Vandelay Design Blog » Blog Promotion

15 Ways to Get Exposure for Your New Blog

wpcoder — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:43:05 +0000

The biggest challenge all new bloggers face is getting people to notice them. Even the highest quality of blog posts won’t do you any good if no one is reading them. Building a large audience for a blog takes time, but fortunately there are a number of different ways to quickly gain significant exposure to targeted readers, even for brand new blogs. We’ve probably all read about the importance of commenting on other blogs and linking out, but what else can you do?

1. SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES

Sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, and Reddit are great for getting thousands of visitors to your blog in no time. Each one of these websites has its own audience with unique preferences. Take some time to study and analyze the types of content that are becoming “popular” on these sites and create your own blog post intended to draw attention from social media users.

2. NICHE SOCIAL MEDIA SITES.

While the major sites listed above send huge amounts of traffic, there’s also a lot of competition for that traffic. Niche social media sites are perfect for reaching a highly-targeted audience. Some niche sites still send very significant traffic, and best of all, it can lead to success with the major social media sites.

3. LINKS FROM MAJOR WEBSITES

Another option for getting a quick rush of traffic is to get a link to your blog from a website with a very large audience. Find some of the largest sites in your market and take a look at what type of content they provide and who they link to. Once you have a good idea of what they like, create a blog post accordingly and email them to request a link.

Be sure that your post provides something of value for their readers. Tell them why it would be valuable to their readers, and maybe you’ll get a link. This is very similar to developing content specifically for social media in that you are starting with a specific audience and working backwards to create something that they will like. An example of a major website that links out to others is Lifehacker.

4. WRITE A GUEST POST FOR A WELL-KNOWN BLOG

One of the best promotional opportunities that is ignored by most bloggers is writing guest posts. Many blogs accept guest post submissions, and those who take advantage of the opportunity can get targeted traffic, a link to their blog, and name recognition.

Take a look at some of the top blogs that focus on the same topics as your blog. Take a moment to email the blogger and introduce yourself. Ask if they would be interested in receiving guest submissions. Don’t stop with just one attempt, contact several of the leading blogs. (If you already know that they accept guest submissions you can just send your article with your first contact.)

5. NETWORK

Probably the biggest lesson I have learned since I started blogging is the importance of networking with other bloggers. Bloggers are human. They help people that they like, and they like people that help them. Other bloggers have the ability to link to you, vote for you at social media sites, publish your guest posts, and promote your products and services. All successful bloggers have built a strong network along the way.

For more information, see 5 Keys to Better Networking at Freelance Folder.

6. GIVE SOMETHING OF VALUE FOR FREE

Some bloggers have used free giveaways to help build their audience. Everyone likes to get something good for free, and because of that, other bloggers will link to you if they like what you’re offering. Downloadable products like e-books and special reports are popular as giveaways. They’re low cost to create and easy to distribute.

Make sure that your free giveaway is good enough that you could actually charge for it. If the quality is low, your results will insignificant.

7. CREATE A UNIQUE PIECE OF LINK BAIT

Every day there are bloggers benefiting from creative ideas that draw links from thousands of other blogs. We looked at getting links from major blogs earlier, but links don’t have to be just from the top blogs. A great piece of link bait can draw so many links from smaller blogs that it all adds up to a huge amount of traffic.

A current example is the Top 100 Make Money Online Blogs list created by Mark at 45n5. In recent weeks and months Mark’s list has drawn thousands of links (including this one from me).

8. SPONSOR A CONTEST

A lot of blogs right now are running contests to reward their readers and gain more exposure. Many of these contests are giving away prizes that are donated by other bloggers. You probably read about the $54,000 giveaway at ProBlogger. Darren gave others the opportunity to donate prizes and get some exposure for themselves. Those who took advantage of the opportunity got a link from ProBlogger and exposure to about 30,000 readers.

9. WRITE A PRESS RELEASE

Press releases are not used very often for blog promotion, but they have the potential to quickly get your blog in front of a lot of influential people. Simply writing a press release to announce the launch of a new blog isn’t going to create attention. You’ll need to have something truly newsworthy to promote.

For more information on press releases see Publicity Insider.

