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 have been posting on Facebook, but not Tweeting. My experience has been that the biggest draw to my blog has been posting my comments on other people's blogs. I have tracked this and know it to be true. Even participating in this project has increased what little traffic I have. The problem is time. With all of the rest of life pressing on me, it is very difficult o find the time to read and comment on other people's blogs.
I've been doing a little series on what makes a husband "safe" to his wife. Here's the latest installment of "The Best Safety Device is a Careful Man":
http://preparation4eternity.blogspot.com/2010/05/…
I promote my blog posts via Twitter, Facebook personnal profile, Facebook fan page (for my business) and sometimes via email among other subject.
The most successful has been via Facebook, by far. 20% of the total visits to my business blog comes from Twitter and Facebook.
My URLs are also available on Linkedin, although I don't update my status regularly at this time.
One of the most interesting response I get from my clients when talking about blog is their concern about spending too much time responding to comments left on their blog. If only that was the case!
You may visit my day's post where I write some more about today's subject :http://lemondedenathalie.ca/2010/05/05/jour-3-com…
In addition to Facebook and Twitter (my main sources), I have had occasional success with Reddit and StumbleUpon.
Reddit readers like to comment over on Reddit instead of on your own post, and seem to like posts that draw discussion and disagreement. Some will vote up, some will vote down. Your page will be seen on a topic page according to the votes it's getting.
StumbleUpon viewers (I hesitate to call them readers) keep seeing random pages recommended for them, until something catches their eye. Imagery (photos and videos) are big there, along with short posts. If a viewer gives your page a thumbs-up, it will be shown to other viewers.
Give each service a try to see what they're like, and to get a feel for what the folks there do. But you can't just promote your own links, or you may be banned, so regularly promote pages on other sites.
Thanks for the info. I've been too lazy to look into StumbleUpon and Reddit, so this was helpful.
Thanks for the info. I've been too lazy to look into StumbleUpon and Reddit, so this was helpful.
I think I am doing most of that – but feel now I must just persist – that is a lesson in and of itself. Persist – don't give up – blog regularly – keep it short (<500 words), topical and open-ended – invite debate – never closed ended.
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Another thought: We're not just trying to get loads of random people to our blogs. As Andrew Jones aka Tall Skinny Kiwi writes here, it's not about racking up numbers — it's about getting the right readers, the ones the Lord wants you to connect with.
So here's a suggestion: Pray for your blog, asking God to connect you with the right people.
Another thought: We're not just trying to get loads of random people to our blogs. As Andrew Jones aka Tall Skinny Kiwi writes here, it's not about racking up numbers — it's about getting the right readers, the ones the Lord wants you to connect with.
So here's a suggestion: Pray for your blog, asking God to connect you with the right people.
Hey, that might be worth a try! Good thought, even better to practice it.
I just changed my website, so that when you click on blog, it redirects to blogger.
What are the pros/cons of this? Any feedback??
<a href="http://www.speakinggraceonline.com” target=”_blank”>www.speakinggraceonline.com
I just changed my website, so that when you click on blog, it redirects to blogger.
What are the pros/cons of this? Any feedback??
<a href="http://www.speakinggraceonline.com” target=”_blank”>www.speakinggraceonline.com
I just changed my website, so that when you click on blog, it redirects to blogger.
What are the pros/cons of this? Any feedback??
http://www.speakinggraceonline.com