Setting up a blog is rather simple. You figure out your blog type, choose a blog name, set up a theme and post your first blog post. So now what? You eagerly wait for readers but notice the slow progress (if any progress at all) so this worries you. You shake it off, post two more blog posts hoping to be noticed.
Now don’t rush off to a depression chat room and ponder why readers aren’t racing to your blog. The huge mistake you’re doing is not promoting or marketing your blog. If you’ve put effort into your post, it deserves to be read so don’t wait for readers to come to you. Go out and catch their attention. Here are a few steps to get your blog out there.
- Social Media is key
Firstly, if you don’t have social media channels set up for your business or blog, you need to get on that now. Thank god for the internet and how fast you can spread the word through social media! Let’s go through all the social media platforms and how to get the most of each.
- Facebook: Share your blog posts on your personal and blog account. You can write a short description or situation in need with your posts link, leading the reader to it and you can urge them to share your post on their profiles. Try posting as much as you can so it’ll regularly appear in your subscriber and friends’ newsfeed.
Don’t forget about Facebook groups too! If you’re not already a member of a few groups related to your niche, start searching. Not only will you get topics to write about from other posts but it’s a great chance to share your posts with people already interested in the topic and expand your reader’s base.
For more exposure, you can try paid Facebook ads to help promote your post on your member’s pages and their friends.
- Twitter: With every new post is a new tweet with your blog post’s link. A trick to gain more followers, pull out the accounts of other bloggers in your niche then follow their followers, this way they’d follow back and your posts will appear regularly. This can definitely drive traffic to your blog.
- Instagram & Pinterest: Visual ads are a huge hit in the blogging world so fill both your Instagram and Pinterest account with your logo, photos, and illustrations from your blog with links to your posts.
- LinkedIn: Use this platform to build a bigger network and share your posts in the newsfeed.
Also, don’t forget to place share buttons at the end of every article to these channels so they can easily share it when they want.
- Be Active on Reddit, Quora& Forums
On Reddit, search for topics and discussions relevant to your blog post and strike up conversations, suggest solutions, be informative, and add links to your blog posts. As for Quora, the more active and helpful you are, the more people will trust you. Pull out questions in your niche and post your blog post links in your answer to guide users to your blog.
- Optimize your content
Each blog post’s content needs to be rich, informative, and helpful. You need to use important keywords in your blog and use them naturally without just stuffing your article with them. Using keywords will increase your organic search chances. And try to be specific, don’t use generalized keywords.
- Make an Email List
Make it as simple as possible for your readers to subscribe. You can add a subscribe section on your homepage, blog page and maybe even as a pop-up or slide-on that appears, by only requiring an email. Now when you send out an email don’t try to be selling your product. Instead, send them new blog post notifications to topics they may be interested in. However, don’t try to be too nagging with constant emails every day until they unsubscribe eventually. Once or twice a week is enough.
- Expand your Network
Build good relations with other bloggers or business owners in your industry or relevant industries. Start by regularly commenting on their blog posts with your suggestions or feedback and leave a link leading back to your blog. You can also share their posts that you like on your blog or use their blogs as click bait to bring readers to their blog (and tell them so) then they would do the same with your new posts. You can even have guest bloggers write posts on your blog that bring in their readers and vice versa. This relationship is a two-way benefit – the more you work on your network and strengthen your relations, the more traffic your blog will have.
Don’t be shy to reach out to other bloggers and online readers through social media or email. If you want your blog to grow, you need to be able to make an effort in marketing or promoting your blog.