Blogging: How Get More Love For Your Posts
The Beatles taught us “Can’t Buy Me Love.”
The same holds true for your blog.
Just hitting publish doesn’t automatically generate thousands of pageviews. You need to make your blog lovable and continually build an audience for your content.
64 Tips to increase blog reach (aka love for your blog)
Here’s a list of 64 tips to get more love for your blog. Building your audience is an iterative process.
Blog reach improvement occurs over time until one day—BAM you’re an overnight success.
Package your blog posts for success.
Create quality content. You need the best content you can create. Not sure what to write, just answer your customers’ questions.
Use controversy. Provide a new, unique prospective on an existing issue.
Feel the need for speed. It’s not just Maverick in Top Gun. Your blog’s load time matters to your visitors and to Google.
Use a great headline. Only 1 out 5 people will read beyond the headline. Work it! Besides the headline will also have an impact on the number of shares you get.
Incorporate great design. People are visual. Make sure that your blog appeals to your visitors on multiple levels.
Include an attention getting photo. People see images 60,000 times faster than text. It’s biology.
Optimize for search. Use a search plug-in to help your findability on search engines.
Proofread posts for good grammar and spelling. Research shows that this does matter.
Publish fresh content on a regular schedule. Think of your blog (regardless of what you call it) as a media entity.
Ensure that your blog is mobile-friendly. Recognize that people consume your content on a variety of devices. This also applies to your email!
Distribute your blog posts.
Email your posts. Ian Cleary of Razor Social does a great job of writing a separate email that’s fun to read and not just a link to his latest post. (BTW—we’d love it if you’d sign up for our emails.)
Provide a feed of your posts (aka RSS). Realize that there are people who prefer to use feeds, especially with the increased focus on content curation.
Highlight blog posts in your email newsletter. Add new information so that you’re not just rehashing the post. One way to do this is to curate related content from other sources.
Exchange email lists with a related blog or media entity. This doesn’t mean that you literally give them your list since that would in essence be spam. Rather, have them feature a post on your own blog in a special emailing to their list with an introduction as to why the article is worth their readers’ time. The benefit is that you reach new readers and are endorsed by the other’s blog. Don’t be surprised if the blog would like a reciprocal arrangement or a fee
Promote your blog on your business website. Don’t assume you’re your visitors will look for your blog. Also, if you feel that the word blog is negative for your business, call it something else.
Start podcasting. Pat Flynn and Derek Halpern created podcasts that drive massive amounts of traffic to their blogs.
Be a guest on someone else’s podcast. This is what I did for Jon Loomer. Check out the podcasts in your vertical and determine where you’d be a good fit. (BTW—Want me to be a guest on your podcast? Just email me.)
Start your own television entity. Create regular videos to get your information out. Make sure that you include your blog’s URL.
Provide webinars. Jon Loomer has been testing a weekly webinar.
Appear on someone else’s webinar. Another way to spread the word about your blog with an existing audience.
Exchange co-registration. For email sign-ups, promote another website and they promote you. Email newsletters do this all the time.
I Want to Hold Your Hand
Who doesn’t want to get some love from the influencers in their field?
Mention bloggers and influencers in your blog posts. Influencers like to get flattered.
Link to other blogs in your blog posts. Offer some link love to your favorite blogs and posts.
Email people to let them know that you’ve mentioned them. Once you’ve mentioned people, let them know.
Interview thought leaders. Email people of interest to your audience and gather their thoughts.
Create a round up post. Collect people’s input on a specific topic. The Best Content Marketing Advice Ever is a great and useful example.
Write guest blog posts. Your goal should be to raise your profile with the blog’s audience. (BTW—we don’t accept guest posts.)
Ask influential thought leaders to contribute to your blog. Reach out to people that you’d like to spotlight on your blog.
Write articles for online media entities related to your topic. Write articles for other online media sites.
Contribute to print publications. While this doesn’t directly drive people to your blog, it gets you noticed in a less cluttered environment. Lee Odden’s blog called print the new black.
Make it easy to comment on your blog. Comments are social proof. Don’t make visitors work to leave a comment. You can set rules and get rid of spam.
Respond to every comment on your blog. This can take time but it makes people who comment feel that you care.
