Who is going to be the next big blogger?
That’s a question that is brought up in marketing meetings in every Internet based company. Who are the next big names – how can we find them, help them grow while they promote our product service?
It’s also the same question the marketing side of every individual blogger’s brain should be asking too (yes you.) If you’re not aware of the next big thing before it becomes a big thing then how will your blog succeed so that you can be the next big thing? Early adapters = Internet shining stars.
I’m going to give you 7 easy suggestions to help you keep a constant ear to the ground and try to passively find the next big thing.
1. Alexa Toolbar & Google PageRank Tools
Two words on that topic: USE THEM! I used to aimlesly wander the Internet never knowing how popular or unpopular sites I was looking at were. Then I downloaded the Alexa toolbar and Google PageRank Firefox extensions. Now every site I visit I can at a glace see if they are increasing in popularity or on a down hill slump. Also if they have a PageRank of 2 or a PageRank of 6.
See how unobtrusive these toolbars are in the bottom of your screen:
Having these toolbars and monitoring them often is key to feeling out trends on the Internet. You wouldn’t buy a house without knowing where the market in that area is trending – why not monitor your niche at a glance on a daily basis?
Download Toolbars
- Alexa toolbar
- Live PageRank – Firefox PageRank Extension
2. Who Is Guest Blogging and Where
One recommended step to becoming a big name on the Internet is guest blogging and inviting guest bloggers. But how can you find guest bloggers blogging on other sites? Easy: blogcatalog.com is a great way to search in a large network of blogs. A search on blogcatalog for guest blog or guest post to try and find who the guests are and where they are posting. Both bloggers: the host and the guest, are easily worth checking out for on your quest to find the next big thing.
Why blogcatalog.com? Their Alexa ranking is shooting up pretty quick and they have a network of 160,000 blogs to search; from all kind of subjects from academics to blogging, business and sports. After contacting Oscar from support there, I was informed they receive about 600+ new submissions every day and through their manual approval system they usually approve less than half of those submissions. They’re showing 200,000 unique visitors with 400,000 impressions daily and an Alexa ranking of #1,218 – it’s impressive.
Feel free to check other blog networks that supply search capability for lots of topics. Maybe My Blog Log or a specialized niche blog directory is more up your alley.
3. Mr Tweet Makes Twitter Follow Recommendations
If you’re not on Twitter, you should be! @mrtweet Mr Tweet is a great resource I encountered a week ago that helps you expand your Twitter network intelligently.
Mr. Tweet offers you two options:
- Find influencers beyond my network (ie the big guns on Twitter)
- Twitterers who follow you that you should be following back
The interface is fantastic and incredibly useful. Every person displayed shows a plethora of information:
- Twitter name, real name, and site link
- Total number of twitters (all time),
- What people connected to you, or the big names, that are following them
- Average twitter per day aka. cost on your twitter home page
- Charactericts of their twitter style: Do they usually follow back? Do they reply to non-followers often?
Once you are following important, influential and people who are influenced by lil ol’ you try and start conversations with them about topics they post or topics they reply to.
Mr Tweet should be used to enable new relationships.
4. Who are the Current Big Guys Talking About and Talking To
Use Twitter to see who the big names in your niche are responding (or @ing) to. Follow that conversation – see who initiated it and then try and learn something about the person your big guy is talking to. What’s their page rank and Alexa rank look like? How did they get the conversation started? What do they appear to know that you don’t?
Subscribe to the big guy’s feeds – if not to read their content then to see who and what they are posting about. To become a big name you often need to have your finger on the pulse of your niche at the right time – which usually means you need to have your finger on that pulse all the time and once you’re in that habit it’s hard to fall out of it.
They got where they got cause they know what they know. – Terri :)
Also check on who is tracking back or pinging back to the big guys. This will often not be as fruitful of a search as who they are talking about but it’s about finding someone new. Bloggers often get ideas for new content from comments and responses – trackbacks and pingbacks are usually just long, off site, blogged comments. Don’t forget #1 – Check those Alexa and Google PageRank toolbars everywhere. Really, I mean everywhere!
5. Be Mindful of the Stats Blogs Display
Bloggers love tooting their own horns and showing off their stats. Between Feedburner RSS readers, Twitter followers and again (beating a dead horse at this point) Alexa and PageRank you should be able to tell quickly if this blogger is big or not. If you still want to learn more about a blogger you encounter even try to find out how many people they are connected to on LinkedIn. Bloggers who market themselves well succeed – if they are marketing themselves your prospects will be starting to develop a following and an expanded network as they become the next big thing.
Also check when their last 3 posts were – what kind of interval do they post at? An up an comer will often post multiple times a week and a disciplined up and comer will often post on a schedule.
Side note, It makes me sad that as I write this I realize I an probably not an up and comer. Last post more than a month ago. Sometimes we all slip a bit. But I digress…
6. Google Up and Coming Bloggers
Yes that’s right – when you want to find something out, Google it. A Google search of ‘up and coming bloggers’ yields many posts. One of particular interest was on natewhitehill.com where he posted about Randall Cornett as an up and coming blogger. I’ve reached out to him via comments on that post to urge him to continue such a series as he appears to have his finger on the pulse of blogging. Yes, that was a deliberate ego stroke and trackback, and I am not afraid to admit it :)
7. Do They Advertise
I’m not talking about slapping up some Google AdSense code, are they actively selling adspace through one of the many new blog advertising methods? If someone is willing to actively buy adspace on their blog that should speak some volumes. Check out how much their ads are costing and the quality of the advertisers.
Some of the popular 125 x 125 adspace adservers that have Poped up recently might be:
If you check out those sites from an advertiser perspective you can also get great leads on new blogs to checkout.
Finding the next up and comer is no easy task but it can be as easy as just using the right tools and being more observant in your daily rituals to help you find the next big thing.
To wrap it up, hit up this checklist as often as you can:
- Alexa Toolbar & Google PageRank Tools Use them, not wisely but all the time
- Who Is Guest Blogging and Where Look at guest bloggers and blogs featuring guest bloggers
- Mr Tweet Makes Twitter Follow Recommendations Twitter is a big deal and a great marketing and market moniroting tool
- Who are the Current Big Guys Talking About and Talking To What’s everyone else doing and who is chatting up who publicly?
- Be Mindful of the Stats Blogs Display How many feed readers or Twitter followers do people have?
- Google Up and Coming Bloggers Just Google it! People love posting about the new up and coming things they find be it bloggers, technology or any kind of information
- Do They Advertise Are they making money? If they can then they’re probably going to continue to do so and try harder to do better.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You immediately peaked my interest with several of your posts on twitter. And now this excellent article which I will be following in more detail when I get home. In a short period of time you have convinced me that you are someone I can learn from and will be signing up to your RSS feed as well. Keep the good ish coming.
Twitter: terrianns
December 4, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Thanks Matt, I’m be sure to keep the good (ish) coming!
There’s some other great posts in my pipeline – let me know if you have any requests or posts you’d like me to elaborate on!