Market That Blog

Blog marketing tips are all over the place, yet people tend to forget the basics. Make sure you have these main points covered before you start spending dollars on your blog's promotion.

Written Feb 21, 2008, read 593 times since then.

In a recent post I noted that I've been a little addicted to blogging lately - more so than ever. I read blogs, link to blogs, write my own blog, and most importantly, market my blog. With all of these things combined, however, blogging can be a very time consuming thing. But what's the point of dedicating all this time if no one can find your blog to read it?

While the sole concept of blogging could be therapeutic for some, I find it to be an online networking and self-promotional tool more than anything else. Therefore, it's important that I stay on top of the different ways to make my blog noticed online. So with that said, how do I not only get new traffic to my blog, but keep the old traffic returning?

New Posts
No one wants to pull up a blog that hasn't been updated since January of 2006. What's the point? Unless the topic is immune to being outdated, the info is old and probably not worth anything anymore.

By posting regularly, you're doing multiple things. One, is that you're giving your current readers something to come back for. Keep your current subscribers interested and if they're into what you're saying, chances are they'll pass your blog info on to someone else.

Another plus is that by writing often, you're consistently keeping your blog refreshed. And by keeping it refreshed, you're keeping your name at the top of the blog search engines. With the thousands... no, let me revise... millions of blogs that there are out there, you can't afford to be at the bottom of the list. Keep your blog updated and you'll be sure to be updated on search engines.

Blog Stats
Keeping an eye on your blog's stats is a great way to know how well you're really doing. You may think just because you have a published blog, you'll have readers, but that's not true at all. There are several programs that I use to keep an eye on my blog traffic. A few of them being Feedburner, StatCounter Pro and MyBlogLog. I can get a wide range of info from each of the different programs. Best of all, these programs are free.

Subscriber Links
So, they're not the prettiest things in the whole world. But by adding a few link buttons to your blog, you can gain a lot of traffic. By adding an RSS feed link, or placing a couple of buttons to link to major blog portals such as Technorati and such, you can give your visitor a one-stop sign-up spot to receive your news and recent blog posts. This a great way for people to tag your page, should they like it, so they won't lose it. They'll be sure to return. Furthermore, add a few links for them to forward your blog posting to a friend. Referrals are great!

Participation
There's a lot to be said for actively participating in the online community. What does that mean? Go to a favorite website and see if they have a discussion board. Find a topic you're interested or well-versed in and speak up! By showing that you know your stuff, and by being sure to sign your posts with your blog address in your signature, you're getting free advertising. And not only are you putting your online info in front of people, you're showing that you're a smarty pants as well.

Linking
Ever been to a blog and seen a huge list of links to other sites and blogs? They weren't put there by the author just to be nice. They're there for publicity. Seems a little backwards, yes, but here's how it works. You're bored at work and find a cool blog. It's got great info and you're really impressed by the author. You quickly type a message to the blogger and say, "Great blog. I'd like to link to you from mine. Would that be okay?" Of course, they'll say yes. But chances are, they'll be curious about who's checking out their site. They'll realize that you're a nifty blogger yourself and probably add your link. Now, you're getting their readers. And they're getting yours. Traffic for everybody.

While the list is pretty much endless, these are a few points that I've learned work well. It can be daunting to seek out a forum and type your thoughts, to keep track of your stats, and to post regularly. But, what I've found, is that it becomes routine. And eventually a likable activity.

Learn more about the author, Angela Ferraro-Fanning.

Comment on this article

Posted by Carol Skolnick, Santa Cruz, California | Feb 22, 2008

Agreed. What's more gratifying than seeing those readership stats!
Posted by Dan McComb, Seattle, Washington | Feb 22, 2008

Participation is totally key. You know the old addage, "Ninety percent of success in life is showing up." It's true! We actually created an algorithm here on Biznik, that makes the most active people the most visible in the member directories and in search results, as a thank-you for participation and also to encourage it even more.

