This post was most recently updated on February 23rd, 2014

I am a social media butterfly.  I love doing what I do.  One of my most important daily activities is syndicating other people.

As a blogger for a few years, I find that there are certain ethics when it comes to Syndication.  You want your blog to be active.  You can–and should– set up all your on-page SEO’s and off-page back-linking.  But the heart and should of blogging is Syndication.

When someone comes to your blog and comments, there must be acknowledgment and reciprocity.

1. Reply to each and every comment.  This acknowledges your readers’ efforts and interest.

2. Now go to your readers’ blogs, if they have links to them.

3. Read their latest post and get to know them a bit, and learn from what they’ve written.

4. Reply to their post, as they did to yours.  If they have “comment lug”, simply click on it to back-link to  your latest post.

5. Go to their Facebook and “friend” them, but don’t forget the ethics here.  Don’t simply push the “friend” button, but explain why you want to add them as a friend with a sincere, personal message.

6. Tweet or Retweet their blog post.

7. Whatever social sites they have linked to their blog, syndicate via those social share buttons.

8. Google+ them, BUT write to your followers why you are doing this. i.e. “I found this interesting blog post on _____ and thought you may find this interesting.”  Make your Google+ interesting so others will read it.

9. PINTEREST is all the rage.  You can take your syndicating a step further and find that person on Pinterest.  Once there, you can  “follow” them, or like, comment or “repin” one of their pins.

Sound like too much work?

Not if you make this a part of your daily method of operation.  Notice, I said “daily”.  It’s far better for both you and those you follow if you were to syndicate, say 3 blogs a day, Monday through Friday… rather than syndicate 15 bogs on Monday.  That’s because search engines see a consistency to your online presence.  That consistency will improve your online status with Google and the other search engines.  In turn, it will vastly improve the quality of your syndication for those you syndicate, than if you just blast out a bunch here and there, now and then.

Once you set time for this, you will find that your own blog will start to rock and roll.  People will flow in via Twitter, Facebook and other social and social bookmarking sites.  Most will reciprocate because they appreciate what you have done for them.

Does this really work?

Yes, all my followers come from social media platforms.  I never spent a penny on advertising, and I have a ton of followers.  When you go-give, it comes back ten fold.

• Bio
• Blogging Magic

Donna Merrill

Donna is a well known blogger and creator of "Blogging Magic" - an intensive guide to blogging. "Blogging Magic" is for beginners who are trying to figure out how to bring their blogs to life with tons of visits, comments and social media interaction. It's even for advanced bloggers looking to reach new levels of authority and engagement with their audience.