A blog is only as good as how you market it. Whether it’s old media or social media, it’s crucial to market your blog right to get eyeballs for your content. In this post, I talk about seven marketing techniques that all bloggers should follow religiously.
Social Media
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, social media, in general, is any blogger’s best friend. A blog needs to be marketed. You can’t rest on quality content or high profile writing alone to bring in traffic. A number of blogs have grown in manifold with effective social media marketing via email, Facebook, Twitter, other social media channels, and old media.
You don’t need to look beyond our very own smedio.com for inspiration.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial factor in marketing a blog. Choosing the right keywords and having a solid SEO strategy in place are key factors which determine how much traffic your blog gets. A lot of Smedio posts get ranked on the first page in Google Search Results – that’s not by accident.
Newsletters and Press Releases
A number of blogs became successful by launching complimentary print magazines. While the technique is no longer applicable to mainstream technology blogs, I strongly believe niche blogs can connect with the audience with add-ons such as printed monthly newsletters and on-paper press releases. If your blog features in a popular print newspaper or magazine, it gets unmatched in credibility. For example, a blog being featured in the New York Times or The Financial Times is likely to get several hits from the paper’s reader base.
Personalization
In my opinion, blogs which offer a personal touch always connect better with the readers. Personalization is perhaps one of the best ways of marketing a blog to your audience. Know what they want and make sure you deliver what they need.
Branding
While the content is equally important, the branding of a blog, can often prove to be the deciding factor in determining the overall fate of your blog. I always look at theverge.com as a classical case study on how to build a brand for your blog. TheVerge was a late mover in technology blogs, it launched last year and by then Mashable and TechCrunch had established themselves as front runners. However, theVerge has carved out a niche for itself based on the quality content and the branding.
Integrity
It’s common for bloggers to adopt below the belt tactics for publicity and marketing. However, I strongly believe that every blogger should maintain his integrity and never indulge in any kind of personal attacks against individuals or organizations. Expressing your opinion is fine as long as you maintain your integrity and dignity. Your integrity works as the most efficient passive marketing tool.
Content
Content is king. Nothing markets your blog better than unique high-quality content. Period.
What’s your take on the marketing techniques for bloggers? Please share your views by leaving a comment.































