Randy Morin, an excellent blogger and the brain behind Rmail, has written a good article highlighting the common mistakes made by most bloggers like you and me.
If you have a blog and struggling to make your presence felt in the blogosphere, this is one piece you should read. Some interesting excerpts:
Not Reading Your Readers - If a reader is leaving regular comments on your blog, then subscribe to his blog, find out more about him, so you can engage with him more completely. If you comment on your readers blog, then there's a greater likelihood you are getting a reader for life.
Making it Difficult to Subscribe - Many bloggers don't make it easy enough for their readers to subscribe to their RSS feeds. If you don't have RSS auto-discovery, then you are losing readers. If you don't have an visible and obvious link to your RSS feed, then you are losing readers. If you don't have an email subscription form like Rmail, FeedBurner or FeedBlitz, then you are losing readers.
Running after A-List Blogs - Most A-listers have 100 people linking to them daily and it's highly unlikely your post will catch their eye. Instead, try linking to a broader range of bloggers. When you link to a d-list blogger, you're likely to gain a reader for life and several dozen links in return.
Top 10 Mistakes Made by My Blogging Friends [Thanks Blogger Blog, Blaugh]
What makes Technorati 100 Bloggers Famous ? - It's not just content
