When we have our writing and are using our blogs to promote our work, it makes sense to promote our blog too, right? More traffic to our blogs means more exposure to our writing and, hopefully, more stuff to show potential publishers and sales for our published works.
When I started blogging, there were few tried and true principles for increasing your blog traffic and subscribers. Simple things like:
- Write good content
- Read other blogs and make constructive comments on them that add to the conversation
- Link to other blog articles and write to extend the conversation on your blog
Still valid, of course, and my favorite ways to increase traffic here.
Now, however, there are hundreds of ways to increase your blog traffic. Things like:
- Podcasts
- Bookmark your articles at social bookmarking sites
- Pay for a unique brand design of your blog template
- Advertise your blog
- Write ezine articles
- Guest post on other higher traffic blogs
And more and more. In the old days of blogging — a mere two years ago — there were few ways to promote your blog.
Now, however, you have to choose how to market your blog in ways that make sense for you, as a writer. It means having a technology plan that matches up with a marketing plan for your work.
Which promotional methods make sense to you? Here are some considerations:
- You love interviews and you are a great interviewer. Consider podcasts — even work on You Tube — and promote them on your site
- You write all the time. Consider doing white papers on your site to have your users download. Charge for them as you build up clients and have worked in some great content.
- You love surfing the Internet and are always looking for new angles for your work. Consider commenting extensively on other sites and linking other sites in your posts as part of your research.
The key is understanding the type of writer you are and combining that with your personality. Then identify two or three things that you can do to promote your blog — and go do it for a month and evaluate the results.
A plan and follow through are powerful tools in anything you do.
Scot
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Michael A. Stelzner 04.18.07 at 5:55 am
Hi Scot;
White papers are great promotional tools.
However, I would not suggest anyone charge for them.
The work well when combined with a registration form, but should be free.
I talk about this a lot on my blog.
Mike
Scot Herrick 04.18.07 at 7:20 am
Mike,
Very good suggestion — and I should have remembered this since I subscribe to your blog!
White papers would be a good distillation of some of the subjects that could be considered for books or other areas. It would tie in directly to having written work that a potential publisher could evaluate and promote your writing overall to your market.
Thanks for the comment.