I mentioned yesterday that in order to improve your SEO, you should "be everywhere." Well, as is often the case with me, I changed my mind about that. 
"Be everywhere" is good, but not great advice.
Here's better advice: "Be everywhere your readers and potential readers are."
If you haven't noticed, the internet is unending. It goes on forever. There is always more.
Death by rabbit-trailing is a real and present danger
You know what I'm talking about, right? You get on one site, see a link to something else that looks interesting so you hop on over there. Of course you find other intriguing links there and so you check those out too. Before you know it, you've hopped all over creation and eventually you realize 2 hours are gone.
Oh yes, I am a master rabbit-trailer.
Those 2 hours could have been spent building your blog and building your business. All it takes is a little forethought.
Be strategic & deliberate
Just like I mentioned in How to Write a Killer About Page, if you want to be successful as a money-making blogger, you must think of your readers first.
- Who are they? Who is your target audience? Men, women, both? Work-outside-the-home, work-at-home, stay-at-home? Young, old, students? Computer-savvy, not computer-savvy? Ask yourself: What type of person is most likely to visit and benefit from my site?
- Where are they? Where do they hang out? Are they Facebook types? Are they Twitter types? Maybe they're professionals on Linked In? Do they like forums? Blogs? Maybe they're not internet-types at all and you'll have to figure out how to connect with them offline.
- When are you most likely to connect with them? When are they online? Do they work during the day and so you can catch them online at night? Are they stay-at-home moms and online at nap time?
The point is, don't just jump online and run yourself ragged trying to "be everywhere." First, think about where your readers and potential readers are and then "be everywhere" there.
Branch out
So now that I told you to only go where your readers and potential readers are, now I'm going to tell you to not get stuck in a rut. Don't return to the same watering hole over and over again. Find new watering holes. Always be on the lookout for new places to connect with new readers. This is where a little rabbit-trailing is allowed. 
Don't let the vast expanse of the internet be your downfall. Harness it, think about it and be on an unending, strategic quest to expand your reach.
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So true!
I came to this conclusion myself around the end of 2009. FOCUS. Everything needed just a little bit of focus. Like you said it just takes a little forethought. I find my approach now to be mostly intentional blog reading/web surfing. But of course, I get caught on a bunny trail now and then.
Along with this, you kind of touched on it but didn't come right out and say it. I found myself having to leave behind some blogs I was trying to read and interact with because they just really didn't fit well — not speaking to the same kind of audience, etc. When sorting through the blogs in my reader, I paid very little attention to size and age of the blog, and spent my time choosing to keep blogs that spoke to my same audience, had something to offer me, and were regularly putting out good stuff. Since then, I've noticed a few more that I wouldn't mind culling.
All that to say, don't be afraid to cull a few blogs from your Google Reader, or tweeters from your Twitter list. You can't read or talk to EVERYBODY. =)
Great advice… it's amazing how fast 2 hours can disappear.
"Death by rabbit trail" – ha! I need to put together an intentional "time online" plan. I'm thinking of seriously limiting my kids plugged in time this summer, but I need to limit my own as well. I'd love to see some samples of plans people live by and how they stick to it.
Networking is certainly something I am going to have to learn. Blog Frog doesn't bring that many people to my site, nor does twitter. So does that mean it's because I just started or because it's just not as effective as I had thought it would be? I think I followed pretty much anyone who would follow me and now I am realizing from the Friday Follow that a lot of these people only want blog advertising and don't care about my blog. I am guilty of the same thing and now have tons of feeds coming to my yahoo that I don't relate to me in anyway. However, Friday Follower is how I have gotten most of my subsribers. So, what to do…what to do….I have LOTS to learn. Thanks Amy.
I am SO bad for rabbit-trailing, although I never had a name for it. I also go on the computer to blog but open my email to check what's new and end up spending hours reading email and visiting websites and doing all other things that originated from email.
Networking is certainly something I am going to have to learn. Blog Frog doesn't bring that many people to my site, nor does twitter. So does that mean it's because I just started or because it's just not as effective as I had thought it would be? I think I followed pretty much anyone who would follow me and now I am realizing from the Friday Follow that a lot of these people only want blog advertising and don't care about my blog. I am guilty of the same thing and now have tons of feeds coming to my yahoo that I don't relate to me in anyway. However, Friday Follower is how I have gotten most of my subsribers. So, what to do…what to do….I have LOTS to learn. Thanks Amy.
speaking of interesting links thanks a LOT, Amy, I think I've probably spent the past two hours hopping around here on your site!!! way to make a lot of intriguing content such that I may be trapped here foreeeeeever! lol
LOL! {Police megaphone voice…} "Step away from the blog, Tina. Step away from the blog."