10. DESIGN GALLERIES

If your blog features a very high quality design, you may be able to get listed in any number of design galleries. Many design galleries have large audiences and send a significant amount of traffic to the sites included in the gallery. Some of the leading galleries include CSS Beauty, CSS Vault, and Unmatched Style.

11. HIRE A SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT

If you are interested in drawing traffic from social media, but you don’t have the time to learn about social media marketing for yourself, there are professional consultants that can help you create the content and the traffic. Lyndon from Cornwall SEO recently published an article Why You Need a Social Media Consultant. Hiring a good consultant is a cost-effective way to get traffic almost immediately (and coincidentally Lyndon is for hire).

12. ORDER A PAID REVIEW

Many blogs are willing to publish a review of your blog for pay. Of course the amount that you have to pay will depend on which blog you choose to do the review. If you are considering paying for a review make sure that your blog is ready. Just because you’re paying doesn’t mean that you’ll get a glowing review if your blog doesn’t deserve it. On the other hand, a positive review from a respected blogger can immediately improve your reputation.

13. BUY ADS

Regardless of what topics your blog covers, I’m sure there are plenty of relevant websites and blogs that will be willing to sell ad space to you. Paid ads can be very effective if you choose the right place to advertise. Search around and find a website or blog that shares your target audience and offers reasonable rates.

14. ANNOUNCE YOUR NEW BLOG FROM ANOTHER BLOG THAT YOU OWN

Of course this is only an option if you have another blog, but it is a big advantage for established bloggers who want to start a new project. Many of your satisfied readers will be interested in your other projects, especially if the new blog also targets a similar audience.

15. PARTNER ON YOUR NEW BLOG WITH SOMEONE INFLUENTIAL

Do you have a great idea for a new blog? Have you ever thought about working with someone else for mutual benefit? You may not have an established audience that you can market to, but others do. Consider approaching some other bloggers about your ideas and see what partnership opportunities may be available.

BE READY FOR THE TRAFFIC

Now that you’ve got some ideas for getting some attention for your new blog, you’ll want to be sure that you’re ready for the traffic.

1. WEB HOSTING

Some of the methods that we looked at above, especially social media, will result in floods of traffic that can have serious effects. In order to survive and avoid a server crash, you’ll need to have quality hosting.

2. HAVE A FOLLOW UP READY

If your promotional efforts successfully get thousands of visitors to your blog, hopefully a decent percentage of them will become repeat visitors. Those that come back to your blog over the next few days will be looking for new content. The quality of that content will be a huge factor in whether they become a loyal reader or whether they never come back again. It’s not a bad idea to have your follow up planned out ahead of time.

3. HAVE SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED

It would be a shame to get a lot of traffic and not gain new subscribers. One of the first things you should do with any new blog is make sure that your subscription links are visible to new visitors immediately.

4. FOCUS ON QUALITY NOT QUANTITY

What ultimately will determine the success of your blog is the quality of content that it provides. All of the promotion methods that we looked at will require you to produce high quality blog posts in order to create the results that you want. New visitors are unlikely to be impressed by the amount of content that you have on your blog, but they will be impressed if you have very high quality, original content.

Of course you won’t be able to put all of these methods into practice on your blog. Choose a few that you think will work for you and go out and get some exposure for your new blog.

Running a Blog Contest: Learning from the Experience of Others

wpcoder — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 23:37:35 +0000

Contests are extremely popular in the blogosphere right now. A lot of bloggers are using them to reward their readers, gain new subscribers, improve the community environment of the blog, and so on.

If you are thinking about running a competition of some sort you will probably benefit by getting some advice from bloggers who have already had success with contests. I emailed 4 bloggers who have recently concluded contests to get some input from them.

Adnan from Blogtrepreneur ran a competition in August to promote his new blog consulting service, blogLOUDER. Those who wanted to enter the contest could earn points for leaving a comment, writing a review on StumbleUpon, or writing a review on their own blog. Appropriately, the winners received a free blog reviews or blog consulting.

1 – What was your goal for the competition?

The main goal for the competition was to build a bit of buzz about blogLOUDER and to get people talking. I recognized through looking at other contests that Word Of Mouth is essential to a new product/site launch, and that was essential to the rush (no pun intended) behind BlogRush and DealDotCom which launched recently. Other intended effects were for SEO purposes – to get blogLOUDER ranking highly for the phrase “Blog Consulting“, and to sell some Consulting time and Blog Reviews.

