Hey, remember blogs? Times used to be when we talked about how blogging was the next great marketing venue of the 21st century – it’s been about ten years since then. How about we get back to basics? Blogging is still the main way to go if you want your business to get exposure on the web, but now that everybody has a blog, you have to work harder to get noticed. So here’s a refresher course in networking to promote your blog:
1. Interact with your readers. The best way to keep traffic coming in is to make them feel welcome. So when a visitor takes the time to leave a comment, thank them! If you use the Disqus plugin or similar systems, you can even rate them – just a little +1 or ‘like’ to say ‘thanks for your feedback.’ And replying just to say ‘thanks for your insight’ goes a long way. Get into an interesting discussion or two with your commenting readers sometimes, it shows that you’re not just a megaphone shooting your mouth off, but have an open mind and thoughts to consider.
2. Reach out to other blogs in your niche. You’ve heard it a dozen times already, but it’s still viable. Now, nothing says ‘2005’ like a sidebar blogroll, but let’s freshen the concept: Instead of trying to link to the whole world, focus on two kinds: established veterans that have spoken with authority for years (good Google juice) and brand new newbies who are struggling to make it (good for karma and good will). The newbies will more than likely make a post recognizing you for your works.
3. Be a problem solver. Check your search logs, and notice when somebody landed on your site from Google but obviously didn’t find what they were looking for. Now make a new blog post addressing that specific problem. Neat idea, no? It’s kind of like reverse SEO – if the search hit got to you, you already know that you rank for those keywords, so why not capitalize on it? Another way to problem solve is to find bulletin boards asking questions within your field of specialty, then make a blog post answering that kind of question. Perhaps create an infographic for it, too.