by Wordtracker

Find keywords that apply directly to your site. Try the free trial at Wordtracker (aff) to see the words your customers use when they search – and how popular each word is.

1. Headers defined

       Nos.      : Position according to popularity
       Count     : Number of sightings of keyword in database.
       Keyword   : The keyword itself

2. The top 300 surge report

These are the top 300 queries from the last 48 hours, which
represents the complete queries from the largest Metacrawlers
on the web (Metacrawler/Dogpile etc..) for the last 48 hours.

Nos.      Count         Keyword
===========================================

 1         4638        facebook
 2         4255        google
 3         3545        yahoo
 4         3309        myspace
 5         3260        youtube
 6         2769        craigslist
 7         2628        ebay
 8         2242        red tube
 9         2100        yahoo.com
 10         1797        simpson weight gain
 11         1737        you tube
 12         1617        cancer
 13         1563        mapquest
 14         1477        tube8
 15         1449        hotmail
 16         1392        myspace.com
 17         1370        potter stuntman hurt
 18         1336        xtube
 19         1307        redtube.com
 20         1306        aquarius
 21         1294        scorpio
 22         1293        yahoo mail
 23         1287        pisces
 24         1255        leo
 25         1245        taurus
 26         1244        virgo
 27         1232        gemini
 28         1231        aries
 29         1217        libra
 30         1215        sagittarius
 31         1206        superbowl odds
 32         1193        youporn.com
 33         1191        hotmail.com
 34         1188        craigs list
 35         1176        coroas transando
 36         1176        capricorn
 37         1174        starbucks layoffs
 38         1153        gmail
 39         1136        msn
 40          999        xhamster
 41          986        cnn
 42          964        google.com
 43          957        www.elkware.com
 44          943        james brick clips
 45          897        spankwire
 46          870        facebook.com
 47          862        amazon.com
 48          841        wikipedia
 49          826        best buy
 50          825        aol.com
 51          820        walmart
 52          771        weather
 53          768        blagojevich impeachment
 54          749        dogs
 55          748        search engines
 56          743        hot
 57          739        girls
 58          732        amazon
 59          721        dictionary
 60          705        home depot
 61          682        maxporn
 62          679        mujeres eyaculando
 63          672        fox news
 64          664        youporn
 65          662        aol
 66          652        web hosting
 67          650        games
 68          648        msn.com
 69          616        target
 70          601        test
 71          600        youtube.com
 72          597        mulatas transando
 73          595        jessica simpson
 74          594        dogpile
 75          589        job finder
 76          576        brazzers
 77          571        porntube
 78          570        gmail.com
 79          567        super head & mr marcus
 80          552        ebay.com
 81          550        white pages
 82          548        lowes
 83          547        garotas transando
 84          546        pornotube
 85          541        tube8.com
 86          535        nudist
 87          529        valentine poems
 88          523        googletestad
 89          516        kim kardashian
 90          512        redtube
 91          512        sears
 92          510        comcast.net
 93          499        x tube
 94          495        luis miguel desnudo
 95          493        circuit city
 96          491        peanut butter recall
 97          487        youjizz
 98          486        yuvutu
 99          481        mujeres nalgonas
100          478        google maps
101          473        irs
102          468        panochas gratis
103          461        news
104          461        ask.com
105          451        wap.elkware.com
106          446        shufuni
107          445        music
108          445        bikini
109          438        dog
110          438        maps
111          436        movies
112          435        chinese horoscope
113          425        www.yahoo.com
114          422        ae.zip2.com
115          414        superbowl
116          410        goomba with a gun
117          408        super bowl
118          407        find people
119          405        tube 8
120          400        google earth
121          399        itunes
122          395        ringtones
123          393        map quest
124          390        craigslist.com
125          387        southwest airlines
126          387        lingerie
127          382        bank of america
128          382        homens coroas transando
129          382        boysfood
130          381        cars
131          378        paris hilton
132          365        love horoscopes
133          361        jessica alba
134          361        msnbc
135          361        bucetas brasileiras
136          359        twilight
137          359        galilea montijo cojiendo
138          357        www.web21.com
139          351        daily horoscope
140          348        megarotic
141          348        irs.gov
142          347        www.facebook.com
143          345        girl
144          344        jobs
145          341        imdb
