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In case you haven’t had your finger anywhere near the pulse of the populous lately, let me fill you in on something, this blogging thing is taking off. Like, seriously. One area seeing major growth in its online ranks, is design. I don’t want to say that design blogs are a dime a dozen these days, but that is kind of where I am going with this. Lets face it, people, the blogosphere is saturated with a seemingly endless RSS stream of design sites all scrapping to capture their piece of the online readership. Which, to somewhat of a degree, is more finite.

This begs the question, is there a capacity at which the saturation has a more negative effect on the community overall, than a positive one? And if the answer to that query is “yes”, what does that mean for the bloated blogosphere and its inhabitants?

Unfortunately, I am of the mind that the answer is indeed in the affirmative, and that we will see a point when there are so many places to turn for design information that the reader will become overwhelmed. Where to turn, which source to trust, which one of the twenty posts on the topic is the best one, etc… and the frustrated reader will finally fix their focus to one major source, and no longer branch out beyond it for their information. What effect will this have? Will this be the death of ‘community’?

Again, this is in my humble opinion, but I can see this future coming, as the web surfers settle for known waters over branching out through the crowded cyber sea. Meaning that smaller design blogs, and certainly new ones, will have a much harder time finding that audience that allows their site to grow. Which is the point of the design blog, no? To have it seen and read? You blog because you hopefully have something to say. Something of value to contribute to the community, correct? (If you don’t follow, just nod along knowingly, you may just be one of the bloggers I am speaking of.:p) If you have something unique to say, or a unique view on something already talked about, you want an audience to hear it. Otherwise, you are basically saying it to yourself, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just more of a bored choir thinking ‘Dude, we get it, we are on your side’ kind of thing.

So how do you make sure, that you can rise above the multitude of collective voices and sway the online audience the way of your blog? Well, for that, I have the following key elements that you should focus on, if you want to survive through the saturation and be heard.

Networking

What better way to start a talk about how to establish yourself in the community, and remain visible than with a focus on networking. Social media networking can be a #fun #interactive way to spread the word about you and your #design blog. See what I did there with the whole hashtag thing? (Just a sidenote, if you don’t know what a hashtag is, this networking section may be over your head.) But seriously, establishing a presence on the social media circuit is certainly a worthy investment of your time.

Social media has opened up an important avenue for bloggers, allowing for more personal connectivity with your audience and colleagues. Sharing your blog posts and other’s work through the various networking outlets, can quickly raise your sites visibility among the masses. But blogger beware, you must be committed to this social scene if you want to gain the many benefits that it can provide. A direct pipeline into the community, where you can get instant feedback, assistance, contributions for your blog posts and so much more.

Networking through the social media circuits, is certainly an artform, and there are a couple of folks that do it right that I felt I should shine the spotlight over onto since they have seemingly mastered areas of this art.

Mayhem Studios

Andy Sowards

Get Personal

The next key that I wanted to mention, which is another invaluable addition to the list, is getting personal. Now I’m not talking about the way I did earlier in the post when I was talking about bloggers not having something to contribute, which I did so I could reference here (So I wasn’t really being mean, I was just ACTING!…like, you know, Lovitz? Jon Lovi- anyway.). What I am talking about, is more along the lines of putting as much of a personal touch into your site as you are comfortable with. Are you oozing with personality, then make sure that it comes across in your blog. Focus your strengths there, and even expose your weaknesses, and your blog will have some of you embedded in it.

What this will do, is allow for another form of personal connectivity for the reader to relate and be drawn to. One major way for a blog to stick out, is for it to be unique. What better way to ensure that individualness for your blog, than by putting as much of your individual voice and style into it? Readers tend to respond to the personality that’s pushing the words and their point through to them, and they do so, in a big way. For the same reason that people respond to the social media interaction, seemingly getting deeper glimpses into the blogger themselves.

Putting that much of yourself and personality into your site is certainly no easy feat. It can be quite the daunting task, so those who do it well deserve a nod. Those purveyors of personality, in my humble, are the following.

