Blogging is not a new entrant in the hall walk of fame in the virtual world. From its birth till the present time, blogging has found itself a safe corner without much bling or noise. Even with almost 30 million bloggers in the virtual world, it seeks almost negligible attention compared to the other stalwarts on the internet (a humble shout-out to the photo and video sharing platforms). This put forth the inevitable question- is blogging dead?
Even with many instances that point to the fact, it is questionable to state that the platform is in its last stages. Even with many saying goodbye to the platform because it is failing to hold the fort amongst the glitter and glamour of its competitors, blogging is a haven for those who want to voice their opinion or share a plight. The only way to turn the tide in your favor is to know the strategies that can make your blogging endeavor successful.
Striking the golden bell!
Blogging is all about being vocal about the things that matter to you and your site. Mostly it gives the first-person narrative to the incidents/ topics.
Blogging requires a fair share of skills along with a passion for sharing and updating content for people to read. There are n number of topics under the sky to write about, but only a few start the fire among the readers. The key is to land under one of the sub-categories of the audience’s favorite topics, to bask in the broader range of the viewer’s gaze.
As much your topic matters, your content too. Blogging is essentially about writing. They must weave a story that binds the audience and attracts more towards it. The photographs and the schematic layout acts as the cherry on the top, giving your blogs a final touch to become a visual treat.
Why is promotion as crucial as blogging?
Even the thousands of efforts you put into making your blog will go down in drain if no one knows about them. How will people find your blog among the millions of content that prop up with the same keyword?
This where promotion steps in. If your blogging should prove fruitful, you must invest in promoting it as much you invest in building it. In fact, many may even say promotion should take up more time than content creating. Well, yes! For if there is no one to read, what is the use of your blogs?
21 strategies to promote your blog
Promoting your blog requires a lot of on-site and off-site work to make your blog more visible to people. On-site refers to the work to be done on the blog so that it comes across as more appealing to the first-time as well as the constant visitors. The off-site refers to all the activities to be done on other platforms to promote and enhance your blog’s visibility to others.
On-Site
You must strive to create the best experience for the users. With hundreds of alternatives to choose from, it is your need to bring the users to your blog. Giving them good quality content with no glitches not only buys you a loyal follower but also makes your content worth it to be shared (an effective promotion just by creating quality content). Few things that you must bear in mind while doing so is:
Choose a suitable blogging platform
There are websites that offer you simple steps to create your blog with just a few clicks—no need to build them from scratch or learn to code. The free websites provide everything you need to start blogging on a single platter. Popular websites like WordPress, Wix..etc. help you build the site for free.
However, before choosing, it is advisable to note two things-security and the site’s speed. If a site takes time to load, it sets a highly negative response from the visitors. Also more secured is the site, lesser would be the worries regarding malicious links, ..etc.
Decide your niche
Your niche is what decides the number of viewers that you will receive. Much like a direct proportion. Some topics amas a larger view count than the others, whereas others find viewers occasionally.
Hence, choosing a topic that has more universal functionality will help your blog to receive more people. For, e.g., a blog on fashion may receive more viewers than a blog on how to fix lights. The narrower the topic you choose, the less is the audience you are targeting. Always remember, only a small fraction of the target audience actually translates into views.
Know your audience
Knowing about the age group you are targeting and the footfall you are receiving lets you curate better content targeted towards the consumer base.
Content that is tailor-made for them lets you interact with them and address their queries. This forges a relationship between the viewers and the blog. This, in turn, helps your blog grow as the people will share it more among their peers.
Optimize
For your blog to emerge on the top search results, you must optimize them according to the search engine’s algorithm. There are multiple search engines, but to make it simple, try optimizing it according to google, as it has more than 90% share on governing the search result. If you want to lead the first-time inquisitive minds to your blog, your blog must show up on the first page at least (if not as the top result). This is because rarely are there chances where people go beyond the first page to search their results.
But appearing on page 1 is not an easy task. Remember, you are competing with millions of results. Thus optimizing your content with appropriate keywords will help you land in front of a wider audience.
