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 have a few news items to report.
Regarding the Development of http://lindylou-abbott.blogspot.com
1) I use blogstatter on my site and today I was amazed to see how high my traffic has been this week!
2) Twitter – Some traffic, I am sure, has been do to a little promoting on twitter.
3) I am also in a community of writers that e-publish a weekly e-magazine that is simply beautiful. http://takerootandwrite.com) Within this community (and the site is seeking new authors/writers) we have recently begun to have a group sign up to commit to following each others’ blogs and listing them on our own site.
4) I wrote an incredibly timely and controversial blog two days ago that has had the highest traffic of any blog I have posted in 6 months. (http://lindylou-abbott.blogspot.com/2009/04/we-are-nation-of-citizens.html) titled “We are a Nation of Citizen” quoted by Obama at the economic conference after he stated that USA is not a Christian nation!
5) I join in on “blog-parties” and other bloggers/websiters promotional campaigns…but this is getting to be less successful as the following is just way too many after it gets popular. I tried to visit as many sites as possible in one week but didn’t get to 1% of those listed.
I (guess) I tweeted my blogsite to promote my post. Years ago we would call this growing up absurd, but perhaps, something I learn will end up productive. Thanks, Darren.
My list: http://www.glennaroberts.com/ravenna-park-north/businesses/
This was a good mixture of suggestions which can be partially used for personal blogs and definitely used for biz blogs. Great 3 days so far, can’t wait for more. http://budurl.com/eb2h
Hey Darren and fellow bloggers! This challenge is really inspiring me! Thanks to all. I actually interrupted the lesson to Tweet about my “list post” at http://tinyurl.com/cap78b. I then posted a comment on my Linkedin profile via the Bluegrass Music Group I am a member of. Next I will post a comment on our AussieJam.wordpress.com site for my “jam-mates” at the Australian Bakery (Marietta GA)
Post title ” 7 Reasons To Play the 5-string Banjo”.
I will leave you with some banjo humor… “someone broke into my car and left a banjo…”
AD
Hey Darren,
I cannot believe the results I have been getting already. I have jumped 6 fold in the numbers to my website and blog. Nice work! My Stall holders are also receiving more traffic than ever also.
Cheers
http://www.handmademarket.com.au
Hi Darren and Everyone,
I just attempted to install a “Digg This” button on my blog post. I was fairly confused with the different options so I just went with the generic badge that sends visitors to the Digg homepage.
Is that all that I have to do or is there some code that I have to install to send it to a specific part of the Digg website? I appreciate all of your help on this as I am not that technologically savvy.
http://potholeschicago.com/2009/04/07/akira-is-chicagos-most-popular-fashion-hotspot/
Thanks,
Philip Nowak
You can also Twitter me if you think that would be faster. @philipnowak
I posted the specific list blog on Facebook and with my e-mail daily group. I received about ten times more traffic to my blog, than usual. I went to sites I like to read, but didn’t find a blog post that fit in with my link. I am now going to connect with a few folks on this list. Thanks.
Darren,
I like the way you practice what you preach in each post. Your list post assignment was a list post that demonstrated almost every technique you discussed. Today I saw your Twitter “nudge” re: 1300 comments on 2 posts, which was bound to bring you a ton of Twitter curiosity hits and probably more 31DBBB subscribers. Brilliant :)
The examples really do help. My traffic is up 35% today and my bounce rate down 20% compared to yesterday. Thanks!
The only place I really ‘promote’ my blog is on Twitter. I don’t get all that much traffic from it, but I’m not really surprised. My blog is more personal than most. Hopefully, when the time comes when my other website comes in to play, I’ll be able to use these hints to get the traffic I want!
In the meantime, for those who want to check it out –
http://dariasblog.wordpress.com
I will welcome all constructive criticism!
I am loving all of the different blogs I have seen so far!
Hey Darren and fellow bloggers,
I use twitter to keep my tweeps updated on new posts, other articles I find in the web that are relevant to my site, and to tweet informative and interesting facts about veggies (#veggietweet). Also, for my facebook fans I send occasional update on articles and post I feel would be of interest.
I’m on linken in but have yet to tap into it’s potential. I sometimes feel stuck, thinking I’m not keeping myself to a high enough social media standard… Any suggestions bloggers? Thanks for the help and thanks for the updates!
slightly off topic, Anyone have a really good link to a Twitter 101 post. I hate being behind the times but I just don’t understand what Twitter is and how I could use it.
http://www.mylifeonthexyzlist.blogspot.com
Hi everyone!
Yesterday my list post was a recap of events that happened, President Obama in Baghdad, Ted Stevenson’s case, and Vermont legalizing same-sex marriages so I did not think it would’ve worked well for today’s assignment. Whenever I update I post on my Facebook page as well as my Twitter page. This was my sixth post today, so I’d like to work on my content first before I start other methods. However, when I did post on Twitter and Facebook my hits drastically increased. I’m going to watch tonight to see if I have similar results.