146          341        miley cyrus
147          338        my space
148          338        anime
149          336        doctor’s excuse
150          335        weather.com
151          334        ask
152          332        obama
153          330        pthc
154          327        yellow pages
155          322        wicked weasel
156          322        puppies
157          319        talambuhay ng mga bayani
158          317        cnn.com
159          316        jenna jameson
160          314        free horoscopes
161          311        mature
162          309        xxxtube
163          309        walmart.com
164          308        photo tips
165          305        slutload
166          304        webkinz
167          304        booty
168          302        turbo tax
169          301        real estate
170          300        people search
171          299        netflix
172          298        verizon
173          297        octuplets
174          297        xtube.com
175          296        viejas encueradas
176          293        fashion
177          291        panochas mojadas
178          286        lucy pinder
179          286        ups
180          286        spankwire.com
181          285        wii
182          283        espn
183          283        barack obama
184          283        keezmovies
185          282        vida guerra
186          281        yahoomail
187          280        babes
188          280        cats
189          279        lil wayne
190          279        astrology
191          276        furniture
192          273        limewire
193          273        women
194          270        staples
195          269        funny videos
196          269        love calculator
197          268        costco
198          267        www.google.com
199          265        usps
200          263        drudge report
201          259        www.redtube.com
202          259        rush limbaugh
203          258        wal mart
204          257        travelocity
205          255        funny
206          254        www.youporn.com
207          253        myspace layouts
208          251        jewelry
209          251        wii codes
210          251        britney spears
211          249        asian
212          249        badjojo
213          248        kristen archives
214          248        zodiac
215          247        pogo
216          247        expedia
217          246        movies and advertising and sales
218          246        cruises
219          245        sports
220          245        shopping
221          245        www.myspace.com
222          244        mapquest.com
223          243        thong
224          243        chinese new year
225          243        angelina jolie
226          242        cleavage
227          242        megan fox
228          241        the view
229          240        comcast
230          239        zodiac signs
231          239        search engine
232          238        beyonce
233          237        radio shack
234          236        utube
235          234        dump.com
236          234        ninfetinhas
237          233        youjizz.com
238          233        www.hotmail.com
239          232        chinese zodiac
240          231        australian open
241          231        acai berry
242          231        pamela anderson
243          231        met art
244          230        steelers
245          230        at&t
246          229        mamadas
247          229        carmen electra
248          228        singles
249          228        ninas encueradas
250          228        talambuhay ni andres bonifacio
251          226        fotos de bucetas
252          225        maxporn.com
253          225        office depot
254          224        onomatopoeia poems
255          223        flickr
256          223        food network
257          223        bebo
258          221        asstr
259          220        www.gadis bugil
260          220        kelly blue book
261          220        face book
262          219        verizon wireless
263          219        naruto
264          219        used cars
265          218        dell
266          217        reality kings
267          217        free pinay scandal
268          217        thongs
269          217        jennifer aniston
270          216        free online games
271          216        home
272          216        web md
273          216        runescape
274          216        transando com animais
275          215        bed bath and beyond
276          215        dans movies
277          215        pink
278          215        altavista
279          214        eskimotube
280          214        mortgage calculator
281          214        breasts
282          214        imagefap
283          213        doctor
284          213        qvc
285          213        shoes
286          213        metacafe
287          212        bucetas raspadas
288          212        tera patrick
289          212        money
290          211        ellen rocche nua
291          210        job search
292          210        reverse lookup
293          210        photobucket
294          210        billy powell
295          209        bbc news
296          207        al4a
297          204        tnaflix
298          204        firefox
299          204        star signs
300          203        www.aol.com

3. The top 200 long-term keyword report

Our current database contains 273,970,184 search terms
and represents the complete queries from the largest
metacrawlers on the web (Metacrawler/Dogpile etc.) for the
last 150 days.

