Yesterday’s task in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge was to write a ‘list post’ on your blog. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to write that up and publish it by now.
Today we’re going to take that post and attempt to drive some readers to it.
Today’s Teaching on Promoting Blog Posts:
Blog Promotion is something that most bloggers have tried to do in many ways – however one mistake that I see a lot of bloggers making in their attempts to find new readers is that they only ever promote their blog as a whole. Their promotion is all about driving traffic to their blogs home page URL.
While there’s nothing wrong with this – I personally have had A LOT more success in promoting individual posts than my blogs front page. That’s what we are going to do today.
Having hit publish on your post yesterday – don’t just leave it to chance that your post will be read by people. Be more proactive than that and spend a little time today giving it some ‘nudges’ to help it on its way.
I know quite a few have already done some of this by leaving a link on our previous post promoting your link (some of your are reporting quite good traffic from doing it) but lets go a step further and find some ways to promote your post in other networks outside of ProBlogger.
11 Ways to Promote a Blog Post
note: please be careful in using these techniques. Don’t use them all with every post you write. Choose your best posts and promote them selectively and in ways that are useful to other people.
1. Pitching Other Bloggers – asking another blogger to consider linking to your post. note: there’s a real art to this – read more on how to do it at 11 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Being Linked to By a Blogger.
2. Social Messaging – what social networks like Twitter and Facebook are you a part of? Attempt to leverage these to promote your post. The key is not to incessantly spam your followers and friends with your link – but use your network to ‘seed’ the link and let your followers spread word of it for you (this won’t happen every time but as your network grows it can become more and more powerful).
3. Social Bookmarking – promoting selective links on a site like Digg or StumbleUpon can lead to amazing results. Further reading on this topic at How to Get to the Front Page of Digg and Using Social Media Sites to Grow Your Blog’s Traffic.
4. Internal Links – don’t just promote your post on other people’s sites – think about where you can link to it from within your own site. Perhaps you’ve written on the topic before and can add a link for further reading, perhaps adding a section in your sidebar for ‘latest posts’ could work. Internal linking won’t drive heaps of new traffic but it can help with SEO and increase page views.
5. Newsletters – if you have an email newsletter list – shoot out an email to your list about your latest post.
6. Other Blogs Comments Sections and Forums – leaving helpful and insightful comments on forums or other blogs can be great at driving traffic if your comment is genuine, relevant and sensitive to the discussion. Leaving a link is sometimes also appropriate if highly relevant.
7. Email Signatures – Adding links to your blog to your outgoing emails is fairly common place – but whatever including links to recent posts instead of just your blog’s front page URL.
8. Followup Posts – write a new post on your blog that picks up where your last one left off. This builds momentum and if you inter-link the posts drives more page views.
9. Advertise Your Post – for posts that you’re particularly proud of and that are well received by readers you might even consider a mini ad campaign with a small budget using a service like AdWords or StumbleUpon advertising. Further Reading on this at Run a StumbleUpon advertising campaign on your blog.
10. Pitch Mainstream Media – occasionally posts will be relevant to mainstream media. You want to really pick a highly interesting post for this – it’s not something for every day.
11. Article Marketing – I wouldn’t recommend submitting exactly the same article you’ve posted on your blog to article marketing sites (this can get you into trouble with Google penalties for duplicate content) but I know of a few bloggers who rewrite their key articles for article marketing.
Of course there are many other ways to promote posts. Feel free to tell us how you do it in comments below.
Please note: don’t do all of the above things for every single post on your blog. I personally tend to pick 1-2 posts a week to give a push and let others grow organically.
Today’s Task – Promote a Post:
Take a little time to look at yesterdays post and ask yourself where it might be appropriate to promote it. If you look at the post and don’t think that it is really worthy of promotion anywhere – feel free to choose another relevant post to do it with. If you don’t have one – spend some time today writing something that you feel IS link worthy and then try promoting that.
