The following post has been submitted by Neil Patel from Pronet Advertising and Quick Sprout.
If you are trying to increase the popularity of your blog, chances are you’ve already looked into search engine optimization (seo) or leveraging social media sites. There is nothing wrong with using these methods and you should probably try using them, but if you have already exhausted all the common methods of marketing your blog then here are 5 uncommon methods that work well:
1. Comments – People get lazy when it comes to posting comments on other blog on a regular basis. You may say that you don’t have the time or that you don’t want to post comments on other blogs because the majority are your competitors. It doesn’t matter, if you post comments on other blogs on a regular basis and give valuable advice many of those readers will start looking up to you and start reading your blog. If you do this for months you can get thousands of new readers as well as increase your blogs popularity.
2. Social Networks – MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo and some of the most popular websites on the Internet, so why not leverage them? They get millions of visitors a day and there’s no reason not to create profiles on every one of these sites. When building your profiles you can talk about your blog as well as link to it which will cause more visitors to flood into your website.
3. Blogroll – Lots of bloggers avoid blogrolls because they hate linking out but by using a blogroll you will get more people to link back to you. Not only does this help with search engines, but more importantly will it drive visitors to your website. When adding sites to your blogroll, don’t just do it because you want a link back from a specific site, do it because you think it is a great blog.
4. Widgets – Who would have thought widgets can increase the popularity of your blog? If you are one of those people, take a look at MyBlogLog. When you setup a community like that, new bloggers will learn about you and start reading your blog. The other great thing about MyBlogLog is that you can friend other random bloggers which causes many of them to friend you back and look into your blog.
5. Offline – When people market their blogs they usually do so online. If you go to work or meet tons of new people on a daily basis you should share your blog with them if you feel it will benefit them. Every time I go to a conference or a meetup, I usually tell people about my blog and within a day or so I see an increase in RSS subscribers.
There are many other unconventional ways you can market your blog, these are just some of the methods I use. Anybody else have other “uncommon” ideas to market your blog?
Great post Darren! I’ve also found using the media and issuing press releases to be beneficial. If you can convince one reporter to write about you they do the work to convince thousands of others about coming to your blog!
Awsome article, I started using these free website promotions this week and they have been turning out very successful!
I believe I have gained readers from posting comments on various blogs.
I have joined a social networks as well. I like to see all the new faces on the widget I posted on my blog. Each day get more exciting than the previous day. This is really fun!
hmmm.. I’ve done all of these except the offline one. I think because I’m still new, I didn’t want to tell people about my venture until I was a little more secure.
I think you need to be really careful with widgets. Yes, MyBlogLog is great – and I’ve clicked on many a fellow reader’s picture, and followed the link to their blog – but most widgets are little more than distractions.
Many bloggers harp on about using a drop down (combo) widget for archives in place of a monthly list (the standard, built in approach). I’ve never understood this, and feel it’s just plain wrong, yet so many people ‘in the know’ use it, and look down on those who don’t.
Many of my non-techie family members and friends wouldn’t know enough to open a drop down list, whereas they DO know how to click on a link. Far better to simply cut your visible archives down to the previous 8 or 10 months than hide them away in a cool drop down.
I used MyBlogLog for a while until I realized that people click on my profile just because they want to be noticed. Very few actually went to my blogs (i do not blame them, I noticed that I do exactly the same thing when browsing MyBlogLog).
I’m with you on that Michael. I took the MyBlogLog widget off my sidebar when it became abundantly clear how many of the avatars were no more than blatant ad graphics — great ugly flashing ads, too, some of them! But I still find that browsing around MyBlogLog is a great way to discover new blogs to explore.
Great ideas as always darren. I’ve neglected to post comments to other blogs. I will start again.
really interesting article thanks for the post
They are all good ways to market a blog but I wouldnt say they are especially uncommon. Commenting on other blogs in the niche is pretty much the MOST common way!
The offline promotion of a blog (or any site for that matter) cannot be emphasized enough. Find your audience and go get them where they are. You can’t always do that sitting in front of your keyboard.
