As I’ve previously mentioned, networking with others in your topic area is extremely important for building your base of site visitors. If you haven’t already established yourself as a regular within the communities that serve your niche, you may be wondering how to find them. Here are just a few examples of searches you can run on your favorite search engine to find the communities you should participate in. Undoubtedly, these searches will turn up many, many networks of people who are all interested in your niche topic, but you’ll need to pick 2 or 3 that appeal the most to you. Look for those communities that are active and that seem to have intelligent conversations amongst experienced people.

Search for: (obviously, you’ll want to substitute “your topic” with whatever word or phrase fits your niche)

your topic + forum
your topic + message board
your topic + chat
your topic + community
your topic + network
your topic + blog
your topic + expert

The last two (your topic + blog and your topic + expert) are good ways to find the leaders of your niche, so that you can possibly interact with them on a one-on-one basis.

Whether you choose a couple of forums, or several expert blogs as your starting points, you’ll want to join in on the conversations. Make intelligent, well-thought out comments. Participate often. Defer to the old-timers for the time being, but begin to establish yourself as a knowledgeable peer. DON’T spam the boards or blogs with your advertising. Simply join the conversation, and let your signature or comment URL do the advertising for you. Be respectful and friendly, and if for some reason, one community ends up not being right for you, find another.

By joining in the conversation, you are acquiring contacts that you can leverage later, as well as simply letting others know that an intelligent, knowledgeable person has a site they might be interested in. Again, you don’t have to shove that information in anyone’s face. Just by participating, they will know.