Grow with changing times
With the technology growing, so is the feature and creativeness that can be explored.
Initially, the blogs included writeups, which were later upgraded with schematic inclusion of photos and then videos. Now, a whole range of features can be tried out to give a new add-on to your blog (e.g., podcast). You can also revive your old blogs, remix them or rephrase them by updating them to the present time. The times call for something unique and at the same time relevant.
Choose a captivating title and description
When a person searches for which one to click among the available results, the title is what captures the attention. A heading that hooks the users and compels them to click on your blog is a promotion tactic to drive them to your page.
The title, as well as the meta-description, is the glimpse that you show to the visitors. No matter how good your content is, if you cannot make them click your site, you won’t gain any unique visitors. Hence, try to capture the attention by using stats or numbers that scream out loud what you will tackle in the blog.
Give links; get links
An essential part of writing a blog is to give references and credits to the deserving. After all, it is hard to amass the knowledge of 3000 words, just by your experience…right?
Giving credits have dual benefits. First, you acknowledge the source, thus giving people a choice to further explore their interests. Second, you are linking other writers, giving their content a back-link. A back-link boosts the image of a web page. A content back-linked will surely try to reciprocate and link you where it seems fit.
Experiment with formatting
A blog highlights a personal style of expressing things, but that should not deter you from experimenting with styles so as to know what clicks best with the audience. You can choose over different styles like being minimalistic or extravagant by richly adding photos. The first thing that catches the eye of the first-time visitor is how the blog is furbished. Of course, the content limits the extravaganza that you can add. For example, if your blog is about fashion, it is incomplete without substantial evidence in the form of pictures. However, if your blog is about coding, there is a limit to find photogenic codes.
Even in the content, it is often seen that people skim through the matter to see whether or not it has content relevant to their search. Hence, it is best to split the content into paragraphs so that users may find them easily.
Create engagement
Engagement is what will keep the balls rolling in your court. The more engagement your content receives, the more it gets visible in the web world. Engaging your visitors needs skill and patience. However, if you succeed in it, higher up, you are ranked in the SEO.
A simple way is to keep asking the visitors to share their experiences or views about the topic. This gives you ideas for your next blog and, at the same time, starts bonding with the people.
Though these may come across as simple and not convincing enough to promote your blog, these form the crux of your blog. These are practical strategies to use since a quality service is always enjoyed and shared. If you provide a good experience for the visitors, they tend to build a bias towards you, leaning toward your opinion.
Off-Site
Create external links/ redirects
The links are tiny drones that lead the users to your blogs. The whole internet is connected by a single string. You jump from one page to the other. To be a part of this, create external links that will guide the users from other pages to your blogs.
There are higher chances of people clicking on the links with regards to the recommendation by the writer. Once the people are guided to your blog and explore the contents, you have better chances to gain subscribers.
The external links also help you build visibility in the eyes of the algorithm. The more links you have, the more credible your content seems to be. But this in no way implies that you have to hoard links in hundreds. Create a balance and partner up with credible sites.
E-mail
While visiting a blog, you must have often encountered a pop-up offering you sign-up for notification or a newsletter. This is an efficient promotion tactic, as it engages the audience directly to your content and keeps them up to date with the new additions.
A simple e-mail addressing the viewers, alerting them about the latest blog, will let you see increased traffic to your blog. To make the process more efficient, make sure that your mail is simple and direct to the point. A simple way to do this add a link. A link directing them to the blog and a link to share the content on other social media platforms will also increase your chances to get the viewers. The only thing that remains is to get the viewers to sign in.
Charting out content that piques the audience’s interest and makes them anticipate your work will surely win you, subscribers. Keep engaging your subscribers by giving them some added benefits like teasers or giveaways to build a win-win situation for both parties.
Social media
You will be playing with fire if you ignore the power that the networking giants wield both in the reel and the real world. With millions of users, these platforms are the best fishing nets for your blogs. Build contents that can be shared on your Instagram handle. Promote your blogs on them. The platforms also give you a perfect space to interact, collaborate, and build a stable and interactive relationship with the users.