I also agree with everyone’s comments regarding widgets. It is a matter of who your audience is. For internet marketing blogs, most are totally fine because they are perfect for our community. However, if I were blogging about child safety with a target audience of mothers, then most would just get in the way or add no value.
I have reduced my ByBlogLog widget to 3 items only because it was slugging my page performance.
There are advantages to MyBlogLog, such as being able to track at a glance how much traffic you are getting as the pictures move. However, they can also be embarrassing – when I illustrated thsi technique from Problogger’s widget before Darren dumped it one of the pics was – shall we say – revealing. I have linked the article on my name above.
Great article.
I dunno if “uncommon” is the right word for this post. All five of these tips show up frequently in posts highlighting different ways to market your blog, particularly numbers 1 to 3.
I’m a bit disappointed; Neil usually delivers good stuff over at Pronet. What gives? :P
Yeah posting comments is definitely a nice way to get some traffic and readers. A few months back I’d probably leave 40-50 comments per day on dozens of blogs and traffic wasn’t even on my mind at the time, I just did it because it was relaxing and it is fun to start debates… been getting lazy lately though ;)
For more professional blogs, having my blog listed on my LinkedIn profile has brought in a few readers. I think it helps that I’ve answered a few questions in the Q and A section, otherwise, the only way for someone to find you is though your contacts or by a search.
Hmm, I guess this comment serves as a test of number 1.
Honestly these are great ways to market a blog but I don’t think they can be considered so uncommon :)
Neil Patel is really connected to get someone to post this bull on their blog…like its something that we all don’t know about…I wouldn’t expect that from darren.
Good tips. One way I market my blog offline is buying cheap sheets of blank business cards at my local office supply store. Then, using MS Publisher, I design a simple card that has my blog’s web address on it a maybe a few thing about the blog (and I always include the free monthly newsletter).
I then print off several sheets of these cards and take them with me everywhere. When I’m in a coffee shop or bookstore, or any other public place, I just drop one where I know it’ll be found. I know it sounds kind of slimy, but it works. NOTE: I don’t put any personal information on the cards, just info. related to my blog.
Oh yeah, and I also get a few hits from leaving comments here! Thank you everyone for visiting my site. I appreciate all my visitors!!!!
Here are a few more ways I use. I am not going for lots of traffic so this is hardly do or die.
SpringWidgets — if fact I use its Widget for THIS blog. But I could for any RSS feed. Handsome, beta and good.
Technorati — I do serious Good Keywords research in setting up a blog and choose results tied to what I believe will not rotate too quickly in Technorati kw results. Consequently I find consistent Technorati traffic in my logs.
I point most of my external traffic from free Veretekk portals to a GDI gateway (actual domain) which would on a good day rerminate in a click to my main blog.
I plan to begin commenting in subject areas of interest mainly to develop common interests in some of my non-commercial, subject blogs.
I find social sites and even Squidoo are not as big a deal as I thought they were at one time.
Using podcasting and other audio methods seems to me the biggest unmentioned (in this post) aid to maxing interest and meaningful visits.
A few comments:
#2. A good way to generate traffic via Facebook: first to build a large body of friends. Next, mention a few of your blog posts as a posted item link w/ picture. You’ll get hits, and good quality ones too. Don’t try this with every blog post you do, otherwise you might get a rep among your Facebook friends as being spammy. But 2 or so times a week works wonders.
#4. One widget I found to be useful was AltaVista BabelFish. A lot of visitors to my site don’t read English well and it is a help for them to be able to translate the whole thing into their native tongue via one click.
#5. I had some blog business cards printed up for a convention in February and found that they were an extremely useful way to market my blog offline.
While blogs are more popular now than traditional message boards or forums, we’ve noticed that we get quite a few hits coming from those.
For example, Dede’s Caliente garners a lot of visitors from the NewBeetle.org message forums.
Likewise, we get a significant amount of traffic over on our Russian Adoption Journal niche blog from adoption message forums, such as FRUA Chat.
And I’ve certainly seen minor surges of traffic coming from some of the webmaster forums like the DigitalPoint Forums.
So, don’t discount the usefulness of old-school message boards to help publicize your blog.
I use Myspace, Youtube, Flickr and related Forums as my main promotional tools. Since my site is new when searching google for my keywords my site rarely comes up in the first few pages but almost always one of my above forms of promotion does and the people eventually get to my site!
