Even before we were done building out the InsideBu website, I recommended that Madison start doing some research. And I started by advising him to fill up his sidepanel with links. My logic is that the process of building up a blogroll forces a new blogger to read other bloggers. The fact that it also also has the benefit of building up some good will with prominent local bloggers is just icing on the cake!
Here is the advice I gave him:
In the first week, there is no need for any blogging (although you should be writing a few posts just to get the blogging muscles exercised!). My recommendation is to spend a few hours this week researching the online competition for your area. At the end of Week 1, I would expect for your sidepanel to be filled with a bunch of links! (For background, see this blog post on Linkation!).
To give you an idea of where I’m going, I recently revived a bit of the neighborhood focus on RCG, which resulted in these Neighborhood Roundup posts. You simply will not find as many neighborhood blogs in Malibu (any?), but that doesn’t mean you should slack on the links… In terms of where to start, here is where my gut says should be the order of importance:
- Local Bloggers
- Celebrity Bloggers
- Project Blogger Participants
- Local News sites
- Local Real Estate Professionals
- Los Angeles bloggers
Some places to start looking for bloggers and other sidepanel links:
- Google BlogSearch
- Google (i.e. [Malibu blog])
- Technorati Directory Search
- Outside.in
- PlaceBlogger
- Flickr and in particular, Flickr Groups like Malibu California
- Ariana Huffington has recruited a slew of celebrities to blog on her site. Do any of these ring a bell as people who life in Malibu?
- This post on ActiveRain lists ALL of the Project Blogger participants…
- Provide a link to ALL the other competitors in your market as this will represent a perfect symbol of confidence in our ability to dominate the Malibu market. InsideBu is not your grandmother’s real estate website! 🙂
To see how Madison has implemented these recommendations of Project Blogger, check out the sidepanel of InsideBu!
Dustin…this competition couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I was at your seminar in Pasadena two weeks ago and just started my blog yesterday. I’m having some trials and tribulation with arrangement/order of the side panel, but WOW!, thanks to you, I’m much farther along than two weeks ago. It’s a work in progress and I’m actually enjoying it! I’m watching insidebu.com and RCG among many of your other recommendations. Keep all the great tips and insight coming!
Virginia, I’m so glad you’re finding it helpful! I’ll keep my eye on your blog as well! 🙂
Great advice Dustin – I think this is a must-read for any Project Blogger participant.
Hey Dustin,
Once again, thanks for the great blog-building advice!! I find your blog-building comments more helpful than several others I’ve read…keep up the GREAT work!! 🙂
Hi Dustin!
While I am not a direct participant with “Project Bogger” (no coach, but I have a Mentor!) I am following along with you all and learning, so nice tips! Sometime you will have to check out my new neighbor blog for Seattle…not my Active Rain blog…a stand alone one.