Writing blog posts is fun. But there are other forms of writing that will help make writing your blog even more fun. What am I talking about? I’m talking about ways to market and promote your blog via the written word.
So many people are hell bent on promoting their blog via Twitter and Facebook. While they are excellent platforms and can take a blog a long way, that doesn’t mean that’s where promoting a blog should stop.
Here are 5 different ways to promote your blog and your mission using words as your endorsement.
E-Newsletters
An e-newsletter is an excellent way to get out your ideas and promote your blog. The key to the e-newsletter is to send them rather infrequently or people will become annoyed that you are always crowding their inbox. An e-newsletter once every month or two is appropriate. Also, remember that an e-newsletter is NOT a sales letter. It is a way to disseminate information but it is not to sell a product.
E-Newsletters are the perfect place to recap your best blog posts, publicize any upcoming events your readers should be aware of, and to add value. Using the newsletter to give a piece of advice is an excellent idea. For example, one copywriting newsletter I subscribe to gives me a grammar lesson once a month. It’s usually pretty funny and some of the time it’s useful as well.
Press Releases
A press release is a great way to gain some publicity. The great thing about press releases is they are short and to the point and they’re relatively easy to write.
The key to the press release is to send them to editors frequently enough that they start to know your name, and will potentially call you for quotes. That positions you as an expert within your field – the end goal of every blogger.
Additionally, you can optimize these releases using your SEO skills and take over Google. Anchoring the correct key words and distributing the press release to many sites will spread your URL like wildfire throughout the web.
About Page
Just because you’re a blog and not a company website doesn’t mean you don’t need an about page — a place to write down a static version of your goals, dreams, mission, and purpose. An amazing about page is what sets some of the great blogs from the good blogs. Take the time to write your perfect version of what you would want a stranger to know about your blog. Then add it to your site.
Sales Letters
These are a necessary evil. I understand that nobody likes sending them, and most people don’t like to receive them, but even if you only get a 1% conversion rate, that’s still more sales than you would have made if you didn’t send the sales letter.
Some blogs are just blogs and don’t sell anything, if that is your situation you can skip to the next paragraph. But for the blogs that do, sales letters can be a great way to get the word out about an affiliate program or a contest you are holding. Just make sure they reflect your company and your voice. If you usually write your posts with humor, don’t be afraid to add humor to your sales letter.
You might want to consider setting up an autoresponder series for this. For more information about this and to learn how to pick the right one, here’ best autoresponder review I’ve read.
Guest Posts
Technically, this is writing a blog post, but it’s not for your blog, so I’m slipping it in. Writing guest blog posts can be an amazing way to gain attention and traffic to your site (believe me, I know since this itself is a guest post).
You’d be surprised how many blogs are open to having guest posters. Make sure to write a post that you are certain will fit with the site’s mission and purpose and proofread it within an inch of its life. Then send it off and watch your numbers go up.
Writing great content goes so far beyond delivering a good blog post. I hope some of these ideas will encourage you not just to write more, but to give you more ideas on how to promote your blog.
Am I missing any great ways to promote using words as your weapon of choice?
About Rebecca Osberg
I also used Microworkers as a way to promote my blog, and it really did wonders for me!
Lily recently posted..Pyritinol
Thank a lot i never care about ” About Page like you mention ” Just because you’re a blog and not a company website doesn’t mean you don’t need an about page” i Will add it and write down a static version of my mission. Hope it will help me increase traffic.
iceo recently posted..Christmas 2011 Deals :Buy Cheap 100 LED Mini Holiday Christmas Lights Clear
nice tips.
the ‘guest post’ has now sort of become trite, but i know, is very important and effective.
the idea of email newsletter sounds great too.
thank you :)
jigar doshi recently posted..how to earn some extra money online…!
Wow. you are doing a great job of giving ideas to New bloggers of promotion and I must say that E-newsletter works best if you are targeting subscriber in your mailing list.
Keep posting wonderful stuff.
Mark Max
Making your Blog recently posted..WordPress Blog Hosting Basics- Wp Hosting Companies
Hi Rebecca,
These are great tips. I love press releases – they are a great way to get you name and business out there.
Thanks for sharing,
Mavis
Mavis Nong recently posted..How to Rise Above The Noise and Bring More Traffic to Your Blog
Hi Rebecca!
Awesome post. I totally agree.
You could also be writing thoughtful and value adding comments on other blogs, writing articles and submitting them to article sites, writing press releases is another option too.
I also like to write facebook notes sometimes. :)
Thanks for the great tips! Glad to meet you!
Heather
Heather C Stephens recently posted..The Power of Home Based Business Leverage
Twitter: MurrayLunn
says:
I’ve been tapping into my existing contacts as well to see if anyone would like to work together on a few business projects.
You’d be surprised how many people are starting up all around you that need a bit of help. Offer up one of your services completely free and people are glad to help out in areas that you need as well – that’s one of the most awesome parts about being a blogger – the ability to get things doooone.
Murray Lunn recently posted..Blog Post Frequency- Give It Some Time Dammit!
I had not thought of doing press releases online. Will have to investigate that. Thank you!
Chea recently posted..The Sex Partner List
Twitter: erenmckay
says:
You have the exact same mentality that I have about newsletters. I always see poeple say that we need to frequently send out information in our newsletters and I’m like- really? I’ve noticed that I only stay subscribed to people that I like and that give me useful and encouraging information. I would rather not send anything out than be sending out stuff that truly isn’t helpful to my subscribers.
