Five Ways to Promote Your Blog

When I first started blogging, I felt like I was blogging to a blank wall. I wondered when I would get a comment and get to engage with others on my blog. So many tools exist now that really help to promote your blog on other social media platforms quickly and for free. Let’s look at five ways I use to promote my own blog:

1) I have installed a WordPress.org plugin called “Tweetly Updater” (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tweetly-updater/). You put in your Twitter user name. If you don’t have an account with bit.ly (URL shortner service with analytics), you will sign up for this service and put in your account information on the settings page for Tweetly Updater. You can let it automatically publish your posts to Twitter so that all the people following you can click through your link and read your blog.

2) On Facebook, I have used the RSS Graffiti and automatically imported my blog. You can do this both on your personal page and your business page. I like this particular application because it pulls in the picture I’ve used on the blog post as well as a few teaser sentences with the link back to my blog/website to read the full post. Other RSS applications exist on Facebook, but this is one of the first that I have seen that makes it an attractive status update and facilitates readership.

3) On LinkedIn, go to their applications and select the WordPress or Typepad application (depending upon which blogging platform you use). You will complete the information and be able to import your blog to LinkedIn. Here, people will only see a “teaser” of what’s in your blog post. They will have to click on the hyperlinked title to read your entire blog post on your website.

4) Direct Message {from time to time} or send an @reply (start tweet with @username….–then it will show up in their Mentions area–I know many people who do not read their Direct Messages) some of your followers who have a large following on Twitter and ask them if they would please retweet your blog link. I’ve had this type of request from many people in the past and if I feel that it’s relevant to my target audience on Twitter, I am always happy to retweet.

5) This may seem simple, but make sure to include your website / blog URL in your email signature. I’ve looked at my analytics and seen from where my traffic comes — a good portion does come through people clicking on my URL in my emails.

What are some ways you share / promote your blog? Please share them with us in the comments section.

This article first appeared on Classroom to Cubicle