Don’t offer the ability to post comments on the blog and no one will know that you only get 20 uniques a day. Once you’re upwards of 100 RSS subscribers or 1000 unique visitors per day, you can open up the comments and see light activity.
Participating actively by sharing our knowledge is a good tip. My blog log is a good source for spammers.
There are a couple of free advertising networks too that might be good:
http://bla.st/ a visual directory and ad network (which I run)
http://www.adgridwork.com/ – free google adwords style ads
MyBlogLog widget is also good for sites that aren’t blogs. The widget is a great way to see who’s visiting your site and that they are real people. I see regulars on all the time, and I’m sure some new customers have arrived from it.
A great way that I have found to generate buzz is via Blog Reviews. ReviewMe.com and Payperpost.com are awesome for getting A-List bloggers to review and link to your site. If you don’t have the resources to pay for this kind of thing, there are always free blog review exchanges like http://www.reviewback.com that allow you to swap reviews with other bloggers within your niche. With all of the methods though, you should definitely disclose the fact that the post is paid/exchanged in order to upset your user base.
Nick
http://www.adgridwork.com
Commenting and Blogrolls definitely bring in a decent traffic. Have never tried social networking sites, seems it time to do so now.
You make a good point about offline marketing. Bloggers and webmasters tend to stick to online marketing techniques, but I have a business card with my blog URL, contact details, and whenever I come in touch with wants to know about what I do for a living, I pass them the business card.
I travel alot [my main blog is travel related] and people are always asking me for advice, so the business card is a good way to remind them about the blog.
Whenever I get a taxi, I also give the driver a business card – can you imagine how many people he/she comes into contact with during the day and how many people talk about holidays.
Not to sound like the voice of the obvious, but none of those are “uncommon”. The title was a little misleading. Maybe something like, “5 Ways to Market Your Blog You Might Have Missed”.
This is an oldy but a goody.
Have cards printed, and then go to a book store and place the cards into the reference book relatd to your niche.
A bit “geurilla marketing-esque” but good fun, it’s sorta like shop lifting but you leave something behind.
Okay, I am taking the advice of tip #1 by writing this comment. :) Just kidding. This was a great post. Another good way to market your blog is “forum signature” and “email signature”.
Once i went door to door dropping little fliers in mailboxes in a 4 block radius of my appartment with a little blurb about my free stuff blog. It was in between jobs, so i had the time :) i think i got a handful of hits from it.
I guess the point is that you should expiriment with any idea that comes to mind and give it a shot…
I also once passed out little fliers downtown durring lunchbreak
hey, it was when i first started. Maybe i was a little desprate for traffic….
Some of them, i used to do. when i just created firstly my blog. I felt worried that who know my blog. and later I went into other blogs and leave comments. and then they commented me back. But sometimes, it is my fault to be lazy to leave comments. I will follow up your good advices.
i think its best to cover off all aspects of traffic building or at least have them available on your blog as you never know 10 of your readers may digg you and get you 50 more readers or the comments that you make may keep the attraction your blog has. by this i mean that say a certain reader is reading through your post and they think its great. but the havn’t yet subscribed to your feed burner reading the comments you have on or under your blog may make them sign up after they see what others think of you. commenting on other blogs has brought me traffic it is irritating i must admit but it does work if you stick it out long enough
Thank you for the great suggestions. Has anyone tried classified ads? I was wondering if they would generate much interest.
I have been experimenting with social networking sites as a way to drive traffic to my blog, especially as I’m not not currently getting a great deal of traffic from Google. I have found I am getting some hits from these sites, particularly MySpace. There’s a few more social networking sites I need to register with, better go and do that.
by using the 5 said suggestions by darren, i guarantee it’ll work like a charm for getting more loyal readers. congrats darren.
The offline one is by far the most important one here — and one of the things I try and emphasise to the music industry people I consult.
The number of bands I see live that say ‘check out our myspace’ at the end of their gigs and simply leave it at that is heartbreaking. Not only are most of the people there already ‘myspace friends’ but actually, there’s no new information there to be found other than upcoming gigs in towns other than the ones where the audience lives.
