Be somebody in real life. If you are a millionaire playboy, founder of a major company or even just a mid-to high level functionary in a famous company (Google, Microsoft, etc), you are bound to attract a lot of readers, no matter how boring your posts might be. Having A-list bloggers as friends helps.

    2) Spread link love. To the extreme. Start every other post with "A-lister X says" or "Gadfly Z thinks". Link, link, link. Bloggers reciprocate. Egosurf frequently, make sure that people who link to you don't go unlinked. The best post of this type is "Y thinks that I am/do/was ...". Even if the post is negative - there's no such thing as bad publicity.

    3) Have impeccable and popular taste. Link to a lot of interesting sites. Here's how this works: troll the web, find interesting web pages. Summarize them in your post and take the best picture, make it a little smaller and use it as an illustration for your post.

    4) Post very frequently, even overfrequently. People don't like subscribing to rarely updated feeds.

    5) Start memes. Everyone love those.

    Notice that providing original content, being funny and/or interesting does not matter as much. I mean, A-listers can be boring and unoriginal as well as interesting and original - but it's not a differentiator as far as the A-listedness counts.
  • Another tip - dont talk too much about things you don't really understand well - focus on what you know - perhaps more importantly, don't try to sit at the 'cool kids table' just because you think it is the cool place to be. Hang out with the people that really matter for what you do and get over the high school popularity contest...
  • Anonymous Coward
    "Don’t worry about using too many tags. The more tags you use, the more likely someone will find you in a search engine."

    Remember meta keyword spam? Well, the same thing is going to happen here, no?
  • Heh, thanks for the plug. If only you'd dump that wife of yours and we could run away together to some Greek isle.

    Just kidding, in case, you know, anybody gets the wrong idea.
  • Robert, great post. I think you've cornered the market on the high-energy "just do it" style of writing. That's a compliment by the way.

    I think deadprogrammer also has some good points.

    One thing people need to decide on is WHY they blog and WHAT they want. I've had a blog for almost 2 years now, and my traffic was abysmal. About 2 months ago I said "Hey, I need to understand this better", so really started expending more energy. Being a true z-lister, I was surprised a few weeks ago when my discussion posts started showing up on Memeorandum in the headlines... almost overnight. Hmmmm. Taught me alot about the whole cross-linking process and also gave me some real insights into how Memeorandum and other ranking engines work.

    I have tried to be genuine in everything I've posted, and I do have a rather argumentative devils-advocate approach to most things. I was on the side of the telcos in the "Net Neutrality" debate, and was comparing the A-list to good-ol'-boys conservative men's clubs. Those counter-point views are a bit unusual, and do attract attention if they're written well. It just so happens also to be the REAL me, which I think is vital. BS is pretty transparent these days.

    But, it takes work, and frankly I'm not sure that "being on the A-list" is even remotely close to my goals. I don't want to be a journalist but love writing.

    But, the moral is that a truly nobody z-lister like me can, if motivated to get into genuine discussion I care about, end up at the top if he says something interesting and authoratative. I do really think it's not as much who you are, but what you have to say and how much insight you have that matters most. At least for now. Sure, Robert works for MS, but he expends enormous effort communicating with people. I actually think the latter, rather than the former, is why we're here talking to him.

    I also think that if you have something to say, you absolutely need to do the things Robert recommends to "be seen". There's too much noise. And you're competing with a huge number of people who are great at self-promotion. So, you need to belly up to the bar and do the same or what you say will be lost. Timing is also critical. When something breaks, you either need to react, write, and have something intelligent to add.... QUICK. Don't bother parroting what other people say. If you have nothing REAL to add, don't bother. But, if you DO have something to say, 24 hours later there will be so much chatter that it's almost pointless to join in.

    Just my $0.02 from the bottom looking up. :-)
  • I agree with not going with the flow just for the sake of being popular.

    My personal goals for traffic are to give away information for free that has worked well for me...

    (like investigating the value of Compact Flourescents - ok, a little nerdy, but $30-50/month in my Toy Fund is pretty sweet - got a USB GPS unit this month)

    ...or get discussions going on things that are important

    (like maybe getting lobbyist influence in the piublic eye instead of Britney Spears!)

    Kinda like a think-tank-coop/tech-mob idea...?
  • You know what I would like to see? A-listers that actually read blogs and search out blogs that are not A-listers.

