Posted on July 13, 2008 by Katy

In the second part of “Finding Blogs to Read,” let’s talk about finding the lesser known blogs — though I’ve titled this Beginner, not everything here is how to find beginner blogs. In fact, most you find won’t be just starting out but they won’t have the huge communities around the blog that the popular bloggers have.

The easiest way to find “the beginner” bloggers is to remember what you do to network and promote and head straight to those hot spots. Those who are not popular are still spending a great deal of their time networking and building an audience so they’re going to be at all the traditional networking places.

Blog Catalog

If you haven’t become part of this community, you’re behind the times. Small, medium, and large bloggers alike have flocked to Blog Catalog. And there’s a reason for that… it works.

To find the bloggers here, browse the directory for those in your niche, join some groups and create discussions. You’ll be amazed at how many people you will find by taking part and how much traffic you’ll gain just by being part of a conversation.

Forums

More on the conversation aspect, forums are another great place to find those you never knew exsisted. And to boot, you’ll get a feel for their writing style just by how they present themselves in the forum.

Here’s some suggestions:

• Blogger Forum
• Bloggeries
• Blogger Talk
• Blogging Tips
• Authority Blogger
• Performancing Hive

Don’t just register, that won’t do you any good. Participate and talk to other bloggers to discover their blogs.

Guest Posts

When your popular blogger features a guest post, pay attention to who wrote the post if you enjoyed reading it and then check out their blog. If you miss clicking through to the guest poster’s site you may pass up something awesome.

Google Blog Search

Not only useful for finding the popular bloggers, blog search will pull up anyone that matches your search criteria so it’s important to check here to find all types of bloggers. Hit it up again and check for those popular keywords that fit your niche. You just might find someone new to network with.

Why smaller bloggers?

It’s over rated that if you comment on the popular blogger posts that you’ll get traffic. Indeed you will but you’ll be one comment in the sea of many. Networking and reading blogs from those less known will enable you to become part of the community from the beginning, build a networking relationship, and still will provide you with great information.

Your Turn

So, how are you finding blogs to read? What’s your method for subscribing and searching for blogs?