Moreover, the platforms also help you find a target audience. For example, Facebook finds a base of older people more, whereas Instagram finds millennials. Dividing your marketing strategy on the platform, depending on the audience, will help you approach people in a better way.
Mark yourself in community forums/ websites
There are multiple community forums online like Reddit, Quora..etc. that sees a large footfall of people asking for things and getting suggestions. Make yourself known or get listed as one of the suggestions. This will drive a lot of viewers from this parent site to your blog from the respective websites.
E.g., in Reddit, users can share content, and the posts get voted. If your content strikes a chord with the people, it will get upvoted. Thus a larger audience can view it relying upon the words of other users.
Collaborate with others
Collaboration is not just a thing you see on YouTube or Instagram. You can collaborate with other bloggers or even influencers of your niche.
One way is to guest blog in others blog. This gives you a chance to become visible to the consumer base of the other blogger. In the author’s bio, don’t forget to insert a link to your blog to give easier access to the viewers to reach you.
Another way is to collaborate with the influencers. Influencers have a larger real-time audience range. Collaborating with them leads to you the like-minded people who have an interest in your topic.
Create a page
It is comparatively easier to grow on social media platforms than the blog itself. This is because the algorithms of the platform are created to discover people or groups.
Creating a page or user handle for yourself will help you target the audience on the platform. E.g., if your blog is about fashion, create a counterpart on Instagram. Make sure you put up a link on the platform to guide the visitors to your official handle. With a relatively easier way to grow than on search engines, the platform will soon help you find like-minded people.
Join a page
Creating one and handling a page might be a tedious task involving many strategies to make them visible on the platform. A quick way to avoid this is to join an already existing page that covers your niche.
For example, if your blog is about beginner’s adventure in learning violin, join in one of the pages that deals with the same and share your stories in it. There, you have found yourself a whole community of people that shares the same interest as you.
While posting comments/ posts, subtly give references to your blog and include a link so that users may find you.
Don’t shy away from sharing your content
If your blog has to set up its roots, it should have an initial footfall, after which the algorithms of the platform can promote it. Hence, the initial push is your area to shine.
An effortless way is to share your content with family, friends, and acquaintances through social media or WhatsApp. Give a shout-out to them after releasing your content and ask them to share it with others. If they resonate with your content, you can successfully find followers in them. However, make sure you do not become too overbearing, lest they may feel bothersome.
Don’t shy away from asking your viewers to share
There is no harm in blatantly asking the visitors to share the content if they like it. Promotion by word of mouth is the best way to spread the content. Seen every YouTubers begin or end by repeatedly highlighting to like, share and subscribe?
This is because when you are repeatedly told something, it remains at the back of your head. Same with the blogs. Make the content as such that it is easy for the visitors to share it. For the visitor’s sake, put a link to share the blog in the bio as well, so they are reminded on the go.
Give freebies
Who does not like some free stuff here and there? Giving freebies are an excellent incentive to lure a potential visitor.
Holding an exclusive giveaway that is only accessible to people who subscribe to your blog or are your usual visitors makes them feel cherished. This compels them to click that button to enjoy the benefit while you get subscribers along the way.
Paid marketing
The ultimate way to make it to the top is paid marketing if nothing works for you. You might have often come across many search results with the term ‘ad’ written adjacent to it.
These are paid advertisements of the site by the platform. Visit the google ads site to know more about the ‘pay-per-click advertisement tactic of the search engine.
Analytics
It is important to know which of your seeds are bearing fruit and which are not. The analytics helps you do so by specifying the area which you lack and can better. It analyzes your content and the promotions, giving you a clear insight into where you are lagging.
The key is to stick with the ones that give you success, leave the ones that are not, and experiment with other new areas.
Conclusion
Blogging is not dying; you need to tap the right corners to let the success stream in through. Follow these simple yet highly efficient on-site and off-site strategies to make sure that your efforts bear fruits.