    These blogs are the one's that make the A-listers possible, and many times all I see are A-listers cross linking with A-listers. That's what makes it hard, because there's a bit of a clique just like in anything in life. Many times, Robert, all I see is you linking to other A-listers and friends. It's really up to people like you to encourage the growth of the blogesphere, and linking to your friends (as Om malik does), doesn't encourage that.
  • Christopher Coulter
    Hey congrats. Some (alleged) spammer regged your "brrreeeport" on a DomainsByProxy hit and has already started doing Ad Sense dog and pony SEO hits, and no doubt -- a splog next up, wheeeeeeeee. The brrreeeport meme SPRINGS into ACTION. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. :)

    So the moral to this whole stupid game comes down to 'have catchy zany headlines', tag often, and play the incestuous "friendship" blog-link "authority" traffic games? Ummm, that's pretty gee-whiz grade-school common sensical, but I guess bloggers need things jackhammered into their skulls.
  • I'm a firm believer that unique content is the key to getting people to bother reading your blog. Sure, more links from more blogs helps you crawl up Technorati ranks and such, but what good is that if all you do is recycle memes and Daily Show jokes?

    Of course, the occasional blatant whoring (like commenting on this post) never hurts.
  • Wow, blatant whoring Kurt, I thought that the exchange of conversations was what this was about. I blog to talk to anybody out there that wants to listen or to nobody at all. It is important for people to be recognized and to be a part of something. I personally just like fact I can talk about cooking hot dogs and receive comments from some guy across the plant.
    As far as being an Alister or a Z lister, as the fella says: what do you want to do?
  • Thank you for the inspiration! I am not longer going to ask how to... I'm going to read YOUR blog :D

    Thanks for the cow.
  • Dmad
    "talk about cooking hot dogs or receive comments from some guy across the planet". All this "A list" talk sounds like the psychological results of not enough attention at home growing up. Is that really the goal of a blog? To get into the "in crowd" and really feel like you are cool and somebody? Even if all your blog does is repeat content from other blogs and talk about how important one perceives themselves to be? Personally I could give a rats ass how "popular" a blog is, or where it ranks on somebodys weekly blog ranking poll. I read a blog for content, pure and simple. If the content is compelling and maps to and holds my interest, it has accomplished its goal. And in the end, isn't that the point? Or is the point to see who gets to be the most popular kid in school? I agree with Christopher. This whole "wanna be an A-lister?" seems very juvenile. Hey Scoble, maybe you can package this up and make a bunch of late night infomercials and go around the country giving seminars are $400 a pop. I'm sure there are plenty of insecure geeks out there that would pay to learn how to "be like Scoble".
  • Are you really skiing?
  • Headlines make the biggest difference in readership, in my opinion (and some Eye Track research). You can read some tips about writing headlines in the sidebar on this page: http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=58928
  • "I’ve got another tip: be active in the community, participate in the conversations. Say interesting things, add value when you comment, and people will go and see who you are."

    I have been commenting more, again, and I really only do when I feel like visiting (and I usually then feel like commenting) my liked blogs.

    I always keep in mind the adding value part, but sometimes I just know the blogger will appreciate "great article!" (Unless he or she thinks it's spam, but I'm acknowledged in my blogging circle, so nah.)

    Anyway, I posted a couple of arguing points in a friendly way on blogs I visit and like ... and then I was quoted in subsequent articles inspired by my comments! How good does that feel? It's unbelievable that I could cause that.

    But it really can happen to you ... I'm not THAT great of a commenter!
  • Despite some the advice and encouragement given above, I think B, C, and Z-listers will find it nearly impossible to break into the A-list. It's not because the A-listers are "better" than the rest of the alphabet (although many are very good). It has more to do with the fact that the A-listers staked a claim early in the game. Blog search and aggregators like Memeorandum feed the A-list trend, regardless of quality -- looking at Tech Memeorandum right now, I can see that of the posts linked to the top item ("Here Comes Measuremap") a large handful are simply repeating the news or describing what Measuremap is. These are not great posts. They are featured because the Memeorandum algorithm has pushed them to the top because they mention the subject and lots of other blogs and websites link to these blogs.

    The best chance B-Z listers have to break in is by consistently scooping mainstream media (and other blogs) on certain trends, secrets, or developments, IMHO.
  • Call me cranky, but are people blogging because they enjoy it or because they want the self validation. Blog because you are passionate about it, whatever it may be and the content will reflect it.
  • Jimmy M
    I suppose it doesn't hurt to be mentioned and linked to in one of the most popular blogs on the 'net either.
  • People are such attention whores. Um, sorry, but they are. To get attention, dig deeply in your most personal interests and fascinations, observe, create and innovate, and do it again tomorrow. Both my brothers read my blog; what more do ya want? The end.

