It seems like everyone these days has a blog. Mommy blogs, business blogs, blogs about your favorite tv show or recipes, they're everywhere on the net. In fact, blogging is so big, they now call it the blogosphere. Why are blogs so popular and how can you promote your blog to gain readers? After all, if there is no one reading your blog, what's the point in writing all that info, right? First we'll talk about why blogs are so popular these days, how businesses cash in on bloggers, and why they are in demand. Then I'll tell you ways you can get readers to head over to your site and read your info.
Blogs are a great way for anyone to express themselves. Many of them tend to be centered on a certain subject or genre. If Mary Sue just had a baby and she can't wait to tell all of her family and friends every detail of little Henry's life, she might start a blog. If Janie is a fashion guru, she might start a blog about fashion. Why is this important to businesses? Because if Mary Sue starts gaining a lot more readers than just her friends and family, they now have a targeted audience.
Companies that sell baby stuff want Mary Jane's readers to see their ads. They may give Mary Sue a free item to review and write about on her blog. Same with Janie. If she starts getting lots of readers, clothing companies may contact her to write up blog posts about their clothing, shoes, or bags. They too may give Janie free products to review and/or give away on her blog.
Before you start getting all these cool offers and free products, you're going to have to gain readers. How can you do that? One is the old fashioned way, good ole' SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and you're going to need it on your blog. The search engines need to know what your blog is about to be able to "recommend" it to folks looking for what you've got. Search engines "crawl" your site, and figure out what it's about based on the info you've got there.
You'll need keyword phrases in your meta tags, on your pages, and in the hyper-text that links back to your site and your content. Now, that's a whole other article (or a few!) and cannot be fully covered in the scope of this one article. But if you don't know anything about SEO, don't worry. There is tons of info out there and you can learn it.
Another way to promote your blog is to sponsor your own giveaways and promote them in social media like Facebook, twitter, and blog networks like Mom Bloggers Club. You might want to start small and do a $10 Amazon gift card giveaway. These are super easy to give because once you get a winner, you can just email them the card. Even more popular are $25 gift cards to places like Target, Amazon, or Bed Bath and Beyond.
You are the one financially supporting these, so only do what you can do. Before too long, you'll be giving away other people's things. But to get started, you may have to put up some of your own money. I gained over 50 Google friend connect followers in one week with a $25 giveaway, and I had over 700 entries to the giveaway.
I know above I mentioned blog networks. This is another good way to promote your blog. Get involved with networks like Mom Bloggers Club and Blog Frog. You'll network with other bloggers and get the word out. Speaking of which, sometimes when you want something, you've got to give something. In this case, you want readers and followers, so you should read and follow other blogs. You can leave a short comment saying that you are a new follower and you'd love the blogger to visit you and follow back. This is not the time to make demands or threats ( like "follow me back or I'm going to un-follow you.")
In any case, just keep plugging away! Anything you do online takes TIME. You're not typically going to have 10,000 readers after one month of blogging. But, after one month of my new blog I do have over 1,000 readers. I can't wait to see what it will be after one year! Have fun with your blog and blog for yourself. The perks and benefits will come. Be blessed!
[annaandessie.com domain for sale] contests and giveaways happen often at Anna and Essie, so stop by and enter!
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