Are people talking about you?

One thing bloggers do is talk about other bloggers. In almost every case this is a good thing and it can send a nice flow of traffic to the talked-about blogger's site.

So today's question is this:
If you're a blogger, how do you know when someone is talking about you?

Two easy ways to check this are with Technorati or Google Alerts.

Technorati can be used to see what other blogs have mentioned yours. Just type your blog name in the search box. A list of posts mentioning your blog will appear. Click on your blog name under one of your own posts, then scroll down to see blog reactions to your blog. You'll need to visit Technorati each time you want to see what's being said about you.

Personally, I prefer Google Alerts. Instead of searching their database, you tell it what to search for and the results are regularly emailed to you. Not only can you search for your blog name, but you can search for specific keywords. Tell Google how often you want to be emailed, then sit back and don't worry about missing anything.

One thing I love about Google Alerts is their keyword search feature. I have set up Google Alerts to let me know when all my trademarked words and my name are used in any blog. Yes, my own blogs appear in the emailed results, but I quickly learn about every mention of these terms and my name on other blogs as well. It's a simple, no-brainer way to keep track of who's talking about me.

I used Google Alerts during my last Pass It On Plates giveaway. One of the ways people could enter the giveaway was to blog about the contest and/or blog about which Pass It On Plate they wanted. Google Alerts told me who was blogging about it even before I visited my own blog to check the comments.

Do you use any online tools to track who is blogging about you?
Please comment here and share your tips.

More Technorati tips

Laurie Beth Beggin and I often chat with each other through our comments. Both on her blog and on mine. We met a few months ago through a link exchange on Indiepublic and have had our eye on each others' blogs ever since. I look to her for inspiration for my creative process and ideas to polish and improve my blog. Yes, I know here we have a lady (me) who makes plates with a Betsy Ross kind of bonnet looking at stained glass to become inspired, but hey whatever works, right? Seriously, Laurie B's blog is a fun and down to earth mix of craft, talent and skill, family and pets, flowers and country life... Just go and check it out. Trust me, you'll love her.

Anyhoo, in one conversation she mentioned that she had added the Technorati thing on her blog and wanted to know how to get more reciprocal links. That can be the tough part. Technorati counts reciprocal links once per blog. This means that even if I was to mention Laurie B's blog in every one of my blog posts, Technorati would only count it as one, since my blog is only one (out or many) places mentioning her blog by name.

I believe that Google, on the other hand, counts the number of times a blog is mentioned. So if I was to include a link to Laurie B's blog with every post, that would increase her Google rank.

Participating in link exchanges is a good idea to help those within a group improve not only their Google rank but also their Technorati authority. When she and I participated in the link exchange, most participating artists and crafters added links to the blogroll on the side of the blog. This is helpful with Google, but sadly, I have discovered, does nothing for your Technorati rank.

**Promotion tip - if you participate in link exchanges, not only add the participants to your blogroll, but make a little mention in your blog about the fact that you're adding these blogs to your blogroll. In fact, take a minute and mention what you like best about the links you're adding, and invite all your readers to visit the links you're adding. This will do four good things:

1. It helps that blog's Google rank
2. It helps that blog's Technorati authority
3. It shows that you care about the quality of your content when adding only those links that are relevant to your blog to enrich your readers' experience,
4. It can also bring in more traffic when those whom you've mentioned visit your blog to see what nice things you've said about them, and post about it on their own blogs.

It's a win-win in so many yummy flavors.
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Do you use Technorati?

I've been seriously surfing blogs for the past couple of months and am incredibly impressed to see that so many artists, crafty people, SAHMs and WAHMs are online. Many, if not half of the blogs I read and creative businesses I visit (such as Etsy) are new this year. Reading various forums, I have started to notice a particular topic over and over:

How do I promote my blog and/or store?

The next several blot posts here will touch on some of the most commonly seen tools and techniques for blog and store promotion. Hopefully you'll find something new to help you out. Comments are encouraged - I'd love to hear how these tips have increased your traffic. Please comment with any other ideas, too.

Today's tip: Use Technorati.

What is it? Technorati is the mother of all blog tracking websites. It tracks who's saying what, who's blogging about whom, which blogs are linked to other blogs...

How do you use it? Go to www.technorati.com
Once you sign up, add your blog or blogs.
After you add your blog(s), you can click on "Blogger Central" on the right and get a little widget to put on your blog, like this:

Why do I need it?
1. Technorati tells you who is linking to you
2. Technorati ranks your blog according to how many other blogs link to you - the more blogs link to you, the higher your "authority."

View blog authority

3. Technorati tells you who is blogging about you

View blog reactions

4. You can search and chart any word(s) you like, and can search for blog posts using this word/words. Here is the graph for a search on Bayfield, a beautiful little town in northern Wisconsin.

Posts that contain Bayfield per day for the last 180 days.

Get your own chart!

Who is using it?
Well frankly, a LOT of bloggers. You'll find the Technorati widget on these fine blogs.
Flora at Bone Head Studios
Waterrose at Waterrose Handcrafted Obsessions
Stacie at You Go Girl! Soaps (and check out her Technorati link to see how it looks)
Tanya of At The Honeysuckle Tree
Spincus of Considerations - The Art In Marketing

To sum it up:
Because Technorati finds blog feeds on its own, your blog may be listed without you even knowing it. Once you go there, and sign up/sign in, you can search for your blog and "claim it" as yours. You can also favorite other blogs. To boost the ratings of the blogs I read regularly, I have favorited all the blogs on my sidebar. The mention and link to the blogs in the paragraph above has increased the "authority" of each of them by one point. If I publish the links in the above paragraph a second time, their authority rank will increase by another point again. Authority is Technorati gold, so as you plan your blog posts, talk about other blogs and link to them to help their ratings.

For more information, you can check out Spincus's forum post at Considerations - The Art in Marketing.

Do you use Technorati? Please share how it has helped you!
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