How to Promote Your Blog - Big Ideas Blog - Infusionsoft

How to Promote Your Blog - Big Ideas Blog - Infusionsoft
How Fundamentalists Promote Atheism
How to Promote Your Blog Content to Get 1000 Social Media Shares
A Few Thoughts on How To Promote Your WordPress Blog
How to Promote Your Blog Posts with Social Media Writing

Posted: 01 Jul 2014 08:11 AM PDT

You just started a new blog for your small business. You've established a rhythm of posting and you feel good about your blog as a resource for your current and prospective customers, but now you're wondering how to promote your blog to get more traffic and exposure for your brand.

Before you start to promote your blog, it's essential that your blog has a very clear, distinct purpose and your content and the design of your site is engaging to your target audience. Before we dive into the actionable ways to promote your blog, here are a few things to consider when establishing the purpose of your blog.

Honing Your Blog's Purpose

A blog can cover a lot of branches; it can be hyper niche or broad in focus. Regardless of what information spans your blog, you have to make sure you are crafting it with a single purpose in mind.

This purpose should be determined by a few factors:

Who is the audience you are trying to reach?
What is your business' unique selling point?
What are you most knowledgeable about?
How can your experience benefit others?

There are 42.6 million new posts published every month on the WordPress platform. The sheer volume of posts and new blogs is astounding, but the truth is, there are more bad blogs than good..

One of the first places people fail at blogging is in not understanding the purpose of their blog. You can blog about writing techniques, for example, but wouldn't it be better to blog about "writing fiction when you don't have a creative background"?

Proclaiming that your blog has a specific purpose will give readers something to hold onto and allow you the opportunity to promote your blog, not just posts. Think of your purpose as the tag line for your blog.

Now that we have the foundation of your blog established. We can jump into the action-steps and details of how to promote your blog. There are endless ways to share individual posts, but here are some tips and commonly missed opportunities to promote your blog as a whole.

1. Email Signature Shout Out

Email signatures are one of the most underutilized forms of advertising. Most confine signature details to basic contact information, but that space can do so much more for you if you leverage it in a valuable way.

Promote Blog Email Signature

This is where knowing your blog's purpose is helpful. You don't need to design a custom banner or get pushy about making a sale, just tell everyone you send an email to that you have a blog and they can get something out of visiting it.

That's it.

Not only will your target customers love seeing where they can get free information, but you might also hook some unexpected interest from non-business email communications.

2. Business Card Surprise

The same rules that apply to your email signature should also apply to your business cards. Taking your offline relationships and bringing them online can be one of the best ways to create new business.

Like your email signature, business cards can be a redundant piece of marketing real estate and offering something out of the ordinary can give your card punch.

Try making your blog promotion the highlight of your business card. Offset it with a different color or font to ensure it gets recognized.

What you want is to get them interested in discovering more about you, and your phone number won't do that, but your blog can.

3. Event Materials that Pop

If you network frequently, you undoubtedly have materials that accompany your product or services, so treat your blog like another service you offer.

Free samples or consultations are great, but an ongoing resource that your prospects and customers can reference at their leisure is a huge benefit.

When you're hosting an event or setting up a booth at a conference, print your best blog post and information about your blog to hand out to attendees.

With this promotional material, you'll not only direct people to your blog (and to your website), you're also giving them a tangible sample of what they will gain by following your content. Emails are easily discarded and social media posts can get lost in the shuffle. A blog post with helpful tips that you can actually hold in your hand or hang on your refrigerator is hard to ignore.

4. Become a Part of the Blogging "In Crowd"

Whether you're a blogger or not, one of the strongest ways small businesses acquire customers is through referrals, and a referral is not limited to a customer-to-product interaction.

A referral can come from one blogger in your niche telling their audience about the resources found on your small business blog.

Bloggers are some of the most generous referrers out there. They get asked questions all the time and direct people to the right blogging peer to solve their problems. But you can't get that referral if you're not on their radar.

Starting a blog means immersing yourself in the blogging community and making friends. There are proven ways to make these connections that won't take up too much time.

Start tweet talking. The power of the @mention is not to be underestimated. It is one of the easiest ways to start having a conversation with someone you don't know, so ask a fellow blogger a question or propose a thoughtful comment. Active tweeters will respond.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If you're modeling your blogging style off someone else in your industry (and every good blogger does) let them know. Tell them thank you for inspiring your journey and elevating your efforts.
Boast the "Best of…" Almost every industry has a genius up-and-coming blogger who takes the time to highlight the best bloggers in their field. Here's an example of one for marketing blogs. And one for investing blogs. The best thing about these posts is a) they give you a good reason to reach out to your industry's best bloggers and b) they are a great resource for your audience.

5. Full Website Coverage

If you look like you don't care much about your blog, why should anybody else? Having bold and repetitive navigation to your blog will send the message that it is a valuable resource not to be missed.

Most businesses that take blogging seriously will have a link directly from their home page to their blog and some even make the blog their home page, depending on their business model.

You can offer more opportunities to get to your blog than just one link.

Buffer App does uses multiple navigation opportunities to get to their blog.