The Design O’Blog

Fudge Graphics

Develop Your Brand

How could I talk about rising above the rest without a brief look at fine tuning, and developing your brand? There are some who completely write-off the importance of branding themselves and doing it well. And that is completely their choice, they have every right to be completely and utterly wrong. I kid…kind of. I do understand the anxiousness of getting out there and diving in to the vast cyber sea, head first, and branding yourself takes time. And moreover, patience. Neither of which, you have, apparently. Again, I kid. But that is a perfectly justifiable way to begin a blog, if you do it correctly. Having a sense of your brand and identity, and like I said, developing it once you have gotten underway.

In fact, when Angie and I began Arbenting, it was a blog that was meant to draw in visitors to our main site. However, we quickly realized that the direction and ideas we had started with, were altered, and our brand was built around the blog. But we always had that in mind as we were working out the details. Finding that bearing and letting its course unfold without trying to force it. The branding helps give your blog an identity that is easily recognizable to the online community. This helps establish and elevate your site to a more visible plateau. The brand is responded to initially, and is what helps to build the reader’s trust in the people or person behind it.

The bold who have blazed the branded path and done it with style and near perfection also deserve to share in the spotlight of the spectacular, and I could think of no better participants than the following.

I’mJustCreative

The Fuel Brand Network

Be Helpful/Give Back

Of the many ways I have already discussed, this next one is an almost sure fire way to increase the visibility of your blog, beyond any other. Be helpful and give back! A novel concept, I know, and you heard it here first. …So tell everyone that flag was planted here. But honestly, when you give back to the community through contests or freebies or whatever, they respond. It imparts a sense of appreciation to the readers, and lets them know how important to your site, you feel they are. Giving back also helps to strengthen the community overall as you provide resources for others to use, or offer exposure to someone else’s site or service.

Not to mention the effect you have by offering tutorials and helpful advice to others, rather than stingily keeping secrets and techniques to yourself. Finding areas in the community that may be lacking in helpful ideas and solutions that you know you can be of service in, do it. Build bridges and help lift up others when and where you can, and you can be sure that most of the time, they will turn around and offer a hand back to take you with them. Aaron Irizarry said something very similar recently in a fantastic plea for the community to work together to help build each other up. Your blog and you will be remembered for your kindness, I promise.

Once again, I could not leave off that topic without taking a moment to tip my hat to some of the blogs that really understand this idea, and have kind of run with it as their mission. Thanks to them for all they do for us.

ChatCreative

Function

Content

I have blogged about this topic once or twice in the past, because of its importance to the discussion, and that is why it makes an appearance here at the end of the list. The biggest draw to readers, that raises the visibility of your blog is consistent, quality original content. I know that is a lot of qualifiers on that statement, but they are all necessary, believe me. And they do not work alone, mind you, they all need to be together to make the magic mixture just right for sustaining and growing your readership.

Again, it is almost like a mathematical equation if you break it down to the fine points. Content overall, we can agree is a good thing, but you have to have the right content equation in order for it to add up to a more dedicated readership and increased visibility. Content to the power of [(Originality+Quality)Consistency] equals blog brilliance, and will certainly garner you a gain in the community. Now fill that blog with Content to the power of [(Derivative+Quality)Consistency], or say [(Originality+Mediocre)Consistency], or even [(Originality+Quality)Every now and again] then it will equal up to a disappointing or irregular blog experience that will raise your site up. In fact, it may just drag it down.

Throughout the collective there are numerous queens and kings of content, too many to link to here, but I did want to single out two of my favorite places to turn for content that always measures up. They are:

This is Aarons Life

Line 25

Remember the Community

Overall, the most important thing to remember, is that you are setting up in an active, established community. You need to make your mark as quickly as you can, so as to not fade into the sea of sites and voices as soon as you start out. Otherwise, as the seas get more crowded, if there is a ‘purge’, you will ensure that your blog is not one of the ill-fated Dharma Initiative, but instead a part of the surviving “Others”!

No? Am I stretching it with the personality and side references? C’mon guys, It’s a reference to the show “Lost”. Anyone?