Sway's Tips for Identifying Influential Bloggers

Sway has written a Blog Outreach Guide for companies interested in doing a blog outreach initiative. Here is an excerpt from the Guide that indicates what to look for when vetting influential blogs/bloggers for your campaign:

1) The content of the blog matches your product or brand's niche.
2) The blog publishes frequent posts (a minimum of a couple times a week).
3) The blog receives high unique monthly traffic. (You can run the numbers at Compete.com.)
4) The length of stay of the visitor on the site (the longer the better). (Again, run the numbers at Compete.com.)
5) The average number of comments per post (the higher the better).
6) The size of the blog roll and types of sites the blog is linking out to. (A blog roll is a listing of blogs that the blog author reads or recommends--usually listed on the side of the blog.)
7) The number of link-backs to the site. (Run the numbers at Technorati or Alexa.)
8) The types and frequency of outbound links included in the blog posts.
9) Is the blog doing non-sponsored product reviews? The blogger should not be paid to post!
10) The types of advertisers on the blog. Advertisers should be appropriate for the content and readership of the blog.

Good luck vetting!

~Milissa Rick, VP of Online Insights