Nos.      Count         Keyword
===========================================

 1       201645        google
 2       186273        myspace
 3       164918        youtube
 4       163197        yahoo
 5       162679        facebook
 6       139384        ebay
 7       129783        craigslist
 8       121758        redtube
 9       116979        red tube
 10       109455        youporn
 11        97826        yahoo.com
 12        90395        you tube
 13        83851        coroas transando
 14        81631        maps
 15        79884        mapquest
 16        79499        redtube.com
 17        79286        myspace.com
 18        78833        youporn.com
 19        75656        tube8
 20        73449        xtube
 21        70895        hotmail
 22        70538        horoscope
 23        61171        cancer
 24        60048        scorpio
 25        60011        virgo
 26        58622        walmart
 27        58402        craigs list
 28        58167        pisces
 29        57632        aries
 30        57497        leo
 31        56904        yahoo mail
 32        56848        libra
 33        56310        taurus
 34        56221        sagittarius
 35        55873        aquarius
 36        54684        gemini
 37        54064        cnn
 38        53299        www.zoo.com
 39        52793        capricorn
 40        52349        hotmail.com
 41        51152        sarah palin
 42        51003        msn
 43        49905        best buy
 44        48002        fotos de bucetas
 45        47883        youpron
 46        47642        xhamster
 47        46284        weather
 48        46265        gmail
 49        45777        pedoland bbs pthc
 50        45346        white pages
 51        44486        amazon.com
 52        43931        spankwire
 53        43771        girls
 54        43426        wikipedia
 55        42978        home depot
 56        42124        target
 57        40823        google.com
 58        40421        aol.com
 59        39348        amazon
 60        38459        mujeres eyaculando
 61        38375        dictionary
 62        37850        fox news
 63        37462        brazzers
 64        37202        gambar pemerkosaan
 65        36548        sears
 66        36532        www.elkware.com
 67        35465        kim kardashian
 68        35407        hot
 69        34890        youtube.com
 70        34846        lowes
 71        34592        circuit city
 72        34229        pornotube
 73        33786        test
 74        32642        maxporn
 75        32276        money
 76        32176        tube8.com
 77        32138        free ringback tones
 78        31434        porntube
 79        30096        search engines
 80        29810        funny videos
 81        29665        nudist
 82        29379        msn.com
 83        29302        googletestad
 84        28805        dogpile
 85        28792        aol
 86        28665        ebay.com
 87        28403        facebook.com
 88        27885        dogs
 89        27127        bikini
 90        26855        games
 91        26786        breaking news
 92        26597        mujeres nalgonas
 93        26330        robb’s celebrity page
 94        25733        obama
 95        25248        youjizz
 96        24818        kristen archives
 97        24697        pthc
 98        24624        tamil kama kathaigal
 99        24480        game cheats
100        23910        boysfood
101        23847        megarotic
102        23582        shufuni
103        23422        yuvutu
104        23346        miley cyrus
105        23332        google maps
106        23327        halloween costumes
107        23255        carmen electra
108        23192        comcast.net
109        23144        espn
110        22859        britney spears
111        22764        lingerie
112        22745        paris hilton
113        22674        my space
114        22598        msnbc
115        22382        weather.com
116        22210        map quest
117        22056        walmart.com
118        22051        garotas transando
119        22020        jab farm lessons
120        21940        lil wayne
121        21862        dog
122        21528        www.yahoo.com
123        21473        tube 8
124        21418        gmail.com
125        21391        mother seduces son
126        21332        barack obama
127        21306        free e-cards
128        21160        anime
129        21120        jessica alba
130        21058        ask.com
131        21011        southwest airlines
132        20921        pink
133        20889        myspace layouts
134        20708        cnn.com
135        20559        luis miguel desnudo
136        20521        ls magazine
137        20340        jenna jameson
138        19984        cars
139        19687        craigslist.com
140        19476        twilight
141        19449        scary pumpkin stencils
142        19260        google earth
143        19248        xtube.com
144        19185        x tube
145        19157        black friday ads
146        19089        drudge report
147        19082        music downloads
148        19068        angelina jolie
149        19068        megan fox
150        18879        daily horoscope
151        18788        bank of america
152        18774        mature
153        18476        news
154        18435        girl
155        18434        webkinz
156        18396        costco
157        18358        yellow pages
158        18230        love horoscopes
159        17974        tamil blue film
160        17864        homens coroas transando
161        17701        super head & mr marcus
162        17678        babes
163        17581        jessica simpson
164        17329        www.myspace.com
165        17276        itunes
166        17215        doctor’s excuse
167        17089        panochas gratis
168        17059        free galleries
169        17007        elweb bbs
170        16909        chinese horoscope
171        16866        free lady sonia
172        16734        jennifer aniston
173        16701        ask
174        16571        utube
175        16545        music
176        16498        people search
177        16464        christmas
178        16262        katy perry
179        16247        bbc news
180        16212        wicked weasel
181        16202        hearts
182        15950        www.ls-magazine.com
183        15943        imdb
184        15936        paypal.com
185        15768        limewire
186        15542        www.youporn.com
187        15381        asian
188        15355        spankwire.com
189        15281        ups
190        15193        al4a
191        15090        wap.elkware.com
192        14957        thong
193        14850        verizon
194        14833        free itunes codes
195        14831        usps
196        14800        rihanna
197        14784        staples
198        14662        funny
199        14637        lindsay lohan
200        14635        badjojo

