Boston Globe tech reporter Hiawatha Bray - who also by the way blogs - has compiled a list of ways to build a blog's visibility. They include: RSS syndication, photos, frequent postings, search engine optimization, and advertising. Most notably, he offers some great advice on how to use Trackbacks as a way to engage others in conversation...
The best blogs are two-way conversations. Most blog tools give readers a way to comment on your postings. But some blogging tools offer a particularly potent system called TrackBack. Invented by blog software company Six Apart Ltd., TrackBack encourages bloggers to comment on each other's writing by linking to each other's blogs.
Say you're using TrackBack and you want to comment on something you read on another TrackBack blog. You pop open a TrackBack link in your browser, type your comment, and enter it. The TrackBack software posts your comment on your own blog, and sends a copy to the other blog, along with a link to your website. Now everybody who reads the other fellow's site will be invited to check out yours, as well.
TrackBack lets bloggers create communities of shared interests. You'll generally use it to comment on the same topics featured on your own blog. And your readers will share those interests, perhaps on blogs of their own.
An exchange of TrackBacks can generate dozens of links to new blogs, and expose your site to a host of new readers.
