Writing a blog is a fantastic way to share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences with the world. But once you’ve written your blog post, how do you get people to read it?
There are a number of ways to promote your blog online, and the best strategy will vary depending on your goals and audience. Here are some tried-and-true methods that can help you get more eyes on your content.
Pre-promotion checklist
Before we dive into the strategies, there’s one important thing you need to do first: make sure your blog is ready for promotion. This may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people try to promote their blog before it’s actually ready.
Here’s a quick checklist of things you should do before promoting your blog:
Site optimization
The first thing you need to check when promoting your blog online is to make sure your site is fast, responsive, and easy to navigate. No one wants to visit a slow, clunky website. You can optimize your website by doing things like reducing your page size and using a content delivery network (CDN).
Apart from speed, you also need to check for hosting the website. If your website is down frequently, people will be turned off and less likely to visit again. You can use tools like Pingdom to check your website’s uptime.
Furthermore, you should make sure your website has been given complete security. Failure to do so will not only turn away potential visitors, but it could also put your site at risk for attacks. You can increase your site’s security by using a WordPress security plugin like Sucuri.
Additionally, you must also pay attention to crawling and indexing issues. If your website is not being indexed by search engines, it will be very difficult for people to find it. You can use Google Search Console to check if there are any indexing issues with your site.
On-page SEO
Make sure your blog posts are optimized for search engines. This means using the right keywords, tagging your images, and using internal links. Linking is extremely important to rank high on Google.
There are different types of linking strategies. You can start by adding links to your most popular blog posts from your homepage. This will help search engines understand what your website is about and index your content accordingly.
Another way to add links is by guest posting on other blogs. This is a great way to get exposure for your own blog while also helping out another blogger. Just make sure you’re only guest posting on high-quality websites that are relevant to your niche.
And finally, don’t forget to add social media buttons to your blog posts! This will make it easy for people to share your content with their followers.
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO is all about building backlinks to your website. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher you’ll rank in Google. You can build backlinks by guest blogging, participating in forums, and getting included in roundups.
Quality content
This is probably the most important thing on the list. If you want people to visit and keep coming back to your blog, you need to make sure you’re publishing high-quality, original content. You need to make sure you have used proper grammar, and your content must be well researched. If you’re not a strong writer, you may want to consider hiring a freelance writer to help you create quality content.
Content optimization
Your content should be high-quality, well-written, and informative. No one wants to read outdated, poorly written articles. Make sure your content is evergreen and relevant to your niche.
You should also optimize your title tags and meta descriptions to ensure that your articles show up in search engine results pages (SERPs). This will help you attract more organic traffic to your site.
Social media
According to this report, 57.6% of the world’s population is actively using social media. This translates to more than half of the world. Hence, social media integration will go a long way when you are promoting your blog.
Social media is a powerful tool that can help you reach a wider audience. Be sure to share your content on all of the major social networks, and don’t forget to use hashtags and other relevant keywords. You should also consider running social media ads.
Some of the most popular social media platforms are:
- Snapchat
- YouTube
Make sure your blog is integrated with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can also include social media buttons on each of your blog posts and encourage people to share your content. You can also create social media-specific content, like infographics and videos, to drive even more traffic to your site.
Planning and researching your content
You can’t just write any old thing and expect people to read it. Your content must be well-researched, well-written, and relevant to your target audience. You should also have a content promotion plan in place before you start writing. This will help ensure that your content is promoting your blog effectively.
Not all blog posts are created equal. In order to get the most traffic and engagement, you need to choose topics that are relevant to your niche and audience. You should also make sure you’re writing about something that people actually want to read.
The best way to come up with ideas for blog posts is to use keyword research tools like Google AdWords, Keyword Planner, and KWFinder. These tools will help you find keywords that people are searching for in Google. Once you have a list of keywords, you can start brainstorming ideas for blog posts that would be relevant to those keywords.
You should also consider using Google Trends to see what topics are currently trending. People are more likely to search for and read articles about topics that are currently trending.
Researching your audience
Before you start writing, you need to know who your target audience is. What are their interests? What problems do they need to solve? Once you have a good understanding of your audience, you can start creating content that appeals to them.
You can use Google Analytics to get an idea of who’s reading your blog. You can also use social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to see what people are saying about your blog.
Creating a content calendar
Once you have a good understanding of your audience and you’ve brainstormed some ideas for blog posts, it’s time to create a content calendar. This will help you keep track of what you’re going to write about and when you’re going to publish it.
When creating your content calendar, you should consider the following:
- The topics you’re going to write about
- The keywords you’re going to target
- The social media platforms you’re going to promote your content on
- When you’re going to publish your articles
Your content calendar doesn’t have to be complicated. A simple Excel spreadsheet will suffice. Just make sure you update it regularly so that you always know what’s coming up next.
Publishing consistently
If you want people to keep coming back to your blog, you need to be publishing new content on a regular basis. That doesn’t mean you need to be publishing multiple articles every day. But you should aim to publish at least one article per week. This will give people something to look forward to and ensure that your blog stays up-to-date.
Creating compelling graphics
If you want people to share your content, you need to make it visually appealing. Be sure to include compelling graphics, infographics, and videos in your posts. These will help make your content more engaging and more likely to be shared.
Set up Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free tool that allows you to track who’s visiting your site and how they found you. Almost 86% of all websites use this tool to track website traffic.
Google Analytics can provide invaluable information that can help you fine-tune your promotion strategy. If you don’t have Google Analytics set up on your site yet, now’s the time to do it.
Optimizing your content for search engines
If you want people to find your content, you need to make sure it’s optimized for search engines. This means using the right keywords, including meta descriptions and alt tags, and making sure your site is easy to crawl.