2 – What were the results? Were you happy with them?

I was extremely happy with the results. Within days, I ranked highly for the term “Blog Consulting” and am getting some nice traffic with that phrase at the moment. I also received orders for Consulting and Blog Reviews almost instantly, so whilst I gave away 3 free consulting appointments, the sales generated immediately compensated for this twice over.

3 – Would you consider running another contest?

I would definitely consider running another contest, and did do one straight after by giving away an Internet Marketing Book. The results were great again.

4 – What advice would you have for other bloggers who are interested in running a contest?

The first bit of advice for competition-holding wannabes, is to make it easy for your audience to enter the competition. In my contests, a comment on the post counted as an entry into the “draw”, and this only took a few seconds for some people. Other examples could be an entry for Stumbling the page, or bookmarking it at Digg/Del.icio.us. The ultimate achievement would be to get people to signup for your RSS feed, however this is a little more difficult and will require great content around the rest of your blog as well.

Sarah from BlueJar just ended a group writing project/competition. Participants posted a “How to” article on their own blog, Sarah then listed all the contestants, and each contestant was allowed to vote for their favorites by linking to their choices. Winners receive free advertising on BlueJar.

1 – What was your goal for the competition?

I had several goals with my group writing project. Firstly, I wanted to start a contest or project that benefited my readers and participants, not just my own blog. Secondly, I wanted exposure for my blog and to gain linkbacks for my blog. I didn’t want to straight out have a contest just about linking, so I figured a group writing project will get me some links and exposure without being too pushy for it either. I am also moving my blog more into a community type of blog, so I felt the group writing project would help create that type of atmosphere.

2 – What were the results? Were you happy with them?

I have charted my stats since I started the group writing project and the results have been amazing. In 3 weeks I have gained over 70 new rss subscribers, my Technorati rank is almost at 12,000 rank, and I am getting a lot more daily visitors than I did previously. It has been one heck of an amazing ride. For such a small subscriber base, I get a lot of comments and I feel that the group writing project defiantly contributed to helping creating a community around my blog.

3 – Would you consider running another contest?

Yes, I do want to do another group writing project in the future, but I want to hold a few other contests too. Group writing projects really are a lot of work!

4 – What advice would you have for other bloggers who are interested in running a contest?

My advice to other bloggers wanting to run a contest is to be prepared to spend extra time on it. Don’t plan other projects during your contest as it does take a lot of work to get back to e-mails. You also need to promote your contest. I spent the first week promoting it all over. I wanted to gain as many entries as I could and knew that if people didn’t know about it, they wouldn’t enter so I spent the extra time promoting it.

Darin from Darin.cc has run several contests and given away prizes such as a PlayStation 3, a Nintendo Wii, and an iPhone. His contests have been run a little bit differently each time, but several of them have involved participants writing about the competition and linking to his blog.

1 – What was your goal for the competition?

For each promo, there was different accomplishments. Exposure, link building and even a Social Networking Experiment they didn’t know they were a part of!

2 – What were the results? Were you happy with them?

I have been happy with the success. Just have to make sure you get a Good ROI to call it a success!

3 – Would you consider running another contest?

I plan on running at least one contest per month! I have even run 2 promos at a time to see the readers involvement.

4 – What advice would you have for other bloggers who are interested in running a contest?

Make your prize something people are dying to get their hands on. You can say Free Widget all you want, if everyone already has one it’s not that compelling!

Daniel from Daily Blog Tips just concluded a contest very similar to Sarah’s group writing project. Contestants sent Daniel a link to one of their posts that contained a blogging tip for readers. Daniel then posted the entire list and contestants voted by placing links on their own blog to the submissions that they liked best.

1 – What was your goal for the competition?

My goal with contests is to improve the sense of community around my blog. The key factor is that contests represent a win-win situation for everyone.

2 – What were the results? Were you happy with them?

My last contest got 122 participants. I was expecting more to be honest, but I think it is related to the “Tips & Tricks” topic. While it is a general one, I think it has been used far too much.

3 – Would you consider running another contest?

Yes, usually I run one every couple of months or so.

4 – What advice would you have for other bloggers who are interested in running a contest?

Do something new. People seem to get renewed interested for things that they have not tried before.

