20 Powerful Ways to Promote Your Blog!
The internet is full of different is full of different methods on promoting your blog but some of them may work while others do not. Well, look no more, this is some of the most powerful promotion tips there are! I created this guide based on my own experience, research of the experience from other big blogs and the methods that will prove to be better for your blog than most other methods. These methods don’t need to be done in any particular order and you can pick and choose which to use or try them all.
1. Social Networks
Social networks are here to stay and at times they seem like they are going to destroy our blogs and other websites, however that is not the right attitude to have. Instead, embrace the social network and use it to your advantages, for blog promotion! The main promotion tools I find a social network to have is Updates, Pages and Inviting. Most social networks provide features where you can post status updates – just focus on getting friends who are bloggers and enjoy reading blogs (even if you need to find them through Google and other engines) and then share your blog on your profile through status updates each time you make a blog. The update will show to your friends one way or another, whether on their timeline, feed or related and then you have a chance of your post getting read. Pages also serve a great promotion method whether they are your own pages on the network, another’s or a group – politely advertise your blog posts when its relevant to the page/group topic and wait for traffic. Inviting others on social networks is also a good way to get traffic! This method tends to take a bit longer since usually you want to invite on a one on one basis but it might just give you that devoted and regular reader so it is worth it in the long run. At first, I’d focus on the big networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and maybe even Pinterest and Myspace.
2. Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking is still a good tool because its easy to do and hard to mess up. I would only focus on the big bookmarking sites at first like Digg , Stumble Upon and maybe Reddit [http://web.archive.org/web/20130625184720/http://www.reddit.com/]. You share your new blog posts on the sites and then others can find them and read them. The more you promote your social bookmarking profiles, the better chance you have of getting more traffic and readers to your blog. After you have established a good sharing habit with the big social bookmarking sites, you can move on to the less popular and smaller ones for that extra bit of traffic here and there.
3. Ad Networks
Advertising networks cost money but they can do the needed job in getting traffic to your blog. You can usually decide exactly how much a month to spend on advertising networks but you should note that the more money you spend, the more internet users will see your advertisements and thus the more traffic and potential readers you will get. I have used ad networks in the past and still do here and there and they actually do tend to work if you can give at least $50 or more a month to the network. Spending less will still work but it won’t give you great results. The ad networks I have used are Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, and Buy Sell Ads.
4. Forums
Message forums are still a great resource to get traffic to your blog as long as you do it right. First, you need to join the forum with the intent on reputation building and not so much of advertising. If you focus on just advertising, you will be seen as a spammer in most cases and that word gets around! Join a forum that shares the same niche as your blog or join a general forum if you have a personal/about your life blog. Start posting as if you want to be an active member, start new topics and engage readers! Have intelligence discussions with other members and try to always remain friendly, even if you need to avoid the debate topics. The trick is developing a friendly relationship with members on the forum, once you accomplish that, the rest will be very easy. Add your blog link to your signature and don’t do anything too fancy to make the link get seen more, it will get seen, don’t worry. You can also try starting a new topic asking if anyone has a blog of their own and to link to it so you can check it out. Don’t link to your blog in the post though because its already linked in your signature. Let others link their blog and then give them a positive small review of their blog. These methods will send a lot of traffic to your blog, I promise you that!
5. Guest Blogging
Become a guest blogger for other blogs that share your niche in exchange that you can show your blog’s link somewhere on the blog, preferably in your guest blog post. There are many websites on the net to make them happen but I suggest directly contacting the blog owner you are interested in because it takes out the middle man and allows you to develop a more direct relationship. When you write on another person’s blog, write as if it is your own blog! Make sure your guest blog post is informative and actually contributes something great to the blog so that they enjoy your post. Don’t write it with advertising in mind, write it with reputation building in mind instead because your reputation is just as important as advertising your blog.
6. RSS Directories
Submit to RSS and feed directories like Ping-o-Matic and others on the internet. A lot of people still use RSS so why not use it? If you podcast, you can also submit your podcast feeds as well. There are plenty of free online directories for submitting these feeds, focus on building a habit of using them and enjoy all the traffic you will start to get.
7. Purchase Ads
Find other blogs, forum and websites that share your niche and purchase advertisements and banner space from them. If the price is right and the other site gets a lot of traffic, not only will the advertisement help bring you more traffic but it can help your rank in search engines as well. Explore this option, try it here and there and see what works and what doesn’t work because direct advertising most of the time is about trial and error.
8. Article Posting
Check out these free sites like eZine Articles and Article base ! I use them quite often to be honest. I write unique articles for these sites and it helps bring traffic to my blog because there are features to allow you to link to your blog and websites. You just need to make sure the article you write for these sites are only on these sites, never post the same article more than once as its duplicate content and will do more harm than good. Be sure not to focus your articles on advertising your blog otherwise they will likely not get reviewed.
9. Email
Email is a great promotion tool! You can create email lists for your readers, friends, family and fans and send email articles on your blog, keep them updating on new blog posts and send special offers as well. You should also add your blog title and link to your email signature for any outgoing email that you send. People still look at email signatures and it may give you some good traffic here and there.
