Ricardo Bueno

Online Marketing Strategies for Real Estate

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Promote A Blog Post

Blogging isn’t always a “build it and they will come” sorta thing. You have to work hard to promote your own posts if you want them to get read. And therein lies today’s task…

Promote A Blog Post

I’ve shared several tips on how to promote your blog posts before. Here’s a few of them…

  • Link to it in your email signature. Every email is an opportunity to market your blog to someone new. Period.
  • Comment on other blogs. When your blog is new, this is one of the quickest ways to get noticed and bring new readers to your site. Take some time to comment on at least 5-10 blogs per day (or as often as they post new content).
  • Enable the right (social) sharing options. Outspoken Media has a great post on this. Basically, if you want people to share your blog via their networks (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), make it easy for them to do so. GetSocial and Sharebar are two great social sharing plugins. Can you think of any others?
  • Promote your url everywhere. Link to it in your Twitter profile, your Facebook profile, you LinkedIn profile and any other social network that allows you to upload a link to your blog. You never know when someone’s gonna leave a comment and say: “Hey, I found you through [insert social network name here].” P.S. Don’t forget to put your url on your business cards too.
  • Participate in a live twitter chat like #blogchat. It’s a great way to connect with new people, build relationships and find and share new content. Don’t hi-jack the chat with a bunch of self-promotional tweets (that’s a quick sure-fire way to get hated by the community). Danny Brown calls this being a “Twat Pirate” (it’s a great post). Focus on being helpful first. Share other people’s connect and then people will connect with your own.

READ MORE…

You should pick at least 2-4 promotion tips and execute on promoting your post that way. Especially for a new blog, you need to get some traction by promoting your own content and reaching out to others to help you promote it as well.

Today’s Action Step:

Today’s action step is to spend some time promoting your post and help promote someone else’s. If you didn’t write a list post yesterday, pick another post from your blog.

Here’s a list of some of list posts that others have written…

How To Live a Life Filled with Inspiration and Avoid Groundhogs Day Redundancy

5 Favorite Western, MA Blogs

9 Quick and Healthy Snacks

9 Quick Tips to Finding a Good Loan Officer

5 Reasons to Love Paradise Valley

My 10 Favorite Pictures from the San Diego Zoo

18 Amazing Photographers on Flickr

There you have it. Get to work and get sharing!

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Hey Marta,

      LOVE that you took two challenges and combined them into one!! It's an awesome list post also incidentally promoting and linking to Richard's post from the other day! Great job knocking this one out today (and I'm sure Richard is going to appreciate it) 🙂

      Reply

    • Very much appreciated – Thanks Marta, I tweeted your post as well…even without my link (Smile) it was really good stuff – the biggest was about new buyers not knowing what they get with an experienced Realtor. I’ve heard the comment so many times that Realtors don’t do much…A good Realtor is worth every penny and then some. I wouldn’t go into a real estate transaction without be represented by a true Realtor professional…

      Reply

  2. Funny, dude. You've left out what I consider the biggest promo of all – and that's guest posting. It's by far the hardest one to do in terms of time and emotional exhaustion, but the payoffs are staggering. In fact, if you listen to Jon Morrow, it's the ONLY way to go from a few hundred readers to the “big boys.”

    Enable the right social sharing options – yep, that's a great one. Interestingly enough, it seems that the fewer sharing options you give someone, the easier it is to get them to share it. If you have JUST a Facebook like button and I like it, I'll walk away feeling like I did everything you asked, as opposed to having a dozen different options and feeling like you only did 1/10 of what they asked.

    Ok that last part was controversial. 🙂

    Reply

    • Heh, great point amigo! Completely slipped my mind actually. I've seen tons of Real Estate Agents partner up with Loan Officers and Stagers to create content on each other's sites. It's a great strategy and definitely a great way to get new traffic to your site.

      Also, great point regarding sharing options. I think a good thing to do would be to take a close look at how people tend to share your content. Look over your post for the last 30 days. How are people sharing it? If they're not sharing it through Google Buzz for example, you probably don't need that icon enabled do you?

      Thanks for raising some great points today amigo!!

      Reply

      • Excactly Ricardo. If no one's using a certain tool, it's just cluttering the site. That's one thing I'd change if I were Chris Brogan. 🙂 The more you simplify a call to action, the more likely someone's going to respond.

        Not sure why, but the Disqus notifications don't work for me on this site (I have Disqus set to email my whenever someone replies). Weird.

        Reply

        • Re: “The more you simplify a call to action, the more likely someone's going to respond.”

