Blogging Communities: A Review

Blogging is all about getting your name out there, marketing and networking. There are several tips and tricks out there to market your blog in an effective way. For example, commenting on the blogs of others is helpful in establishing contacts, making friends, and driving traffic to your blog. However, one way to network your blog which is usually not written about as much is blogging communities.

Finding the right community for you and your blog is essential. Often people assume that simply posing to digg or chatting up enough peer bloggers will be sufficient to meet their blogging goals, but in today’s Web 2.0 world communities are the trend for killing two birds with one stone. With blogging communities one is able to not only market his or her blog but also network with a group of people looking for the same thing. In essence blogging communities is one hand washing the other and everyone comes out clean.

The trick, of course, is finding the right blogging community that is the most highly suited for your particular blog. So, in order to help you I will review five of the web’s best blogging communities. From there you can pick which one(s) best suit your needs.

Lets look at it this way, blogging communities are a lot like baseball teams, a unique position for every player. So lets take a look at the all-star, the tool man, the rookie, the veteran, and the bench-warmrer.

The Line Up

The All Star

#1 Community: 9rules

This one is really killer. I have found some of my favorite blogs through the 9rules network. The site was started in 2003 with a set of 9 rules to follow (hence the name). Since then it has climbed the ranks as one of the best blogging communities on the web. One of the greatest aspects of the 9rules network is its exclusivity. Sure, there are communities out there who want traffic of their own, but instead 9rules tries to earn it by only providing community access to the best blogs. Also, a huge factor in their decision making process is adhering to the 9 rules established for themselves. Many believe that 9rules is like the holy grail of blogging communities which is why it ranks as all star and #1 on this list.

The Tool Man

#2 Community: MyBlogLog

If you are a fan of baseball then you’ve probably heard of the term “tool man.” This refers to the player who can pretty much jump into any position you need them too and excel there. Well, MyBlogLog is the tool man of blogging communities. MyBlogLog has been around for a while now, and has always been pretty popular, however, since its acquisition by Yahoo, MyBlogLog has really blown up. First, it is a very decent blogging community. Some sites let you do all the work in building a network of friends within the community, MyBlogLog aides you in the process. With one click you can be added to several different sub communities within MyBlogLog. This process groups you with hundreds of other like-minded bloggers which is a great way not only to generate traffic to your own blog, but also find great blogs to learn from. Also, living up to its tool man status, MyBlogLog generates personalized stats for your site so you can see how much joining MyBlogLog has paid off. Every team has its all-star but its number two man and the number two community on this list is tool man MyBlogLog.

The Rookie

#3 Community: FuelMyBlog

As a rookie to the world of blogging communities FuelMyBlog has been hitting a lot of home-runs lately. In fact, KillerStartups has positioned FuelMyBlog as a potential internet sensation. Though new to the game, FuelMyBlog offers a great minimalist community for people who want to be seen. Their front site, “the great wall of blogs” can really jump start your blog’s success, should you manage to make it to the top. Right now FuelMyBlog is pretty small so its a great time to get in while it’s hot. Personally, I like FuelMyBlog because it looks really cool, you might like it for these reasons:

“-You can add your blog and an image
-Vote for (“fuel this blog”) other blogs that you like to read
-Introduce yourself, chat and discuss issues on our forum
-Take part in our radio show
-Find more readers for your blog”

So keep an eye out on our rookie and number three on this list, FuelMyBlog.

The Veteran

#4 Community: Technorati

This blogging community is truly a seasoned professional, and like all vet’s you’ve probably heard of it. Carving a niche as a site which can discover the success of your blog, Technorati has long since made a name for itself. With a 71 million blog register it might be tough to really stand out and make a name for yourself in this community, however, with enough work comes a very high pay off. Finding yourself in the top 100,000 of Technorati’s 71+ blogs can really drive your traffic, but by then that probably won’t be your biggest concern. However, I still use Technorati as a networking tool. To play in the major leagues you have to act like a major-leager. So even though Technorati might not get a lot of playing time from you it is still useful in your line up which is why the ol’ Great Bambino of Blogging ranks number 4 on my roster.

The Bench Warmer

#5 Community: Squidoo

Managers always get a lot of flack when they bench their players as I am sure I will get some heat for benching Squidoo. It is true that Squidoo is receiving a lot of attention these days, and quite a few people have taken note. The reason for my decision has mainly to do with all the other potential out there. The four names in the list above is a prime example of that. In my opinion Squidoo has done one thing right and made it work for them. They have managed to weed out the trends in what people expect from web 2.0 and played them to their advantage. Squidoo is fun, sleek, refreshing, interesting and even has one of those wierd names no one quite gets. So yeah, they get a lot of attention, but as a blogging community I don’t see them really traveling in a upward direction. I really think that Squidoo is going to eventually drop the ball which is why I have to put this bench-warmer as number five on the list.

Postgame Wrap-Up

So there you have it. There is the roster for the top five web blogging communities. Feel free to check them out and find out which one(s) fits best in your roster. If you disagree with my opinion or can name a few more communities to add to the list please feel free to provide a comment and let me know. For now, I’m Jon-Michael at A Higher Level saying “Good night sports fans!”