For most of you I’d start with point #1 above – pitching to other bloggers. Choose another blog with highly related content to your post and politely submit it as a suggested link to that blog. Again – check out 11 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Being Linked to By a Blogger for tips that will help increase the likelihood of it being successful.
Feeling Timid?
I know that many new bloggers often feel quite timid and wary of promoting themselves. Don’t worry – you’re not alone. I have felt that myself many times and have at times not put my work forward where perhaps I should have. However – the times that I have been willing to push myself out of my comfort zone have often paid off.
While I’ve had a few times in my blogging life where I’ve had lucky breaks that result in traffic – most of the times traffic has arrived at my blogs in numbers have been a direct result of me doing some promotional work. Don’t just leave it to chance – put yourself out there and see what comes as a result.
Once you’ve done it – I’d love to hear how you went about promoting your post and what the result was in comments below. Lets learn together how to get this task right!
Update: There are lots of folks talking about this over at the forum, you should check it out! Day 3 – Promote a Post
Want More?This task is a sample of one of the tasks in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook – a downloadable resource designed to reinvigorate and revitalize blogs. Join over 14,000 other bloggers and Get your Copy Today. |
I did many of the things mentioned in your list in my last blog post. Good to know I’m doing some of the right things already!
Thanks Patrick for the tip, I’m going to try that! I just hope I won’t spam my followers too much.
Wow – for once I’m ahead of the game. My post was the top ten reasons I’m going SOBCon09. http://debworks.blogspot.com/2009/04/top-ten-reasons-im-going-to-sobcon-09.html
I’ve gotten a couple of responses already!
I posted it to twitter and also on facebook.
Today I’ll go through what others have written (there is so much!) and find some posts that interest me – and have a conversation with those people.
Keep ’em coming, having a great time here!
Another way to promote to a post is to find a collective-type blog/site. For example, I had posted a free newfie mitten pattern that didn’t generate any interest from new readers. Months later, I remembered a free pattern website, and I emailed the owner and gave my consent to post the mitten link. Within days, she had posted my link on her front page as a new pattern, and I experienced thousands of hits on my post. It’s still on her list, so months later, I am still getting an average of 30-50 hits a day just from that site alone. This method might take some more thinking, but was absolutely free and had stunning results.
Hey Darren,
My list post from yesterday was one which I’d been trying to get out for ages but never got around to completing until I felt nagged to do so by the 31 Day Challenge. Here’s to getting through the month and spitting out all those drafts as gold, huh?
http://nicolejensen.com/2009/04/07/top-event-management-twitter-apps/
Done the elevator pitch, done the list post but this one had me thinking more in-depth. My blog is a niche about a massive mountain bike ride I am about to undertake so seems only relevant to a small group of people but there may be a wider audience that might be interested. So linking to others is something to consider more seriously.
Enjoying the hints and tips so far.
(oops posted this on the 11 ways instead of here)
I post some of my articles on article marketing sites as rewrites and sometimes as they can be found on my own website. I also have started using twitter and have seen results from both techniques. I’m still gun shy about stumbleupon and digg. I have trouble getting over the sense that I’m bragging about how great of a writer I am – if that makes sense.
Thanks again, Darren!
I run a blog about starting up a business while you’re working for a boss (i.e. actually in the boss’ time!). Everybody is more than welcome to write a guest post on the blog, especially if you want to share your experience with this matter.
Sen me a link to your blog at [email protected] and I’ll get in touch!
I guess I’m taking baby steps, I already use twitter to promote new posts, tried a new angle this time for my 5 Reasons You Should Eat More Fish post http://tinyurl.com/d96yeu
Thanks Darren, it’s great to have a reason to do these things :)
I use TwitterFeed, and it pulls my blog post to Twitter at the same time every day. ( I usually pull the feed twice a day). That has really helped boost my traffic to the blog.
I did not get the social messaging tip. However i felt Digg is a social messaging site.Totally baffled. I am a registered reader and really into this project. Please help.
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Darren great tips – very useful for those wanting to promote their blogs and become absolute legends at blogging.
