Become Part of the Community

One great way to bring traffic to your site or blog is to become part of the community that surrounds your site. Many people know me as Bob from BobBuskirk.com, Bob from ThinkComputers, Bob from Justin.tv, or just Bob Buskirk. The thing is whatever your site is about you want to become part of that community and network with people in that community. I have already talked about how important friends in business are, but putting yourself in the community is just as important.

Social Networking
This has to be one of the easiest was to network with people who have similar interests as you. Facebook and MySpace really make it easy to meet people who live close to you and like the same things. Also on many social networks there are groups for certain things. By joining these groups you have the chance to connect with people who are into the same things as you. These groups usually also have a message board or something similar where you can talk to other group members.

Events
Events are probably the best way to become part of the community that you are working in. There are events for every niche there is! For my affiliate marketing interest I attended Ad:Tech in San Francisco and for ThinkComputers I attend CES every year in Las Vegas. These events bring you face to face with the people you work with as well as allow you to meet other people that are working in the same field. Some of my good friends I have met at these events.

Forums
Online forums are another great way to meet people. Some of the big forums that come to mind are Sitepoint Forums and the Digital Point forums. Both of these forums are targeted towards people who work online or own a website. Not only do they provide great information, but also you can meet some very helpful people.

Blogs
Commenting on blogs not only gives your blog exposure, but allows you to have a conversation with other bloggers interested in the same topic as you. When I go through the comments on my blog and see someone I don’t know I always check out their blog. I’m sure other bloggers do the same thing.