WAYS TO PROMOTE A BLOG

»»The Basics(Social Media)

• Tweet your post: Tweeting posts should be a regular thing. But one thing bloggers tend to do is just Tweet, “New post! [Link]” Truth be told, I NEVER click on those links. Write a snappy tweet with a link to your post. It could be your post title, but something that you know your Tweeps will click on. And change it up so you can tweet your post more than once. 
• Facebook: Don’t forget your readers on Facebook! Be sure to include an image on your post and test different times of days to see when your readers click on your links.
• Pinterest: A powerful traffic driver, Pimp your images for Pinterest, and be sure to include this in your promotional  strategy. You may have to test a few things to see what works best for your blog.. including adding text, pinning close up shots, whatever it is your followers best respond to.
• Stumbleupon: This is an oldie but a goodie. It doesn’t take long to “Stumble” posts, but you never know which posts might get “Stumbled” so you wouldn’t want a chance to miss out on additional traffic boosts. It’s a really great way to get exposure beyond your regular circles.
• Instagram: While there is no real way to link directly to your posts (yet) in Instagram, it’s always great to let your followers there know you have new content on your blog. Be sure to let them know that your ‘gram is for a new post!
• Google+: There might be a lot of things disappearing from Google these days, but Google+ isn’t one of them. Google+ give some added value with their SEO features, along with sharing capabilities.
• Include a “Follow me on Bloglovin” link in all of your posts: Now that Google reader is going away, more and more people are using Bloglovin. Bloglovin actually drives traffic the more followers you have, so make sure you give your readers every chance to follow you on that site so they never miss a post.
• Do a Twitter chat around a blog topic: Tweeting your posts might not be enough… perhaps another way to promote your content (and your Twitter presence) is to host a Twitter chat and use a hashtag. Here you would write a post on your blog, invite a few blog friends to participate and have a conversation on Twitter.

»» Promote your blog via Facebook 

¤ Facebook Page 

The first major step is to create a Facebook page to promote your blog and its content. A Facebook page is very important for a blog. When your site has got a reputation and some decent content, readers may want to know about any fresh content on your blog, but they can’t visit your site every time just to know if you have posted something or not. However most of them will always be on facebook at least once in a day. Hence they can be notified via the facebook page about any new info related to your blog. It also helps brand building. This will help you make a list of some loyal readers for your blog.

At first, try asking your friends to like and share your page with their network, This will help you grab some likes to make your page good to others. Once you build up some decent content, readers will automatically start liking your page.
Post the content on your page and then tag your friends and others who might be interested in that via your main account. This sets a notification for others telling them that this person has been tagged in your photo. If they are curious enough they might visit your site for knowing more.

¤ Audience BuildUp

Now since you are on facebook, you have the opportunity to grow your network bigger and bigger everyday. Once you are doing a decent job with your blog people may send your friend request, and believe me you can get requests almost daily. Try to accept almost all of them which look genuine to you. This will help you grow your network and once you share anything on your facebook wall, it will be shared with a large no of audience. This is a very genuine way to promote your blog.

You can also consider sending requests yourself to some other bloggers in the same niche. They will always love to know what you are doing on your blog. Facebook also allows you to create list of peoples. Create a list of people who might be interested in your content and share your content with them.

Also don’t forget to invite them to like your pages. Some of them will definitely accept your request.

¤ Commenting and Sharing Others Work

Commenting is really a great way to promote your blog. Try leaving comment on other blog posts and share them on facebook. A person can only share your work in two cases, if he likes your work or if he feels likes sharing. If he likes your work then it is ok but still there are chances that he won’t share it. To increase this chance of sharing try promoting his content and in turns he will promote yours. 

You can also attract some pro bloggers by regular commenting and like on their work.  This will make them happy and they might come to know about your work. This will help you much to promote your blog. Make sure your comment is a genuine one and is not a spam.

¤ Updated Profile With Blog Link

Updated Facebook Profile

Edit your personal account and add your blog’s home page address and your position on that blog on your profile. This gives a good impression to your connection and also to other people who are viewing your profile. For example you can take a look at my profile snapshot below. Try adding your blog link in your description in personal account.

Also make sure your page about section contains the link and your site description. This may also lead them to your site and then it’s your work which may make them like the page and visit again. This is a one time work and helps you promote your blog as long as your account exists. 

¤ Becoming an Active Member & Seeking Attention

Never just make any connection for increasing the network. Because a network with no active member is a waste. Try making a genuine network with active members. This will help you promote your blog to people who are active and more likely to be a part of the promotion. Keep your friends and connection in touch by wishing them on their birthdays, commenting on their status. It will always make them happy and if your audience is happy, it is a very good news for you. This will also help you find dead unresponsive people.

