In today’s online marketplace, blogs have a very important role. There are millions of blogs around the web by now, and the numbers continue to grow. Like any serious activity, blog writing must be treated with serious respect and commitment.
When you start building a blog, you should be aiming for two important things. First, you must finalize your blog’s design and content distribution plan, and you must also establish some writing purposes. Imagine where you want to be in a year by now, and aim for that goal.
The second phase is the promotional one. You need to make your blog shine and reach a wide audience of readers. There are plenty of ways to make your blog popular among international readers who love the subject that you’re approaching.
During today’s article, we’ll take a close look at some of the best ways in which you can get new readers to your blog on a consistent basis. Most of these promotion strategies are free; only a few require some small investments, but that shouldn’t be a problem if you are truly committed to your blog’s success.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is basically blogging itself but has a larger meaning. Content marketing means marketing through content. The content that you post and distribute should be qualitative, unique, helpful, and most importantly valuable for your target audience.It should never contain grammar and spelling mistakes; if you’re not good with perfecting your content, check any editing service and let them make your life easier.
It should educate your viewers, and only then pitch different offers, products, and services. By publishing quality content, you’ll also gain the search engine’s attention, and big search engines like Google or Yahoo will rank you among the first results for some keywords.
In order for this strategy to work, you must work hard, smart, and be extremely consistent. Giving up is not an option, and everything’s a trial-n-error process. If you fail, you go back and try until you make it.
Another awesome benefit that you get by doing content marketing is the direct advertising; people share things with each other through instant messaging channels, through their social media public profiles, or through face-to-face communication. A bit of mentioning doesn't hurt anybody. BUT, your content must be really valuable!
Social Media
Social media channels are extremely popular nowadays. 9 out of 10 persons has at least one social media profile which they use daily. Facebook is a necessity nowadays, as you need to keep in touch with different people, colleagues, groups, and so on. You’re also communicating through these easily accessible apps.Because social media is so popular, you should focus your efforts where most of the people spend their time. Every network gives you the possibility of paid advertising; you can put your blog’s link in front of their face, and you can select who sees it. You’re making your own marketing, and you’re creating brand awareness for your blog.
You must also keep up with the latest social media trends. If you want to get quality traffic, you must definitely keep up the pace and offer your social media followers whatever they wish right now.
Forum/Group Marketing
If you never heard of the concept before, forum marketing is basically group chatting. By being continuously active on more niche communities, you are creating a name for yourself and for your blog. By offering helpful advice and valuable information, the Group’s users will perceive you as an expert who knows what he’s talking about.Throughout your posts, you should aim to link as much back to your website. The links and recommendations shouldn’t be intrusive. Instead, they should be extremely relevant to the subject that’s being discussed. Only post links if they are truly helpful! This is truly a great way to improve your blog’s traffic, and it’s all free!
Guest Posting
You should be writing for other blogs in order to improve your brand’s awareness and blog’s reputation. If your name is being featured on extremely popular niche magazines and blogs, you’re improving your personal branding power. A lot of traffic will also come from these blogs that you’ve been featured.Because people truly care about who is writing the article (in many cases), you can expect to be remembered. Of course, in order for people to remember your name and blog’s name, you must be truly great with what you do. Provide enough value, and you’ll see a lot of people visiting your blog.
It’s all about the first impact that you make. Be sure that no one is going to follow you back to your platform in case your content is mediocre. People are looking for value – constantly. If you want to be successful, you must also be better than most of the people all while spreading the value.
Q&A Platforms
Q&A platforms are extremely popular nowadays. People tend to prefer asking questions using a network such as Yahoo Answers or Quora. These Q&A services carry a huge potential. You can definitely come across all types of customers that are having certain issues and problems.By analyzing their questions, you can find new angles of promotion, you can understand what your target audience wants and needs, and you can step in and show them the way. In any case, your answers must be extremely useful and relevant to the topic. Only then you won’t be perceived as a marketer who tries to sell his brand and products.
Q&A Platforms are also extremely important because they allow you to create an expert impression. The thousands of people who will read your comments and answers will recognize you as someone who truly knows what he’s talking about. By creating an expert image in your niche market, you’ll be able to sell more of your services and products.
Pay-Per-Click
Pay-per-click advertising is also a truly used form of promotion. It’s basically paid advertising, and you’re paying search engines to feature your website. There are more options and features that you can access. You can create banners and go for CPC advertising, or you can go for cost-per-impression(CPI).One impression means 1000 views, and each time 1000 people pass through the banner that the search engines display you must pay an previously established sum. There’s also the Adsense option, which basically places your advertisement throughout relevant niche websites where your potential customers could spend time.
Pay-per-click requires some investment before it would actually turn out to be profitable. It’s a trial and error process, and you can’t expect immediate success. Some campaigns fail, while some turn out to have a very good ROI. Keep trying until you find a profitable position and scale it until you no longer can.
Influencers
An influencer is an already established authority in the niche market. For example, an authoritative figure that big sports company use to promote their products is Cristiano Ronaldo, or Novak Djokovic. If you’re have a restaurant business for example, you can approach popular chefs and influential celebrities that focus on food.This type of marketing is highly underrated. Some influencers are followed by millions of people, and their social media status updates or their video interviews are being seen by hundreds of thousands of fans. All of these fans will be aware of your products and of your brand’s name.
You’ll have to negotiate with each of these influencers, but finding and approaching them isn’t that difficult. Nowadays, every public figure has a professional social media presence, and they’re possible to reach in a matter of hours.a
Solo Ads
Solo ads are basically some form of media buying. Websites and blogs from all across the web possess e-mail lists. They are constantly sending content through e-mails to thousands of people who chose to subscribe. If you want to approach a certain target audience, you can do so by inserting your sales pitch into one or more e-mail sequences.You’ll have to approach blog owners and tell them about your offer. They must also gain something; otherwise, there is no reason for them to help you spread the word about your brand.
It’s also very important who you approach; you can’t expect to have a good return of investment from an unprofessional organization. The website must be reputable and truly followed by people, and not just numbers.
One more thing; make sure that you always include a little bit of value and relevancy throughout your e-mails. Think about the readers first; if they feel impressed with your work, they will want to hear more from you. Leaving a contact detail and the end of your article should lead them straight back to you!
Bonus infographic:
Content Promotion Secrets
Source: Klientboost.
Conclusion
Getting new readers for your blog posts and content is not such a big deal. You must work hard, smart, and never stop. With a lot of dedication, a lot of written content, and a lot of promotion efforts…well, it’s very hard to fail. Good luck with your blogging journey!About author:
Paula Hicks is an experienced writer and journalist. Currently, works as an editor for Help.Plagtracker editing service and writes for the number of marketing magazines. You may follow Paula on Twitter or Reddit.