To complete today’s assignment, I wrote a how-to about my personal method of lowering the APRs for my credit cards (if you’re interested check it out here: http://www.jenniemaria.com/?p=70 )
Darren, when do you think the forum will be ready? I know you mentioned you were having trouble getting it started. Only because I’d like to meet others in the group who potentially write about similar things as I do. My blog is mainly my political commentary, so it would be nice to find other blogs who have the same goal and maybe trade traffic methods since we’re not blogging about how to do something, rather our opinions on things.
Hopefully with 10,000 there’s at least another!
I am so excited! I just finished my post that is numbered!
7 Things You Need to Know to Save Your Life
http://lindylou-abbott.blogspot.com/2009/04/7-things-you-need-know-to-save-your.html
Now that is so exciting! I can’t wait to report back and let you know how my blog is going tomorrow.
Thank you so much, Darren, for stretching me!
Michelle,
You requested info on what Twitter is all about. This woman from DSM Publishing who is following me on Twitter wrote an ebook which I was able to download for free. Check her out at http://twitter.com/dsmpublishing.
Hope that helps.
Daisy
OK, I decided to try to do the Digg thing and promoted the same post on Facebook – “Being Hit On At 40” http://naplesgirl.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/being-hit-on-at-40/
It’s not the list posting I did, but it is a post that has had the most traffic in the past.
Darren,
I followed your advice and promoted someone else’s blog post via Twitter. She is a fellow resume writer who wrote 7 Ways to Spice Up Your Resume. Great article with useful tips for jobseekers.
Daisy
http://twitter.com/daisywright
This has been one of my weaknesses. I am not by any means a sales person at heart. I can’t sell ice people with heat stroke. However I have been using twitter and find that to be a good tool for pimping out new posts or getting discussions going.
I am still just a young bloggling and will try harder.
I am happy to say that I’ve been using a good many of your suggestions. I haven’t ventured into the worlds of Digg and StumbleUpon, but will look into whether it fits into what I want for my company’s blogs or my clients’ blogs.
My list post about basic wordpress plugins you should install will go live at http://www.stc-marcom.com bright and early tomorrow morning.
If someone gets this far down in the comments and wants something that is immediately accessible, you can always check out a different I did a few days ago: http://www.stc-marcom.org/wordpress/2009/03/how-marketers-are-using-social-media-to-grow-their-business/
Thanks for all your work on this Darren.
I usually promote my post on Twitter. I want to try Stumbleupon, but like one of the commenters said, it takes a long time to build enough followers to make a difference.
Writing to other bloggers is nerve wracking, but I have become friendly with several in my niche, so it may become easier.
Thanks Darren for the lessons.
I am enjoying the daily learning.
I am working on a “fun” blog to exercise the lessons.
Thanks. Lmc.
Thanks Darren for the lessons.
I am enjoying the daily learning.
I am working on a “fun” blog to exercise the lessons.
Thanks. Lmc.
Darren,
When I saw your post, I had to laugh. Linking high traffic posts with new posts was one of my April Blogging goals.
Do you think that linking in text or at the end of the post is better.
This was the perfect opportunity for me to make an exciting announcement about some upcoming eWorkshops that I will be launching this summer:
Wikified Schools eWorkshops – http://www.ed421.com/?p=847
Darren — I am really enjoying this challenge! I’ve been blogging for over 3 years (and reading your blog almost as long), and I feel that this challenge is giving me renewed motivation to continue building my blog and my “digital footprints”
Thanks!
FYI — so far I have promote this blog post via Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and this blog comment :-)
3-for-3 so far Darren!
I’ve started some selective promotion through Twitter – for example, just tweeted this through my personal Twitter account (@adrianliem) linking to a blog I co-write:
—
Blogging about iPhone App development: http://ow.ly/2pj6 – Any web dev folks dabbling in that space? Would be interested to hear experiences
—
We’ve had success in the past submitting posts to various sites that are specific to a particular topic, and we’ve also seen some success with StumbleUpon more generally.
For me, I think I want to make sure that the promotion is an “offer” – that is, that I’m not only pushing out my own interests, but also legitimately trying to create a conversation piece that will encourage some participation an engagement that interests people.
@michelle – Common Craft has a good intro to Twitter which you can view through YouTube: Twitter in plain English
So far I have been a bit gun shy about starting with with Twitter. I did and then stupidly shut down my account. Now my nice username that had name recognition for my blog is not availible (and it is me who used it!) Argh.
