One of the most difficult things about running your own blog is promoting it and increasing your readership. If you’re not a marketing pro, this aspect of blogging will likely not come easily to you and will require a bit of work. Below, you’ll find some of the easiest and most successful ways to promote your blog and drastically increase the number of views and followers you get.
Make Yourself Standout
Now, this might seem like a no-brainer, but there’s more to it than you might think. You need to make yourself stand out by being a solid, honest, knowledgeable, and reliable source on the topic. If what you are writing offers very little of value to your readers, then what do you think the chances are of your readers coming back? Or telling their friends and family to check out your blog? You need to establish yourself as an issue expert and convey the information in an interesting manner.
Be Keyword-Smart
If you’re writing the best content out there, it won’t do a lick of good if the right audience isn’t finding it. Do some keyword research to understand what will bring the appropriate readers to your site, and then utilize those keywords as much as possible (while still being appropriate).
If you’re still not sure what this would look like, think of something that you would like to learn more about, then Google it and see what types of results you get. Look at the keywords and formats of the content/websites, and apply similar structure to your blog.
Engage with Others
A good way to promote your blog and increase readership is to follow other blogs on similar subjects. Interact with their followers as well as the content creator(s). Establish these relationships and ask them for feedback on your blog and your content. Once you’ve established a relationship, they will be much more likely to help you promote your content and share your blog on their own site.
Get Social
Speaking of engaging with others, definitely harness the awesome power that is social media. This is such an effective (and cheap) way to market your blog and get your name out there. Facebook and others make it really easy to share your blog posts, and you can usually even promote your post or blog site for a small fee for a short period of time.
If you follow individuals or groups that discuss the same content that your blog covers, it may also be appropriate to share your blog with that community as well. Also, include a link to your blog in all of your social media profiles.
Utilize Email
It may no longer be the primary form of communication, but it is certainly not obsolete. Have an email option on your blog so that you can collect email addresses for your followers; once you’ve done this, directly send them new content as soon as it’s posted, and also send them some special content that’s not on your blog once-in-a-while.
This will help create a feeling of community among your followers, which increases all of the warm and fuzzy feelings they have for you and your blog, making it more likely they will promote you in their circle as well.
Guest Posting
Once you’ve made connections with others in your area of expertise, ask other bloggers if you can publish guest posts on their sites. Of course, offer the same courtesy to them as well. This will not only help increase variety for your blog, but it will also cheaply and easily help increase your readership just through that one post.
Find Forums
Find appropriate forums that relate to the area which you blog about, and post your content/responses there, along with a link to your blog. Quora is the most common site used for general interest and will likely give you some good connections.
Depending on how specific your area of expertise is; however, there are likely professional forums which you can use to communicate with others and post your content.
Social Bookmarking Sites
While not as popular as a general Google search or professional forum, social bookmarking sites are often used by individuals looking for specific content. You can reach out to these sites to see if your blog can be featured. Some of the most common social bookmarking sites include AllTop, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
Don’t be Afraid to Re-Publish
Depending on what the content is about, you will likely be able to publish your posts more than once. For instance, maybe the first time you posted that article about building a custom home it didn’t do so well. However, due to current events that led to more people flipping houses, your blog post may be even more relevant. Don’t be afraid to post content more than once, depending on current events, change in audience, etc.
Choose the Right Theme
There are so many bright and beautiful themes out there, you might be tempted to just choose the one that you personally like best. However, you will also want to keep in mind what the theme will look like on cell phones or tablets, as this is likely how most people will be viewing your blog.
Also, be critical—look closely at the text, font, background, etc. to make sure that nothing about your theme is distracting, dizzying, or otherwise just obnoxious. You also want to make sure your theme appropriately reflects the content and tone of your blog.
Understand SEO
To really help promote your blog (i.e. to help Google or Bing find and promote your blog), you want to make sure it’s in the correct format that search engines appreciate. This means utilizing appropriate keywords so that search engines can find your blog, but also allowing search engine to index and crawl your website. This will essentially put your blog on the “good” list, making it more likely that your content will show up in searches.
Don’t expect your blog to become successful without a little effort on your part. No matter how good the content is, it will always require some promoting on your end. Although promoting your blog can seem like a daunting task at first, just a few solid strategies and strong personal connections is really all it takes to get your blog out there.