    "brrreeeport mindmap" gets like seven google blog hits. but that project's something i did solely because it fascinated me. all this glamour and stardom is pure gravy, and distracting. the vast majority of the "blog-o-sphere" has no clue an "A list" exists and never will care. the hierarchy is made up! just do your thing! what would be great even if you got No hits???

    Of course I know you know this, Robert. Keep the creativity coming.
  • This is almost funny because since I am the top guy on coComment people have asked how I jumped on coComment so early. I just laugh and say it pays to be awake at 3/4am. But sadly my hit rate has gone down. I am a student first and foremost. If people go back a few pages it's just me talking about my day, a review now and then but barely.
  • I should have checked back earlier, it seems. To Guy Pelletier: the "blatant whoring" comment was only in reference to myself, since this is not a blog I frequent and certainly not a blog I'm a frequent commenter on. My point is that, sometimes, even comments that add something to the conversation are posted partly in the hopes of getting a few new eyes.

    Had it not been for the wording of the request for comments in the post ("...why don’t you stick in your own URL and toot your own horn..."), I wouldn't have commented. Simple as that.
  • I was interested to read about your tips about getting more traffic, and i think that I will implement some of those.

    A question. How about encouraging comments? ;)
  • Here's tooting my horn a little.

    See the 2 little graphs on this post?

    Some of the "trick" like headline, promoting will get you spikes like this if done just one time.

    On the other hand, sustained growth like this is from consistency.

    Just sharing my ideas a little.
  • @Weiyen: I think it's who you are is part. No offense to Scoble but I have seen a few posts that he said blah blah blah basically and everybody made it sound like he was the creator of the universe. Just think if Bush had a blog and it was really him writing, don't you suspect he'd get a few hundred comments within 5 minutes of posting. Also if I posted "I took a shower today" I most likely wouldn't get any replies. But if I posted "I showered with Britney Spears" I'd probably get 50 comments for pics or proof.
  • Useful hacks
  • (Clears throat to use best Mae West voice)

    Hey there handsome, is that a tag in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

    (Snickering all the way back to my z-list blog)
  • Ironically, you've been Linked to.
  • Thanks for the tips, I really appreciate the help. I'm going to start implementing these. Maybe you should become a site consultant.
  • Having a title with personality is both a good and bad thing. It's a good thing because it attracts readers. It's a bad thing because it may not tell you what the entry is about and it won't help in terms of search engines.

    Honestly, there's no one magic formula that will make a blog an A-lister. A lot of it is luck and good writing. The rest... pray and make best friends with A-listers, which isn't easy to do because they think everyone is using them.
  • Hey Robert, I've been blogging virtually every day for 6 months. I have a Google PR of 4 and I get around 300 Unique visitors a day. I used to post a lot of original short stories and long commentaries but I've found people seem to go more for the short hits that I mostly find trawling the Web or reading mainstream media. Nobody wants to read anything longer than 500 words and we all seem to be obsessed with celebrity and SEX. So I chuck a fair bit of that in too. If I want traffic it's easy - I just go to some right-wing nutcake's site and leave derogatory comments. They can't help themselves, they and their coterie attack back. But it's not really the audience I want. Increasingly I find there's a great sameness to all the blogs out there. Some stick out - like cocainecorner.com but they're rare. But really, I think you just gotta post what you're into and to hell with the rest. I'd rather have 300 interested regular visitors than 3000 morons looking for cheap thrills. I did post Brrreeeport though. What's my blog about? A 55 year old Australian bloke married to a 29 year old froggie sheila living in Paris with their 19 month old son and yearning for the surf and beer of his native Sydney and commenting on what a fucked-up world we live in (thanks in part to you guys). Cheers mate.
  • There is no one magic formula that will make a blog an A-lister, but integrating offline PR with online linking is the way to go to beomce an A-lister.
  • Lately it seems that everybody is an expert when it comes to getting on the blog A-list. Robert Scoble for example tells us that we should all go over to Technorati and do the brrreeeport search and make friends. That's great advice Robert, but I guess being a Microsoft employee/blogger had nothing to do with your new found "success" did it. (Rhetorial question).
  • Ken
    I've got a great idea for getting traffic. Yank out your chest hair online!
  • Dan
    Cool, I think I am either c or d list at this point, do you know of any math or forumlatic ways of determining blog ranks or scoring beyond sites like bloginfluence?
  • I will be honest and say that I am new to the blogging, but I hope that I am getting closer to the A list. I doubt it as of right now, but someday. Great posts, and good information.
    Rick Marnon, Howell
    http://www.oaklandlivingston.com/howell.html
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