This is Day 3 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, a group project 60+ other bloggers are doing together in an effort to help each other become better bloggers. You can read more about it and still sign-up to participate here.
I’ve talked to a number of bloggers over the years who are frustrated that few people read their posts or comment on their blog. After asking them what they write about, I usually ask them what they’ve done to promote their blog and connect with new readers. Often, the response I get is just a blank stare.
There seems to be an “If you build it, they will come” mentality with some bloggers. Some believe if you start a blog and write something every once in a while, readers will magically show up, engage, and become regular readers.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Successful bloggers, proactively reach out to people to build their audience.
Today’s lesson in the 31 Day’s ebook, gives some good suggestions for how to promote a blog post. Here are some of the things I do on a regular basis to promote blog posts published here and my personal blog.
Twitter – Twitter and blogging are like peanut butter and chocolate, they’re a match made in heaven. To use Twitter well, you need good content to tweet (aka blog articles). And to blog well, you need channels to get the word out about new posts (aka Twitter). I tweet every post I write. And usually more than once.
Facebook – OurChurch.Com has a Facebook page, which we post our blog posts to. I post a link to my personal blog posts on my personal Facebook profile.
Commenting on other blogs – I try to comment quite a bit on the blogs I read. When doing this its important not to be spammy. You genuinely want to contribute to the conversation. But often times I can contribute to the conversation but posting a link to an article I’ve written on a related topic. I don’t do this often, but you could Google the topic you’ve just blogged about as a way to find similar blog posts, and then post a meaningful comment with a link to your post.
Email distribution – Most of the people who register a username & password on OurChurch.Com check the option to be added to our blog email subscription list. Once a week, we send a post out to that list.
Newsletter – Once a month we send a newsletter to all our web hosting clients. One of the regular features in each month’s newsletter is an exerpt from a recent blog post.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking about today’s topic when I wrote the list post on this blog yesterday. 6 Things I Learned from Day 1 of #31DBBB is not likely to appeal to people outside of our group, and so I going to find another post to promote.
Discussion
- What did you do to promote your list post from yesterday?
- What ways of promoting blog posts have you found to be most successful?
- What other innovative ways have you promoted your blog or posts, that weren’t listed in today’s lesson?
The Extra Mile
A few other things you can do to take your blog, other bloggers, and this project even further today…
- Reply & give other bloggers feedback on their promotion ideas.
- People continue to add comments to the Day 1 & Day 2 posts, check em out.
- Tweet, share, & bookmark this post. (You could win a $25 gift card!)
- Ask & answer questions about blogging but unrelated to elevator pitches in the forums.
229 Comments
I already receive a lot of blog love from my Facebook Friends. I used a service that automatically posts a link to my blog entries to my Facebook wall once they have been posted. I'm don't do as well with Twitter, though I typically post links there as well.
I did write a new blog for today: "Is it Still Legal to Celebrate Cinco De Mayo?"http://captainestes.blogspot.com/2010/05/is-it-st… It's a funny little post written to celebrate today. Since it is humorous I decided to try posting a link to it on Reddit. So far I've received about 80 hits from that link.
Dude.. That was hilarious! For some reason I read it like I was Carlos Mencia with a twist of George Lopez! Made the story even more interesting!
My older brother's Birthday is today so we always celebrate.. It's an excuse for thise white boys to have a Corona!
Love the Fox News dig!
Dude.. That was hilarious! For some reason I read it like I was Carlos Mencia with a twist of George Lopez! Made the story even more interesting!
My older brother's Birthday is today so we always celebrate.. It's an excuse for thise white boys to have a Corona!
Love the Fox News dig!
Dude.. That was hilarious! For some reason I read it like I was Carlos Mencia with a twist of George Lopez! Made the story even more interesting!
My older brother's Birthday is today so we always celebrate.. It's an excuse for thise white boys to have a Corona!
Love the Fox News dig!
🙂 The Fox News line came pretty naturally.
I could tell!
I'm never quite sure whether to self-promote on reddit or not.
I've had mixed experiences. Especially in the "Christian" group.
Posting today's blog entry in the "funny" category has worked like a charm. I have over 400 readers so far.
I've had mixed experiences. Especially in the "Christian" group.
Posting today's blog entry in the "funny" category has worked like a charm. I have over 400 readers so far.
OMG! THAT WAS SUCH A FUN READ! LOVE IT!
Thanks, Tex. It was fun to write!