There’s no URL on their flyers, their T-shirts or their CD liner notes, and nothing new to look at if they do find the website on more than one occasion. Blogging professionally (as opposed to blogging AS a profession) is nowhere more important than in the music business.
It’s perhaps the most simple thing I tell independent labels, artists, promoters, venue operators, music educators and anyone else who’ll listen: your website is not a marketing strategy — your website REQUIRES a marketing strategy. If you work in a business where crowds of people gather, and you don’t tell them how to find you online, then you’ve missed an important opportunity.
And while I’m here, just thought I’d add how much I appreciate this blog. It’s been a real source of inspiration and clear thinking. Cheers.
Offline is a big one for me. As a stand-up comedian, I am one of the few performers who passes around an email sign-up list after my shows. This has been very valuable for getting my audience to follow me to my comedy web site and then back out to the live shows.
Commenting is great when it is genuine, and not done for promotion purely!
i already done all the first 4. Maybe I should try the 5th one too. i don’t know how effective is it for my blog
Thanks Darren for this valuable information!
I’m a bit of a newbie (just started blogging about 11 weeks ago) but I’m having a blast and love writing. I was looking for new ways to build traffic and ultimately a readership. That Law of Attraction stuff really works – Good on ya mate!
Stephen Martile
http://www.stephenmartile.com
Darren
Having exhausted all other methods, I find your list of 5 refreshing and serves as a reminder to what I did not do (opposed to which I am supposed to do).
I had hesitated thoughts of being selfish and not include other great blogs in MyBlogRoll as some school of thought said linking out is Not a good thing to do.
I think I would start posting in other people’s blog and start adding in some great sites in my BlogRoll.
Thanks
May Ong
Malaysia
The offline thing is huge. Getting the attention of even a small local newspaper will bring in a surprising amount of traffic. The key to that, of course, is doing something different or newsworthy. My website and blog have been written up in five different newspapers that I’m aware of, and every time it shows up in the press I get a really nice spike in traffic along with a decent number of new regular readers.
Of all of the other methods, I’ve found commenting to be the most important for attracting and keeping readers. Basically, it just shows that you’re involved in the community and genuinely interested in what’s going on. I’ve had a few comments on my blog of the “hey, look what I wrote” variety, and those do nothing but turn me off. But when I come across an insightful, smart comment, either on my blog or someone else’s, I almost always end up visiting that person’s blog.
Great article.
One additional tip: Find a niche social content that matches your topic and begin submitting articles there.
For example, if you’re writing about business topics, we have a new social content site, http://www.DailyHub.com where lots of folks interested in business topics aggregate. This is another way to build traffic and the smaller social content sites like DailyHub are much easier to get some visibility on vs. things like digg and reddit.
Just make sure you are contributing content that is relevant to that community.
This driving traffic is only one part, the other part monetizing is more important for the new entrants. Articles about monetizing also will be very very useful. Expecting more from pb. Thanks Darren
I have been following the ideas and advice from Darren and other contributors. Unfortunately, having a site specific to non-English readers, and also most of my readers not being so technorati/digg/stumbleupon savvy, I have problems attracting traffic by this method.
I believe I am one of the few right now blogging about my niche subject; however, I find these methods to be irrelevant at this point. But I found that participating on forums related to my niche and not directly mentioning my site (b/c the posts get deleted!) and linking to my site via my signature helps significantly with traffic. Most forums allow bbcode as signatures. I try to post my logo along with site name. The only down side is, just like commenting, it needs maintenance. I have to constantly post because subjects usually roll quite quickly. Sometimes this is hard to do when you don’t have much to say about everything :)
P.S. Non-english sites with not so technical niche…Now, thats a challange! Is there anything other than google that I can attract readers with?
As soon as my blog gets a little bigger and I have my first book ready, I’m going to take out a Yellow Pages ad. I will also take out classified ads in both newspapers and magazines and have nothing more than a headline and my url.
Chris O’Byrne
Online Arts Marketing
I am trying really hard to post on other blogs, I find it especially hard, when I am reading in a reader, because I skim so many and I just can whip through them, taking the time to click and comment is hard.