How To Promote Your Blog

Writing great content with stunning layout alone will not help your blog get noticed in the blogosphere. Blog promotion is an essential step in making your blog, a success. Many bloggers think that SEO is blog promotion and vice versa, but it is just a part of blog promotion. It includes branding, advertising, discussion, participation and just about anything which helps you in promoting it ethically. Sometimes, a novice blogger completely ignores the promotional aspect, and concentrates on creating regular content. It is just like creating a masterpiece with nobody to watch and admire it. Following are the effective techniques to promote your blog.


Important Pages

Some pages of your blog are so critical in promoting it, that you cannot afford to ignore them. About and Contact pages are visited by large of number of visitors and should be always kept updated. Visit popular blogs in your niche and read their About and Contact pages. You will get fair idea, about how to prepare your own pages after reading some of them. Make sure you prepare your complete profile in About page, giving basic information about you and your experience and achievements related to blogging and your niche, if applicable. Putting a thumbnail image adds icing on the cake. In Contact page, ask your readers to freely contact you in case they want to speak their mind. Provide multiple ways to contact you like, e-mail address, IM, and contact form. Once you have these two pages ready and updated, your visitor will find it easy to know about you and your blog.

Interaction with readers

This is one of the most effective weapons in your arsenal to take your blog to new highs. Lively discussions with readers and prompt response to their comments and e-mails will make your blog highly popular among readers and will keep your core readership attached with you.

Socializing

Needless to say, it is a must for any business to grow. Make an appealing profile on StumbleUpon, Twitter, Digg to name a few. Make sure you provide bookmarking links at the end of every post. Keep your tweets updated and lively. Integrate your social network profiles with each other, for example; you can integrate your tweets with your facebook account.

Comment

Daily comment on at least four or five blogs related to your niche. Do not leave comments just for the sake of doing it. Engage in constructive discussion and build strong relationships with the fellow bloggers.

Directory submissions

Submit your blog to popular search directories and blog search engines like Technorati, BlogCatalog, BlogPulse and many other popular blog indexes. Thousands of visitors search blogs in these blog directories and it is a good source to find and reach your blog.

Blog carnivals

Participating in blog carnivals not only make your blog presence felt, but also bring targeted visitors your blog. Make a pillar article and submit it to appropriate blog carnival. I regularly submit my articles in blog carnivals and results are encouraging.

Forums

Taking part in discussion forums can give your blog huge exposure. Apart from getting exposure, it has the power to establish your authority in your niche. Register yourself in popular blog forums like AuthorityBlogger, SitePoint and BloggerTalk and take active participation in related threads.

Article submission

Write some long juicy articles and submit them to popular article directories. The most popular article directory is EzineArticles. Some other popular article directories are GoArticles and SearchWarp. Articles submitted in these directories not only promote your blog, but it is also an excellent way to get quality link backs.

Advertising

If you have enough budgets, get 125x125 banners designed by a professional and aggressively advertise on popular blogs related to your niche. This is a bit expensive technique, but your blog will get huge exposure in quick time. Whenever you decide to go for this option, make sure your blog has enough quality content to give your readers some reason to come back, otherwise it may backfire and your money will get wasted.

Giveaways

It is most effective technique to attract readers and to make the blog popular. Write an eBook and give it free to your subscribers. Hold quizzes and contests and announce small prize for the winner. Do not forget to compensate the most active commentator on your blog. It will encourage other readers to interact with your blog and with you.

What other methods do you follow to make your bog popular? Does it include Internet marketing?