Thanks to Adnan, Sarah, Darin and Daniel for taking the time to answer these questions and share their experiences. As a participant, I can say that Daniel and Sararh’s competitions both brought a significant number of links to my blog (and I’m sure to the others as well), so it was a really positive experience for everyone. Hopefully the information provided here will help some of you with running a contest of your own.

99 Ways to Promote Your Blog for Free

wpcoder — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:05:21 +0000

LINK BUILDING:

Exchange links with other bloggers
Use BlogRush
Submit to RSS directories
Submit to blog directories
Submit to general directories
Start a 2nd blog and link to yourself
Create and give away blog themes (with a link to your blog in the footer)
Create free plugins
Create link bait
Participate in blog carnivals
Comment on DoFollow blogs
WordPress Backlinks Plugin (link removed due to possible security issues) COMMUNITY:
Join communities at MyBlogLog
Join communities at Bumpzee
Join communities at Blog Catalog
Start a community at any of these sites
Comment on other blogs in your niche
Email your friends and contacts about a new blog post that may interest them
Email your readers to say “thank you”
Email other bloggers to introduce yourself
Link out to other blogs

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Digg
del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Netscape
Magnolia
MySpace
Facebook
YouTube FORUMS:
AuthorityBlogger

Standing Out in a Crowded Blogging Market

wpcoder — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 03:55:20 +0000

Many of us, myself included, blog on a particular topic that has thousands or even millions of other blogs. When readers have that many choices, it’s difficult to stand out and be noticed. By taking a look at some of the most successful bloggers you can see a number of different strategies that allow them to stand out, even when there are plenty of others to compete with.

In this article we’ll take a look at ten different strategies that can help you to differentiate yourself, and we’ll present an example for each. These examples are not intended to imply that these bloggers have used only this one approach. Every blogger on this list could be mentioned in a few different places.

Hopefully you can take an objective look at the success of those listed and get some ideas about how you can improve your blog so it will stand out to visitors.

1. Create a Unique Identity

If you’re able to create an identity that people will associate with you, they are likely to remember you instead of all of the other bloggers in your market. A good example is John Chow. John stands out because he’s created the image of himself being an “evil” money-making genius, and it works very well for him. He’s got a proven track record and his unique ideas and approach clearly allow him to separate himself from the pack.

The whole banned-from-Google situation has only helped John to further develop his reputation and it’s provided him with an opportunity to show his ability by turning what could be a disaster into a money-making opportunity. In order to create your own identity, you’ll need to recognize what is most unique about you (in comparison with other bloggers in your niche) and let your personality show through in your writing.

2. Provide Quality, Original Content

Every successful blog must produce quality content, or the success won’t last. However, certain bloggers still seem to be able to write articles that are more effective and original than even those of other A-List bloggers. Standing out by creating great content is difficult because of the quality information that’s already out there. But those who are able to pull it off develop large, loyal followings.

Maki of Dosh Dosh consistently produces very high-quality content that you can’t find anywhere else. While Dosh Dosh covers topics that millions of other blogs are covering, the content is very original and thought-provoking.

3. Break News

Being the first to report a big, new story will always help to bring readers your way. Everyone wants to know the most current information, and those who are able to cover the stories can easily draw large audiences.

Tech Crunch is currently the 4th ranked blog on Technorati. If you’re looking of tech news, you’re probably already subscribed to Tech Crunch. Breaking news is great for getting links from all over the blogosphere.

The problem with trying to be a news breaker is that it’s just not possible for most of us. No one-man blog will ever be able to compete with the resources available to large blogs like Tech Crunch. It takes a lot of resources to be successful with this approach.

4. Develop Reader Loyalty

Readers ultimately determine which blogs are successful and which ones are not. Readers are loyal to particular bloggers for any number of reasons, but usually because of the bloggers approach to his or her readers. Those who develop the most loyal followers typically place a great deal of emphasis on satisfying the readers with content and respecting and appreciating them. Everyone likes to be appreciated and bloggers who effectively demonstrate their appreciation will find a greater connection with their readers.

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger has built a huge following of loyal readers. Darren’s readers know that he will provide the best content possible and they trust his opinions and recommendations. Darren never promotes anything that he doesn’t stand behind, and the long-term effects of his approach include the remarkable loyalty of his readers.

