Building an online presence is much more than just writing the occasional blog post and spending time on twitter. Though you should spend time tending to each of your platforms (blog, twitter, Facebook etc), there are a number of less obvious things you can do to build the trust of your followers.
1. Leave comments - Pick five people whose blogs you respect and leave an insightful and constructive comment on the next five blog posts they each write. By getting involved in their community you will also build your own following.
2. Tweet out links – If you are on twitter then send out five tweets, one each hour, that contain a link to a website or blog post that you think your followers will enjoy. You can measure the quality of your suggestions by the number of retweets.
3. Recommend a website – Write a post on your blog that raves about another writer or website. It is important that the writer/website has no value to you but adds loads of value to your followers.
4. Say someone is amazing - Send out a tweet, write a blog post and leave a comment, all of which say that someone else is amazing. It is important you rave about another writer’s work and direct your followers to someone else’s blog.
