DISCUSSION: Blogs: Strategic Communication in the Blogosphere

COMMENT: Getting the word out about your blog

Submitted by Nedra Weinreich, MS   on 9/16/08 3:06 PM

Unfortunately, building awareness and a readership for your blog can be a slow process, but there are several things you can do to increase the chances of someone finding you.

1. Network with other bloggers who write on similar topics - this means introducing yourself and your blog via email, leaving relevant comments on their blogs with a link back to yours, adding them to your blogroll (list of blogs you recommend in your sidebar), and interacting on Twitter.

2. Linking out to other blog posts that add information or give another perspective on a post that you write. Links are the social currency of the blogosphere, and the more you link out to other bloggers, the more they will want to link to you.

3. Tracking back links that people create to your blog (e.g., via Google Alerts) and leaving a comment on those posts thanking them and perhaps providing another link for more information on the topic.

4. When you write a blog post that you think will be of particular interest to a lot of people, promote it. It could be via email or Twitter to your network, by submitting it to a Blog Carnival, by submitting it to a social news service like Digg or as a comment to another blog post on a similar topic.

5. Make sure your blog posts are findable. In Google searches, the title of your post plays a big role in how it is indexed. Titles that include key words that describe what your post is about are better than plays on words that may not come up as high in the results. For many blogs, a big chunk of their readers from day to day come from search engines rather than direct links, so make it easy for them to find you when you have the information they want.

Attachment(s):
50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level - Chris Brogan (URL)
Five Ways to Promote Your Blog Series - Problogger.com (URL)