Loyal readers are priceless to bloggers as they mean repeat traffic, increased comments and participation, referrals of friends, links, and a greater response to product recommendations.

5. Create a Strong Community

Blogging is by nature very community-oriented. A small number of blogs have been able to develop uncharacteristically strong communities. These readers become extremely involved in the daily happenings of the blog and they’ll always read any post that is published. They view the blogger as being the premier source of information on the topic.

SEOmoz has benefited from building a fanatical group of readers. As one of the leading providers of search engine optimization services SEOmoz has a staff that consistently produces unique and timely content. SEOmoz blog readers look to their blog first for information on SEO, and the content continues to satisfy readers.

SEOmoz has been able to convert this community into huge amounts of inbound links, more traffic, higher prices for the services, and sales of premium content on the website. Part of their strategy for building the community includes a separate blog, YOUmoz, where readers can submit their own articles.

6 – Build Your Brand/Identity

In order to stand out from a large number of competitors you should present a consistent message that will help your readers to become familiar with exactly what you do and what you provide. Successful branding will help your chances of being the first place your readers look when they are looking for something related to your topic.

In order to successfully build your identity you will need to be focused and unique. It helps to concentrate on a particular aspect of a larger topic. The result of effective branding is that you become an authority on the subject.

Copyblogger is an example of effective branding. It has become the go-to source of information related to copywriting, headline writing, and related topics. By focusing in on that particular aspect of internet marketing, Copyblogger has been able to capitalize by building its brand.

7. Feature a Unique Design

With millions of blogs out there it is easier to stand out if you have a unique blog design that does not resemble the free themes that most people are using. With a standout blog design people will have a much more positive first impression and they’ll remember you instantly when they return.

To see some examples of exceptional blog design, Smashing Magazine compiled a list of 45 Excellent Blog Designs. Another advantage to having a top-notch design is the added publicity you’ll get from being on lists like this one (as well as the thousands of galleries).

If you’re a designer, creating a unique design may be one of the easier ways for you to stand out. If you’re not, you may have to pay for this one to work.

8. Give Away a Valuable Info Product

For years giveaways have been used to build email lists, and they’re still effective for gaining blog subscribers. People are interested in getting something of value for free. The key to this strategy though is that your product truly does need to be valuable.

E-books are a popular giveaway as they are relatively easy to create and distribute, and they don’t cost a lot of money to create. With a little bit of effort and knowledge of a particular subject, any blogger can create an info product to help market their blog.

Yaro Starak has used his e-book Blog Profits Blueprint to market his blog, and he has quickly become one of the leaders on the subject.

Chris Garrett is another example of a blogger who has used a free giveaway to grow a blog. His e-book, Killer Flagship Content, is available in his RSS feed to subscribers.

A free bonus that has real quality can provide a great deal of free publicity as other bloggers tend to link to these giveaways. Press releases are also effective for marketing a giveaway.

9. Become a Fresh Voice

In crowded markets readers are probably seeing the same things over and over again. It’s difficult, almost impossible, to stand out when so many people are all saying almost exactly the same things.

If you can distinguish yourself be utilizing creative ideas and out-of-the box thinking, your opinions and thoughts will be appreciated for their fresh outlook.

Bluehat SEO is an example of a fresh voice in a crowded market. There are so many SEO blogs out there that original and unique content is hard to come by. Blue Hat SEO provides readers with different ideas rather than rehashing the same old information in a different way.

This strategy is difficult and you need to know your subject very well, but if you are successful with it you will develop a large reader base pretty quickly.

10. Maximize Social Media and Buzz Marketing

There is not a more powerful way to quickly drive huge amounts of traffic to a website or blog than social media. And best of all, it can be done for free. Sure, social media traffic comes in spurts and tends to be short-lived, but it can be a great way to draw new visitors. The quality of your content is what will need to keep them coming back.

Pronet Advertising has become one of the top blogs largely by taking advantage of social media and buzz marketing. Neil Patel, Muhammad Saleem and the rest of the Pronet writers are experts in using social media of all kinds. Not surprisingly, the focus of the blog is social media marketing.

Blogs of all kinds can benefit from social media marketing, especially those in technical related fields. Many social media users are also bloggers, so it is a great way to get your content in front of people and draw inbound links. If you’re looking for information and guidance on using social media effectively, Pronet Advertising is a great place to start.

