Feb
8
2012

5 Tips to Super-Charge Your Brand New Blog Engage Membership

An article by Ileane Smith

Blog Engage is one of the hottest blogging communities you can join right now. I watched Brian, the owner, fight like heck to rid the community of spammers and create a safe environment for bloggers like you and me to share our content, make friends, build quality backlinks and drive tons of targeted traffic to our blogs. Hundreds of bloggers have seen the benefits of Blog Engage and the community is about to get even bigger!

Early this year, Brian decided that he would giveaway free Blog Engage accounts and Gold RSS memberships. Many of the members, including myself, held giveaway contests on our blogs using this really cool site called Raffle Copter that will calculate the points and pick the winners at random. I’m sure you have seen some of these contests around, and I hope you had the chance to enter and win. When you visit the Blog Engage home page, you’ll see my smiling face listed under the Top 5 Users and the Top 5 Publishers. Most of the members know who I am, but if you’re not sure how to find my submitted posts, just type “Ileane” in the search box and you’ll find me for sure. Now, let’s get started with my top tips to super-charge your brand new Blog Engage Membership!

1. Syndicate your content on Blog Engage

When it comes to making a blogger’s life easy, nothing beats the Blog Engage RSS service. Blog Engage will pull content from your FeedBurner feed and within the first hour after you publish a post it will appear on the site so that people can vote, share and comment on it. This is such a time saver! You are literally on auto-pilot when it comes to submitting your content when you make use of this service. I can’t tell you how many times I forget to submit one of my posts to some of the other communities I belong to but with Blog Engage RSS, I’m worry free.

2. Learn how to navigate the Blog Engage Website

At the top of the homepage you’ll see the FAQ (frequently asked questions) link on the nav bar. Take a minute to go through the key features of the site. There is another handy tip I figured out that you can use also. If you’re looking for a member by name, but if you enter the name in the search box and you get no results – click on the “advanced search” link instead. When you scroll down to the very last option you’ll see “Search User” then choose “Yes” and you’ll be good to go.

3. Go to the “Upcoming” Button!

When you visit Blog Engage, your goal is to network with other bloggers, meet new people, and find content that you can learn from and share with your social networks. The common practice for most members is to scroll down to see which stories are published. These stories have been reviewed by our peers and they have received enough votes to earn the right to be on the first page, so go ahead and browse a few of these posts. But here’s a “Pro-Blog Engage User” tip – click on the “Upcoming” button instead. Here’s why: this link is going to take you to the fresh feeds and brand new submission that are coming straight out of FeedBurner for all the RSS account holders. This is where you’re going to see all those new members, that might not ever make it to the front page. Engage with these newer members too, visit their blogs and welcome them to the community. I’ve made a lot of new blogging friends this way and it will work for you too. When you use this technique, visit the site on a regular basis, and after a few days, you’ll find that you have already voted on all the posts on the front page anyway and those bloggers have visited and voted for your stuff too!

4. Enter the Blog Engage Guest Blogging Contests

That right, I said “contests” in the plural, because there is more than one contest going on at all times over on Blog Engage. There are the monthly contests and at the end of the year all of the monthly contest winners will be entered in the big yearly contest. There’s always a cash prize and I know you want a piece of the action – so go for it!

The truth is, submitting a guest post to a blogging contest is the best way to get exposure for yourself and possibly win some money at the same time. If you don’t have time to enter the contests, become a sponsor instead. You’ll get a ton of backlinks and a nice spike in traffic by sponsoring contests on Blog Engage.

5. Dress Up Your Profile

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that people won’t pay attention to your Blog Engage profile. Power users like myself and even some other members will always click on a newbie’s profile! That’s why it’s important to fill it out, just like you would for any other social networking site. I recommend that you use your name instead of your blog’s name along with a familiar profile pic, for example use the same pic from your Twitter or Facebook profile. This way if you have multiple blogs, or if you get a new blog later, people will still recognize you.

Bonus tip!

Right now you can sign up for Affiliate Lights and get a signing bonus.

I’m proud to be a member of Blog Engage and I’m sure you are too (or you will be really soon). What tips do you have for super-charging your Blog Engage membership?

I have participated in the Blogging Tips 101 Contest, organized by Pro Blogging Success. Please read my article Come On! Think Beyond Facebook and Twitter to Promote Your Articles and help me to win this contest by writing a relevant comment, voting on Blog Engage and Blokube, Like/Share it in Facebook, tweet about it and +1 it.

Tags: blog engage, Blogging Communities, Blogging Contests

Learn, Earn and Get Featured on Blog Engage

About the Author: Ileane Smith

WordPress blogging and tech tips! Learn how to use Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, YouTube, CommentLuv and get even more tutorials on Basic Blog Tips!

12 Comments + Add Comment

Hajra February 9, 2012 at 12:27 am

Hey Ileane,

Just yesterday I read Brian’s post about the power of smaller communities at your blog.

I was recently introduced completely to Blog Engage when I read Holly’s guest post for the contest over there. I must say I did enjoy the power of meaningful networking there and on reading more, the growth of BE was very interesting to read.

