Do you know how to promote your blog?  Do you spend a lot of time and effort writing your posts?  I’m sure you do, and for that reason alone you want to make sure your efforts are worth it.  Knowing how to promote your blog correctly will save you a lot of heartache in the long run.

The type of post you have written, will depend on the amount of effort that you put into your promotion.  As a general rule of thumb, ALL posts need to be promoted and it is important you have a strategy to follow to undertake this effectively. 

Knowing how to promote your blog posts effectively will mean increased traffic and increased revenue (if you are blogging for business).  Promoting a blog post is not something that you can do once and then hope that the rest of your posts will naturally be found by the online community.  You need to promote consistently with each and every post.

So how do you go about doing this?  Here are 7 blogging tips that you should consider for your blog promotion strategy.

How To Promote Your Blog In 7 Easy Steps

1. Join Forums

A great way to promote your work is by joining forums.  There are so many to choose from, so you will be able to find something that suits your niche.

You know the old saying, ‘you get out what you put in’, well this is definitely the case with forums and groups.

If you are a consistent participator in forums, you will build your networks far quicker than if you are a backseat driver.

All the time you are participating you are building your online reputation and the higher your reputation, the higher the chance that other bloggers are going to share your work.

This all contributes to driving traffic to your blog.  Every time you publish a new post, make sure you are interacting on your forum and sharing the link with them!

2. Use Bookmarks on your blog

You should know how to promote your blog using bookmarks.  If you have installed a plugin to use bookmarks on your blog, then this is the best place to share your content to bookmarking sites.  I love Digg Digg due to the variety of places you can choose to showcase the bookmark buttons.

When you share your post to these bookmarking sites, make sure that you use the bookmark icons on your blog! Have you noticed how next to the icon there is a number?  This is showing the amount of shares to each bookmarking site.

It may be psychological, but people are more inclined to click the sharing icons when other people have already done so!  By using the social bookmark icon yourself, it helps to get the ball rolling and then encourages other bloggers to do the same.

You are going to share your content to these sites, so you might as well do it in a place where the activity is noticed!

3. Use automatic social bookmarking sites

There are services such as Hootsuite that will automatically post updates to your social networks. Networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can all be updated via Hootsuite.  This can save you time if you need it.

If you do choose to use this sharing scheduling, you want to ensure that you have it set up so that your post is shared to all the popular social media sites.  You don’t want to risk loosing an opportunity for an audience to see your work.

4. Comment on blogs that use Comment Luv

Comment Luv is a plugin you can download that showcases the most recent post written by a blogger.  If you comment on other blogs in your niche that use Comment Luv, this is a great way to advertise your recent post!  Of course you need to ensure that your comment is meaningful to the post you are writing it on, otherwise you will be seen as a spammer.

Likewise if the comments you leave on other people’s blogs are meaningful, other bloggers are more likely to click on your link to see what else you have to say.  If you leave a comment such as “great post or love your ideas”…it is not really exciting other readers is it!

Be sensible with the comments you leave, and this can be a great way to draw new traffic to you.

I use Comment Luv on both my blog sites and I love the interaction that it provides.

5. Make use of Pinterest

I have emphasized why images are so useful for your blog.  Now that you have the image on your post, are you using them to share your content?  You can ‘pin’ images to Pinterest which is an image board.  The more pins you have on your boards the more followers you will have who will repin those images.

The link to the image is always coming back to your site, so this is a great way to expose your content to a large audience. Depending on the niche that you are in will have an influence upon how successful this will be, but that shouldn’t stop you from pinning!

My party site “Smart Party Planning” is full of images and therefore receives huge success from Pinterest.  However, I have also set up a ‘blogging board‘ which is where all my pins from this site are stored.  Do I receive traffic from that board?  I certainly do!  It is an important social media tool that shouldn’t be overlooked when promoting your new work.

6. Promote your posts using paid advertising

You will have to weigh up whether your post will be suitable for paid advertising because not all posts will be.  If you think you have that ‘gold nugget’ post, then go for it with your advertising.  Advertising can work wonders for gaining new subscribers and followers, but you need to pick your post carefully otherwise it may just be money down the drain!

7. Post on ALL your social media profiles

I have left this blogging tip until last because it goes without saying that you should be promoting your work on ALL your social media profiles.  If you are serious about knowing how to promote your blog, then you can NOT avoid social networking.

Whilst there are so many social sites to choose from, it is not possible to use them all, so you need to pick what works best for you.  In my opinion, as a minimum you should be using Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.  Regardless of your blog niche, you will always find followers who appreciate the niche you are in and want to know more from you.

Google+ is a fantastic avenue for communities, and bloggers sharing and commenting on your work.  Google also love bloggers using Google+ and it helps to get your posts indexed when they are shared on the network.  If you don’t have a profile set up, you might want to rectify that sooner rather than later!

Knowing how to promote your blog is JUST as important as writing the post itself.  If you fail to promote effectively then you might as well have bother.  It is not uncommon to spend just as long promoting your post as it does writing it!

Would you like to learn more about blog creation, writing and promoting?  I would highly recommend you take a look at the learn how to blog program that provides you with detailed information and support to help you achieve your goals.

Do you have any schedule that you like to follow after you have publish your post?  Please share your thoughts with us below.