I have been in Internet Marketing for years, and have managed a wide variety of site models: content sites, product sites, forums, membership sites, mini-sites and sales letters, you name it. But I have NEVER found a model that is easier to "promote" than a
blog.
While you can promote a blog in the same manner as any other website - via SEO, PPC, article submissions, etc - there is one area where blogs stand apart...
Social Networking in the Blogosphere
Promoting anything online boils down to one thing: getting links. You submit articles to either a) get quality inbound links, or b) get your link in front of your (human) target market. You exchange links for the same reasion - for traffic and search engine benefits. You pay for advertising so that you can put your links in front of people who are searching for products/information you offer on your site. It's a tedious process, all this 'link placing business'.
But with a blog, it comes much easier - and for the most part, naturally. You'll find that you get a large number of
unsolicited natural links (the type that Google loves best), and that those links will be posted in places that get seen by a large number of potential visitors and readers.
Why is this? The blogosphere is made up of information hubs, grouped by topic and style by both individual readers and authority sites, which creates a natural breeding ground for super-networking between information publishers.
This group, as a whole, links very freely to sources that relate to their own - or, simply put, to 'bloggers that they like'. In the end this creates an entire network of related information for each niche, and even micro-niche, within the blogosphere.
You need to get in on this - Don't set out to be "The Lone Blogger"!
Previous teachings may have left you thinking that "linking out" is a bad thing. That you may leak PageRank. Or worse, lose your visitors by sending them to someone else's link. But when it comes to blogging, you will actually increase your readership
dramatically by getting involved... and by linking out freely.
Here are 7 ways that you can get involved:
1) First and foremost, if you are currently using Blogger.com - switch immediately to a WordPress blog on your own domain. There are other solutions out there (such as typepad, for example), but you'll find WordPress super easy to use and an endless source of help and information on it across the web. This is important, because if you are using Blogger.com (like I was, before switching) you are missing out on TONS of 'perks' to blogging.
2) Second and equally important, if you have a "splog" (a "spam blog"), it's time to trade that in and start publishing quality content. In order to truly do well with a blog long-term, you need to post useful information on a particular topic on a frequent basis.
3) Having your personal style shine through in your posts is a big plus. Even if you're quirky, because your readers love 'real' and that's why they'll keep coming back. The winning combination in your actual writing is: Quality Content + Personal Style. You might be funny, geeky, outrageous, dry - whatever. But this tends to be a big 'attraction factor' with blogs.
4) Make use of your Blogroll and link out to related blogs, or blogs that you frequent yourself. Wordpress has a feature that will automatically alert the bloggers that you link to, and most of them will check out your site - and add you to
their blogroll if they like what they see. (You will be surprised at how many quality sitewide links you will gain this way)
5) Include
Tags in each of your posts. This is VERY easy to do - not as complicated as it sounds. Simply put this at the bottom of each of your posts and replace the word,word,word (separated by commas, no spaces between) with relevant words that pertain to that post:
Code:
[tags]word,word,word[/tags]
Once you publish your post, check out the hyperlinked tags at the bottom. Click on each one and you will see a listing at Technorati of posts on other blogs that are also tagged for that particular word. Check those out, and if they are interesting and related... leave a comment! When you are given the option to put in your URL, link back to your individual blog post on the same topic (not your "home page").
6) Frequent blogs that you like, or that are on similar topics as your own, by subscribing to them through a feed reader. Check 'your favorites' no less than once a week, and post comments on any interesting new posts you find there. You can find active, popular blogs on just about any topic in some of the major blog directories.
7) When you find posts of particular interest (while going through the steps above), mention them in your own blog posts. In WordPress, when you link out to an individual blog post on another blog, it shows up in the comments section of that post as a "trackback". It's automatic, and it's that simple: you link to a post, and an excerpt from YOUR post shows up in their comments.
When their regular visitors and new readers are finished reading the article, they will notice your excerpt and link at the bottom. Many of those readers will click through to see your comments on this post, or to continue their research of the topic. It's a great "traffic sharing" method - highly encouraged in the blogosphere!
As you get more involved, and become 'known' in your particular niche, you will find that others link as freely to you as you are linking out... which improves your overall exposure, your readership, and your search engine rankings.
What kind of results can you expect? Try this out, track the results, and let me know what you experience.
You'll start to see results within days. Personally, I've had amazing results in regards to the number of unique visitors and the huge increase to the number of inbound links showing up daily!
Social Networking in the Blogosphere
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