Using Outbound Links to Improve Your Blog

wpcoder — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:01:36 +0000

You probably have read a lot about how linking out to other blogs is an effective way for new bloggers to get noticed. The idea, of course, is that when other bloggers see they are getting a link from you they will visit your blog and hopefully like what they see. If they do, maybe they’ll subscribe or link back to you.

Have you tried linking to other blogs and seen little or no results? Many new bloggers link to articles on the most popular blogs related to their topic, see no results and conclude that linking out isn’t going to work for them.

If you’ve been in this situation, read on. We’ll look at some ways to improve on the results you’re currently getting from your outbound links.

Why is Linking to Other Blogs Important?

1 – It helps your readers to find valuable information and resources (and if you do this consistently they’ll likely remember you as a reliable source).

2 – It helps other bloggers by sending targeted traffic and by giving them a link (which may help with their search engine rankings and Technorati authority).

3 – It can help you to get noticed by other bloggers (as mentioned already).

4 – Your trackback may show up in the comments of the other blogs, which could bring some click-through traffic to your site.

5 – Outbound links can give you some content for a post when you don’t have time to write. Many bloggers, including me, use posts of outbound links on the weekends when posting is less frequent.

If you are looking to grow your blog and increase your exposure, linking out can help if you implement some of these tips:

1 – Always link to quality content. Your link to another website or blog is essentially an endorsement from you. Remember that your reputation is on the line if you link to questionable or poorly-written content.

2 – Link to smaller blogs, not just A-listers. This is the key. Linking to A-list blogs is not a bad practice, but they are unlikely to notice your link since they get so many of them. Smaller blogs are more likely to notice, take the time to visit your blog and leave a comment or link back to you.

3 – Link to those bloggers who are in your network. There is no better way to strengthen your existing networking relationships than by giving a positive endorsement or a link to a fellow blogger. Treat your friends this way and others will be lining up to be a part of your network.

4 – Link to some bloggers who you have never had contact with. If you only link to your existing contacts, linking out will not help you to expand your network. Find other bloggers that you would like to have as a part of your network and link to them.

5 – Link to those who participate on your blog. Providing a link to active commentators is an extra incentive for readers to get involved on your blog, and it rewards them for their efforts.

6 – Be the first to link to a post. If the blog you are linking to displays trackbacks, your link will be the highest one shown. If that post winds up drawing a good deal of traffic you could get significant click-through visitors.

7 – Provide additional information. If you want your visitors to get the most out of your links, tell them a little bit about the posts that you are linking to. They’ll be more likely to click than if they are unsure of the subject of the linked post.

8 – Use outbound links to strengthen your posts. Don’t simply use outbound links in posts that are designated as link posts. Use them whenever appropriate in all of your articles. Effectively-used outbound links will add to the value of your blog posts, as they will give the reader more resources. If you can’t say it better than someone else already has, just provide a link to them. If you’re afraid of the links causing you to loose visitors, set them to open in a new window.

9 – Ask for reciprocal links. When you’ve found a blog post that you would like to link to, why not email the blog owner and ask them if they are interested in exchanging links? If you provide quality content on your blog that is relevant for their audience, many will be willing to reciprocate (again, this will be much more effective with smaller blogs than with the most popular ones). Another version of this process is to first link to the other blog, then email the blogger to introduce yourself, mention the link and ask them to consider linking to you.

I have personally used all of these methods and seen the outbound links bring new visitors, subscribers and contacts with other bloggers. Try some of these yourself and I think you’ll see the same results.

Blogging for Service Providers

wpcoder — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:45:06 +0000

Blogs come in all different varieties with different goals. One way of making money (indirectly) with your blog is to use it as a vehicle to sell yourself. This approach works very well for service providers, as it separates you from the competition. Even if you are not directly profiting from the blog, there are countless other benefits such as increasing the number of clients you receive, as well as the amount you are able to charge for your services.

How Does a Blog Help a Service Provider?

1 – Prove Yourself – The quality of your blog content is a perfect way to demonstrate your knowledge or expertise of the subject. Your readers will see your abilities demonstrated through the information that you provide, and they will be more likely to pay for your services. It essentially becomes a type of advertisement for your services – an advertisement that’s also useful and helpful for readers.

