@Jade – I agree, networking horizontally is a smart move. I also think most people tend to ignore offline opportunities these days – that’s certainly an angle we’re exploring at the moment.

My thing is that there are so many other niches and it’s really hard to get an ‘in’ in those groups. But, when you do, you often have a lot of success. But instead of targeting different groups people target the same people. I only pay for about 20% of the products I review and even I feel kinda ripped off ‘coz it feels like I’m getting variations of the same stuff. To clarify, it’s no-ones fault. It’s just networking fatigue, like I said.

What I’m trying to help people do is network horizontally. That is, encourage their audience to spread the word for them. That helps them get more traction in certain niches or subniches. A fantastic example is what Darren is doing here: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2010/06/18/become-the-blogging-expert-in-your-own-niche-by-running-a-blogging-course/. Something else I’ve been recommending people do is creating badges so people can share that they are part of the community or creating a wall of fame.

I’ve interacted personally with a lot of the big guns and I know how hard they work. But I also know that you don’t need to pay to learn from them. If you want, you can learn so much just by observation. I did :-)

- Jade

This is a really timely post, I wasn’t so aware of the backlash actually but do follow almost all the above, and know them by first name.

They have the right to be A List bloggers as you say because they do great work, deliver consistent value, innovate, care deeply, engage and ship.

They have the right to be where they are and doing what they do as they’ve worked very hard to get there and still do.

We can create our own pools of awesomeness by engaging with other bloggers in our realm and forming close collaborations – in the end it’s a sharing community, give and you’ll receive.

Natalie