Ok, so I missed the part about promoting my blog in other links. Here is a post I wrote about the Day 1 assignment
http://www.roundpeg.biz/2009/04/31-days-to-a-better-blog/
Okay great. I used most of the social media to promote my blog and also to meet new friends, especially Twitter and Facebook and I found that quite useful and really gets feedback even though very few were to comment but at least they click it and read it.
Well I’m always a big fan of Manchester United FC, I collect a few of their items like jersey, mags, posters and such. So I just share what I have.
http://vinceong.com/2009/04/red-for-the-red-devils/
Feel free to leave your comment if you’re interested.
I didn’t really want to promote my post from yesterday. Considering I also run a site dedicated to Artist on Amie Street I thought that I would post a link here in case anyone would like to see it.
Chris Bottomley and Natalie Brown have both been featured artist on ASMW. So check out the site and let the artist know what you think about their music.
Another great post Darren. I have really enjoyed this series, and now feel an extreme amount of encouragement.
It makes me feel great to know that I have made good decisions so far on developing my blog such as the ones you’ve mentioned. I can’t wait to get started on my blog post of the day, and promote it to everyone!
This has been fun so far and I decided to try Digg.com for my Day #3 assignment. I placed the link below in the Lifestyle – Educational section and noticed, after the fact, that someone placed yesterday’s #2 assignment there and got no interest!
http://eof737.wordpress.com/2009/03/01/ten-tips-for-the-ardent-job-seeker-in-2009/
I did comment in my description that this was an assignment and that the 31 Day challenge was a great way to blog, share and grow; we shall see.
Meanwhile, I need to go finish my new list post and add it to Day two.
Thanks for the challenge!
Great article, again!
I do most of these things already, although I have to admit that I added each strategy one at a time, as it can be overwhelming to try to start doing everything straight away. Now it comes naturally.
I love learning from others’ comments. I am going to look into Carnivals and Twitterfeed more.
I have also dug up a few posts from the list to promote. Anyone in the wedding industry, please get in touch as I have many blogs I can link to you from.
angel (at) theweddingguide.eu
Thanks!
Great post and a great set of follow-up responses. I’m wondering if when I look back over this set of lessons if this is going to be the BIG one for me. It’s helping me get a very good handle on the “what and how” of social networking! Thanks so much!
Can’t wait to try these tips! Before long, people will be flocking to my site to see cool things such as these Space Invaders Ice Cube Trays… a must for any child of the 80’s!
I just completed Day #2, posted my list on the 5 types of exercises for training for a marathon.
http://wollongongfitness.com/main/5-types-of-exercises-for-training-for-a-marathon/
I emailed it to my friends and normally put a link to it on facebook; so I’ve unknowningly done Day #3’s task by using step 3) Social Networking and 5) Newsletter.
Of course that’s only 2 of the 11 ways mentioned so there’s definitely room for improvement.
Thanks for the tips Darren!
Hi Darren, I was already using a couple of tactics mentioned without realizing I was promoting my blog. I will check out some more.
I went ahead and created a follow-up list post to yesterday’s post.
“5 Steps To Help Your Mother Move Past “Wedding Mode.
http://newlifeasnewwife.blogspot.com/2009/04/5-steps-to-help-your-mother-move-past.html
Let’s see how that goes :)
Thanks again Darren for running this fantastic challange, and thanks for those who’ve come to visit off of problogger comments.
I just became the first person to comment on Daily Blog Tips on latest post. I used the post URL as URL so that name links to that. The comment added extra point to the post, so I hope many visitors will come(it seems like my comment got caught in spam! Daniel, please check Akismet soon!)
Oy. This one’s a toughie. I always feel weird promoting my stuff to other bloggers and, as for social bookmarking sites, I’m loath to promote my own stuff, preferring to highlight others’ work. Of course, deep down, I know that maintaining a balance of my work vs. other work on such social bookmarking sites will maintain people’s trust in me but, honestly, I haven’t been incredibly active on such sites lately (I used to go wild with SU).