I know it is an age old question, but is Twitter worth it, or a time suck? I do like the idea of posting links to all the blogs I write for—
And I view facebook as mostly a friend thing. Maybe I am old school. Any thoughts on this, participants?
And what about cross-posting?
Katy
http://www.non-toxickids.net
The combination of yesterday (14 Reasons to Stop Evangelizing Your Friends) and today (did 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6) made my stats ROCKET up! Wow!!
I decided to to do a StumbleUpon ad campaign, but keep the budget very small ($5).
I tweaked one of my posts to make it more sticky by making sure most of the article was visible above the fold and having lots of different kinds of links to other parts of my blog: http://buzznova.com/breaking-news-twitter-unveils-suggested-users-paid-service/
I’m also using Ping.fm to send my posts to my Twitter account.
I have to be honest. I was very shocked that as soon as I wrote my first list post, then posted it here and on Digg, someone actually read it and commented. The reason I was shocked is because the only ones that have commented on any of my posts so far are family members :-).
Having a “stranger” read and comment on my post made me feel real good and for this I thank you Darren. Keep up the good work.
I’ve found the best way to get traffic is by building a concrete relationship base. Start with a few people in your related field. Follow them, actually read the posts, comment, and then connect with them on twitter, stumbleupon etc. Let the relationships happen over time, instead of throwing darts out everywhere.
Emily
http://www.justeatfood.com
Another great post, I am glad I decided to do this. I finally posted the list post today at 15 Great XNA Tutorial Sites and I have promoted it in a few of the ways you suggested and I am still working on promoting it. You can read more about that on my blog at 31DBBB Day 3 : Promote a Blog Post if you are interested.
I actually have heard of promoting a post instead of the site, and it did not resonate until now. I like it. I wouldn’t mind linking some of your posts if some of you have something related to transforming yourself, working remotely, goals and being goal oriented, or something of the like. Since I shifted my site’s focus a little, I will be promoting a post I did after participating on Problogger’s 31 day adventure. My intro to the new direction my blog is going will be what I promote right now. A Virtual Shift. My blog is about my journey to living a life that is “Virtual” in which I can live wherever and run my businesses online and over the phone. I already promoted it on my Facebook page. I will have to come up with some other ideas to promote it tonight and tomorrow.
Twitter and Facebook are two places I posted my list blog about math anxiety, which you can read more about at http://www.clhechtconsulting.com/wordpress/ if interested.
I am going to check out StumbleUpon. Thanks for the great information!
I created my first list post today covering the <a href=”http://www.theviewfromthedugout.com/2009/most-expensive-baseball-tickets/Most Expensive Tickets in Baseball. I would love to connect with other baseball/sports bloggers. Connect with me via the comments on my site if you are interested in winning together.
Jeff
Hi Darren, I’m really enjoying the posts and tasks!
Posted my list post today http://tinyurl.com/csgb33.
I’ve added a link to my e-mail signature and am working on updating facebook, twitter and linked-in. I’m new to twitter and could probably be making it work a little better for me. I think that I should be able to make my tweets appear on fb and linked-in.
Looking forward to #4. Thanks!
Great (challenging) post. Visited my regular lurk-y blogs today and posted a couple comments. Also feel lucky to have connected with a few health and fitness minded bloggers from this 31 day challenge.
I have my TypePad blog set-up to tweet each post, but like the suggestions above to tweet just the good ones.
Haven’t yet decided if I want my Facebook persona and blogging persona to link-up.
Whew! So much to learn here – I’ve been reading these comments for hours it seems.
I’m new to blogging and hadn’t written a list post yet. I found it easier to write than some other posts – which more time to read here and check out a lot of the commenters’ blogs.
I’m blogging about real estate in Cambridge Mass and my post was:
http://centersandsquares.com/2009/04/08/ten-quick-and-easy-projects-to-get-your-house-ready-to-sell/
I’m still mulling over the ideas for promotion since my intention is to reach local readers. I’m looking forward to days 4+.
I actually added a couple of new products to my toy store site so I could make some internal links. I’m pleased with how my post turned out, but still have to go beyond my Twitter and Facebook comfort zone. I’d appreciate a few visitors and comments at http://auntlindasblog.com!
Yesterday, I did promote my blog post on twitter it was one of the reasons why I actually focused the post on my experience of twittering. I actually use windows live writer with the additional benefit of it giving me the option to automatically notify twitter of my blog posts. I`m not really sure I noticed any extra traffic yesterday but I only have 600 followers and so it depends on who is tuning in on the stream when it comes through and like you say I feel like a drone if I constantly twitter please go look at my blog!
Today Ì’ve signed up for Digg as I`ve already dipped my toes in the water of MIXX but I need to spen some time in both spaces to really get to grips with it (a task I will set to after easter.)
Fingers crossed as it always feel good and feels worthwhile if you know people are reading what you’re saying!
