By now many bloggers will have heard of Google’s recent PageRank update, or at the very least, they will have noticed the after effects of it. Some bloggers might be upset, having suffered a loss of PR, while others will be celebrating a rise in PageRank.

Google will say that PageRank doesn’t matter, and that bloggers shouldn’t worry about it so much. The stat is arbitrary and they take many other things into account for the search results page. So why are so many bloggers obsessed with it?

Some might think they’ll be able to make more money blogging with a higher PageRank; others might use it simply for bragging rights. As is often said, PageRank is like a “popularity contest”, and each link pointing towards your site is a “vote” for your site.

Thus even in the Blogosphere, networking is ultimately important. You can have the best content in the world, but if you’re not going “out there” meeting new bloggers and building relationships, then it doesn’t matter.

Backlinks can also help drive more traffic to your site, especially if you get a link from another blogger who has a lot of visitors. One of the best ways to get traffic to your blog is to get people to link back to you. The more links that point to your website, the more likely that people will click on one of those links.

Building traffic is important for your blog – whether you just want to reach more people and get your message across, or if you are also looking to earn money blogging as well.

So how do you get people to link to you?

Visit Other Blogs

Just like in the real world, in order to make friends and to network, you need to put yourself out there. You need to go up to people and say hello. In the Blogosphere, that means perusing other blogs with similar themes and commenting on them.

Leave Meaningful Comments

When you do visit other blogs, there’s a certain etiquette expected. Don’t just leave a link back to your site. Do leave an insightful comment about the blogger’s post. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, but it should be relevant and add to the discussion. Don’t just comment once. Do continue to leave comments (making sure they’re always insightful and not spammy). This shows that you’re a loyal reader and the blogger will appreciate that.

Be an Active Member on a Forum

Join a forum related to your niche. Establish yourself as a helpful member of the forum’s community. Just like with comments, post frequently – but also make sure your posts are appropriate and interesting. Always be polite to the other members, even if you disagree.

Link to Other Bloggers

Bloggers will be more inclined to link to you if you’re linking to them. They’re probably looking for links to their blogs themselves, so linking to them is a nice exchange.  Don’t assume though that just because you’re linking to someone, they’re required to link back to you.

Go to Conventions, Network Offline

It helps to make connections face to face. Bloggers might be more eager to link with you if they’ve met you in person and had a chance to have a conversation. Hand out business cards with your name and blog URL.

Be Nice

You’ll probably notice a trend here – and that is, be vocal and be polite. It sounds corny, but readers like nice people and they want to read interesting and helpful posts. If you demonstrate these characteristics, then they’ll want to link back to your site.

Be Controversial

Controversial content gets noticed.  For example, take a look at the recent story about Amy Chua, the “Tiger Mom” and her new book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.  It’s been all over the news.  People are talking about it.  The Times article says that the online version of her article in the Wall Street Journal has received 7,000+ comments.  Even though many disagree with her parenting style, you can’t deny that her controversial book has made her a household name.  Controversial can help you get buzz, can get you noticed.

Have Good Content

When you’re out there promoting your blog and networking with other bloggers, you want to make sure that you have the content to back up your hard work. People won’t want to link back to a site that isn’t helpful.

There are of course many other ways to promote your blog and get your blog seen.  You can also use SEO strategies to get traffic to your site.