How to Find a Blog

How to Find a Blog Online

The process of learning how to find a blog online depends largely upon what type of blog you’re looking for.

Awards for Bloggers

As the blogging community continues to grow, a number of people have begun to seek out ways to recognize exceptionally talented writers. If you’re looking for great blogs to read, you’ll get a variety of ideas by visiting the following links:

• The Bloggies is a competition that aims to recognize outstanding blogs in a variety of categories. If you’re interested in learning how to create a fantastic blog with an impressive fan base, study the examples featured on this site.
• The Weblog Awards recognizes bloggers for their achievements in 45 different categories spanning a diverse array of topics.
• The Blogger’s Choice Awards is a competition that lets bloggers rate sites in fun categories like best humor blog, best sports blog, best political blog, and best parenting blog. There are also categories to nominate the hottest mommy blogger, hottest daddy blogger, and most obnoxious blogger.
• Blog of the Day is an informal competition that recognizes new blogs on a daily basis. Visitors can submit their own nominations by leaving a comment in the previous post.

Blog Search Engines

Blog search engines are essentially large directories that index blogs by topic to make it easier for you to find sites that match your interests. Here are some of the most popular:

• Technorati lets members register to claim their blogs and post personal profiles. The site claims to be tracking 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media.
• Blogged is a topical directory with the goal of helping visitors “find better blogs.”
• Blog Catalog claims to be the Web’s premiere social blog directory.
• Blog Search Engine is a site that uses Google’s powerful search capabilities to make it easier to find topics of interest on blogs throughout the Internet.

Special Interest Directories

Attempting to catalog all of the blogs on the Web is a massive undertaking, which is why several special interest directories have been created to focus on narrow topic areas. For example:

• Blogs 4 God is a directory of blogs that regularly write about topics related to Christianity.
• Top 50 Scrapbooking Blogs is a ranked listing of blogs related to scrapbooking, card making, and paper crafting projects.
• NYC Bloggers is a directory of blogs created by people living in New York City.
• The Ageless Project indexes blogs and personal Web sites by the birth date of their primary creator.

General Networking

If you’re interested in how to find a blog that’s a diamond in the rough, you may want to consider the following strategies:

• Most forums and message boards will allow members to reference their own blogs in their posts.
• Members of social networks such as LinkedIn often post links to their blogs in their profiles.
• If you’re curious about what your former classmates have been doing, many schools include blog addresses in their alumni directories.
• Bloggers often post links to their blogs in the signature portion of their outgoing e-mail messages.

Starting a Conversation with a Fellow Blogger

If you find a blog that is on a topic that is similar to your own, don’t be afraid to leave a comment or e-mail the blogger directly. Most bloggers enjoy communicating with their visitors and will be pleased to hear that you enjoyed a particular post. In some cases, you may even be able to get a link to your own blog included on the site.