Go say hi to a new blogger. And here's some unsolicited advice, too.

Go say hi to Rehctaw (watcher backwards) over at Rawrahs. He's been a brilliant commenter at some other blogs and has finally been convinced (ahem) to blog his own self for real.

I'm going to repeat some stuff I wrote back in 2006 (!) on what a new blogger might want to consider. Please add your best advice in comments. Thanks.

Dear fellow blogger,

I can tell you are interested in driving up traffic to your blog, which is great. You're a good writer and your traffic will increase as you keep blogging (daily, if possible). The other things you can do are:

Leave comments all over the place. Find a nice long blogroll (mine is over there but there are others) start going down it and leave a comment everywhere you see something you like. My blog went from zero to 70 hits a day from just doing that and then I was on my way.

And don't leave a "visit my blog" comment. They'll visit anyway.

Only leave on-topic comments or sincere compliments. Nobody likes trolls or self-pimping***. Make the compliment TRUE, and specific where possible. Only praise posts you really do like. And link to them where possible, too.

We're all human, and we bloggers are more narcissistic than even the average American. And most of us work very hard on our blogs with little thanks. Every comment matters.

Also, use Google Blog Search and Technorati to find out who else is blogging about the same topic or link you are. That can lead you to new ideas and some very good bloggers who have similar interests.

I have personal likes and dislikes but if I follow the rule of "only say something if it's nice" I really like Shakespeare's Sister and Crooks and Liars. The other big blogs I can take or leave, and I leave'em. Those two have nice people attached to them: people who care about small blogs, the blogosphere, and are not puffed up with their own importance. We all need to emulate those qualities. Don't forget it.

Do you have comment moderation at your site? Get rid of it, for the time being, until somebody bothers you. As a Blogger user, I've found word verification works very well to keep out the spam. Better at the beginning not to put too many barriers between you and commenters. You can always hand-delete those comments you don't like, if you're lucky enough to have that many comments.

Keep blogging and keep the faith.

***Big exception: DO pimp your blog when Shakespeare's Sister has a blogwhoring day, usually Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.