5 More TIPS to GET Your Blog Noticed, Followed & Read
In a previous post I wrote about 5 Tips to Get Your Blog, Noticed, Followed and Read. Since there are so many great ways to do just that, I had to write a second article. Here are 5 more tips to help you promote your blog:
#1 ~ Solve a Problem. If you know your audience is dealing with a specific problem and you are the expert. Share it! Help them solve their problems and they will help you by being loyal followers. Here’s what Darren Rowse of Problogger suggests: “take out a sheet of paper and write down 11 big problems that keep your readers up at night. Now think of five posts that you can write for each of those problems. Sit back and look at your list of 55 blog posts.” Then start writing!
#2 ~ Write compelling headlines. Did you know? On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This is the secret to the power of your title, and why it so highly determines the effectiveness of the entire piece. It is important that your headline grabs your audience’s attention. Read the article Headlines Sell for ideas about how to construct your headline.
#3 ~ Add photos. Photos add “life” to a blog, personalize it and make it more interesting. That does not mean EVERY post should have a photo it just means that readers will appreciate if you “mix it up a bit.” Share bits of you.
Let readers into your life by showing your personal side. On my blog Success and then Some, I often post pictures of me networking. Not only does it get people to “see you” in person it also makes you more real. More human. And if they see you as a real person, they are more likely to follow you.
Some great place for Royalty FREE photos include: Fotolia, Fotosearch and Dreamstime. There are also a whole host of free sites from which you can grab photos. A great list of free sites read the article Resource of the Day: 33 FREE Stock Photo Graphics Sites. Be sure you check the licensing from any of these FREE sites before using the photos.
Tip #4 ~ Add Videos to your blog posts. Some of the most popular posts on blogs are the ones that include a video. But don’t just post a video, be sure you also post a commentary about the video. And the video doesn’t even have to be one you created. It can be one you found on YouTube or other video-sharing site. The people who post videos to these sites appreciate the added “publicity” when bloggers refer to their videos and share them with their readers. You can also create your own videos to post to sites such as YouTube, Google Video and Blip.
I created a video about flowers, using Powerpoint, music and Camtasia Studios. You can see it at my blog Tulips Talk.
My good friend and mentor Terry Brock regularly posts videos to YouTube and in fact has one called Marketing with YouTube ~ How to do it.
Robin Goode has a great list of tools you can use to automatically post your videos at the top video sites at http://tinyurl.com/6bhlre.
And if you’d like to research a great new tool, check out my friend Penny Haynes new site Commercial Creation Center. She has tons of resources. Free training and more.
Tip #5 ~ Create an EVENT! Check out what my good friend Dina Giolitto of Wordfeeder.com has done for the past few years during the holiday season. She wrote the 24 Days of Blogging Christmas and invited people to sign up for her blogroll and commit to blog every day leading up to Christmas. Check it out at: http://wordfeeder.com/24-blogging-days.htm. People look forward to the event and sign up because they get valuable resources and participate in an event that helps promote them as well!
Heidi Richards Mooney is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of WE Magazine for Women, a WordPress Web Designer, the author of a dozen books and a social media consultant and trainer. Heidi has interviewed hundreds of experts on Social Media Around the World. In 2003 Heidi was named one of 50 women shaping the Internet by the International Virtual Women’s Chamber of Commerce. In 2009 she was named a Twitter Woman to Follow by Only2Clicks.com. She works with solopreneurs, professionals and small businesses in ecommerce, direct sales and retail. Follow Heidi on Google Plus