Promoting A Blog: 11 Strategies That Are Still Relevant In 2022

Ever wondered why some bloggers are so famous while others struggle to gain a spot in the Google Ranking system? 

Have your own blog but hardly getting any traction? 

Tried every blog promotion idea but still not getting the results you want?  

If your answer to all the questions is YES, then here are 11 strategies to help promoting a blog: 

11 Strategies for Promoting a Blog

1. Create Data-Driven Content: 
2. Optimise blogs visually 
3. Cross-Pollinate audience 
4. Convert blogs into youtube videos 
5. Use Public forums 
6. Collaborate with Industry experts 
7. Email marketing relevance
8. Tap into untapped LinkedIn potential  
9. Sharing blogs on other websites
10. Ensuring social media sharing buttons in prominent areas to increase shares
11. Hook in readers with powerful and engaging blog post introductions

1) Create Data-Driven Content: 

Data-driven content has always been a major player when it comes to promoting a blog. 

And for a good reason. 

Content that uses data stands out- adding the element of trust. People trust numbers. If you add a ton of information people might skim through it, but when you add data driven figures, people take the time to read and understand the factors presented.  

According to a study by Curata, data-driven posts receive 9x more leads. 

But, how do you create Data-Driven Content? 

The most important factor when creating data-driven content is, you guessed it – the Data. 

Without data, there are no data-driven posts, kind of like no apple pie without apples. 

But, before adding data, you need to understand- what makes good data? 

Citing every bit of information you come across, is not very helpful. And adding too much data could potentially harm your hypothesis more than help it. 

So, when considering what data to add, you should check if the below-mentioned criteria is fulfilled: 

1. It must be verified and must be from a reliable source. You should be able to find references to it. Even better if you find the source
2. It must be acquired via a defined procedure. When using data, the findings must be legitimate and easily available online 
3. It must be published by experts in the field 

The next question to arise is – where can one find this data? 

There are multiple places to find data for your posts. The best data you can use is the information you collect yourself. 

In this case, proprietary research is trustworthy, and the findings are unique as only you have the data along with the findings. No other company/brand will have the insights you have. 

You could also look into publicly available data in websites like Zanran, Guardian Data, or Google Scholar for information. 

2) Optimise blogs visually: 

When promoting a blog, the importance of visual content is something all bloggers understand. People tend to remember blogs with more visual content than just a simple text. 

Apart from that, visual content also increases the possibility of social media shares by 40%. 

So, how can you add visual content to blog posts? 

Simply adding content or text is not enough to attract and retain people’s attention. The more visual appeal you have, the better your users’ overall experience will be. Below are some examples of visual content that can be utilised in blogs: 

1. Infographics like graphics and pie charts help keep content crisp and appealing 
2. GIFs with memes and puns are a fun way to grab the attention of readers 
3. Slideshows and presentations are important pointers to explain a specific topic 
4. Videos are a great way to get the point across while showcasing your animation skills. The more engaging the video, the better the user experience 

3) Cross-Pollinate audience:

The easiest blog promoting idea is to cross-pollinate your audience. Getting your followers on Facebook to subscribe to your email newsletters, or having your subscribers follow you on Twitter – are some of the best ways for promoting a blog. 

Brian Dean from Backlinko has the best idea, though he posts only 1-2 times a week on Twitter- he has over 117K followers. 

How? 

Ways to cross-pollinate with your audience: 

1. Share your blogs, posts and visual content across all social media platforms 
2. Start connecting with your audience – not only in respect to posting content, but also interacting and commenting with other people’s posts 
3. Ask questions, connect and interact with your audience 
4. Optimise your URL placement – URLs that are in the middle of the tweets get 26% more retweets

4) Convert blogs into YouTube videos:

YouTube is a great platform, especially for promoting a blog. With more than a billion users throughout the world, it boasts of over a third of all internet users. 

So, the best way to connect with your audience is to turn your blog posts into videos in order to build a YouTube channel. You can even embed these videos into existing social media posts or blogs to add visual appeal to your subscribers. 

Adding short videos to a blog increases engagement and conversion rates by 80%.

When posting content on your YouTube channel, you should leave your blog link in the description box. This will prompt visitors to visit your website. 

The process is so simple that there is no need for a production team to create video content. 

Screen capture tools like Vidyard, Soapbox, Fluvid, or RecordCast can help you capture the screen and create a video out of it. Apps like RecordCast do not require you to download a video. 

Videos with automated video generation tools like Lumen5, Moovly, Wibbitz and Typito are a few tools you can use to create a video from blog content. 

5) Use Public Forums:

Public forums have a plethora of benefits when it comes to promoting blogs, services and products along with answering questions users may have. 

So, being an active member in different chat sections/pages is a great way to benefit from an online brand image. 

But how can you use chat channels to promote your blogs? 

1. Answer queries that are related to your area of expertise
2. Post relevant blog links that answers the query posted 
3. Keep your answers short and crisp 
4. Make sure they link back to your website 
5. Identify gaps and target new sectors that can benefit from your brand 

Platforms like Quora, Tumblr, Reddit, etc, are effective forums to gain focused audiences. Roughly 3000 questions are asked on Quota every day. 

So, solving queries on public forums is a great way to gain recognition amongst your target audience.

6) Collaborate with Industry experts:

Another great blog promotion idea to increase your brand visibility is to collaborate with industry experts. 