It is, of course, on their home page:

BufferApp_Home

It's also in the footer of their Apps & Extras page:

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And it's easily accessable from their other blog:

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Use the real estate that your site offers to show your audience that you're serious about your blog.

6. Social Media Spotlight

Social media may seem like an obvious way to promote your blog, but not everyone uses it to the extent it deserves. You can certainly share your individual posts and even send out repeating messages that you have a blog over your social networks, but do your social profiles point to your blog or your website homepage?

For most, profile links point to website homepages. This is a natural place to send people. For the social audience, however, a homepage link may not be click worthy.

If your social followers aren't close to making a purchase decision, they are more likely to check out a resource, rather than a product page.

Use your social media bios to not only point to your blog's URL, but to reiterate the purpose of your blog.

7. Email Broadcast the News

If you're currently emailing to a list of interested leads, prospects and customers, there's no reason why you can't use this source to introduce them to new information.

Savvy content lovers won't see it as an intrusion, they'll see it as an offering.

Make the new blog email announcement an entertaining new way for your customers to get to know you. There are creative ways you can tell your fans that you have a blog without coming off like a careless, self-promoter:

Tell them a funny, embarrassing story about becoming a blogger

Share your old views on what you thought a blogger was before you started

Offer to take suggestions for blog content ideas

If you're not leveraging your existing audience to get traffic, you're not giving your blog the chance it deserves to be successful.

8. Talk About It

No tricks. No tips. Just start talking about your blog and the fact that you're blogging. Arm your customer service efforts with relevant blog posts. Mention to partners that they can find out more about a specific topic on your blog. Do a little bragging at Happy Hour.

Just make sure you are communicating your offering to those around you.

9. Use Snail Mail

Perhaps blogging is your first major step into communicating online with your customers. You've been relying on more traditional advertising, like placing ads in the newspaper, doing radio commercials or sending direct mail to your audience.

It can be hard to bridge the gap between an established offline presence and a new online presence. Why not marry the two?

The same thing can be done for direct mail that can be done for event marketing. Print and mail your best blog post that offers the most value to your audience and send it in more personalized packaging to let recipients know it's special. Whether this means handwriting their name and address or sending the post in a special envelope, make sure they see this piece of mail is different.

They will be excited that there isn't a sales pitch and interested to see more.

Promoting individual posts on your blog will always be important for growth and retaining an audience, but you can't forget to market and the blog as a whole.

Using these 9 tips to promote your blog will help you gain readers without a lot of extra effort.

If you have been thinking about starting a small business blog, but aren't sure how to get started, check out this post on how you can begin blogging in seven days or less.

What surprise tactic has earned you new blog readers?
Leave a comment in the comments section below!

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How Fundamentalists Promote Atheism

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 06:23 AM PDT

The image below is a composite of a Christian response to the Ken Ham/Bill Nye debate, plus the scientific explanation of sunsets. It is frustrating that there are people who consider themselves Christians and yet seem to be making every effort to promote atheism. Why on Earth would anyone feel the need to choose between belief in God and belief that science can help us understand sunsets? Contrast this with John Farrell's recent piece for Forbes about medieval Christians who pioneered the quest to understand natural causes. Modern American fundamentalism is so far removed from historic Christianity, and yet it has duped many into believing the opposite, that it is its sole faithful representative.

See also Jonny Scaramanga's recent interview on how his Christian education caused him to lose his faith.

How to Promote Your Blog Content to Get 1000 Social Media Shares

Posted: 16 May 2014 09:54 PM PDT

There are no guarantees, but being famous on social media doesn't have to be impossible. With the right "hook" and strategy, you, too, could become internet famous. Here's an infographic from the WhoIsHostingThis Blog, filled with tips and ideas on what makes people internet famous.

A Few Thoughts on How To Promote Your WordPress Blog

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 05:07 AM PDT

A common misconception a lot of people have is that other people will automatically find their blog. As long as you have a blog, they will come to you. All you need to do is to write your posts, and then wait for the readers to come along. As if a voice à la Kevin Costner has told you "If you build it, they will come!". Well, unfortunately it's not that simple. People don't just find your blog, you have to promote it. We're talking marketing here! Not big budget marketing, but the kind that everyone can afford.

SEO

Let us start with the obvious. Registering your blog with all the major search engines, as well as the smaller ones. Using appropriate meta tags to feed the search engines with information about your blog, such as keywords, description and so on. This is your basic SEO that all website owners should apply.

Word of mouth

Once you're done with the basic SEO stuff (although you're never really done, to be completely honest), you go on to the next step. This is where you start spreading the word, so to speak. In everything you do, such as sending emails, letters, giving out business cards and so on, you need to include you web address. You may not think this will do much, but believe you me … it will do a lot more than you think. People don't always rely on search engines, sometimes they get there information from other sources, like emails, letters, business cards, articles, word of mouth and so on.

Also, don't forget to always add a link to your website to your Facebook account, as well as LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare, Xing and any other website you might be a member of. Spreading your link to and via your friends, both offline and online, is crucial.

