5 Free Ways On How To Promote Your Blog Posts

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Feeling like your blog posts aren’t getting the attention that they deserve? Here are some simple and free ways on how to promote your blog posts.

Re-Post on LinkedIn Pulse

LinkedIn allows individuals, not companies, to publish guest posts with an image. You can repurpose your most popular blog posts and share them on LinkedIn. Here’s the link where you can compose a LinkedIn Pulse post.

Here’s an example: I wrote a blog post titled 8 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Snapchat for MethodShop. I then repurposed the post and published it on LinkedIn Pulse here.

Sharing your blog posts on LinkedIn will promote content to your existing professional connections and groups without “spamming” them with emails or repeated requests begging them to Like, tweet, or share something.

Just be selective with what your share on LinkedIn. Remember, LinkedIn is a “professional social media network.” Do post about professional topics like shocking Pinterest stats, ways to convince your boss to let you telecommute, or how to cut costs with your startup. Do NOT post about bathroom bacon or Japanese sex dolls.

Guest Post on Another Blog

Many websites including Huffington Post, MOZ, and Copyblogger all accept guest posts. However, unlike LinkedIn Pulse, your guest posts will probably have to be 100% original. Meaning you can’t just repurpose your blog post. This will differ from site to site so make sure you carefully read through each site’s guest post guidelines. To give you an example of what most sites are looking for, here’s a link to MOZ’s guest post guidelines.

So how does writing another blog post for a different website help you promote the blog post you are currently trying to amplify? Here are a couple of ideas: 1) write a follow-up blog post to your original article, or 2) write a guest blog post that mentions and links to several of your other posts. It’s a little more work, but the SEO value and exposure for both you and your site can be incredible.

Twitter @Mentions, #Hashtags & /Slashtags

After you publish your blog post, you will obviously want to promote it using your social media accounts. But will anyone see it? One way to increase your chances is to optimize your social media messages with account mentions and hashtags.

Most social media sites like Google+, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook support hashtags. So research relevant hashtags for your messages using sites like TweetReach and Iconosquare and include them in your messaging.

You should also include an “at mention” in your tweets when relevant using the /cc or /via Slashtags. For example, the tweet below mentions the Twitter account @obrien giving the author credit for their article and /cc mention @WayneScholes, someone who is passionate about streaming music royalties. Both @obrien and @WayneScholes retweeted the tweet. Mentioning accounts in your messaging will help increase the chance that your message gets seen. But don’t get spammy and start randomly mentioning everyone. Be personal, relevant, select, and thoughtful. Otherwise, you’re just a hated spammer.

Social Media Optimized Email Signature

One of the best ways to get the people that you engage with every day to follow you on social is just to create a custom email signature with links to your social accounts. Unless you tell them, your friends and clients may not even know that you are active on social media. Emailing everyone in your address book and begging them to follow you, will feel spammy and pathetic. A subtle hint in your email signature will accomplish the same thing with class.

Joining Relevant Conversations

There are daily tweets that will mention relevant hashtags for your blog post. Engaging in these conversations on a regular basis will help promote your brand, raise awareness of your expertise, and encourage the right people to follow you. For example, I wanted to engage people talking about Google’s algorithm update that downgraded non-mobile-friendly websites. The Internet community called the update “Mobilegeddon.” So I researched the hashtag #Mobilegeddon and the phrase “#Mobilegeddon retail”  on Twitter to find relevant conversations and accounts to engage with. As you begin engaging, you can then start injecting ideas and links from your blog where it makes sense in the conversation.

Free Ways On How To Promote Your Blog Posts

There you have it. Some simple and free ways to promote your blog posts. The next step would be to start using paid boosting or advertising to drive more blog traffic. Master the free methods first and then grow from there.

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