2 – Greater Audience – A blog can greatly increase your reach to new potential clients. Blogs draw interested readers, and those interested readers could potentially become clients. With a blog you are not limited to reaching only local people.

3 – Differentiation – Are you looking for a way to stand out from your competitors? A blog may be the answer. If a potential customer is considering two service providers – one has a blog filled with useful and relevant content that demonstrates their expertise, and the other one has very little content on its website – which one is more likely to get the business?

4 – Branding – Over time your readers will come to associate you with the type of quality content that you provide. Blogging gives you the ability to develop a certain branded image of your business in the eyes of its readers.

5 – Increased Content – The additional content on your website created through your blog will have a number of benefits including more traffic, higher search engine rankings and more pages indexed, and more resources for your readers.

6 – Repeat Visitors – Developing repeat visitors is key to the success of any website, and blogs are one of the most effective ways to build repeat traffic. Readers are likely to visit the blog regularly as new content is added. As a service provider, most of your clients have been exposed to your business multiple times before becoming a client. With a solid stream of repeat visitors you’re constantly increasing your chances of converting readers to visitors every time they come back to your site.

7 – Feedback – A blog is an excellent way to get feedback from your website visitors and potential clients. Learn more about what they want and expect from your services and help yourself by more effectively meeting their needs. This type of feedback can be very valuable if you use it to improve your services.

8 – Easy to Maintain – Regardless of your technical knowledge, you can maintain a blog without the need to rely on a programmer. There are a number of free blog platforms available (including WordPress) that require no HTML, CSS, or PHP knowledge (although that knowledge can definitely be helpful). You can use a free template or theme, or you can pay a little bit for a designer/programmer to set up a blog for you, and then maintain it yourself if you like.

9 – Connection – Potential clients and readers will start to feel like they know you personally if they read your blog regularly. Developing this type of connection with your readers can drastically increase the number of clients you’re able to generate from your blog.

10 – Offers – If you’re interested in offering special offers or discounts to generate some new clients, a blog is a great way to present your offers. Once you’ve built a list of subscribers to your blog you’ll always have an audience that you can quickly reach for free with your own advertisements and specials, and it’s an effective way to reward your readers.

11 – Additional Opportunities – Although the goal of your blog may initially be to find new clients for your services, building a significant audience will open up new ways to make money with your blog. With a large audience you’ll also be able to promote affiliate products, sell advertising, or do paid reviews.

I’m sure there are plenty of other ways that a good blog can benefit a service business, but there are the ones that I have seen specifically through my experience. One important thing to remember if that if you start a blog be sure to provide quality content that will reflect positively on your services. Poor content can have the reverse effects if it turns visitors off to your services.

A few example of service providers effectively using blogs:

SEOmoz – One of the leading blogs on search engine optimization is hosted at the website of an extremely successful SEO provider. Their blog is always bring new people to their website.

Blogging Expertise – They provide blog design and customization services, which are very successfully complemented by their own blog.

A Guide to Promoting Your Blog Through Guest Posts

wpcoder — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 22:34:21 +0000

If you’re looking to increase the exposure of your blog and gain new readers, consider submitting articles to be posted on other blogs. This article will cover the reasons for writing for other blogs as well as the steps required for a beneficial experience.

Why Write Guest Posts for Other Blogs?

1 – It’s one of the fastest ways to reach a new audience.

When you write a post for another blog you are getting the opportunity to showcase your knowledge and ability in front of targeted readers. If your blog is on a similar topic as the blog in which your post is published, you stand to gain a lot of new visitors.

Obviously, the amount of exposure you get will depend on which blog publishes your article. The number of subscribers isn’t the only significant factor. Some blogs have smaller audiences, but their readers are very targeted and very loyal.

2 – Potential new subscribers.

If the readers like your post they may be inclined to subscribe to your RSS feed. In this way guest posting can be a very productive source of free advertising. Who doesn’t want more subscribers?

3 – You’ll get a link to your blog.

Almost all guest posting arrangements involve a link back to the author’s blog. This not only provides you with potential click-through traffic, but it can help our search engine rankings as well as your Technorati rank, especially if the other blog is a quality, established blog itself. In fact, the link is sometimes the primary interest in guest posts.

