Marketing has earned such a bad reputation that’s it hard to even venture into a post on how to market your blog.  Fortunately, this isn’t a plug for marketing services – I don’t provide that and I’m not promoting any marketing company here.  This blog is all about marketing your blog; how do you get the word out that you’ve written something amazing?

There are a ton of different ways to drive traffic to your site.  There are some that are far better than others.  For example, you can rely on SEO to get you there.  Which does indeed work, but that’s more of a long game.  And it’s not exactly a marketing technique.  Here are some tested methods of marketing your blog as you seek more traffic.

Top Five Ways to Market Your Blog

Each of these methods are organic – no paid ads here.  That does work, but if you’re paying for each click, you have to overload your page with so many ads that it ruins the user experience.  I’m sure you’ve seen that on social media.  There’s a click bait title, then a bunch of nonsense with 800 ads going at once.  That is a garbage method designed to harvest your data and make a little ad revenue at the same time.  Methods I’m laying out here are free, take a bit of effort, but create better trust.

1 – Build and Leverage Online Relationships

There are a ton of people in your niche.  There are a ton of people who have made it and are highly successful, and many more that are on your same level, and a bajillion who are struggling as they start out.

Find some in each of those categories, and reach out to them.  Those crushing it, read their blogs and discover a topic that hasn’t been thoroughly covered.  Pitch them the idea of a guest blog where you’ll dive deep into that particular topic.  Embed backlinks to relevant data that you discuss on your own site.

You can find more creators by leaving comments on other blogs, in forums, and through social media.  Once creators start seeing your name all over, they’ll be more likely to give you the green light for a guest post.

2 – Engage on Social Media and Forum Sites

Engaging with others is essential here.  Over the last year I’ve had some automatic outreach going on LinkedIn.  It kinda/sorta works, but it’s not super powerful.  If I take the time to research the connections, see what they’ve posted, comment something useful (no, a comment that says, “Wow, great insights here!” is entirely not useful.  Actually, it hurts you more than it helps), and engage things would go much better.

You can’t focus on every social media and actually do a good job on all of them.  Choose those that best fit your industry, and focus your efforts there.

3 – Actually Use Your Email List

If you’re not gathering email addresses wherever you can, what are you even doing?

When social media finally crumbles, your audience will disappear with it.  If you don’t have an email list, how will you find new clients and prospects?

Your email list is a goldmine for prospecting, as long as you use it properly.  Personally, I delete every single pitch that comes through my email.  And that’s about 90% of the emails I get when I’m subscribed to lists.  However, there are a few that are very well done.

Those that are well done, give me the full story.  For example, a local photographer nailed it recently.  I signed up at his gallery with name and email to win a print.  I follow him on social media already, and saw some pictures of a bear eating a bison carcass in a river in Yellowstone National Park.  The description had a little information on how two images – one that is zoomed in and one that’s wider – capture two entirely different sentiments.  Pretty cool, I liked and scrolled on.  A few days later, his email came through with the behind-the-scenes story of that picture.  No selling, no pitch.  Just telling what led up to the image, how he captured it, and why he chose black and white versus color, and all those details.

Offer snippets, information, tips and tricks, and links back to your website for “all the juicy details.”

4 – Quote Experts; Ask for Shares

A while back I would do a Wednesday Roundup post on my business site (which got hacked and now just redirects to this site).  I would choose a topic, then I’d find 3 different opinions or tips around that topic.

I would write a section about that person’s point of view, then I would say something like, “You can read all about this on Joe’s blog, where he goes into much more depth.”  Then, I would track down the expert on their social media.  I would share the blog with whoever I quoted, and say, “You have amazing insights, I quoted you in this blog, would you be willing to share it with your audience?”

Some who really knew how to work their social media would share it over and over – it’s free content and they’re not really self-promoting when promoting someone else’s work.  The bigger their audience, the more insightful you have to be with stellar content, but you can drive a lot of traffic this way.

5 – Extensively Link Internally

When someone is already on your site, you want them to stay on your site.  The problem with modern blogs, though, is that most of them have this much information (I’m holding my hands really far apart here) but the reader is looking for information on this topic (I’m holding my fingers close together here).

No big deal, because blogs are designed to skim and provide the information people want.  So, let’s say out of these five tips, you only found one that was useful.  But a couple paragraphs don’t really do a deep dive into things.  You crave more!

Well, then, at the end of each section, I could put a simple sentence enticing you to spend some more time on my site.

Find out the key to internal links, and how Google prioritizes them.

Enlist the Help of an Expert Blogger

A big problem you’ll run into no matter what methods for marketing your blog you employ is that if your content is crap, people won’t like visiting your website.

If you’re struggling with time, let’s talk.

If you don’t write well, let’s talk.

If you’re wondering how to write a book, let’s talk.

I offer a free 30-minute strategy session, all you have to do is pick a time that works with your schedule.