The two most important aspects for a blog to be successful are quality content and strong marketing. Of course there are tons of other important factors that determine success, but when you boil it all down, it is creating the content and then promoting the content. When I am promoting my blog, I like to think of it as a product and I apply tried and true marketing techniques to accomplish this goal. Basic marketing can be defined as: defining your product, promoting your product, and to maintaining relationships with your customers. In the case of blogs, the readers are your customers.
A cornerstone of marketing is establishing a brand. A brand is a name or symbol that is intended to identify a particular product. The promotion of your blog should begin with establishing your brand and making that the foundation of your marketing activities. Here are some ideas to get you started with branding your blog:
· Craft the Message - This has to be the first step. You need to figure out what it is that you want to say and project. From here you will be able to identify your target market and set the course or your marketing strategy. Remember, once you establish your core message it is important to be consistent and do not deviate from that. As an example, I visited a blogging tips blog recently and the current post was about the swine flu. My advice to that blogger would be to get a BlogSpot account if you want to deviate from your core topic. Readers are coming to your blog for a specific reason and if you do not fulfill their need then chances are they will not come back. It is important to be consistent regarding the content on your own blog but you also want to remain consistent with your blog title, blog design, guest posts, comments and anything else that involves your blog.
· Repeat the Message- Once the message is crafted; you need to repeat the message over and over again. Great brands are built over time and through repetition. The important thing here is to broadcast your message where your target market is likely to be. Think about where they congregate online and join in. Here are some ways I am getting my brand out there.
Ø Guest Posting- This is one of the best ways to get your brand in front of your target audience. I have recently guest posted on The Idiots Guide to Blogging and I am writing a guest post right now for Blogging Agenda.
Ø Social Media- This is a difficult one because there is a lot of noise and it is difficult to reach your target market. My advice is to join a couple social sites and make friends and be active in circles related to your niche. As you know, I am a huge fan of Twitter.
Ø Comments- Another great way to reach your target audience is by commenting on other blogs in your niche. I have a list of about 50 blogs that I visit and comment on regularly. Remember, you want to brand your blog so make sure to write comments that add value to the post. I also recommend using your site name as the name you post with. I know some people like to use their keywords or their real name. Every time I comment it is as “Tycoon Blogger,” over time people will start to recognize the name and internalize the brand. If you comment as “How to blog” you are likely gaining some link juice at the expense of your branding. It is also wise to create a gravatar so people can associate an image with your name.
Remember, stay on message and keep on blogging!
Commenting on other blogs is the best way to promotion your blog.
Thanks for nice post!
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I do think that guest post is the best way to promote our blog, but we have to do it wisely, such as write great guest post to attract new reader, find best blog to guest post on, and etc. We could be able to get quality one-way link as well. Commenting would be good to promote our blog too, but no spam comment.
Good points Dan!
Regards,
Lee
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all this is ok, but how to overcome the lack of enthusiasm to write blog posts continually and regularly, iam still trying to overcome this, anyway a nice post
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since you got the right SEO for your blog, it’s opening a wide range for your blog to attract targeted traffic for your blog.
guest posts are good to expand your readers world!
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I very much appreciate your point “Repeat the messages”.
You reach out to any successful blog but you are going to find repeated posts with changed titles
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[...] couple of days ago I wrote a post about branding your blog. This is an excellent opportunity to associate your blog with the movers and shakers in the [...]
Commenting on other blogs is really the best way to go, as long as you have something to say. However, I use Twitter to help advertise when I’ve written a new post, and that seems to bring in people who might not usually visit a blog.
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I do find that blog commenting is really helpful but I do not just comment on any blogs. I would choose those that interest me generally.
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Commenting on blogs works especially when the blog is using Comment Luv which we do. You commented on my blog and I am returning the favor!
Your spam filter however will not allow me to use SEO in my name.
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