Writing remarkable content is half the battle. When you start a new blog, it’s not exactly one of those: If you build it they will (automatically) come situations.
It’s the worst feeling when you write this amazing content and nobody comes to visit, read, share and comment. So how do you get your content viewed and shared by your community? What are some quick tips that you can implement NOW to drive traffic back to your blog both online and offline?
Here’s a short list. I hope you’ll add yours in the comments.
15 Ways To Market Your Blog
- Promote it on your website. If your blog domain is separate from your main website, make sure that you inter-link the two. You’d think this is common sense but you would be surprised how many people I’ve seen skip this step. Furthermore, it’s a good idea to create your blog on a subdomain. It’s good branding and it’s good for seo. For example, our main company site is diversesolutions.com. Our blog is located at diversesolutions.com/blog.
- Link to it in your email signature. Every email is an opportunity to market your blog to someone new. Period.
- Consistency matters. The more frequently you post relevant and useful content, the more you incentive you offer readers incentive to keep coming back and share that content with other people in their network.
- Promote your RSS feed prominently. (Here’s mine).Your subscription options should be displayed prominently and above the fold. If I can’t find your subscription link, I’m not very likely to come back. I visited one blog whose content I thoroughly enjoyed but whose feed I couldn’t find (it was at the bottom, near the footer). Can you believe it? Neither could I.
- 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.
- Share your content on Facebook. I used Networked Blogs for this. Whenever I publish a new blog post, it auto-posts to my Facebook Profile and Page. Although Facebook isn’t my primary Go-To network, I find that several people comment via my post updates there and “Like” the content there when they find it’s a good read. They won’t always comment directly on the blog, but their interactions tell me they’re reading it and sharing it with their own networks.
- Share your content on LinkedIn. You can do this in two ways: 1.) use the bloglink app to share your blog via LinkedIn, or 2.) use the Status Update link to share a link to your most recent post with your network. My buddy Lewis Howes has a great post over at Problogger.net titled: Top 10 Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Blog Using LinkedIn.
- Exchange links on blogrolls with bloggers you know. My friend Jim Connolly just added me to his blogroll (right-hand side). When I’m looking for fresh new content to read I often skim through people’s blogrolls in search of new content. If I’m doing it, I know others are doing the same.
- Make your content sticky. Basically, a sticky blog grabs readers’ attention and makes them yearn for more. Also, a sticky blog or post tends to result in tons of comments and retweets (always good exposure). You do this in a ton of different ways: series posts, list posts, How To series, etc. The goal is to get people coming back for more.
- Submit your blog to all of the top directories. TopRank has a great updated list of submission urls for RSS and blog directories that you can submit your blog or RSS feed to. Check it out here.
- Do an interview series. Stacey Soleil and I did this through our podcast. Becky Johns did a wonderful job on hers through her Influencer Series. Copyblogger is doing this through their new Internet Marketing for Smart People Radio series. What you need to think about is, “how can I make this interesting (and helpful) to keep people coming back for more?”
- Promote your site when you speak at events. Stacey and I included our twitter signatures in our slide-deck for our presentation at REBlogworld 2010 (see here).
There’s tons of ways you can promote your content both online and offline. These are just a few that came to mind. People spend a lot of time and energy researching and writing content for their blog and not enough time promoting it (which is just as important).
Over to you!
What would you add to the list? What are some great, unique ways that YOU use to market your blog? The comments are yours… 🙂
Some great suggestions here, amigo.
I found that offering an original take on your subject or having a “unique voice” really helps to grow your blog too. When you offer an original experience to your readers, you have a better chance of engaging them and also encouraging them to share your blog with their network.
Jim: Great point!
With so many blogs everywhere covering similar topics I think people are looking for something original/unique. Stop trying to be like everyone else and just “be you.” Be unique (because you are). And that will make your content remarkable and worth revisiting time and time again.
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your tip Jim! Will update it to the post with credit of course. 🙂
Man, this is a huge resource and action list. With Social Media becoming more mainstream it's ability to promote (almost automatically) is something not to be overlooked.
The one thing I wonder about is directory sites. As we move more into real-time search, and aggregation, when do these places become less relevant then say three years ago when they dominated the scene?
In my circles, Twitter, and occasionally Facebook, are taking the place of Digg, SU, and others for recommended top content.
Thoughts?