4 – It helps other bloggers.

Ok, so your primary motivation is not to help other blogs, but this can have big benefits down the road. If you help another blogger, they are likely to remember you and they’ll be more likely to repay the favor or to link to you in the future. Even if they don’t, it’s still nice to know that you can make an impact for others.

How Can You Make the Most of Guest Posting?

Being successful with guest posts is more than just sending an article to a random blogger and hoping it results in something good. I’ve broken down the steps into 4 categories below:

1 – Finding the Right Blogs

Finding the right blogs to submit your posts to is probably the most important part of the process. After all, a great article on a blog that has no readers will not accomplish very much. The ideal situation is to find a blog that shares your target audience and has a large, responsive group of readers. Here are some tips to help you find the right blogs:

- Start with bloggers that you already know or that you’ve already had some contact with. Your chances of getting your article posted are greater than if you are contacting bloggers who are not familiar with you.

- Look through your RSS reader at the feeds you subscribe to. Try to find ones that you enjoy reading and that may be a good fit with your writing.

- Visit blog community sites like MyBlogLog and Bumpzee. If you’re already a member of some communities, take a look at the other members of the communities.

- Check www.guest-blogger.com. There are a number of blogs listed that have indicated an interest in receiving guest posts from other writers.

- Visit Technorati and take a look at the authority and rank of blogs that you have found. This will give you an idea of the impact that this blog has, and an idea of what type of exposure it would give you.

- Look to see if the blog has posted their number of subscribers via FeedBurner or a similar service.

- When you’ve located a blogger that you would like to contact, try getting involved on the blog first. Subscribe to their feed and get familiar with the type of posts they publish. Leave comments whenever you have something to add to the conversation. When you contact them they may be familiar with you because of your comments.

2 – Writing the Post

Once you’ve found a few blogs that are possibilities, your focus will shift to writing an article that will catch another blogger’s attention and lead to getting it posted. Writing a guest post is a little bit different than writing for your own blog, and you should be very careful with the quality of work that you submit.

- Always check your spelling and grammar. The other blogger will not want to have to do much editing to your post. These types of mistakes can make a bad first impression and can have a negative influence on their perception of the quality of your writing.

- Choose a topic that is a good fit for their blog. Be certain that their readers will be interested in the topic and will benefit from the information provided.

- Check to verify that the subject of your article is not too similar to anything that they have posted recently. You don’t want to submit an article that duplicates the thoughts of an article they just posted last week.

- Don’t blatantly advertise your blog, services, or products in the article. Let the quality of the writing and your knowledge do the advertising.

- Don’t repeatedly link back to your own site.

- Don’t submit the same post to more than one blogger. If you submit it once and the blogger tells you that it won’t be posted then you can re-submit the post to someone else.

3 – Contacting the Blogger(s)

The approach you take to contact the blogger is also very important. Remember that they are very busy and respect their time. Here are a few keys for making the most of your contact.

- Send a brief email asking if they are interested in receiving submissions. If you are a regular reader of their blog mention something that you enjoy/appreciate about their blog. Quickly introduce yourself and your blog (leave a link so they can check out your work). I recommend not sending an article right away, which I think might be a little pushy, but that is just personal preference.

- If they respond that they do accept submissions, follow up by sending your article in the body of an email. Due to viruses it’s best to avoid attachments unless they specifically request an attachment.

- Don’t bombard them with articles that they don’t have time to read. Send 1 or 2 and move on.

- When you send the article thank them for their consideration.

- Throughout the process of contacting them and sending the article, make everything as easy as possible for them. Respect their time and you will be one step closer to getting your article posted.

4 – After the Article Has Been Posted

Your work is not done as soon as the article is posted. In order to get the most out of the experience and to prepare for future guest posting opportunities, follow these steps.

- Send a follow up thank you to the blogger for posting your article.

- Keep track of which articles you have sent and to whom they have been sent. If you start sending out more than a couple you may forget which ones have already been submitted. Keeping a simple spreadsheet will help you to see which ones are being posted and which ones are not. Those that do not get posted can be sent to someone else or used on your own blog.

- Go back to the posts and respond to comments and questions left by visitors.

By following these steps you’ll be able to quickly reach a lot of new potential readers, grow you name recognition, and get some quality inbound links.