I do always use Twitter to promote my favorite posts (@stephauteri), which then feeds through to my Twitter account…but this time around, I gritted my teeth and also submitted yesterday’s post to StumbleUpon and Digg. It’s amazing how my stomach clenched while I was doing it.
Hi Darren,
Great post. Although I nudge my blog via social networks and bookmarking, I only get a few visitors that way. My number one traffic getter is google and yahoo but, my participation with other bloggers in my area of specialty brings quite a bit of traffic.
Today, I will do a follow up post and send out to my newsletter list, which is fairly large. I don’t usually do that because I do not like to inundate my followers. Today, will be a test drive in that arena.
Also, I like the idea of email signatures with my latest post. Great idea!
Elizabeth
Great post.
I really need to delve into this area more, but it’s so complex and there is so much to learn (and so little time!).
I saw a big increase in my traffic yesterday (it doubled!), thanks to all the folks from here who came over to visit!
I’m did submit my post to StumbleUpon, and Tip’D, and I’m working this AM on figuring out more about Digg.
I think I’ll send it to the person who inspired the post. :) I did that before with nice results.
Keep all the great ideas coming, I love this series! :)
Kelly
http://www.thecentsiblelife.com/2009/04/07/top-5-financial-mistakes/
So far I had not got any traffic from these social netwroking sites ,despite placing social bookmarking sharing buttons.As you said as once a post is shared in Social sites blogs does get huge traffic ,I am hoping for some in future.I will try to promote a post on my blog with relevant content of other blog.
Oh! I should give a success story, though. Last year, I wrote a post for Nerve.com’s Modern Materialist with my family recipe for pizzarustica:
http://www.nerve.com/CS/blogs/modernmaterialist/archive/2008/03/21/heart-attack-in-a-pan.aspx
It’s Easter pie. This past weekend, because Easter is coming up again, I tweeted a link to the original post. Later that day (quite coincidentally), my mother called asking for a copy of the recipe, as she had lost hers. I offered to just send her the link, and she became horrified that I had shared our family recipe with the world.
A few days later, I found out that someone on Twitter had Stumbled the post and, in six days, it had received about 55,000 views!
Um…I’m not telling my mom.
Ah, the powers of the Internets.
Everyone has probably considered this point, but here it is anyway.
You know that with 10000 people participating we can pretty much get any blog post popular on any social media site, and we don’t have to do anything dodgy either.
If anyone has read Seth Godin’s “Tribes”, well we’re a kind of tribe right now and as such we have power, sort-of :).
And no, I am not advocating any kind of digg trading or stumble exchanging, as that is against the TOS of most social sites.
It should all just happen naturally, I would be surprised if it didn’t happen a time or two before the end of the 31 days, especially once there is a forum and everyone gets to know each other better.
Done! i automatically use feed to twitter and facebook, on stumbleupon? well my last post wasnt that interesting, maybe on the next task.
Decided to promote my Twitter/WordPress Integration Guide (a freebie) to some Twitter resource sites.
Since yesterday’s post drew some nice comments I also decided to see if I could get some Diggs on http://digg.com/d1kiRy.
It seems the best thing to do in today’s comment is blog promotion. So here it is:
Did you know roasting marshmallows can help you live longer? Check it out:
http://www.questforbalance.com/2009/04/08/roast-marshmallows-live-longer/
=-)
Great post! I’m new to blogging and am learning a lot from you.
I didn’t realize that I could use digg, delicious, and stumble. I have all these accounts and am not using them like I could be. I will start using them more to promote my blog.
I tend to use twitter, facebook, and friendfeed, but will do more.
After doing the assignment for yesterday, I did receive a few more views and comments then I usually receive.
Thanks so much!
