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Good Press: Promoting Your Blog
by Enzo F. Cesario
Blogging

Published on this site: August 5th, 2011 - See
more articles from this month

There are numerous ways to get a blog noticed and mentioned
online. Some are good and others are atrocious. We're all aware
of "that guy" who simply joins conversations online and says, "Wow, that's interesting. Hey, have you read my blog about..."
Sometimes the blog covers the topic being discussed - but usually
it doesn't. Sometimes our "friend" doesn't even go to the
trouble of actually even trying to comment on the conversation
and simply spams his blog's links everywhere he can, hoping
someone somewhere will accidentally click the link instead of the
block button.
So how do we avoid becoming "that guy?" The blog needs
promoting; blogs that people don't know about don't get read.
it's as simple as that. But there are polite ways to promote
your blog in an active sense without becoming a blog-spamming
troll.
- Directories: There are a number of website and blog-specific directories out
there. Most of us are familiar with these, so a short summary is
all I'll include here. In essence, these are websites that will
host and promote various other sites for a subscription of sorts.
Some are ad-supported, others require payment or contracts of a
certain period of time. What these do is allow another angle of
search engine optimization so that people looking for topics
relating to your blog will have more of a chance of finding your
hard-written content.
- SEO: By now, good SEO practices should be seen as mandatory.
Keywords, meta-tags and other good SEO practices will promote
your blog for you without ever requiring you to contact anyone.
Do it.
However, there is the related, yet not identical, field of topic
tagging. Many blogs have an option to tag an article with topics.
These don't necessarily directly relate to SEO results, though
in some cases they do get listed. What they do is allow people
using the same blogging software to browse based on topics. So if
you're discussing a particular issue or news story, tag it in
the categories or topics section, and fellow WordPress or Blogger
users might just come across your work.
- Social Media: The previous techniques are useful because they don't require
direct interaction with others. They're based on letting
searches promote your work for you. However, nothing in the world
beats the personal touch, and there's nothing more personal than
social media. As mentioned above, the personal approach is risky,
because people have fickle moods. Not everyone is in the mood to
hear about a blog when they're having a discussion. Fortunately,
it doesn't have to be as crass as the above example of our
blog-desperate friend.
First, there are online forums. These are a great place to ease
into the social media experience. Find a forum or two related to
the topic of your blog, and begin participating. When it comes
time to create your profile, make sure good content is provided.
Provide a short but informative bio about what you do, put
keyword relevant tags to your blog in the activities section and
make sure your blog is linked in either the website or signature
portions of your forum, or both.
These practices, you'll note, can be repeated on any social
media site. Facebook in particular is good for this, as it has a
very robust background and biography section to work from.
Once in the forum or social media discussion group, participate
actively. Introduce yourself if there is an appropriate place to
do so. Mention your blog and what it is about briefly, and then
drop it for a while. Drop in on discussions that you feel you
have something relevant to contribute to, always being sure to be
polite and provide insightful commentary. If you can't think of
something to say, don't force it.
One good "bridging" method in these cases is using your fellow
conversationalists' comments as inspiration for a blog post.
Suppose someone brings up a commonly held misconception, or
mentions something you genuinely hadn't thought of before. Write
a post about it, and link to that post in the message. Use this
technique sparingly - you want to be known for your own unique
content, not as a topic-miner. However, when done politely and
genuinely, this can get people interested in speaking with you
and reading what you have to write.
- Habits and Practices: Those paying attention will see that this is a process, not a "step." Blog promotion is an activity that takes time to
properly cultivate and is very easy to get wrong. The steady and
measured approach is the best way to avoid taxing peoples'
patience - pushing too hard will get you flagged for spam or
banned, which results in a bad reputation.
Getting readers to come to a blog is like developing any good
relationship. Businesses tend to thrive on repeat customers
rather than one-time visitors, and a blog is the same way. You
want a loyal readership? Show them you're trustworthy and
friendly before they ever show up. You aren't going to be able
to force interest - either it is there or it isn't. Do your blog
a favor and remove the roadblocks of over eagerness by accepting
the long-term view of solid promotion.
Copyright (c) 2011 Enzo F. Cesario

Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist
and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content
agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos
and social media in the "voice" of our client's
brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more
recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to
http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at
http://www.iBrandCasting.com/.


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