Now that you’ve checked everything off the list, you’re ready to start promoting your blog! Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to do it.
Blog promotion strategies
Now that your blog is prepped and ready, it’s time to start promoting it! Here are some of the best ways to get the word out:
Email marketing
Email marketing is still one of the best ways of promoting your blog. If you have a list of subscribers, be sure to let them know whenever you publish a new post. You can also reach out to other bloggers in your niche and ask them to share your content with their readers.
The benefit of email marketing over other forms is that you have a direct line to your readers. You can control the message and the call to action, and you know that your subscribers will see it.
Paid Advertising
If you want to reach an even wider audience, you can always resort to paid advertising. Google AdWords and Facebook Ads are two of the most popular options. Just be sure to target your ads carefully so you don’t waste money on clicks that don’t convert.
Guest blogging
Guest blogging is a great way to get your content in front of a new audience. Reach out to other bloggers in your niche and see if they’re interested in featuring one of your posts on their site. Just be sure to only guest blog on high-quality sites that are relevant to your niche.
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is another great way for promoting your blog content. Find influencers in your niche with a large following and see if they’ll share your content with their fans. You can also collaborate with them on sponsored posts or social media campaigns.
There are several ways that influencer marketing can help promote your blog. Influencers have a large following of engaged fans. By collaborating with them, you can reach a much wider audience, increase brand awareness, and make people more familiar with your blog.
If an influencer shares one of your blog posts, it can generate a significant amount of traffic back to your site. Moreover, getting links from high-quality websites can help improve your website’s SEO. And since influencers often have large followings, their links carry a lot of weight.
The results can indeed surprise you.
Content leverage
Once you’ve created some great content, don’t just let it sit there. Repurpose it into other formats like infographics, videos, or eBooks and share it on other channels. This will help you get the most out of your content and reach a wider audience.
Analyzing the results
Once you’ve been promoting your blog for a while, it’s important to take a step back and analyze the results. Which strategies are working best? Which ones are driving the most traffic and generating the most leads? Keep track of your progress over time and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Website analytics
There are several different ways to track your website’s traffic and performance after promoting your blog. Google Analytics is a free tool that provides detailed insights into who’s visiting your site and how they found you. Another option is to use a heat mapping tool like Crazy Egg to see where people are clicking on your site. This can help you identify areas for improvement.
Lead tracking
In addition to tracking website traffic, it’s also important to track the leads that come from your blog. This way, you can see which strategies are generating the most interest and conversions. There are a number of different lead tracking tools available, such as LeadPages and HubSpot.
A/B testing
A/B testing is another great way to optimize your blog for conversion. This involves creating two different versions of your blog post and seeing which one performs better. You can test different headlines, images, calls to action, or any other elements of your blog post.
Social media monitoring
Finally, don’t forget to keep an eye on your social media accounts. This will help you see how people are reacting to your content and what they’re saying about it. There are a number of different social media monitoring tools available, such as Hootsuite and Sprout Social.
Things you need to avoid when promoting your blog
Now that you know some of the best ways to promote your blog, let’s take a look at some of the things you need to avoid.
Spamming
When promoting your blog, it’s important to avoid spamming people. This means don’t post the same message over and over again or send unsolicited messages to people’s inboxes. If you do, you’ll just end up annoying people and harming your reputation.
Buying followers
Another thing to avoid is buying followers. This might seem like an easy way to get more people to see your content, but it won’t do you any good if those followers are not interested in what you have to say. Plus, most social media platforms can tell when you’ve bought followers and will penalize you for it.
Instead, what you should do is focus on building a genuine following of people who are interested in what you have to say. This will take more time and effort, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Posting irrelevant content
Finally, don’t post irrelevant content just for the sake of getting more traffic. This will only turn people off and make them less likely to come back to your site. Instead, focus on creating high-quality content that is relevant to your niche.
If you follow these tips, you’ll be well on your way to promoting your blog effectively in 2023. Just remember to focus on quality over quantity and always put your audience first.
Posting too much
Another mistake to avoid is posting too much. If you’re constantly bombarding people with content, they’re going to get sick of it and tune you out. Find a good balance between promoting your blog and other content so that people don’t get overwhelmed.
Often people think that they need to post multiple times a day, but this isn’t always the case. It’s more important to focus on quality over quantity. Post when you have something interesting to say instead of just posting for the sake of it.
Not diversifying your traffic sources
You have surely heard the old adage “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. This is especially true when it comes to website traffic. This means don’t just rely on one or two sources of traffic. If you do, you’re putting yourself at risk if those sources dry up.
Instead, diversify your traffic by using a variety of different methods to promote your blog. This way, even if one method stops working, you’ll still have others that are bringing people to your site.
Not tracking results
You need to make sure you’re tracking the results of your efforts. This way, you can see what’s working and what’s not. Otherwise, you’ll just be wasting time and money on strategies that aren’t giving you any results.
Keyword stuffing
One black hat technique you should avoid is keyword stuffing. This is when you stuff your content with so many keywords that it becomes difficult to read. Not only will this turn people off, but it will also get you penalized by search engines.
Conclusion
There are a lot of different ways to promote your blog. Try out a few of these strategies and see what works best for you and don’t forget to track your results so you can see what’s working and what’s not. With a little effort, you should be able to get more traffic and engagement for your blog in no time.
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Guest Author: Dave is Sr. Editor at Content Development Pros. He leads a small army of content writers and SEO experts that help small and large business get results through amazing content.
The post Top Strategies to Promote Your Blog Online in 2023 appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.