Become part of a group blog. Join a tribe where you support each other with social sharing and commenting. Check out 12Most, a blog with a very friendly, welcoming community.
Leave comments on other blogs. Get the attention of your favorite blogger by leaving meaty content in your comments. Register for responses to the post to ensure you can respond.
Use social media to increase blog reach
Share your blog content across social media platforms. While you can schedule it, handcraft each share with relevant commentary to attract greater readership
Use hashtags to expand shareability on social media. Include relevant hashtags where appropriate.
Chop your column into a set of tweets and drip out over time. This works well when you have long lists and can make each one a tweet.
Use ClickToTweet. Encourage readers to share your content.
Create a pinboard specifically for your blog posts. To enhance content sharability, include strong visuals.
Leverage LinkedIn Groups to target content delivery. Join LinkedIn Groups relevant to your topic and share your blog posts there. Understand that you should also share other people’s content and participate in discussions.
Add a Pin This Button. This works particularly well if you have great visuals, especially if they’re useful lists.
Participate in a Twitter chat. You can highlight your blog in your introduction by saying, for example “Hi! I’m Heidi and I blog at http://HeidiCohen.com.”
Be the guest at a Twitter chat. Share your information with an existing group a relevant group on Twitter.
Answer questions on Quora. Use Quora to build your following as a thought leader and where appropriate share articles.
Combine a few posts into an ebook for Slideshare. Include a page at the end with a call-to-action to register for your blog.
Promote your blog in your social media profiles. Let people know about your blog when they’re looking at your profile.
Claim your blog name on every social media platform. Where possible, create a profile in your blog’s name so people can find it, even if you not active on that platform.
Include a “Print This” button. Add This research revealed that printing was one of the top 5 ways people shared content. While it’s not environmentally friendly, let your readers consume your content the way they want.
Get by with a little help from your friends.
More Beatles advice since they understood you need love and support from your family and friends.
Reach out your family, friends and colleagues. Ask the people who care about you to lend you a hand in sharing your content.
Leverage your email signature file. Include a link with a good call-to-action.
Create business cards for your blog. Alternatively, you can include your blog URL on your existing card.
Add a link to your blog in your bios. This means business events, professional associations, and local meetings – even your kid’s PTA. Your goal is to attract more readers interested in what you have to say.
Attend relevant events and conferences. Include your blog URL with your registration. Go one step further and write your blog URL on your nametag. (Why not consider attending Social Media Marketing World and meet me in person?)
Actively participate in real life business groups. Include organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary. These groups often need content for their newsletters.
Give presentations at work and conferences. Share your email address and blog URL on your slides and in your bio.
Utilize your existing business communications and connections to increase blog reach
The Beatles told us that “It’s Been a Hard Day’s Night…”
Ask employees to share your company blog posts. For many companies this can really increase your reach. BUT think this tip through first and make sure that you have a social media policy in place in your organization.
Include a link to your most recent blog post in your customer service emails. This probably requires help from your technology department.
Link to appropriate blog content on product pages. This is particularly important for how to and styling information. Marcus Sheridan calls this the secret sauce.
Highlight your blog posts in your post-purchase email confirmation. Promote prospective readers when they’re most interested in finding out about how to use your products.
Create handouts from your blog posts to distribute in your retail establishment. Use a few evergreen posts. Make sure that your handouts have a call-to-action to get people to your blog and related emailing.
Put up a sign promoting your blog in your shop window or on a bulletin board. Put it in high trafficked area to get people to see it.
Get PR. I recommend signing up for Help A Reporter Out’s free emailing. Respond to appropriate press requests and include your blog URL in your response.
Give interviews. Here’s another way to leverage other people’s audience by answering questions that are relevant to that audience. Remember you can’t just rehash the information on your website. It must be relevant to the readers.
Support your blog posts with an advertising budget. Advertise on social media entities.
Increasing your blog reach takes work. Test different methods to see what works best for your blog. Understand that some recommendations will work better for some types of posts than others.
What other suggestions would you add to help improve blog reach?
Happy Marketing,
Heidi Cohen
PS-We used 64 tips as a hat tip to the Beatles.
Heidi Cohen is the President of Riverside Marketing Strategies.
You can find Heidi on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
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Photo Credit: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; copyright: The Beatles; Sourced from Wikipedia; Amazon affiliate link.
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