          Agreed 1,000%!!

          P.S. You're not the only one having issues with notifications from Disqus today. I didn't even know anyone had left a comment, heh 🙂 And I just got an email notification from someone who posted yesterday :-/

          Reply

          • Yeah, I'm sorry Richard… I sent out a quick email this evening to everyone. I think Disqus was experiencing some hiccups earlier today and hasn't been delivering posts reliably unfortunately. They're always on top of things so I'm hoping they'll have this resolved soon so that we don't experience any problems moving forward. It's a shame to not be able to be connected with folks as they post updates. But thanks for checking in!!

            Reply

    • Martyn, you are correct that guest posting is a great tool. I have yet to utilize this site, as it just came on my radar two weeks ago, but your comment opened up a great platform for me to share it with our group: http://myblogguest.com

      Has anyone heard of this or utilized it before? I am going to check it out!

      Reply

      • Thanks for the tip Jaclyn. Although I've been subscribed to the MBG newsletter for a while, I've not interacted with it much. Personally, I feel that the best way to land guest posts is:

        1. Chose what blog in your niche you want to guest post at.

        2. Develop a casual relationship with the blog owner through comments, Twitter, etc. Get to know that blog really by subscribing to it for a while.

        3. Write a post with their audience in mind, then submit it.

        This is a lot more time consuming than a lot of guest blogging sites out there that just try to hook people up. But I've found it to be more rewarding and beneficial because you're developing deep relationships.

        Just my thoughts. I'm by no means the expert. 🙂

        Reply

      • Speaking of which Richard, I love that you've done that with moneypress.com. Brought on guest bloggers I mean, it's a *great* way to spread the writing load!

        Have you tried the WordPress Editorial Plugin before? Check it out: http://wordpress.org/extend/pl…

        It adds a monthly calendar format to your posts and it's a great way of organizing all of your content and posts. Gives you a real good full picture view of the content you have scheduled this week, next week, the month and the month ahead. Anyway, I'm sure you'll love it so go give it a test drive!

        P.S. I shared that plugin via today's email newsletter (for people who subscribe to it). Not that you have to, but you can sign up for it on the Newsletter page. I share weekly technologies and other tasks similar to what we have here.

        Reply

  3. Hi Ricardo, thanks for the tips on how to promote and reciprocate in the world of blogging. It's to easy to get caught up in yourself and forget that the whole point of blogging is to meet people, create relationships and maybe even buy/sell something of value. Digging through the web to find interesting blogs isn't a painful process. I think your recommendation of “Take some time to comment on at least 5-10 blogs per day (or as often as they post new content).” is an easy undertaking. ~Thanks again.

    Reply

    • That's right! Too often, people lead with the product first. That's the quickest way to lose an audience (IMO). If you do the reverse, and lead with the relationship first, I think it becomes much easier to grow your audience, and build some loyal fans which ultimately, makes you referable.

      Now, in regards to digging throguh the blog-o-sphere to find new content, yes, it can get over-whelming. Here's my trick:

      1.) I use Google Feedreader and compile all my subscriptions into different folders,
      2.) When I find a blog I find useful, I check to see if they have a blogroll. If they do, I dig through each of the blogs on there and jump from blogroll to blogroll finding new stuff 🙂
      3.) and then, my last source of finding good content, is through the comments people leave on other blogs that I visit frequently.

      Hope that gives you some good ideas Kirk!

      Reply

  5. I'm glad this topic came up today. Promoting posts is a great way to network and drive organic traffic. It can also help you re-purpose your existing content! I noticed that a “recent” post from Copyblogger regarding Richard Branson and journalism had been originally written in 2009–yet he retweeted it in January 2011. Having said that, I am going to re-purpose a post here that covers blogs, reading blogs, commenting on blogs. I'll admit that I got into blogging because I am a Blogaholic. Here you have it, Confessions of a Blogaholic http://thejaclynofalltrades.bl…

    Reply

    • Re: “Confessions of a Blogaholic”

      Now there's a neat post series idea! You can *easily* turn that into a weekly segment 😉

      Now yes, I've seen folks Tweet old posts. And heck, in most cases, I think it's useful. That's the great thing about evergreen content, you can always repurpose it and share it with new audiences. Copyblogger for one does an excellent job of that. Although I do have to say, I see people using automating tools like 'Tweet Old Posts' and I'm just not sure how I feel about that. I mean, how useful is it really?

      Anyway, I'm all for repurposing content. But relevancy is key too. Post it and share it if it's useful to your audience.