Find keywords that apply directly to your site. Try the free trial at Wordtracker (aff) to see the words your customers use when they search – and how popular each word is.

Check out our small business news site.

Copyright Search Engine Guide : Small Business Search Marketing – Top 500 Search Engine Keywords Of The Week – February 4, 2009

by Brian Cooper

Google Street View, a Google Maps feature that lets users see images of streets and the surrounding areas, continues to generate controversy. Since its launch in May 2007, the feature has prompted questions about whether it constitutes an invasion of privacy, complaints about inappropriate images, and even a lawsuit.

Aaron and Christine Boring vs. Google

The lawsuit came from a Pittsburgh couple in April 2008. The couple lives on a private road. However, Google’s Street View team travelled down the road and continued taking images all the way up to the couple’s home. The images were then posted to Google Maps and included close-ups of the couple’s home, swimming pool, and outbuildings.

Google’s response? “Complete privacy does not exist in this world except in a desert, and anyone who is not a hermit must expect and endure the ordinary incidents of the community life of which he (or she) is a part.”[i]

While Google’s assertion that its Street View imaging team is an “ordinary incident of community life” is far-fetched, Google does make some good points in its response. Namely, that the plaintiffs could have simply requested that Google remove the offending images from Street View via a form available on Google Maps. Instead, the couple filed suit and in doing so have made the matter public record and ensured that the images will be viewed by even more people.

Since the lawsuit, Google has removed the images in question, but the suit remains open.

The Borings’ Neighbors

On Goldenbrook Lane, a nearby street, some of the Borings’ neighbors also had an incident with the Street View team. In this incident, the Street View team drove up Goldenbrook Lane and into the driveway of the McKee residence. They continued to drive, snapping Street View images the whole way, up to the garages of the McKees.[ii] While it appears that the McKees didn’t resort to a lawsuit, Google has removed the images of the home that were taken from private property from Street View.

Street View in California

In California, the antics of the Street View drivers continued. Drivers reportedly went on over 100 private roads in Sonoma County according to an analysis done by PressDemocrat.com. In another instance, Street View drivers went past two no trespassing signs as they photographed the 1,200 foot private road leading up to Betty Webb’s house in Humboldt County. In another incident reported by PressDemocrat.com, Street View drivers ignored a no trespassing sign, passed through a gate, and drove through someone’s yard on a dirt road near Freestone.

