We frequently get emails from clients and others, asking how to get their blog known, how to market their business blog to get more visibility. What many people don't want to hear or just can't believe, is that posting frequently (at least 3 times per week) is THE BEST way to attract traffic and new readers. Period.
Search engines love fresh content and the more frequently you post, the more frequently the search engines will index your content and the better chance your posts have of showing up in organic search results.
But many bloggers want some kind of plan or a magic bullet (no such thing) to get their blog known, and there are other things you can do drive traffic. And all together, you may get some more traffic as long as you spend the time implementing the tactics that best supports YOUR blog's purpose.
First, let me direct you to our categories on Blog Marketing and Driving Traffic to Your Blog. There are over 100 posts dealing just with this topic. Study the posts. Things change and evolve so we post on this topic often. Bear in mind though that not every tactic is right for every blog.
In March 2005, we published an article called 16 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog. Every single item on the list still stands. Let me add a few more tactics that are not on the list...
17. When you first start your blog, wait until you have at least 10 posts then send an announcement to EVERYONE you know informing them about your new blog, what they'll learn, why and how they should subscribe for updates.
By everyone, we mean EVERYONE: clients, colleagues, family, friends, vendors, partners. You never know who will check out the blog and spread the word for you.
18. Post online press releases at a service like prweb.com or ExpertClick.com. We use ExpertClick. For an annual fee of $995 we get to post one press release a week for a year. That comes out to about $19 per release vs. $80 for prweb.com. This is a great way to get links back to your blog since you can include 3 active hyperlinks in every release plus links to audio and video if you have them. Highly recommended plus if you use our link, you can get a $100 discount on the fee.
19. If you use social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, or LinkedIn, to name a few, make sure you have a link back to your blog(s). You can see my LinkedIn profile here, and MySpace profile here.
20. Read or listen to tips from several highly successful business bloggers about how you too can be a successful blogger.
21. Review #3 on the original 16 tips. Participating in the blogosphere is just as important as writing on your blog for getting known and read by people who care about what you have to say.
Now it's your turn. What are your tips for marketing your blog to get it known or put another way, how do you drive traffic to your blog??? Please comment below to share your success stories.
P.S. If you like this blog post, use the links to Digg it or Stumble it. I'd be curious to see if it's possible to get traction on a post like this. Thanks!