      Reply

  6. Would be interested to get your take on frequency of promotion. For example I post twice a week on my blog which auto feed to twitter and facebook when published. Given that facebook is more of a static animal, the once only promotion is fine. But given the dissapearing nature of tweets, what do you consider is enough promotion and when does it become too much for your twitter crowd.

    Reply

      • Hey Richard,

        I just left Jackie a response… Rather than copy-paste my comment here, how about you hop on by and check it out 🙂 Feel free to chime in in the comments too and I”ll talk to both of you soon.

        Reply

    • Great question Jackie! Here's a great article from Hubspot posted earlier today (well, it's more of a video interview actually): http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/t…

      It's an interview with Chris Brogan. In it, he shares his technique which is: a 12 to 1 sharing ratio. In other words promote people's stuff 12x's more than you promote your own. Think about it, when you look at someone constantly self-promoting themselves, it get's kinda old doesn't it?

      So, though I can't give you a specific answer, I think that's a solid idea and number to follow. Yes, you should promote your own work. But be conscious that you promote other, relevant helpful information too.

      Here's a post I wrote back in May 2009: https://www.ricardobueno.com/no…. The basics of it is, nobody cares about your product. They care about how you (and/or your product) is going to help solve their problems. So when you share and promote content, ask yourself: how is this helping my audience? If it's being helpful, you've done a good job. And that's the best you can do 🙂

      Hope that helps and I'd love to hear your response/ideas!!

      Reply

      • Thanks Ricardo, I know of Chris's theory on ratio and I think thats fine. While I do take the time to share the luv and spotlight others, it's really more a case of when does a single tweet become repititious, given that I only post a couple of times a week.

        Is it acceptable to retweet the same tweet once or twice a day until the next post publishes to get the message out and compensate for time zone discrepancies for example.

        I know from my own personal experience, it does annoy me when you click on links only to find that you've already been there 3 times before. But because the tweet has been changed you're not aware.

        I suppose maybe I've answered my own question, do it in a way that I wouldnt be annoyed by?

        Would be curious to get some feedback on this from others…or am I just being anal?

        Reply

        • I definitely think that posting a Tweet twice in any one given day is fair game (especially as you said, to account for time zone). I use su.pr to do this for me. Yes, on occasion I schedule my Tweet to go out at a particular time of day. Why? Because I happen to have a fairly good idea of when my network is online and when they respond to content (su.pr also gives you some pretty good stats).

          And by the way, don't think you're over-thinking it at all or being anal, lol. Totally fair question and somethings that's well worth thinking about!!

          Reply

  7. I'm glad I stumbled upon your blog today. I am new to blogging (just started in December 2010), and I'm really interested in learning how to promote my blog and generate some traffic. Could you tell me when #blogchat is conducted on Twitter? I'd love to get involved with that! You can find me on Twitter: @MeganHannah1 and on Blogspot: http://www.beautifullypeaceful.blogsp...!

    Reply

    • Hey Megan,

      Welcome to the wonderful world that is the blogosphere!! You're gonna love it here 🙂 The best way to get acclimated is to subscribe to a whole bunch of blogs and do exactly what you're doing right now… Reach out and connect with other bloggers by commenting, saying hello and well, just connecting the way you would with friends at a football game or something! Sure they might be strangers, but everyone's friendly and we're all into the same thing. I'm sure we share the same hobbies and all that good stuff even.

      In regards to #blogchat, it's every Sunday night at 6pm PST/8pm CST. Although I'm not sure we'll be having one this weekend on account of the Superbowl, but alas, we shall see 🙂

      Thanks for dropping by and hope to see you around here more!

      Reply

  8. Thanks for including my homework in your post! Off to do my part in the promotions department before the clock strikes 12 bells 🙂

    Reply

  9. Ricardo, this is definitely something that has helped me. I am very new to the blog world, but writing and reading. I never thought about how important it is to read other's blogs before. I see I need to start getting more connected!

    Reply

    • Get a gmail account, open up your “reader”, and create a folder titled: “Blogs to Comment On” or “Inner Circle”. I have mine titled as the latter. Those are the blogs that I frequent (almost) daily and try to leave a comment on. Start with a small group of blogs, then, as in my suggestions above, grow you network little by little. Watch how others do things, how they write, how they connect, etc. In fact, this sorta sounds like tomorrow's lesson so I'll stop there and look forward to connecting with you then 😉

      Reply

    • You know what I did when I first started blogging? I had a small group of blogger friends then… I'd visit their blogs frequently and I'd just chum it up with them. Kinda like going to your favorite local cafe where you know everybody and you just go there to hang out and chat.