I am a part of the giveaway, let’s see if I get one and I am seriously thinking of getting a membership nonetheless.
Hajra recently posted..Will they call you over for a bloggers party?

Reply
- bbrian017 February 9, 2012 at 12:32 am
  
  Hi Hajra, Thanks for the engagement on Ileane’s blog yesterday I appreciate it. Guest posting it difficult sometimes and nerve racking. You never know if it’s doing to become a hit or not. It’s great your joining the contests to get in. I don’t know if you’re aware but like Ileane mentioned in the post we are hosting a contest every month and right now we are hosting a free blog engage giveaway everyday for the entire month of February. When you’re on our sign up page in the bottom there will be a link that links to all the currently live contests on blog engage.
  bbrian017 recently posted..Meet the $500 USD Feb 2012 Guest #Blogging #Contestants @blogengage
  
  Reply
- Ileane February 9, 2012 at 12:52 am
  
  Hi Hajra, I know that you are good at writing contest posts, so be sure to enter over at Blog Engage. You’re connected with so many members that the community is a perfect fit for you. Be sure to friend me once you join!
  
  Thanks for your support and comments here and on my blog too!
  Ileane recently posted..What if I Were To Say To You, Size Doesn’t Matter?
  
  Reply
  - Hajra February 9, 2012 at 1:11 am
    
    I take that as a compliment! But I am all scared when writing any post because I really am bad with the technical aspects of blogging!
    
    And with the contest going over at Jane’s blog I have just too much on my hand’s right now. I was just mentioning it to Holly that I might suffer from commenting fatigue! Contests are really tough to promote!
    
    I think i will just have my share by checking out the contest posts on BE! And Holly is a participant there, so I know how tough that is going to get if I enter!
    
    I was actually wanting to do a guest post for you Ileane, will talk to you soon about it!
    
    Thanks for the appreciation!
    Hajra recently posted..Will they call you over for a bloggers party?
    
    Reply
    - Ileane February 9, 2012 at 1:47 am
      
      Hajra, I just sent you a password so you can get started on your guest post
      Ileane recently posted..An Overview Of Guest Blogging
      
      Reply
      - Hajra February 9, 2012 at 1:51 am
        
        Lol! Thanks so much! I just saw it! Off to work on the GP!
        Hajra recently posted..Will they call you over for a bloggers party?
- Sandipan February 10, 2012 at 12:54 am
  
  Hi Hajra, I joined Blog Engage last year and it is simply an awesome community. Recently I won a Gold Membership in a Giveaway Contest. So participate in as many contests you can and join this community. Best of Luck
  Sandipan recently posted..Learn About SEO : The Most Frequently Asked Questions
  
  Reply
bbrian017 February 9, 2012 at 12:55 am

Hi Ileane, this was a real rock star article, I loved your tip about the upcoming pages it’s so true! This is hot off the press and in fact the published page is old school. I think every element you mentioned is key to success when using blog engage. You have to invest time so see the largest ROI and you know that because you have used blog engage perfectly in the past to build a part of the foundations to your online empire.

I’m thankful for meeting you and building on our relationship as you are by far one the most engaging people I’ve meet online. I also love your personality Thanks for everything your a great friend!
bbrian017 recently posted..Win a Free Year Gold Membership from @IvinViljoen

Reply
- Ileane February 9, 2012 at 1:05 am
  
  Hey Brian, the feeling is mutual. The community you built at Blog Engage has allowed to me connect with some of my closest blogging friends and collaborators. I’m always bragging about the site on my blog so I thought it would be a good idea to spread the word here on iTechBoy so that more people can learn about all the awesome contests and benefits they can have by being a member of Blog Engage.
  I’m looking forward to connecting with all of the new members that will be winning the giveaways!
  
  Thanks for all you do in the blogosphere Brian!
  Ileane recently posted..My Podcasting Gear and the Ms. Ileane Speaks Podcast is Now on iTunes
  
  Reply
BizSugar.com February 9, 2012 at 2:03 pm

5 Tips to Super-Charge Your Brand New Blog Engage Membership…

A guest post from me – Blog Engage is one of the hottest blogging communities you can join right now. I watched Brian, the owner, fight like heck to rid the community of spammers and create a safe environment for bloggers like you and me to share our c…

Reply
Sandipan February 10, 2012 at 12:44 am

Awesome article Ileane about Blog Engage. I love Blog Engage as I met many bloggers in this community, got exposure and what not. We must thank Brian for starting Blog Engage.

Thanks Ileane for the guest post.
Sandipan recently posted..Learn About SEO : The Most Frequently Asked Questions

Reply
- Ileane February 10, 2012 at 12:49 am
  
  Thanks for inviting me to do a guest post here. I enjoy writing about Blog Engage and letting others know about all the many benefits of joining. It’s really cool that Brian is letting us give away so many free memberships this year. I’ll be announcing winners for the Giveaway on Basic Blog Tips very shortly!
  Ileane recently posted..Basic Blog Tips Takes The My 7 Links Challenge
  
  Reply