WordPress plug-ins

Now, this is where we start getting a little bit more advanced … but still not. It's just a matter of finding and using the right plug-ins for your blog. I'll tell you about a few good ones to start with, which I use for my own blog.

All in One SEO pack
Automatic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) out of the box for your wordpress blog … simply follow the instructions after you've installed this plug-in and you'll see your blog in much better positions in the search engines.

Google XML Sitemaps
This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog.

Sociable for WordPress 3.0
Sociable people need sociable! Sociable now for WordPress 3.0. Add sociable bookmarks to posts, pages and RSS feeds. Choose from more than 100 different social bookmarking sites like Digg, Facebook, and del.icio.us, or add your own sites! This is what I would call one of the most important plug-ins you will be using!

TweetMeme Retweet Button
Adds a button which easily lets you retweet your blog posts. Twitter has become one of the most influential sites for marketing, and you should be using it too!

WP FB Like
With more than 500 million users Facebook has turned into a great source for potential customers/visitors. Adding a Facebook Like button to your blog gives you yet another channel for promoting your blog.

Tweet old post
Tweet Old Posts is a plug-in designed to tweet your older posts. Tweet Old Posts randomly picks your older post based on the interval specified by you. The primary function of this plug-in is to promote older blog posts by tweeting about them and getting more traffic.

Conclusion

All of the plug-ins I've recommended can and probably will have an impact on your blog. I would recommend to use them all, as I do. However, if I had to pick the one that has had the most impact, at least the most tangible impact, it would have to be the last one in my list of plug-ins.

When it comes to promoting and spreading the word about your blog, it's easy to focus your effort on the new posts. The reason I favour the last plug-in (Tweet Old Post) is that I think it's a huge mistake to neglect your older posts. Just because they're old doesn't mean that they're not still interesting to read. This plug-in will help you by automatically promoting your older posts via Twitter. This will also increase the traffic on your blog. I've been using it with great success.

Final thought

I have most likely missed one or two (or more) plug-ins that are equally as useful as the ones I've listed. Which plug-ins do you use to help you in promoting your WordPress blog? Please, let me know!

How to Promote Your Blog Posts with Social Media Writing

Posted: 01 Feb 2013 03:05 AM PST

When I was eleven, I wrote a mystery story and sold it for a quarter a copy on the playground. Even back then I knew that writing didn't happen in a vacuum. I used my classmate's names as characters, and cleared about $9.50 before the recess monitor cut it short. I knew my audience, and played to them.

The work I do as a content marketer is no different. There's an audience involved, and I have to play to the audience. You do too because that audience has even more power these days.

Social media has transformed web writing – and marketing in general – in just a few short years. If you want your blogging and other content marketing pieces to help you meet business goals, you need social media writing and promotion as part of your plan. You have to reach out to the right audience in the right way using the right platforms.

Don't let your content stay in a vacuum! Each time your company publishes a new post, it's an opportunity to reach out with social media writing. Follow this step by step social promotion plan to make sure your posts are reaching the right audience.

Start with a Clickable Title

Effective social media writing starts with your blog post, report or white paper title. Just like with movies, the title sells. There have been nearly a half dozen movies with the title "For Love or Money" – but that title is so generic that it doesn't tell you much about the film.

Your blog post tiles are no different. Generic isn't going to cut it, especially for social media promotion.

Here are some guidelines to keep in mind:

Integrate keywords if they make sense – My SEO copywriter side is screaming right now because keywords are essential. But when it comes to social media writing, if a keyword makes the title clunky instead of clickable, opt for a simpler phrase.
Inspire your reader to take action – Time is short for your target audience. If they don't see how reading your content marketing will help their day, they won't click through. Actionable titles that start with "How to…" or "X Tips for…" show your content is worth their time.
Keep it short – Meta titles are limited to 65 characters, and social media is character conscious as well. Make your titles as short and to the point as possible.

Customize Your Social Media Promotion

In my post, Platform Counts I shared specific tips for promoting content on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – and those rules are still great guidelines for customizing your approach.

As an addendum to that post, here are some additional platform-specific sharing tips:

Facebook – Share your blog posts on your personal Facebook profile as well as your business page (and encourage your team members to do the same). Use the same image on all updates – by pulling it from the post – but have each person change the language a little.
Twitter – Have a reference list for relevant hashtags that you use regularly. Pick some niche specific hashtags, but also include tags that are relevant to your specific blog post.
LinkedIn – Pick a focus LinkedIn group each month to share to and test the waters. Like most LinkedIn users, you've probably joined several groups without taking the time to invest yourself in them. Share your blog posts consistently to that group for a month to see if there are any bites or discussion. This will keep you from plastering an inactive LinkedIN group with your links and focus your strategy.
Google+ – In next month's column, I'm going to delve into Google+ completely. In the meantime, make use of Google+'s longer character length and formatting rules to make your posts standout. With new communities, you can easily reshare to targeted groups just like you would with LinkedIN.

By having a clickable title and following a specific promotional procedure for your blog posts, you can make your social media writing audience and traffic friendly.

by Courtney Ramirez

Ethical Blogwalking

Monday, 14 July 2014