10. Other Blog
Comment on other blogs and make it a habit. This allows you to get known by the blog owner and other people who are reading a commenting which helps with reputation development and you can usually provide your blog link on the comment as well. However, never link to your blog in your actual message because that usually triggers a spam control tool on most blogs and marks you as a spammer. If the blog doesn’t have a website link form field, then move on to another blog that does. Note: The better comment you make, the more likely people will notice it and click on your blog’s link. Engage the blog owner and their readers and continue the discussion and watch your reputation and traffic increase!
11. Interview others on your blog
Interview people within your niche or just other bloggers that write about the same topics as you do. Do an email interview with them and let them know you will be posting it on your blog along with their blog’s link. Several things are happening here! You are showing blogger love to another and they will likely enjoy your company from then on out while also becoming an active reader of your blog. You are also giving them an opportunity to blog about your interview on their own blog and that will send traffic to your blog as well because you know they will link to you as well. I have done this several times and it really does work well!
12. Video Blogging
Youtube and other video sharing websites are in my opinion, the revolution of the internet! I always have Youtube open, I have it open right now listing to a play list of an old band I used to always listen to. I am on Youtube pretty much every time I get on the internet and I am constantly on it with my iPhone as well. So take advantage of the fact I always use it because there are a lot of people like me who are always on video sharing sites. Create blogs with Youtube videos and promote them, build a good fan base and advertise your blog in the videos – watch the traffic come out of the wood work! In the future, I will be posting a more comprehensive guide on using Youtube to market your blog so do look for that soon!
13. Link Exchanges
Most blogging platforms, hosting services and software allows you to create a link menu on your blog. Use it! Do link exchanges with other blogs and websites in your niche topic. Link to them in exchange that they link to you! You just want to make sure you do exchanges with blogs and sites that share your same niche because it gives you relevant back links which will greatly help your position in search engines. Search engines love to see links to websites outside your blog on your blog! It shows trust!
14. Promote Blogs
Look for blogs like yours, read them and then post a detailed review of them on your blog as a post and post a link to the blog. Make sure your reviews are about the good ans positive parts of the blog and not the bad or negative parts. The idea is to do a random act of kindness here by promoting someone else’s blog ans saying nice things about it. Most bloggers track other websites that link to their blogs so they will likely find out you have done this nice thing for them. Some might do nothing but others might return the favor and that is the goal of this marketing method.
15. Contests
Run a contest on your blog! I usually recommend running contests for getting like on your blog’s Facebook or followers on your blog’s Twitter page. Tell participants to refer others to like or follow the pages and then post who sent them. The most referral participant should be the winner. Its always good to give them something as a prize too whether it be free stuff like your site branded t-shirt, cold hard cash (always a great prize) or maybe a free eBook or something like that. Contests are a lot of fun for both you and your readers and they can usually get quite a bit of traffic to your blog as well especially when you run them often.
16. Fiverr
If you want comments, advertisements and seo services for a cheap price, check out Fiverr.com! I have used them for comments and social page likes in the past and it does tend to work. However, be careful with some of the services as if they look to good to be true, they are probably not true. Research “black hat seo” before using Fiverr services so that you know what services to stay very clear from. I will be posting a comprehensive guide soon about avoiding black hat seo tactics so visit again for that one, soon!
17. Squidoo
Squidoo and HubPages are great promotion websites for bloggers! You basically create pages on these sites that inform or education readers about a certain topic, product or whatever you really want to talk about. I tend to write a really good informative page and then ad my blog link to the top telling them to check it out for more great information about the page’s topic. The more you use Squidoo and HubPages, the more points you will earn and the more things you will unlock. Posting more will also give you better positions within their built-in search features meaning more traffic.
18. Post Loop
PostLoop.com is a service I use a lot for my forums but it also has a blog feature as well. The way it works is you post on other forums or comment on blogs to gain points. Then you can enable your blog to get new users and comments. You will need to use WordPress for this to work as people will need to be able to register an account on your blog. If you don’t want to post to earn points, you can also purchase points. I usually purchase them because they don’t cost a whole lot and its a lot easier for me as I do a lot and don’t have the time I’d like to concentrate on posting to earn points. A lot of people use Post Loop so you will likely have really nice results there!
19. Comment Exchange
Comment exchanges are like link exchanges except with comments instead! Find blogs that relate to your niche, contact the owner and offer to become a regular commenting user on their blog in exchange they read and comment on your blog as well. You can develop great friendships with other bloggers this way and get comments when comments are low. I recommend this method as often as possible.
20. Word of Mouth
This is simple, just tell people about your blog! Word of mouth can really work wonders!
I hope you enjoyed my blog! These methods are bound to get your blog A LOT of traffic and readers if you use them to their advantage. Please share this post with other bloggers to give them a helping hand as well! I would love to see your comments telling me what you think of this blog and if any of these methods have worked well for you!?