Currently I’m working on an ebook to give to my subscribers for signing up for my newsletter. I want it to be something helpful to anyone that subcribes (since my blog is eclectic).
Thanks for these great suggestions,
All the best,
Eren
Eren Mckay recently posted..Personalise ladybug invitations
Such great advice. I’m so glad to find your blog. I’ll be back later. :)
Nice points rebecca, I think guest post is more effective. It will help our blog to get backlinks + traffic :-)
Hyder recently posted..How to Download Webpages in PDF Format
I wasn’t sure about the press release thing, but you’ve swayed me now. It didn’t feel right, but I’m sure it’ll give my blog a boost and make it look even more professional and impressive!
Zahra Brown recently posted..3 Ways to Update Your Wardrobe on a Budget
There are different strategies in online marketing and further study is the best way to achieve success in online business. I do believe that guest post such as posting on do follow blogs can help a lot to have a higher google ranking.
I have been blogging for a few months and I always find new ideas in improving my blogs. I’m glad I came across your post for your tips in promoting blogs are really helpful. I have tried doing press release before and I agree that it’s indeed effective. Thanks for the information!
For e-newsletters or sales letters, do you have tips or ideas on how to make them interesting so that people would actually read and not check and erase?
Absolutely right! There’s also a change to market your website online, with the use of information in the web if you don’t have any idea how to do it. There are lots of information in the net that you can use for successful online marketing. It takes time yet, it’s worth it if you want a successful business.
These are definitely good advice you have given. I’ll try to keep everything in mind. Thanks so much for being helpful.
I do all of the things mentioned in the post but I don’t like writing press releases. I can’t explain why. But all other things work well.
When you start working on a new blog, its easy to get caught up in the main content. You will often forget that is only one part of the equation. You post reminds me that I have a lot of work to do.
Hollerout recently posted..Free WoW Game Card Scam
I have tried most of the things apart from Guest posting. I am really looking forward to doing some guest posts soon.
Just lunched our new seo blog http://www.seotrainingcoursedelhi.blogspot.com
And would love to know what you guys think about it.
Can we change anything to make it better.
All suggestions and comments are welcome
Twitter: ileane
says:
Hey Rebecca, you have a new fan. Thanks for sharing this advice, I’m going to get my about page done before this week is out! Thanks for the encouragement.
Ileane recently posted..Amplify What You Find On The Web
Guest postings is the only thing we weren’t able to accomplish from the things you enumerated.
We find it hard to get approved, with a boring topic like compatible toner or ink cartridge.
Instead, we just submit articles to article directories. Much easier fro us.
Jack recently posted..Comparing a Compatible Ink Cartridge and a Remanufactured Printer Cartridge
This is such a very interesting post. Every point is well said and reading this post made me think of the possibilities that can help me promote blogs. In my case, receiving E-Newsletters can be annoying if you get it from the same blogger every too often. Once or twice a month is good enough for this kind of channel to promote your blogs.
Anyway, thanks for the tips, Rebecca.
Hi Rebecca,
I think I’ve done most of these methods. Although I have not yet been able to fit in time for a guest post.
I would add submitting an article to an article directory to your list as well as advertising (if you have a particular service) in online classifieds such as craigslist. Also, answering questions on places like Yahoo answers works really well for blog promotion.
Richard recently posted..How to Promote Your Blog Article
Writing for your blog is something like a consequence of having a blog, and writing to promote your blog is something smart. You can should write articles and spread them around to gain some exposure, because even if you are giving super information if no one know about you, it’s for nothing.
So, at the end even writing is promoted through writing.
Alex recently posted..Camioane monstru
I think these 5 ways can promote your blog much better as they all are effective to put in action if they are written besides blog posts. Need to consider all these ways for promoting the blog in well manner.
fantastic article! useful and inspiring ;
Hi Rebecca
Thanks for your creative suggestions for promoting our blogs. Some I had not even thought about.
Will now have to set about being more creative and see what response I get from my regular readers.
Thanks for sharing this information with us. Much appreciated.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia recently posted..So Little Time- So Much To Do
Hi Rebecca,
I like your approach – its kind of a ‘try a little bit of everything’ approach.
Currently, I am working on getting just one or two of these done every couple of weeks. I guess that I have a bit of a “start slow, finish strong” approach.
Have a nice day!
mark recently posted..Bloggers On Blogging Objectives
Thank you. I never thought about those options.I am learning a great deal from you.
Fantastic post. Thanks for the tips. It’s a great read for a new-ish blogger trying to build an audience.
I like this post a lot. being a Newbie to professional blogging, I am just now getting my rhythm. I agree with guest posting and commenting, as well as press releases but how do I start an e-newsletter without any subscribers?
Kevin recently posted..Laws of Success Lesson Three- Self-Confidence
Additionally, I count also writing tweets, facebook comments and other social networking activities that take time and are vehicles to promote sites and blogs.
Rebecca – Great article on promoting your blog. I have used all of these methods except the first one. I really wouldn’t know how to put together an E-Newsletter even if I wanted to, but after reading this I’m going to learn the proper way to put one together.
I love how you suggested to add humor to your sales letter, which is what I usually do. Nicely done.
John recently posted..Trace That Mail Sender Fast
The most tempting of all options is the Newsletter. I tend to read the newsletters I receive. The “about us” page is a must if you want to be taken seriously.