Re: “ability to promote (almost automatically) is something not to be overlooked.”
Totally agree! When a blog is new, you gotta work just as hard to promote the content as you do when you're researching and writing. Otherwise, who sees it?
In regards to your question, I think it depends. I used to be an avid SU user. I mean big time. Searching and stumbling and connecting with fellow bloggers was my thing. Though I'm not an avid user, there are still plenty of passionate members of that community and so driving traffic and engaging through those channels works for them.
For me, I find my content through recommendations on Twitter but also by scanning comments and other people's blogrolls. Skim through the blogrolls on http://www.conversationagent.c… or http://www.jimconnolly.com for example. You'll find some great new reads there I'm sure.
Great list! These two are always overlooked: Forums posting (answering questions on forums related to the subject and industry) and article marketing (including a link back to your blog in your signature line). They are both very strong traffic generators.
Mirna: Great additions!! I should add that to the bit about commenting. Engaging on Forums and other similar networks to answer questions is a tremendous resource! I use to answer questions posed on LinkedIn Questions for example by writing a response on my blog, then answering the question in the forum by linking to the post directly. Great way to drive traffic!
Thanks for the excellent suggestions and for taking the time to comment!
You kind of nailed all of my normal suggestions 😉 My only other one would be to give more options that just “rss feed” for them to subscribe through – and make it super easy!
Yep! Like a newsletter (mailchimp, aweber, madmimi, etc.) or even a standard subscribe via email. 30-35% of my readers subscribe via email and it's neat when they respond to a new post with an email reply. They won't always comment but it's neat because there's a bit of a personal connection there that just feels good.
Thanks for the comment Kirsten! I'll be updating the post with more tips and giving you credit for this one 🙂
Hi Ricardo, Muchas gracias!
thank you for the list. It's amazing, I'll start right now to work it down. I have a question regarding the rss feeds. would you suggest that I enter my blog to all of the services? Is there a master service that will enter my blog to all relevant services (not for free, of course, but for that I'll pay)?
Thank you very much!
Olmo
Olmo: Glad you found it helpful and thanks for taking the time to comment!
In regards to your question, I think TopRank offers an excellent starting point to the different directories where you can syndicate your content. Personally, I don't syndicate my content on some directories that just aggregate content. I'd rather post a snippet of my blog post there, and direct people back to my blog for the original article (if that makes sense).
I'm not sure if there are services that automatically submit your content to various directories but there are companies out there who do this for you on behalf for a fee.
Thanks again for the visit and taking the time to comment!
thank you for your reply. Right now, I have an account at Technoraty. I think this should be enough for now. I'm not doing anything, just keep blogging. Thanks
I think Alexa has some site badges as well, your might try checking them out. Blogburst.com comes to mind too though they recently underwent some changes that I'm not too familiar with yet.
Hope that helps!
Who'd like to be interviewed on a website that has just launched? 🙂
An extremely comprehensive list, Ricardo. I can't think of much to add except maybe making sure you add your blog feed to aggragator sites on which you have a presence. FriendFeed, for example. Lots of people link their Facebook and Twitter, but neglect to add their blogs.After you add it, it's automated, so it's no work at all.
Amber
Great point Amber! One service that comes to mind for me is Twitterfeed for posting your blog content on Twitter although I'd use this with caution. I can't stand users whose stream is full of nothing bit pushed Twitterfeed content.
Thanks for the Retweet and comment Amber! Have a great Sunday night and I'll catch you on #blogchat (maybe) 🙂
Oh, yeah, that Twitterfeed thing is out of control. I most certainly didn't mean automating tweets. I just meant linking your blog feed into all your other social media activity.
Again, great advice for newbies Ricardo! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for pulling this one out of the archives Ricardo! A reminder that I need to add my subscribe by RSS button! Eeek!!
Get on it!
This is really useful. I will use these tips when I write my next blog.
What's your feeling on pingbacks?
This post is fascinating! When I was reading it I felt like I didn’t know anything about promotion (although I have 2 years of experience). Ricardo, you didn’t mention SEO – this, I believe, is very important part of promoting blogs. Although some people misuse it and write for the purpose of being noticed by search engines, forgetting about real readers.. So my piece of advice – write for people and don’t forget about search engines!
Jake
I do everything except 13 and 15! Would be interested to know how many daily views other people get, also which blog directories are worth submitting to …
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