¤ Promoting via Facebook Groups 

This is also a great way to promote your blog. Join 5 or more groups where you can promote your blog posts. Make sure these groups does not have nay restrictions on porting your content. Also target only those groups which have a large no of audience and is very active.

You can also make your own group and let other bloggers share their content in your group. This will attract more and more bloggers to your blog and you will get a large no of audience to promote your blog post. Never be too selfish and promote other blogs also. It’s always a give and take deal.

»» SEO Promotion

• Use Google Keywords to promote via SEO: One of the best ways to promote content is to use SEO. It is still the number one traffic driver for all of my websites, and should not be overlooked.  Google has a nifty Keyword Tool which allows you to search keywords and see how many people are looking for particular topics, and how competitive the keywords are.
• Look in your Google Analytics for to see how people find your blog (and expand on that): In Google Analytics you can find under “Site Content–>Search Engine Optimization–>Queries” What keywords people are using to find your site.
• Link to other posts within your site to boost SEO: Links within your site do two things, they build authority for your posts, and they keep your readers on your website. I have noted we shouldn’t overdo it with the links in our post, so be strategic and try not to get carried away.
• Put relevant keywords in your image “Alt” Tags: Don’t forget your images can be searched too!
• Guest Post: A lot of people complain that guest posts don’t drive traffic. But maybe if you play it right, driving traffic could be secondary to your SEO goals. Use your guest post opportunities as a chance to link to specific posts within your site to help boost the SEO results and that will get you more traffic.

»» Good Old-Fashioned Email

• Email Newsletter to your readers: It’s never to early to start building your newsletter. It may take time, but after all blogging is a long haul game. Email your readers once a week, or once a month to let them know about what’s going on with your blog. It’s the perfect time to promote specific content.
• Ask your blog friends to promote a post: If you have a post you’d like to promote, and you have a great relationship with your blog friends, asking them once in a while to promote a post for you is no big deal.
• Pitch your post to other blogs: Say you write a post that would be perfect for another blog, it would be a good time to  let that other blogger know about your post. Who knows, maybe you’ll get a link!
• Pitch your post to the press: Say you’ve done an independent study, maybe you’re an expert in budget fashion or did something newsworthy, or have the perfect post for a website, developing relationships with the press would be a great way to get added exposure on news sites in addition to blogs.

»» Create Shareable Content 

• Create a free download to share with your readers: Whether it be a calendar, desktop or even a template, free downloads are a great way to get readers to download, keep, and possibly share with others. Everyone likes a freebie!
• Write content that solves a problem: Do you have a solution to a problem everyone has? Getting rid of muffin top? If you solve a problem, it will help your readers, AND if your readers have friends with the same problem, they’ll probably share your blog post too.
• Write a catchy headline: I cannot say enough about how important it is to have a straightforward, yet catchy post title. This is often times the first impression people get of your website whether it be through search or through social media. You only have fractions of a second to catch their eye!
• Write a controversial post: Maybe you don’t agree with what’s going on, maybe you’re on the fence, maybe you have a juicy piece of information to share with your readers. A controversial post will get people talking.
• Feature another blogger: If you’re new, maybe you can do a feature swap with a blog friend with similar traffic, but featuring other bloggers helps build community along with you might get social media promotion from the other blogger. Word of advice, the other blogger may not share, so don’t expect or demand them to do so, as you may end up burning a bridge.
• Start a blog meme: Bloggers love to engage with others by sharing content. If you provide a service to share their content, you can always ask that they share your content as well.
• Create an infographic, and pitch it to other blogs: Infographics.. they are fun, and shareable, and most of all pitchable. If you think of a clever way to make information into a graphic, it could really lead to some amazing promotion for your blog!

»» Using Sites like Digg and Technorati to Increase Blog Exposure 

What I've found is that many people express it is difficult once they start a blog to get readers.  It’s important to remember that if your blog is brand new this isn’t a process that is going to happen over night.Increasing exposure to your blog is like building your SEO presence on search results.But there are strategies to increase readership to your blog.

• First thing you want to make sure your blog is interesting.  You want people to be able to easily read and understand your message.  Keep it simple,don’t flood viewers with too much information, but give them enough to keep them wanting more.
• Next is to subscribe to blog search engines like Technorati.  This will help so your blog can be searched and viewed by people who are looking for the information that you are writing about day by day or week by week.
• Finally you can create an account and post your blog on Digg.  This will allow people to search for your blog in the same way as they do on Technorati, but they can also forward it by “digging” it to their followers.  It is like a chain effect when it comes to interesting content that people want to read and follow.

For more internet marketing ideas and ways to increase your blogs exposure continue to visit my blog.