I apparently did this yesterday, by copping out of my List Post challenge by writing a quick little post and linking a previous entry with a list that I had done: http://meredithelaine.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/list-post/
And tonight I am writing a post containing that link, thereby doing it again, I suppose? And I’ll probably tweet about how my continual lame-ass cop outs are helping me be a better blogger! (kidding – I know this tactic isn’t going to work forever!)
:)
Another good post! I do try and promote my blog on Twitter (juliebmack), occasionally, etc. I am not good at self-promotion, as it feels like bragging. I have never been good at that which is why I always failed at sales…’selling the product’ . Maybe the lack of self-promotion is why I do not have a large following… I think my writing is decent.. ??
Strangely, I am actually more comfortable and better at promoting others more than myself. You can probably look at my blog’s last mini-series: The Five People you Meet in Cyberspace and tell from that. (You are one on there BTW).
I posted links to my blog article: http://whatscookingblog.com/2009/04/07/4-great-reasons-to-cook-with-your-kids/ to Twitter and Facebook today. I also Stumbled it.
I was surprised to see that Stumble was the source for quite a lot of traffic for the past two days, relative to the past month. Since starting this challenge, I have had an increase in traffic to my blog by over 50 visitors per day. My traffic is pretty low, so this is a fairly large jump. I hope to be able to make it grow and to start getting more comments too. Sort of feels like I am writing into the air when nobody says anything ;-) I should probably read more blogs and comment there, too…but time is so short that it is difficult.
Thanks!
Michelle
Blog post promoted:
http://www.quixoticjedi.com/2009/04/08/star-wars-characters-you-can-follow-on-twitter/
Today’s exercise:
http://www.quixoticjedi.com/2009/04/08/day-3-31dbbb/
Yesterday was my best day ever. I have a steady following of about 40 readers – I usually see between 30 and 60 hits per day. By 1PM EST, I had over 100 hits (my previous best day was 125 hits); this was just after the CL ads were posted. By 5:30PM I had 175 hits, and half an hour later I was at 341 hits. This was due to Twitter RTs from @admiraldaala, @theMaraJade, @dayofthejedi and @GeneralVeers and the tweet by @GeekTyrant. When my WordPress Stats plugin cut off (around 7PM), I had 589 hits and have had 201 additional hits since then.
May I add an item to your list. Check to see if there is an existing network that caters to the main focus of your blog. Apply to join.
May I add that the article I wrote yesterday
http://vulcanstev.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/31dtabbc-day-2-10-theories-about-wotcs-boneheaded-decision/ had a few folks click on the link from here and one of them commented. I clicked over to her site to see what was going on.
Social networks are key. I saw a boost in traffic within a couple hours of my post. Thanks for the tips.
Hi guys,
Looks like everyone is doing great. I was on Stephen Pierce’s blog the other day and he mentioned using http://www.socialmarker.com to get your posts submitted to social bookmarking sites. I tried it out and it seems to be working pretty well.
I also posted my newest article “How’d you hear about us” “http://www.bootstrappingblog.com/how%E2%80%99d-you-hear-about-us on twitter.
Well, a lot to learn considering this is all new to me. Running a bit behind, but will catch up as I get into the swing of it. Wish there were more hours in the day though. All in all, I think this is fantastic.
Hi Darren,
I also felt that I was narcissistic when I promote my own blog post, but hey – If you don’t love what you wrote, what can you expect from others? :)
I started social bookmark/message/whatever I came across my own blog posts about 9 months ago, and to say the least, this is the best traffic generating method so far.
Getting the words out there, and let others who feel your post very useful visiting your sites eventually is the key…
Cheers!
I just published to a bunch of websites…if any of you guys out there have blogs that relate to humor, comedy, or any other funny posts let me know if you’re interested in exchanging links.
Here’s the list post I promoted:
http://clowntowns.com/?p=1080
http://jaderobbins.com/2009/04/09/31dbbb-assignment-3-promotion/
Promotion is HARD!
HI Darren,
Thanks for the post. As suggested I promoted my individual post and the readership increased by almosy 20 times. Not only that post got hit maximum but also people also went ahead and browsed through other posts too. As of now the bounce rate is less than 9% and average page view is 3 pages/visitor. The post i used was
Your Boss Would Love This- How to Drive his Decision
http://www.mysticmadness.com/your-boss-would-love-this-how-to-drive-his-decision.html
The various methos I used was
1) Mailed to My freinds.
2) Visited various forums on jobs and personal development. Talked in relevant threads about it
3) Forwarded it to my alumni groups as interesting read
4) Used message boards.
To my luck people liked it and forwarded it to their friends further and readership was increased to a larger extent. within a week this post has got more than 600 impressions at time when my blog is just one month old.
It worked.
thanks