Street View and U.S. Military Bases

In March 2008, the Pentagon requested that Google remove some images of military bases taken from public streets due to the potential threat those images posed to national security. “It actually shows where all the guards are. It shows how the barriers go up and down. It shows how to get in and out of buildings,” said General Gene Renuart, commander of U.S. Northern Command.[iii] According to Google spokesman Larry Yu, Google has honored the Pentagon’s requests.[iv] However, the Pentagon was still reviewing the many images of military facilities that were included in Street View.[v]

Street View Goes Global

After the complaints in the U.S., other countries warned Google that Street View would have to be modified to comply with their stricter privacy laws. To this end, Google has improved facial recognition technology so that it can find faces in images and blur them so that they are unrecognizable. This technology has also been applied to license plates. The blurring feature has since been applied to U.S. Street View imagery in addition to images in other countries where Street View is now available.

Accountability

While Google has removed some of the aforementioned locations from Street View, the burden to monitor Google’s actions, be it Street View or other Google services, continues to fall on people like you and me. With regard to Street View, Google argues that “many people–visitors pulling in the driveway, neighbors turning around at the end of the road, deliverymen delivering packages–can all plainly see the exterior of the (Borings) home.”[vi] While these examples are likely accurate for the Borings and the population in general, they involve people that we know or strangers that we requested to come to our homes. Private residents didn’t request that Google visit these neighborhoods nor would residents reasonably expect that someone would be driving down their streets taking photographs of everything. In fact, I suspect that if you or I were to do the same thing, someone would call the police and we’d have some difficult questions to answer down at the station.

Potential Consequences

So, what could the consequences of Street View be? Well, while the feature has been used to aid police in a kidnapping investigation[vii], I think the feature could be far more useful to criminals. For example, a criminal could use Street View to case a neighborhood–checking Street View for cars that are parked in garages or driveways so they could know when someone isn’t at home, scan the yards and windows for any signs indicating that homes have security systems, check the proximity of neighboring houses using Street View and Google’s satellite imagery, look for signs of pets that could pose problems for a thief, see if the homes have newspapers delivered (which might help the thief determine if the residents were on vacation) and, assuming the criminal found a good candidate, select a few potential access points (like open windows) for breaking into the home. If the Street View car happened to pass through your neighborhood on garbage day, the camera might even capture the box of that new HDTV you got. Scary, huh?

Protecting Your Privacy

So how can you protect yourself? First, check your address using Street View. To report a concern with Street View imagery, enter the address you desire and click “Search Maps.” Then, click “Street View” in the thought bubble that appears on the map. Once the “Street View” image appears, click “Report a Concern” in the bottom left corner of the Street View image and enter the details of your complaint.

Second, be mindful of how your information is used and act when you feel your privacy is being threatened. Google’s Street View can be a helpful tool, but it is meant to help Google sell ads and make money, not protect your privacy. You can write your local, state and federal representatives and even the local paper to voice your opinion.

Oh, and if you believe as Google does that “complete privacy does not exist,” then you should check out the house where Google CEO Eric Schmidt reportedly lives using satellite imagery from Google Maps. It looks like he has had some construction done in the past few years. A simple Google search of the address (366 Walsh Road, Atherton, CA) will tell you that Schmidt merged two adjacent lots in 2001[viii] to create the new lot and then added a new fence, retaining wall, and drainage in 2004.[ix] Eric, that creepiness that you’re feeling is probably approaching the level of the people who had Street View vehicles in their driveways. So, while it is Google’s mission to “organize the world’s information and make it accessible and useful,” the company should thoroughly consider how that information can adversely impact the same people it is meant to help.

Check out our small business news site.

Copyright Search Engine Guide : Small Business Search Marketing – Google Street View Continues to Raise Privacy Concerns

by Eric Brown

WANT TO END UP IN THE NY TIMES
If you think your customers aren’t talking about you, better rethink your position. You can no longer bury your head in the sand without suffering the consequences. The story reported in the New York Times last week is a classic example of what Not To Do. It outraged folks and drew over eighty comments. Every company, small medium or large should be listening, and taking action. The world is different today, take heed, grasp and embrace this space we call Social Media, It IS Her to Stay.