Biznik Business Networking
Posted by David Billings, Portland, Oregon | Feb 23, 2008

Insightful article, Angela. Of course the content is right on, but I also like how you formatted it so it's easy to read. Nice touch.
Posted by Judy Dunn, Renton, Washington | Feb 25, 2008

A great basic overview of blogging and its benefits, Angela. Our blog is just a month old, so we haven't started linking yet, but will be doing that soon, and your tips reinforced our current knowledge on links.

It was also nice to be reminded of the importance of regular new postings. Time, of course, is always an issue. We post three times a week and we schedule time every Sunday to develop at least three so if I get busy during the week, we have some to fall back on.

Thanks. This was helpful.

Copywriting for Creative Solopreneurs
Posted by Sue Burness, Toronto, Ontario Canada | Feb 26, 2008

Thanks for the reminder and for a well-written article. I just joined so maybe someone can re-diect me if this isn't the place for my question. Where is the best place to START a blog? I've looked at google, wordpress and yahoo. I'd like something that would allow me to insert a paypal button and that would allow a little creative formatting. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Posted by Angela Ferraro-Fanning, Hudson, Wisconsin | Feb 26, 2008

Hi Sue, Personally, I use Blogger. Since I do web development, I have some programming skills and was able to customize the look of my blog using code. I could be mistaken, but when you have a PayPal account, I think you can copy a line of code which will place a button on your site/blog/etc. Being that blogger allows you to insert your own code, I'm thinking that might work for you. I hope this helps... and didn't confuse you all the more! :) Have a good day.
Posted by Kathryn Hendershot-Hurd, Fort Pierce, Florida | Mar 03, 2008

I've tried blogger and was disappointed with the results. (Admittedly, this just after Google purchased them.)

I am a complete and utter fan of self hosted Wordpress blogs. With the right plug ins (bits of code which make Wordpress do more) you can create a very Search Engine Friendly web site.

When I published my book, I launched a self hosted Wordpress blog with the above mentioned plug ins to promote it. Because of the "sandbox" effect.... it took almost 9 months for my blog to appear in Google's index. When the blog finally emerged, I was ranked #9 on the search term "niche marketing guru".

I didn't welcome the "guru" label.... but I LOVED the traffic that came as a result.

Like I said.... I also tried promoting my book with a blogger.com blog and did not see any traffic from there to my HTML web site promoting my book.

Unfortunately, I've also observed a similar pattern with clients' attempts at "free" blogging sites.

There's a reason Micheal Arrington (of Techcrunch fame) blogs using a self hosted Wordpress blog and why approximately 1 out of 4 blogs in the Technorati top 100 are self hosted Wordpress blogs.

If I was going to use a free blog though, it would be Blogger.com. Google does show a distinct "preference" for their sites. (If I remember correctly, there were 5 blogger.com sites listed in the Technorati top 100.)
Posted by Angela Ferraro-Fanning, Hudson, Wisconsin | Mar 03, 2008

Hi Kathryn, I have heard many good things about Wordpress and know several business owners who use this service for their blogging.

When I started blogging, I had know clue where to even begin. Blogger helped me to understand the functionality of a blog and how to experiment with it (as far as templates, increasing my traffic, etc.) without paying a dime. Now, being a more experienced blogger, I understand that there are capabilities Wordpress offers that Blogger may not.

It's nice to know that there are options out there for bloggers of different levels and for business owners with different budgets. Thanks for bringing some insight to this discussion, Kathryn. Have a good day!
Posted by Sue Burness, Toronto, Ontario Canada | Mar 05, 2008

Thanks for all the advice!-I really appreciate the feedback. I decided to try typepad and so far find it quite user-friendly. I've just put up one post so far, but like the way it's looking. I think it's the easiest option for non-tech savvy folks like me!
Posted by Cameron Marschall, Portland, Oregon | Aug 22, 2008

Using Wordpress for the company blog has really had a positive impact on search results in Google. I like Judy's system of preparing blog posts ahead of time above. Great for those days when everything happens at once! We also tend to choose themes for our posts, which helps reduce the mental cloud caused by too many possible post ideas.