Out it went tonight via Twitter. It will land in FriendFeed and the original post will get routed to Facebook’s ‘Notes’ apps. Selecting and setting up your social networks carefully can really get your blogposts out to the hive.
hah, was thinking a lot about twitter lately. Wrote another list post on twitter. You can find the link below. Anybody else on the latest on the web?
http://unofficialmac.com/2009/04/08/17-things-to-keep-sane-on-twitter-and-enjoy-it/
I still consider myself a newbie blogger, but I was pleased to discover I’m on track with this task! After posting my list of “10 Daily Survival Tips for Mums” yesterday I immediately started a little self promotion. Yet to see if the list-style post and promotion lead to increased traffic…
Thanks Darren. I do blog promotion all of the time although there is still alot for me to learn here. Being a new blogger, most of my traffic comes from blog promotion. I have feeds to Twitter and Facebook. I also use Digg, Stumble, and a few others. I only do Facebook and Twitter for every post. The others, I switch it up and submit less. I do posts on other blogs within my niche and usually get some traffic because I use the Commentluv plugin. I’ve had a few bloggers in my niche link to me, so that’s pretty cool. Last month I entered a blog carnival and got a link and some traffic from that, so I plan to do that again with this article. I will be doing that today.
With all of that said, I’m still not getting as much traffic as I would like to see. I believe part of that is due to my niche, Law of Attraction/Spirituality. Also, I only have about 71 Twitter followers. I need to increase that. So if my blog interests anyone here, please follow me on Twitter @lotusessence.
If anyone is interested in my content and would like to give me a link, please feel free to do so. Here’s a link to my “List” post from yesterday. http://lotusessence.com/2009/04/07/10-tips-to-master-the-law-of-attraction/
At Fred up above, I’ve bookmarked your site because I find the content interesting. I may be sending you an email soon. :)
BTW, I have no problem asking other bloggers to link to me. I haven’t done it yet because a few have already done it on their own. My philosphy is, “what do you have to lose?” The worst that could happen is they say no. lol! But you haven’t lost a thing. Go for it!!
Challengers, good luck with your blog promotion efforts and I’m looking forward to day 4.
I generally promote new articles at Midwest Guest by posting the link on Twitter and at the Absolute Write forum (there’s a thread in the Blogging area of the forum specifically for such posts). I’ve used StumbleUpon occasionally, but only for some of my favorite posts.
I do participate on one blog carnival regularly (a weekly travel Photo Friday that seems to draw a cast of fairly regular posters, many who will check out each others’ photos and comment on them) and another on an occasional basis.
I’ve made a more concerted effort in recent months to link my own posts to each other. If I’ve written about a similar topic in the past, I’ll often link to the previous story in a new post. If I participate in a photo post blog carnival, I often link that post to one of my previous articles about the photo subject.
Commenting on others’ posts brings me a bit of traffic. I’ve left a link to a specific article only if, as Darren says, its extremely relevant to the topic.
Each of these things seems to bring me a few hits here and there, but those little bits of traffic begin to sloooooooooowly build up over time.
The best result so far? Establishing contact with a local blogger by commenting on his post at a multi-author site for a local business. He followed the link from my name to my blog and we started regularly reading, and often commenting on, each others’ stuff. A couple of months elapse, and I get an email from his site’s owner offering me an ongoing freelance (paid) job as part of the site’s blogging staff. I’m starting with them this week :)
Enjoying every post and learned a lot in 3 days, thanks Darren
PS: so easy to apply! :)
Check out my dirty dozen http://bit.ly/ycNv
I guess I have to work more on nos.1, 4, 5, 7, 10 and 11. Oh boy, looks like there’s a lot of work to be done here. Thanks Darren for another great lesson.
I have a lot going on at my blog this week so my List Post will not publish til Friday, however I regularly single out posts for additional promotion and do think it works well. I try to very tightly target my efforts, though – I don’t find Digg or Stumble to be particularly useful for me, simply because my readers largely don’t use those tools. I do a lot of commenting, forum promoting, and that type of thing.
I wanted to address something “Bill” said earlier in the comments. He noted that his comments were spread out among his blog and Twitter, and wondered if it was important to consolidate them into one place.