THE CUSTOMER IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT
This story “Tenants Encouraged to Socialize, but Not Criticize by Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times is particularly dear to me because it is about Apartment Operations, my livelihood and about Social Media, my passion. I DO NOT deny the apartment operator, Rockrose Development the right to not renew a lease, as I have NEVER subscribed to the theory “The Customer is Always Right”, because they aren’t.

WHAT WENT WRONG

The story starts here; “When a luxury tower in Queens would not renew their lease, Katy and David Griffiths moved into a walkup in Brooklyn. Rockrose Development Corporation markets itself as something of a cruise director, fostering a sense of fun and neighborhood spirit in its luxury rental buildings fitted with pools, barbecue grills and party rooms.

But one former tenant, David Griffiths, now thinks of the real estate developer as more akin to Big Brother. Mr. Griffiths, an information technology consultant, and his wife, Katy — who is pregnant — had to move in November when Rockrose declined to renew their lease at its EastCoast waterfront development in Long Island City, Queens. A Rockrose employee, he said, told him it was because he had posted critical comments about the building on the Internet. That surprised Mr. Griffiths, who indeed had posted complaints, but on a Google Groups forum that he created — a tenants’ group accessible only to members whom he approved.

“Dave, we understand that you’re not happy living here, so we made the decision for you,” the employee said, according to Mr. Griffiths.”It’s very ‘1984,’ ” said Mr. Griffiths, 38, a Briton who seems mystified to find himself part of the turbulent annals of New York landlord-tenant relations.

Sofia Estevez, the company’s senior vice president for marketing, said she approved the decision to part ways with the Griffiths. Ms. Estevez said that in Rockrose’s holdings across the city, some 6,000 units, there are about 10 tenants a year whom she deems more trouble than their rent money is worth. “In these times, I try to renew everybody — unless somebody’s a real hothead and a troublemaker,” she said. “You could speak to any staff members in the building who would say that he was abusive, that he was unhappy from the time that he moved in.” Rockrose’s treatment of Mr. Griffiths was “obnoxious,” but legal, said Maddy Tarnofsky, a tenants’ lawyer who tangled with the company over a resident’s dog.

What most irks some EastCoast tenants is that Rockrose markets its luxury apartments as part of a community – but then seems to limit open debate in that community.
An article about EastCoast in The New York Times last fall, however, prompted another tenant to call the newspaper about the Griffiths’ experience. In the article, Ms. Estevez joked that while most landlords might discourage socializing among tenants, to avoid any organized uprisings, Rockrose was bucking tradition by encouraging tenant networking. That was a sentiment hardly shared by the Griffiths, and some other tenants. Asked on Wednesday about Mr. Griffiths, Ms. Estevez said that she would detail his “abusive” history, and that if he had said anything untrue about Rockrose, “I will retaliate.” Later, in an e-mail message to the paper, Ms. Estevez said a lawyer had advised no further comment.

WHAT WENT WRONG
This is not about WHO Was Right and WHO Was Wrong; It is about the absolute lack of Conversation. There was no open, transparent Conversation. Social Media is about Participating in the Conversation. If that had happened, via a company blog, via a company facebook entry, via a company forum or any of the other many excellent venues and conduits that Social Media offers, we, any of us could simply read them and make a pretty quick determination as to right and wrong. A chronic complainer never survives long term in the Social Media space, the community will self police that for the most part. Likewise, the company doesn’t get to filter what they want folks to read and comment on, that doesn’t work either.
 

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Copyright Search Engine Guide : Small Business Search Marketing – SOCIAL MEDIA FAIL

by Manoj Jasra

Search Engine Strategies London is less than a month away and is host to a number of great speakers. This includes SEO Veteran Dave Naylor, Owner of Bronco Internet, a highly talented and successful web development and SEO agency. I had a chance to catch up with Dave Naylor to get insight on his sessions related to Blogging & SEO, Reputation Management and Affiliate Marketing.

