Recently, I discovered a previously untapped source of blog traffic that I will refer to as daisy chaining. And here I will give an outline on how I employed the method to get a high authority PR7 link and good traffic spike.
Many larger media outlets link to blogs on their news and political articles, and editorials offering the reader a “finger on the pulse” snapshot of relevant blogosphere commentary. Google Trends is another place that offers a similar snapshot.
The media outlets are more selective than Google Trends so if you plan to employ this method, consider a mid- to long-term strategy that will require significant effort. Having said that, the rewards are high.
Among the blogs I run is a political and current affairs comentary blog. It is far from what I consider a mature blog, at 5 months old and about 32 000 words in 75 posts. However, it is active. I try to contribute 300 to 400 words per day and in the last month alone the blog has picked up a double figure RSS feed readership.
My interest in promoting this blog took a turn about 3 weeks ago when I pondered what might be the effect of a link from a major news organisation. So I set about honestly obtaining one (besides, dishonestly obtaining one would be nigh on impossible!)
Many media outlets and news organisation fully appreciate the power of the blogosphere and consequently feature frequent links and commentary references from what they perceive to be authoritative sources. They seem to gauge authority much as search engines do. They consider the authority of linkage to your site. So my first step was to identify authority bloggers in my chosen niche and set about acquiring links from them. This, I envisaged, would give me a little authority in the eyes of the big boys.
I identifed several high traffic and respected blogs in my niche and set about making my presence known to them through relfective and thoughtful commenting. One thing to remember is that blogging is a very incestuous (in a permissive sense) activity. Blog writers are frequently the most voracious blog readers. So my logical interpretation of the situation was that if I became visible on high visibility blogs, my comments would appear before the noses of other high-visibility bloggers, who in turn would find their way to my blog and potentially become regular readers. Gaining them as regular readers is the precursor to acquiring a mention on their blogs.
A regular commenting regimen was undertaken and within ten days my blog was mentioned on an authoritative blog in the niche, appearing on a PR6 front page and receiving a traffic spike of several hundred unique views. It also picked up several regular readers.
However, these tangible benefits were not the only positive aspects at the front page listing. Certain news organisations held this individual’s blog in high esteem (occasionally link to it in their blog sections) so my blog came to the attention of the bigger players in the political blogging arena by way of a credible recommendation.
As a result, and within a further week, my blog received similar treatment from a major news organisation, appearing on a PR7 inner page.
Although this technique may work far better in some niches, it is worth investing time and effort in.
