The online community of bloggers has grown tremendously and more mom and pop businesses are catching the wave. Companies are creating a blog where not only can the public express their two cents, but businesses can also put a face to their brand, increase their credibility, and build a loyal community. On my last day at SES:NY I decided to take the blogging track and learn more about how to build the right brand awareness online as well as engage readers enough to act. If you’re new at blogging such as myself, what is the first concern? How do I grow my readership? The “Blogging for business” panel had some great tips and somewhat harsh realities on this subject. A great blog does not happen overnight; it takes time to gain trust in readers so that they don’t only return once, but they return again and again. Jennifer Evans, Director of Social Media at SiteLogic and Editor-In-Chief of Search Engine Guide mentioned the importance of finding other successful blogs out there in your vertical, commenting, and engaging their readers so they may want to visit your blog. I wouldn’t say “stealing” is the right term for this, but I think it’s a great way to put your company out there via other blogs and also connect with fellow bloggers who have the same interests as you. Also, once you gain a strong readership, the cycle will reoccur and you’ll find newbies to the space commenting on your blog to do the exact same thing. Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing also said to make sure you’re leaving comments of value in order to spark interest. This is the audience you should be targeting for your readership.

Not only have bloggers taken over the Internet space, so has online communities. Barbara Coll, CEO of WebMama.com Inc. emphasized how search engines love niche online communities because it’s such a fast moving environment. I also sat in on Barbara’s solo panel “Online Communities: a bonanza of content for searchers and search engines,” which is one of the newly created discussions at SES. Using the example of Dell as one of the best online communities for business, Barbara mentioned how starting new threads can be good for keywords; however, multiple comments from one thread can be a search nightmare. Speaking of nightmares, there needs to be a transparent moderator involved, whether it’s the company itself or outsourced. And please make sure to retain those negative comments. Deleting them can only do more harm than good.

Also food for thought: would you want searchers to click on your company domain or online community/blog first? Personally, I would want them to click on their main site above any community – after all we are trying to sell a service before a rating.

My final thought on SES:NY is this. If users trust your content, so will Google.