Although many of us blog for business purposes, not all bloggers are getting paid for their work. On the other hand, most smaller businesses need to keep expenses in check when promoting their wares. We often get questions from clients and colleagues about our recommendations for low cost or free answers to how to promote a blog.
Below are some quick hit tips that you can take advantage of when working to establish and grow your blog or overall website traffic. Keep in mind that, since this is about how to promote a blog and not how to promote a business, these are focused on content marketing exposure. That said, many of these ideas can easily provide value for your overall company, brand, or cause.
How to Promote a Blog: 25 Free Options
This is meant to be a stream of consciousness post with a list of ideas, so let’s just jump right into it. If you are unclear on any of these or need more information, please comment below and let’s discuss.
Host your blog on a free service such as WordPress.com, where you can get free exposure to the WP community.
Get your blog or business listed on Google Places.
Share each blog post with your social networks and social bookmarking services.
Make insightful comments on other blogs, and include a relevant link back to your own blog.
Contribute thoughtful guest posts on other blogs to get exposure to new audiences.
Add your site to free directories that have manual review processes to get listed.
Start a Meetup.com group in your subject area and share your blog at events and online.
Start a LinkedIn group and share your posts with members.
Answer questions on Quora, LinkedIn, Yahoo Answers, etc. that apply to your topic and link to related content when you can.
Create a free newsletter and send updates monthly.
Always include a link to your site or blog in your email signature
Double up on #11 – include a link to your latest post in your email signature.
Create a fan page on Facebook and build an audience to share with.
Provide free trainings to local nonprofits, universities, and meetup groups to establish expertise.
Help organize a webinar with a more established expert in your field where you can show your wares.
Write an ebook and post it to free PDF download sites.
Offer free advice or consultations with local businesses in your field of expertise.
Organize a giveaway or contest – ask a local business to donate the gift to get them exposure as well.
Join forces with others – band together with other local bloggers or businesses and promote each other.
Write a press release and post it on free PR sites.
Post classified ads for your site or service offering to free classified ad sites.
Be sure to highlight your blog and/or the latest post(s) on your home page.
Invite established bloggers to guest post on your site – they will share it with their networks for additional exposure.
Write about topics that are trending when you publish the posts.
Write about topics that your target audience is likely to be passionate about – they will help promote that content for you!
Notice something missing? I purposely left SEO off the list. Although it is technically “free”, SEO takes a more strategic overall effort to ensure it is done properly. If you need help with SEO, I always advocate investing in top notch support via a reputable, professional SEO service provider.
What else have you tried and found to work? This is in no way an exhaustive list, so your ideas on how to promote a blog are welcomed in the comments.
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