The Secret To a Successful Blog Promotion Strategy

by Jan Geronimo on May 23, 2009

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Do you know the secret to a successful blog promotion strategy? Well, good for you if you do. In this post, I’d like to share a few lessons I’ve learned in my five months of blogging.

Especially the slow learners. Fine, maybe it’s not you. But stay awhile because I may have something you haven’t heard about yet.

For my slow learners, here goes. It’s staring you in the face all this time but sometimes you hardly notice it. Why? Because you’re so wrapped up devising plots to get what you want. You hardly think of nothing else.

Blog promotion through active blog commenting

Yes, you are genius. You’ve just written a post so compelling in its humor, depth, and originality. You know that’s not enough, so you visit other blogs to get your readers. Perfect. Way to go, guys. But in your haste to dominate the blogosphere you’ve committed blunders. Take a look at what you’ve done -

1. You left a bland comment. Are you crazy? Even a spammer can write a better spiel than your anemic one-liner.
2. You asked for a link exchange. Hello? It’s your first visit, pal. Get real.
3. You asked for a favor right after you said hello. My reaction – You’re a first class moron.

Leaving bland comments

Leaving a bland comment means you never bother to listen to the writer’s main points. You’re in a hurry to be at the next blog on your list. You’ve maybe 20. Ah, five more to go. And you’re off. Selfish bastard.

Okay. You’ve done your blog commenting quota for the day. Now, is that an effective strategy? Guess what, you fail. Twenty inane comments means nada. You’ve just wasted your time for nothing.

Try this: Comment on just 10 blogs a day. But engage the writer in a meaningful conversation. Use humor when the post is controversial. Suggest an important point that the writer leaves out in the article. Offer a contrary view when everybody agrees with the blog author, but be respectful and gracious.

What do you get out of this? Respect. Yes, respect or recognition from the author and other readers who have read your comment. You get return visits, referral traffic from the blog, and more importantly you may have won over a potential blogging buddy.

Link exchange

So let’s examine how you hustle getting links to your blog. It’s your first visit in my site. You’ve left a comment praising my craftsmanship as a blogger. Fine. But you end your spiel with a request for a link exchange.

No offense to you, but that’s not how it is done. See those guys in my sidebar? Ninety percent of them have not asked for a link exchange, but they are there. What’s my requirement? These guys are generous people. They’ve given me the gift of their time, humor, company, everything a friend in real life will give you. A tacky link to these individuals’ blogs is a lousy payback, if you ask me.

The other ten percent? These are the guys who kept me company when I had no one to turn to in my first months of blogging. They supported me, taught me a few tricks and generally made me trust in my abilities.

Off-tangent: Here’s the good news. I’ve a separate page for my blogroll in my WordPress blog which is due anytime soon. I can afford now to be more democratic in giving links to you, guys. You’ve suffered in silence, I know. I know everyone of you so please be patient. We’re getting there.

Asking for favors

If you desperately need a vote for some web awards you’ve participated in, please don’t show your desperation. You’ve already asked nicely. Stop. No more pitches.

You can only get that nod, that precious vote by giving. To get what you want in life you have to give away a part of yourself. Again and again. And then some more.

That’s true in every area of your life. It’s even truer in blogging.

Now, that I’m done insulting my slow learners let’s what they can do to get back on the right blog promotion strategy.

The art of giving. Let’s count the ways -

1. Share the blog post you’ve just read in the social media. You’re comfortable using Twitter? Tweet about it. You’re a Facebook netizen? Share it in Facebook, what’s stopping you huh? The aim is to be helpful and generous. Be creative in helping your fellow bloggers. They will appreciate it and notice you in no time.

2. Bounce off the blogger’s post by writing about it in your blog, crediting the writer as the originator of the idea. Enlarge on areas he had skipped. Take a contrary view even, but if you must do it tastefully. Be controversial, but tame your inner snark.

3. Engage the blog author in meaningful conversations. Contribute to his ideas in the comment section of his blog. Don’t skimp on your time. Make return visits, especially when the blogger replies to your comment. It shows you’re interested in what he has to say.

4. Write guest posts. But here’s the clincher – select your best blog post idea and give it away. Now, isn’t that a perfect gift? Forget about gaining new readers from the host blog – that’s already a given, considering the effect of your brilliant post on his readers. What’s breathtaking about this strategy is that you earn the respect and friendship of the blog author. That in my book is priceless.

5. Get up close and personal. Write him a personal email that shows you’ve given a lot of thought to your message. If you’ve made your pitch previously then drop it already. Talk about something else – like what the blogger has written. Find a common interest. Connect on a personal level.

So what’s your formula for world domination, guys? Let’s brainstorm and scheme together, shall we?

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