While great content, well coded pages and wise search engine optimization are the best ways to generate meaningful traffic to your blog or web business for free, there are other opportunities to bring new visitors and leave your mark on the web. Whether you try all or some of these methods, your site will grow exponentially. Here’s how to promote your blog site or business for free.
1. Create a Newsletter
If you are a blogger, you are publishing your content on the web. And, as any publisher, you need a fan club. Think of your e-mail newsletter as a form of building such, beyond the social media, though both can intertwine just as well. Test the waters first and ask your visitors to sign up for your newsletter. Offering a gift incentive or additional content exclusive to the newsletter will entice more people to subscribe. Include a newsletter subscription form on every page of your blog and mention it in your e-signature (more on that later). Whether you will use your newsletter to alert your audience to the new post or offer additional content, is up to you. One of the best approaches to a newsletter (or any other marketing channels) is test and learn. Try or “test” something new and see if it works, use the learnings accordingly. With newsletter, once you have enough of an audience to warrant this, test one method of content against another (send half the audience one version and the other version to the other half) and then watch your open rates and click-thru rates. The easiest way to put together a newsletter for free is using the database and other options from your hosting company, or you can try the popular Constant Contact email services company, reasonably priced and highly recommended.
2. Get Social
It may take some time to create your own Facebook, Twitter, and other social media pages, but more important is how you interact with your fans. There is no point creating these pages just because “everyone has one”. But if you create a social media page, stay loyal to who you are and what your fans are interested in. Keep a two-way conversation going, don’t just post the links to your blog. Share things you find interesting and helpful, offer advice and ask questions. Keep it stereo not mono!
If you are using WordPress or Blogger, there are easy plugins that allow visitors to your site to easily share your content on most popular kinds of social platforms. If you built your own site, use AddThis buttons following each new post/article to encourage your visitors to share your content with others. The more people hear about your website, the more are likely to visit and share with their friends, and thus the marketing circle continues.
One side note – remember that this is not just a promotional tool but a learning tool. If you follow people who are your target market, you can learn what interests them by following their pages.
3. Sign to Promote
Once you have your blog or web business, make sure you create an informative signature – a link to you who you are – name, company, web address and links to all your social pages (on Facebook, Twitter, FlickR, etc.). This will make it easy for people to follow your posts and company. Include an option to sign up for a newsletter if you have one, to build up your email database. Use this signature not only in your outgoing emails or when responding to requests, but also in your posts on all other sites, especially professional sites likes LinkedIn or industry forums. Signature is often overlooked for the simple power it contains – a free quick viral tool.
4. Brand Yourself
Similar to how your social networks spread the word for you, branded merchandise can too. The most simple example is a T-shirt branded with your company’s name, logo, tagline, and any other details you prefer. Now there is a small investment here (so not totally free) to print the t-shirts and you may need to mail them (mailing fees), but as long as you do your research, the cost can be very minimal. If you are looking to print t-shirts, or any other items, before you look online, check out some local print shops – you may be able to negotiate a much better price and customize things more. Of course, volume always guarantees a discount, so think about the quantity before you go ahead with this idea. Even with minimal investment, I think this will pay for itself, since your customers will be walking around with your brand name/logo, thus offering more exposure for your company.
Before you decide on the branding idea, consider what your customers can find really useful. Is there really a need to spend even a small amount of money to print keychains with your brand only to have them stashed in the drawer? If you are targeting moms, for example, many would appreciate a lunch bag. Branded water bottles are great for fitness buffs and perfect in the summer time. Umbrellas are a nice branded gift in the fall, though more costly. T-shirts are a safe bet with most customers but you will have to be smart about sizing. Notepads are useful, but though the message will be displayed in front of your customer, there is no opportunity to spread the word further (as you would with a t-shirt or a lunch bag). Whatever item you decide on, consider what your audience wants, how you can maximize the opportunity by getting extra exposure, and how much you are willing to spend to be cost-efficient.
5. Treat PR is your friend
If you don’t tell your fans about the latest developments, how would they find out? The same goes for people that are not yet aware of your blog. So every time you have news to share, write a concise yet informative press release and submit it to a number of free PR sites, such as free-press-release.com, i-newswire.com, prlog.org, 1888pressrelease.com, or any others. Be smart about the keywords you use within the text and focus on writing the release that is both informative yet interesting – consider if you would read it before you publish it. What do you write about? If you have a story that is unique, it is worth submitting to the PR companies. If you are simply redesigning the site, perhaps, not newsworthy.
That said, what makes PR truly a magical promotional tool is your connections. So, as with Twitter or Facebook, simply posting news bits from your blog is just a one-way conversation. The best way to leverage the power of PR is by building connections with companies that may be interested in your blog – hence offering you an ability to monetize it. HARO is a wonderful tool to offer your the expertise to the hundreds of journalists looking for info or quote, and get your blog extra exposure at no cost. You can join HARO to offer advice – select specific subjects but also check out the general newsletter listing all categories. You will get frequent emails with questions but if you can offer your opinion on a subject, it’s well worth it. If you have substantial traffic to your blog, you can also ask questions, and generate more interesting content. A similar tool, though at a much lesser volume, is Pitchrate.com. Whichever tool you choose, remember to get a conversation going with reporters and companies, and start building connections. This is what makes PR truly powerful.
6. Create Images That Tell a Story
Authentic writing is what makes the best blogs successful. That said, having the right images greatly enhances your blog. In some cases, as with Food or Travel blogs, it’s impossible to exist without images. Having a great picture is combination of four factors in my opinion. First, you need to have a good camera with a good pixel size (over 5 is a start), 3-5x zoom and a few shooting options. Many iPhones can do the job but if you want some names – Canon Powershot or Sony Cybershot are light and powerful, and easy on the budget. Olympus E-620 or Nikon D7000 are great top end camera choices. Second, you will need the right photo editing programs. Photoshop is great but Picnik and Picasa from Google are both great free options online. Learn these programs beyond the basics so you can really take advantage of some cool features. Next, learn some good techniques for creating a professional looking image – there are lots of YouTube videos and other links describing this, or, if images are crucial to your site, consider taking a class on photography (many community colleges offer adult education classes). Finally, find the right moment. Don’t forget to share your pictures in social media and on sites like FlickR. In fact, get a FlickR badge to show your photo collection on your blog. Posting pictures on FlickR and joining relevant groups in FlickR will be very helpful in driving more traffic to your blog.
7. Share the Knowledge
If your blog or business is focused on a specific industry, find relevant forums to share your knowledge with others. A little blurb about your site and your e-singature will do the rest in driving potential new visitors to your blog. Other sites where your opinion is as valuable as the traffic you will get from them include Yahoo Answers, Wiki Answers, and reviews. As with social networks, don’t limit your expertise to something directly listed on your blog. If you are share your knowledge of a certain industry, people will be more likely to take an interest in your words and potentially your blog. There is nothing worse than non-stop self-promotion. There is nothing better than wisdom shared free.
8. Join Relevant Networks
Joining a network – whether it’s a webring, a blogger network, a food directory or listing site – is a great way to get found on the internet. Place a logo for each network on a visible spot on your pages and you will get promoted by the network, all at no cost. This is a wonderful opportunity to increase site traffic and gain noticeable presence in your industry.
