Participate on blogs. An essential part of developing a presence online is by participating actively and heavily on blogs, most of the time, the larger the blog the better – just make sure your comment is of a very high standard so you don’t get drowned out in an array of praise the blogger style comments. By constantly being a commenter on big blogs, people will start to notice you and your site more, you can build your brand further by going to sites that choose to display an avatar for you alongside your comment.

Release a few free products that are valuable to readers. You can do this in order to attract people to your blog and give them free, quality content when they sign up to your sites’ newsletter. By doing this you are showing your readership that you have the ability to release a 30 or so page report that consists of rock solid content, which will no doubt be of value to them in their blogging endeavors. Now that they have something from your blog, it is one up on many other blogs and you are beginning to build a better relationship/rapport with the reader.

Show that you can attract authority figures by getting interviews with them. This is a technique used by many people, it involves getting highly coveted interviews with big name bloggers like Darren Rowse, John Chow, Aaron Wall etc…By getting these interviews, you are showing your reader that you have the ability to attain these interviews with so called ‘A-listers’ or ‘high profile bloggers’. People admire this and will remember and respect you for it.

A custom blog design also has the potential to draw in more readers and give you a credibility boost. The readers/viewers see that you have a professional looking web destination. If the blog design is good enough – you may be getting some enquiries in your email inbox as well. In the end, credibility comes back to longevity and quality content as you pointed out Darren, and this is one of the most significant points to remember.

Nobody has all the answers, after all. Just their version of the truth.

What about “activity” widgets, social networking links and such on your blog to help with earning credibility?

I’ll definitely try to keep this in mind when blogging. It could make a huge difference.

But in general I look at it this way – it’s the same for me as with normal friendships – the more time I spend with another person the more I get to know who they are and what they are on about. Out of this I can make a judgement on how much trust I give them. On a blog if you ’spend time’ with your readers every day for a year or two its amazing how much of a relationship builds up.

Don’t distract precious users from yourself. Always be nice with anyone.

Ask to join forums where those key players Darren refers to hang out. Assuming they let you in, don’t spam your link or beg for a template review, simply become part of the community and soak up everything you can like a giant sponge. Once they see you hanging around and contributing you will begin to earn some respect, and might even catch a break from a link in one of their roundups.

* Be prepared to work hard and consistently
* Have confidence in yourself