I say NO, it’s not important. In fact, it’s beneficial to have a trail back to your post in several different venues because you have more “lines in the water” for reeling in new readers. As with any marketing effort, you let the customers (readers) dictate their own interactions and just welcome all.
I do think you can further manage these interactions, though, for the benefit of your blog. Why not take a quick look back at the responses you got on Twitter, and write a follow-up post about them? If any of them asked a particularly good question, answer it in a new post inter-linked back to the original. If they were all just “nice post”-type comments, think of something you personally can add to the post and lead into it by saying, “My post on (x) received some very positive feedback over on Twitter, so I wanted to follow up with (xx).” Be sure to give your Twitter ID so blog readers can find/follow you.
Hi, here is an example of my lates post, it is in a list format as the previouse task and I am trying to promote it on digg as you mention on todays tasks.
http://www.abroadlanguages.com/blog/language-learning-methods-and-tools-which-method-do-you-think-is-best_327/
I had an article that was a success in stumble upon it drove traffic to my blog by 10,000 visitors in one day. For me stumble upon has worked better than digg, but I guess you never know where an article can go viral.
If you want to check it out, it’s still on stumble upon:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.abroadlanguages.com/blog/how-to-learn-languages-like-children_167/
I’ve Twittered it, Dugg it, FBed it, now I’m going to practice my pitch here and then go try it out on the Twitter Moms community. :)
Is it possible to stay relevant in conversations with your real life friends when you’re busy microblogging your life?
My post, “Six Ways to Stay Scintillating in Person When You’ve Already Twittered It All” is an irreverent instruction manual for moms who have overshared online and have nothing left to say at the park.
http://is.gd/rk64
I’m working two blogs in this challenge and one of them has a great list post. That is 10 Essential Items for IZEAFest 2009 http://www.benspark.com/10-essential-items-for-izeafest-2009.html, which, Darren, you might find useful since you are attending IZEAFest 2009.
The other is my Daddy Blog, Read To Me, Dad and that post is http://readtomedad.com/survival-tools-for-dads.html about 5 items I found essential as a new dad.
But the post that really needs love and attention is http://www.benspark.com/being-responsible.html
Each post I Stumbled Dugg, and posted to Facebook. When each post is done I have them automatically go to Twitter. While I was doing this I struck up a conversation with another blogger who was doing the challenge, we spent time commenting on each other’s posts and promoting them too.
Another good post. I hadn’t considered promoting myself as actively as you suggest. So, I added a recent posts blurb to my main page. I posted a link to my list post on facebook. I don’t necessarily feel the need to bring tons of traffic my way, so most of these ideas aren’t something I’m going to try. But, I will take what works for me and go with it. Thanks! :-)
ok Darren & all readers, here’s a free ringtone I have created a few days ago;
http://www.marcoraaphorst.nl/2009/04/06/klankbeeld-raaphorst-ringmorriconetone/
there are a few Dutch words included in the post, but I am sure you’ll find the mp3 enclosed
hope you like it! :-)
Again another great post. I am interested to see how do you want to keep it up for the days to come. Used twitter, facebook, follow up and internal links. I hope, that I will get some more portals added to my growing list of portals to free and open access video lectures/and talks at
http://info.ulrich-schrader.de/node/634 .
You keep me doing things that have been on my list for a while. Thanks for doing that.
Ulrich
This is turning into an great list of tasks. I’m already thinking very differently about my blog and its relevance to my wedding photography and how I sell my skills to Asian and Indian couples.
Hi Darren! I use SocialMarker.com most of the time (: It makes social bookmarking a LOT easier! If I feel my post isn’t appropriate for some sites, I just skip them!
I promoted my day two blog post & you’ve also inspired me to promote some of my older posts (:
THANK YOU for all your help! I can’t wait to get to the end of this project & see how my blog has improved!
♥Mannie
http://MannieMandible.webs.com
Darren,
Promotion is very important. We should do something everday to promote a post. The one thing that I would add is to try to use your keyword as anchor text. Might just give you an extra boast!
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