Let’s say, for example, you make skincare products. Collaborating with makeup bloggers and influencers is a great way to leverage their audience and introduce your brand to them. Bloggers can also promote/create guest posts to help leverage the other blogger’s audience. 

But how can you collaborate with industry experts? 

You can start by looking for bloggers related to your niche. Make a list of bloggers who connect with a similar audience as your brand does. Look for their email addresses and reach out to them with an email explaining how a collaboration could be beneficial to both of you. 

7) Email marketing relevance: 

The sheer volume of brand endorsement emails in your own inbox can give you an idea regarding the popularity of email marketing. While social media is a great way to reach out to the masses, email marketing is the best way to keep them connected to your brand. 

Email marketing is still one of the most influential methods to promote your blog and generate business. 

Start by building your email marketing list, and deliver value to your customers through emails that showcase the utility of your brand. 

So, how can you build your email marketing list? 

1. Ask website visitors for email IDs in return for an eBook or discounted offer 
2. Organise contests and giveaways in exchange for email IDs 
3. Send a mix of newsletters, links to recent blogs, and offers to subscribers 
4. Request present subscribers to support your brand by sharing your social media posts, or blogs with friends or family 
5. Make sure to create a catchy subject line to encourage people to open newsletters 

8) Tap into untapped LinkedIn potential: 

LinkedIn has over 740 million active users at any given time- making it a hot favourite for content creators. 

LinkedIn is a perfect space to promote blogs, especially for an audience that knows what you are talking about. It is perfect for people who look for detailed information and can spend. 

Let’s say your company deals with investment opportunities and your blogs deal with investment dos and don’ts. We know that LinkedIn is a social networking platform for business and professional interactions. So, 60% of users belong to the 25-35 age group while 20% belong to the 18-24 age group – making it the perfect place to promote your blog amongst new investors. 

So, how can you promote your blog on LinkedIn? 

Before promoting your blog, you need to first create an optimised profile – with a profile photo and headline that connects to your niche. You then need to ensure that you: 

1. Leverage your groups for super targeted traffic to blogs 
2. Create content on LinkedIn Pulse and share guest posts on the platform 
3. Use LinkedIn stories to promote posts 

9) Sharing blogs to other websites: 

One of the best ways to promote your blog is by guest posting. 

But, what is guest posting? And why will it help attract attention to your website? 

In a nutshell, guest posting involves posting quality content on websites that have already built their name in your related niche. Guest posting is beneficial when you: 

1. Can post on popular websites to get quality backlinks 
2. Establish your name as an expert in your niche 
3. Are exposed to the website’s readers and they find your content intriguing enough to drive traffic back to your website 
4. Have a chance to speak directly to your target audience and get quality leads

But, to guest post, you need to find the right websites. By: 

1. A simple Google search with a keyword related to the industry followed by a ‘guest post’ or a ‘guest post/accepting guest post’ keyword. 
2. By searching for famous bloggers from your niche and adding blogs in websites where they add 
3. Social searchers to find bloggers or websites that accept guest posts. 

So, once you find the right websites for your niche, remember to read their pitching guidelines and then make a pitch to them to allow you to guest post for their website. 

10) Ensuring social media sharing buttons in prominent areas to increase shares: 

First, make sure that you have social sharing buttons in your blog posts. There are multiple tools to help you add your social media buttons like SumoMe, AddThis, and ShareThis.  

Only adding the buttons to your blogs will not help. You need to make sure that the buttons are placed in the right location to help increase the number of shares. Lucky for us, Garrett from CoSchedule researched this topic and found 5 major takeaways to help: 

1. It is important to notice the proximity of the share button. Include your buttons near the top or at proximity to the content that you think readers will be interested in sharing 
2. Most readers will scan a page in the ‘F’ format starting from the left. This is the best place to add the social media sharing buttons 
3. Try to keep the social media sharing buttons to a minimum. The more buttons you add the more distracting it can be for readers 
4. Social media buttons help increase the amount of traffic from Twitter shares initially by 20%. 

For these reasons, social sharing buttons are a great way to promote your blogs and drive traffic to your website. 

11) Hook in readers with powerful and engaging blog post introductions:

Farhad Manjoo of Slate fame researched how people read content on the internet. He found that the majority of readers do not make it past the 100-word mark. But, these people will share the content before leaving the site. 

This creates a great opportunity to get your readers to promote your blogs. But, that is only if you can keep your readers hooked in with an engaging introduction. 

Here are some ways you can keep your readers engaged: 

1. Start with facts – When you give people data, information, or research- you give them something practical and useful. Starting your blog with some information is a great way to increase the curiosity of your readers. 
2. Add the conclusion first – Give your readers the value of the content at the beginning itself. Let them know what they should take away from reading the entire blog. Remember that people do not have the time to read and will most probably be skimming through the headlines. So, give them the information they want right away. Don’t leave them hanging. 
3. Ask questions – Make sure to ask rhetorical questions. Position the question so that your blog is the only one answering it. Better yet, check what questions your readers are asking and include them in your blog with answers. 

Conclusion

So, here are 11 new strategies you can use to promote your blog and improve traffic to your website. Even though we have shared a plethora of strategies, your goal should be to find those that connect best to your website. Choose 2-3 strategies that will align with your brand goals, and use them consistently for at least 2 weeks to see what results you get. 

Once you have mastered those strategies, keep improving on them, and add a few more. Eventually, you will start to see traffic rolling in, and readers engaging with your brand. 

So, good luck promoting a blog, and let us know which strategies worked for you!