      Anyway, I started going through one blogroll one someone's site and finding new blogs. I'd read. I'd introduce myself. And I'd leave a comment letting the person know how I found them. Then, I'd read through the comments and reply to other people's comments. Then I'd visit their site(s) and comment. Next thing you know, we were all just hanging out visiting each other's sites and having fun connecting.

      I think that what made it all work is that we were friends, we shared a common interest, and well, we were truly just connecting on a casual level like you do with friends at the local cafe where everyone knows each others' names.

      So, do I think you should focus on commenting on big blogs or small blogs? Neither one is the *right* answer. Focus on connecting with readers and bloggers by visiting and connecting over a common interest. Find other bloggers by seeing who they connect and engage with. And grow your network that way.

      Might not be the answer you were looking for…sorry. But totally worth it when you invest in a genuine, quality relationship with someone. Don't you think? 🙂

      Reply

  11. Promote, promote, promote! This is a really smart blog to post early in the challenge. The more we help each other means the more we help ourselves plus it helps us to get ideas from our colleages!

    Reply

    • Hey Holly,

      So how was your day today? Thanks for reaching out on Twitter about today's challenge… I have to admit, the email went out a little later than I'd hoped this morning, heh. But yes, that is correct. You can't expect for new readers to magically come read your content, you have to put it and push it out there sometimes (in moderation of course, no one likes a self-promoter if that's all they do). And the best way to promote your content with class is to help promote other people's content as well in the process!! And so on that note, thanks for participating and helping everyone around here 🙂

      Reply

  12. Ricardo, great tips here! I have done the Email Signature one for a long time (and Wisestamp makes it that much easier). Also, the commenting on blogs is huge. I will have to try the #blogchat! Thanks!

    Reply

  13. Two my favorite social media sites to follow are Social Media Today and Social Media Examiner. Almost all the content they post is re-post worthy and I love reading, learning from, and sharing their posts. It's usually broad, too, and makes many universally-applicable points, so no matter the niche, anybody can take away something from most of them.

    Reply

    • Hey John, 

      Now THAT sounds like a fun event! Just sayin’… All that’s missing is a margarita or two. And I’m not sure about the jalapeno eating contest. They’re good on nachos, maybe mac-n-cheese with bacon. But to eat them in mass quantities like that just isn’t for me, heh. 

      Love what you did to turn that into a list post! And to be honest, for readers that are skimmers, breaking up the text in that fashion makes it easier for them to read, engage and encourages people to share your content. Sometimes I’m not sure why it works that way but it just does. 

      Great write-up John and thanks again for being a part of the 31 Day Challenge!

      Reply

  18. Here is my list blog post from the other day http://www.nextlevelinnovation.com/5-ways-to-get-more-done-with-wordpress/ Time to promote a fellow blogger in the challenge.

    Reply

  19. I have been commenting on other’s blogs for months AND you are right. it makes friends and they will in turn repost or retweet your work. It’s a small pleasure to see that others validate your work. I am careful not to be gratuitous nor argumentative; rather I view it as a community of writers who are sharing ideas and information. I have seen enough trolls to be careful when I am emotional. For years I followed “letters” to the editors of the newspapers I read. With the online overall of these media, I have just about stopped since so many of the the comments are really attacks. I guess I am still hopeful for a civil discoure and most of the blogs I follow seem to fit this mold.

    Reply

  20. What I like about this is it’s forcing me to better plan my actions around my blog. My biggest hangup is not overpromoting, but under promoting. I never want to be that guy that drives people nuts with ‘look at me! look at me!’ and so I do the exact opposite.

    Thankfully I’m getting over that hangup and getting some good responses. So thanks for this gentle prodding. I’m really appreciating this process.

    Reply

  21. This one is definitely a challenge – a bit outside my comfort zone, but I have to get out of my own way and do some promoting to make some friends! I finally got my list post up on FPLF, and I’d love to share it here. (I much prefer the funnier “Cube Life” posts because I get to be a little more “me,” but I try to get a healthy dose of Jess in every post I write.)

    http://www.fineprintlargefont.com/5-questions-about-magic-mesh/.

    Reply

  23. This is certainly a challenge – a little outside my comfort zone, but I must leave my own path and do some promotion to make some friends! I finally got my list of messages FPLF and I share it here. (I prefer by far the most fun “cube life” messages, because I can be a little more “me”, but I try to get a good dose of Jess in every message I write.
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    Reply

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