How To Market Your Blog Like A Pro
You have spent countless hours putting your blog together and you’ve even written a few posts. You are ready to make your mark on the internet. Of course you are going to need readers if you expect to go anywhere. Unlike the movie “Field of Dreams”, building it doesn’t necessarily translate into people coming. To get some momentum to that process you need to learn how to market your blog properly.
Engaging and retaining readers is just as important as getting visitors to your blog. Reader loyalty is the currency of the blogging world. So how do you draw massive amounts of hungry readers to your site, eagerly awaiting to devour your content? Here are a few tips to get you going.
Develop a deep level of trust with your readers. People come to your site looking for information that answers the questions on their mind. If you bombard them with an overpowering barrage of advertising, they will move on just as quickly as they arrived. Strive to provide great content that is both helpful and useful to your reader. If you give your readers what they are looking for, they will be back to see you again on a regular basis. Making a good first impression is as important for your blogging as it is with a face to face interaction.
Maintain a professional appearance. People will make an assessment about your blog before they ever read a word that is posted. Having a great design with easy navigation, a memorable name or an easily identified logo are all components of making a great first impression.
Make it easy for your visitors to share your content. You should have your social media links and an RSS feed icon clearly visible on either your header or sidebar. Each post and page should have sharing options for the major social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+. Sharing buttons with an attached share count are most effective. The easier it is for your readers to share your content, the more often they will spread the word.
Work with other bloggers in your industry. Your blog doesn’t have to compete with other blogs for readers. You can actually help yourself and other bloggers in your niche by linking each others pages to share valuable information. When an industry leader in your niche links to your site, it provides you massive exposure and a credibility boost. Take time to connect with other bloggers in your niche and inquire about opportunities to link share and even guest blog. When you take the time to comment on their pages, link to their blog posts and show appreciation, you’ll find those things being reciprocated.
Don’t neglect the other social media tools. While most people focus on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, there are many other social media tools at your disposal. These would include such sites as Pinterest, Digg, Stumbleupon, and Reddit. Link your posts to these sites and to niche networks like Better Networker, MLM Social, IBO Toolbox and MyNetwokingPro. Build a Facebook group and fan page to further syndicate your content. Repurpose your blog posts as videos and syndicate them Youtube and Facebook to further increase your traffic.
Use long tail keywords to optimize your blog. The best tool for finding these keywords is the Google Keyword Tool. Keywords not only help you to get found by search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, but long tailed keywords (e.g. mlm marketing strategies as opposed to mlm) will help you get found easier and connect squarely with your target market. While this group may be smaller, this will be the group that is most interested in your content.
The greatest marketing tool for your blog is simply to produce good content on a consistent basis. Write about the things you are knowledgeable about, just learning or your own experiences that will be of interest to your readers. Consistently providing straightforward, easily understood content is the best resource for creating a loyal following for your blog.
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