My latest post –http://bethelstone-debate.blogspot.com/2010/05/wh…
Since I started my blog I've had the availability for people to receive the posts via email, and of course I have an RSS feed. Though this has given me more access to readers, it does keep them away from visiting the actual blog and interacting in any discussion.
I tried limiting the RSS feed once to a paragraph or two and got a loud uproar in return. I've decided not to be controlling with the content just because I want people to visit the actual site.
Anyone else struggle with this? How have you handled it?
Since I started my blog I've had the availability for people to receive the posts via email, and of course I have an RSS feed. Though this has given me more access to readers, it does keep them away from visiting the actual blog and interacting in any discussion.
I tried limiting the RSS feed once to a paragraph or two and got a loud uproar in return. I've decided not to be controlling with the content just because I want people to visit the actual site.
Anyone else struggle with this? How have you handled it?
Chad, if you use FeedBurner, your RSS visits are tracked just like a visit to your actual blog. Plus, any photos or links embedded in your posts will show up in a person's reader. Clicking on those links will bring them into your site. RSS readers have grown fairly sophisticated. The reason you get the uproar with partial posts is that it's easier to have a reader feed on a monitor in a work cubicle than a flashy blog, betraying the reader as not actually working. 🙂
Chad, if you use FeedBurner, your RSS visits are tracked just like a visit to your actual blog. Plus, any photos or links embedded in your posts will show up in a person's reader. Clicking on those links will bring them into your site. RSS readers have grown fairly sophisticated. The reason you get the uproar with partial posts is that it's easier to have a reader feed on a monitor in a work cubicle than a flashy blog, betraying the reader as not actually working. 🙂
About 75% of my subscribers get each post through email. My website was born out of a daily devotional email so I guess I can't complain. I know people read them because I hear back from them from time to time, but like you said, they don't comment much.
I have also thought about using a teaser so they would have to come to the site, but I figured out that my job is to plant the seed and leave the waterin' to God.
I am tryin' to work on how to ask a question in the post to somehow get them motivated to go to the site and comment. I will put this in it's own post at the end, but here is today's post. http://campfirecowboyministries.com/2010/05/how-t…
Chad, I used to show just the intro in the RSS feeds both for this blog and LiveIntentionally.org. I really wanted to drive traffic to the blogs themselves. I got some complaints too. Eventually I decided to switch and include the whole post in the RSS feed, but I don't have a real strong feeling one way or the other on this.
I'll be writing my post at lunch, but I am going to take a little different approach. Earlier today I commented on the blog of some one who is inspiring me through his efforts to raise money for autism:http://www.operationjack.org The post will promote running for a cause, then I am going to promote it like crazy. I hope that the combination of highlighting someone else's efforts and putting my own in will make an impact. Lunch is in a hour, so I'll post again when it is up with the a link.
I'll be writing my post at lunch, but I am going to take a little different approach. Earlier today I commented on the blog of some one who is inspiring me through his efforts to raise money for autism:http://www.operationjack.org The post will promote running for a cause, then I am going to promote it like crazy. I hope that the combination of highlighting someone else's efforts and putting my own in will make an impact. Lunch is in a hour, so I'll post again when it is up with the a link.
I'll be writing my post at lunch, but I am going to take a little different approach. Earlier today I commented on the blog of some one who is inspiring me through his efforts to raise money for autism:http://www.operationjack.org The post will promote running for a cause, then I am going to promote it like crazy. I hope that the combination of highlighting someone else's efforts and putting my own in will make an impact. Lunch is in a hour, so I'll post again when it is up with the a link.
wow, all the best. I'll try help promote thru the week.
wow, all the best. I'll try help promote thru the week.
I joined networked blogs and feedburner and also twitter. At least got a few followers from networked blogs.
Not sure what to do about this today, as I have been tweeting and posting to facebook about the 31dbbb since we started. But I will continue to comment and keep on keepin' on.
B
Exacttly. I've been doing this more or less since day one of my blog.
I also have a huge rss list – which I scan looking for tidbits and then dive in. I frequently comment on many, many posts and whilst I can see that visitor numbers in response to a post do go up I only ever get the same folks commenting.
It's a shame and I don't know how to fix that personally so hoping others will have insights
Exacttly. I've been doing this more or less since day one of my blog.
I also have a huge rss list – which I scan looking for tidbits and then dive in. I frequently comment on many, many posts and whilst I can see that visitor numbers in response to a post do go up I only ever get the same folks commenting.
It's a shame and I don't know how to fix that personally so hoping others will have insights
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