Linking is the currency of blogging. If you want to get yourself  ‘out there’ one of the best ways to do so is to start blogging and then like and follow fellow bloggers.

A fellow blogger recently gave me the ‘Very Inspiring Blogger Award’ – thank you Petrel. It’s a great way to connect and grow and while it may seem a little obvious, it’s still just nice to get it. Someone bothered: This is why I love the blogosphere.

It can also feel a little mercenary but that’s the world we live in. I wouldn’t have landed my first paid writing job if I hadn’t been blogging and developing an audience, and more importantly, understanding why that audience developed the way it did. Which was mainly through the connections I made on line, blogging.

In the same way that to gain more Twitter followers you have to follow more Twitterers, to grow your blog’s audience you need to do the same with other bloggers.  It’s a reciprocal thing: Don’t expect others to share your stuff, engage with you and follow you if you’ve no interest in doing the same with them. Twitter is a prime example. The micro blogging site has grown because the vast majority of its clients/customers/audience love to share stuff and to connect with new people who share their interests.

So, in the spirit of the award, my most inspiring fellow bloggers are (in no particular order):

Ripplestone Review

Write So Fluid

Quillers Place

The View Outside

Klahanie

D C Relief

Three Beautiful Things

Julie’s Quest

Do check them out and say hello 🙂