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Copyright Search Engine Guide : Small Business Search Marketing – 5 Questions with Dave Naylor

by Jennifer Laycock

So far this week I’ve written about the Search Engine Optimization and Social Media lessons I’ve learned from watching my kids grow up. Today I’ll be looking at what my two year old and four year old have taught me about creating content, building a community and increasing engagement rates for your blog.

Attention Spans are Short

Anyone who has spent more than 35 seconds with a preschooler knows they have the attention span of a squirrel on crack. Holding their focus on any one toy, game, conversation or activity for more than a few minutes is a challenge. They’re always looking for the next great adventure and the next fun surprise. Over time, they learn to focus a little longer and a little more intently, but in the early days, it’s all ADD, all the time.

Internet users aren’t all that different. We live in a world where the next exciting thing is a single click away. The 30 second video you’re watching on YouTube better be interesting or your eyes will wander to the list of related videos and you’ll be off watching a new one before the first one even has a chance to finish playing. Tweets and Facebook status updates have taught us to communicate in sound bite form and a great deal of users have no interest in reading more than a few hunred words of content in a sitting.

In a world where social bookmarking, Twitter, search results and editorial links allow users to flutter from blog to blog, you have to find a way to keep their attention for more than a nanosecond. You need to make sure your content and your design are interesting enough to draw them in. Things like related posts, integrated video, images, and well formatted, scannable text can go a long way toward catching their eye and getting your point across.

Sometimes You Have to Start the Friendship

Last weekend, a friend of mine came to visit with another friend and his young son. This little boy was the quiet type. Very shy, very reserved…we barely heard a peep out of him for the first hour or so he was there. My children, on the other hand, have a little more of my personality. They’re warm and open and friendly and willing to talk to nearly anyone. That means they make friends easily and quickly.

I watched my children descend on this little boy, invite him back to their room to play, provide him with toys and start playing “around” him. Eventually, he joined in and appeared to have a very nice time playing. It made me wonder how things would have gone if my kids were as shy as he was. Would they all just have hung back in a corner eyeing each other? Would they have found toys and played on their own, having far less fun than they could have together?

That’s kind of how the blogging community works. Sure, you can blog in a vaccuum…sharing your thoughts and ideas and experiences without ever referring to or linking to any other bloggers. You might even succeed by doing so. Thriving, however, requires you to step out and make the effort to make some friends.

Find other related blogs and add your input via comments. Point out their best posts, or launch a friendly debate against them on your own site. Contact them via email or follow them on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Connecting with other bloggers in your niche makes nearly everything about blogging better. You’ll have more sources for content ideas, you’ll have an easier time getting coverage and you’ll enjoy the experience so much more with friends.

Find People You Have Things in Common With

While all kids like to have friends, it quickly becomes clear they most enjoy spending time with other kids who share their interests. Kids might meet up on a sports team, in a martial arts class, at cub scouting, or any other variety of shared activities. Even outside of that, most children form friendships on the basis of the things they like to do.

This is a good rule to model when it comes to making connections around your blog. I mentioned above the value of finding other bloggers to connect with. In this section I want to stress the need to make sure you’re finding bloggers who share your interests. If you run a food blog, seek out other foodies. If you’re a marketing consultant, you’ll want to build up a bevy of marketers to read and interact with. If you’re writing about music or movies or celebrity gossip, you’ll want to look for the other blogs that cover those topics as well.

The most successful blogs are part of a community. Their authors are connected with people who share their interests and together, they form a collective voice on a topic. If you want your blog to be a success, you’ll need to step out and make the effort to find the people who share your interests and to connect with them. Otherwise your blog will be the shy kid hanging around at the edge of the party, wishing you had the courage to join in and experience the fun.

Photos courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons license from users CD_Photo, MadMetal and The Shutter Babe.

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Copyright Search Engine Guide : Small Business Search Marketing – What My Kids Taught Me About Blogging