Our blogging series continues this week with some ways to promote your blog post after it is published . . . (In case you have missed some of the other posts about starting a blog and blogging tips, click HERE to see them all!).
You know the saying, “If you build it, they will come”? Well, it doesn’t work that way in the blogging world. You could literally spend hours writing the most amazing post and then . . . crickets. No visitors, no pageviews, NOTHING!
Once your blog post is all written, it’s your job to get it out there for the world to see! Here are 10 different ways to promote your blog post after it’s written to drive traffic to your post:
1. Facebook
All forms of social media should be a no-brainer when it comes to promoting your content! Like we talked about in our last post, you need to have your social media channels all set up for your blog, including Facebook. If I were to choose our two best sources of traffic from social media, it would be Facebook and Pinterest – they are crucial to your blog’s growth.
Upload an image of your post and include the URL to your post on your blog’s Facebook page. It wouldn’t hurt to share it to your personal page also, especially if you are a new blogger.
If you want to reach additional people on Facebook, try some boosted posts or even Facebook ads.
For more detailed tips about how to use Facebook for traffic, CLICK HERE to get our free Grow Your Blog ebook.
2. Pinterest
Pinterest changed the blogging world when it came on the scene a couple of years ago and for bloggers, it’s a huge source of traffic! Make sure that every post you put on your blog has an “pinnable” image, meaning that there is an image that your readers can use to pin your post to their boards. We use a Pinterest scheduler to help make our lives easier (we have used both ViralTag and TailWind and have loved them both). With a new post, we usually pin it to one or two boards every day for 6-7 days, just to help get the traffic going.
For additional exposure, try some Pinterest ads.
For more detailed tips about how to use Pinterest, CLICK HERE to get our free Grow Your Blog ebook.
3. Instagram
At the moment, there really isn’t a way to link directly to your posts on Instagram, but it is still a great way to let your readers know that you have a new post up. We always have the URL to our blog in our profile and encourage readers to click on it to see the newest post.
*Bonus tip: When using Instagram to promote a post, use popular hashtags to help more people see it. If you are a food blogger, HERE is a list all about the best hashtags to use.
4. Google+
We don’t really use Google + as a “social” platform, but we use it for any SEO benefits it may provide. We just usually copy and paste whatever we put on Facebook to Google+ and then add a few relevant hashtags.
5. Twitter
Because the life of a tweet is so short, you can tweet the same post out (just change the wording a little bit each time) a couple of times a day. With a new post, we will usually share it 2-3 times a day for 1-2 weeks. It’s not a huge traffic driver for us, but Twitter does allow us to connect with many brands, which bring sponsorships, so it’s still important to use it!
6. Send out an email
In our free Grow Your Blog eBook, I talk about the importance of setting up an email subscription service from day one. Once you start collecting email addresses from people who visit your site, send out an email letting them know about your new post and invite them to check it out. You could even give them a little “teaser” of the post (if it’s a recipe, include a picture and maybe a few of the ingredients in it).
7. Video
Consider turning your post into some sort of video that you could share on YouTube (or even Facebook Live). Video is an important part of a promotional strategy. If you shared a recipe, perhaps make a 30 second video of you talking about the recipe or even making the recipe, then include the link for people to click over to your blog for the rest of the instructions. YouTube is owned by Google, so there are added SEO benefits as well.
8. Link Parties
Link parties seriously helped us grow our blog so much as we were first starting out years ago. They may not be as popular as they were, but they are still a great resource to help spread the word about your blog post. You can find a great craft and recipe link party here or this link party that allows for any niche of blog content.
9. Network with other bloggers
If you want people with large social media reach, you need to get to know them and be their friend. Remember that other bloggers can tell when you truly want to be their friend or are just trying to use them for their social media contacts. Leave comments on other’s blogs, join blogging groups and networks, share other’s content and then email them to let them know . . . just treat people the way that you would want to be treated and it will always come back to you.
10. Use your own site to promote yourself
Do you have a similar post or related content that is already on your site? Go back to that post and add links to your newer content. Also, be sure to add links to your old content on your new posts . . . chances are that if someone likes what they are reading on your blog, they will want to read more and if you put the links right in front of them, they will click it! We also have used LinkWithin to promote our old posts on other posts and loved it, but have heard good things about Taboola and JetPack.
This is only skimming the surface when it comes to promotion, but I promise that if you do these things consistently, you will see growth and additional traffic.
Good luck with your blogging adventure!
To see all the resources that we use to blog, be sure to check out our ULTIMATE LIST HERE.
