So you are looking for a social network to generate traffic and meet other bloggers, why blogcatalog? Because it’s by far the best.

Blog Catalog combines great discussions, with great groups, and a large enough amount of people. The one downside, is it’s incredibly addicting nature. Hours can be spent on blogcatalog, but hey it’s for your website right? so you have an excuse.

There are three components to the site. Number one discussions, That’s where people will post new questions, and most importantly offers they have. If you follow it semi regularly, you can win prizes such as links, and entrecard credits, and also gain friends and help out another blogger. Also read the discussions that relate to your blog, i’ve found answers to many of my questions on this site. Also feel free to ask your own question if you don’t see the one your looking for.

The second component is Groups. On the blogcatalog.com home page you will see at the bottom a list of the top groups. I would join all of them. The same if not more people use groups over discussions so make sure to follow these as well. It will list for you new comments so you don’t have to keep checking every group. After you have joined all the most popular groups, I would spend extra time viewing the stumble group, and technorati group. They have been the most helpful for me. If you have a digg, stumble, or technorati, or all of them then these groups will be extremely helpful. Look for free links, those come up every now and then, and join the daily stumble discussion and post your link, but make sure you return the favor otherwise you will make many angry people in the group.

The third component, is friends. Friends are key because they will visit your site, and you can send them broadcasts if you have questions or are offering something. I would start by posting a few discussions saying “let me comment on your blog.” Or let me see your blog. You’ll get up to 100 comments with people’s links so don’t get overwhelmed but work your way through them, and make sure you do it. People usually return the favor and visit your blog, and as I said in my last post, this comment will also give you a free link.

So if you do all this then you’ll have friends, the ability to have your questions answered, get traffic, and get all the things you need to have a successful blog.