Let's talk about blog marketing strategies . One of the most common challenges faced by bloggers at all stages (from just getting started all the way up to generating six-figure incomes), is learning how to promote your blog effectively.

Although many bloggers are able to develop a sense of the fundamentals of what it takes to go from creating a blog to the writing a useful blog post , most begin to struggle with finding and promoting to the right audience, let alone learning what it takes to get those readers to consume your blog content.

As such, blog marketing is an art form that all content creators spend a lot of time learning. If you have great content coming from your blog, but too few readers are finding it, it's time to learn how to market your blog successfully (in a good way).

1. Find your target audience (learn who to promote your blog to)

Before you can learn how to promote your blog, you must first determine who you are targeting. Find your target audience is essential to developing a great blog marketing plan before you start implementing these strategies.

So how do you find your target audience? Luckily, there are plenty of very innovative and useful ways to establish who your target audience is, so let's dive into some of the more reliable methods below.

Use social media to find your target audience

people pass beaucoup  time on social media. Some statisticians have found that people around the world spend on average at least  144 minutes a day . This number has only increased in recent months with COVID-19 and closures.

Additionally, social media is a great place to learn more about people's interests, beliefs, demographics, and more that will benefit you in your blog marketing efforts.

If you want to know who could be interested in your blog… join a Facebook group in the niche of your blog. I also recommend following hashtags on Twitter and Instagram to see what's happening around specific keywords in your niche. You can find out what's hot et  the type of people interested in the content you produce on your blog.

Discussion forums (like Quora )

Yes, chat rooms still exist, and they can actually be a wealth of information about people who identify as being interested in your niche, making them one of the best candidates for your marketing efforts. blog.

You can find chat rooms in almost every niche imaginable. The best part is that you don't have to sift through thousands or millions of people to find someone interested in your niche when you're on these type of highly targeted sites (like you would on social media) . It's already a carefully curated group of people who are interested in the same kinds of things as you are.

I have personally used Quora to find an audience of people interested in learning more about blogging. Here I can easily see who (at least some of) my audience is, what their main pain points are, and what topics are trending, which inspired some of my blog post ideas the most successful.

Discussion forums like this can also be an opportunity to promote my blog from a branding perspective by simply answering many questions over the months, thus establishing my authority in my niche.

Browse the comments sections of competitors' blogs, YouTube channels, and podcasts

Want to know more about your target audience? Start by looking at where they already spend their time online. Go to the comments section of any relevant website or social media channel. There's tons of free information to glean about who your audience is, what they like (and dislike), and what kind of content they hook up with.

You can find these comments on competing blogs, YouTube channels, and podcasts in your niche as a starting point.

If you were a competitor of mine, just by reading one of my comment sections, you can get a pretty good idea of , promising comments on my videos, and also take note of the questions, statements and opportunities that arise from them.

Learning (and providing) what your audience wants is an essential foundation for successful blog promotion.

Talk to people in your blog audience (in person, on the phone, or via Zoom)

I know, I know… actually talking directly to another human being? You must be crazy!

Perhaps one of the most underrated ways to identify your target audience (and therefore strengthen your overall blogging strategy), is to meet your readers by phone, via Zoom or in person. Bloggers spend a lot of time online, but getting out there and meeting people in their industry is another way to get to know your audience on a much deeper level than usual.

You can find your target audience at places like conventions, seminars, local hobby groups, meetups, and anywhere people in your niche gather to talk. Start conversations, network and find out what really motivates them.

Then you can go home and start translating your ideas into actionable blog marketing work by creating content that meets their needs on an intimate level – and you'll be that much more successful in showing your audience that you understand them. really.

For an even deeper dive into this topic, my guide How to find your target audience covers all of this and more (in more depth) to help you learn as much as possible about your target audience.

2. Guest blogging (become a guest blogger on other sites)

guest blogs have been one of the most successful blog marketing strategies I've consistently implemented, so naturally I'd recommend it to anyone starting a blog to at least consider, especially since it's highly impactful for both brand new bloggers et experienced, no matter where you are today.

What is a guest blog? At a high level, guest blogging is a form of relationship building with other bloggers, websites, or publications within your niche. You will contact them and offer them to publish an article (written by you) that is relevant to their audience, where you can also link to your own blog (and thus continue to build your blog's domain authority). The best part is that this is a win-win blog marketing strategy:

• As a guest blogger, you get a link (or two or three) pointing from the most authoritative site to your blog
• The publishing blog gets a high quality free post to keep their blog fresh and bring value to their readers
• The reader of the guest article receives a relevant and value-rich article to read and consider

Since guest blogging is so important in the grand scheme of blog marketing, it deserves an entire section on how to execute this repeatable strategy to promote your blog. So, let's do an introduction on how to start guest blogging strategically.

Find the right blogs to guest post on

Before you can start writing great guest posts, you first need to find another blog, publication, or website that will accept your content. You want it to be mutually beneficial for both of you, so you also need to be selective about who you write for. Here are the criteria I use when writing guest posts for other blogs:

• Introduce someone you already have a connection with (if possible) : it is easier to write  guest posts for people you already have some sort of relationship with.
• Choose a blog larger than yours (5 to 10 times the size of your blog) : Technically, you can pitch any blog that thinks your post ideas are great (and that can help build your readership and domain authority).
• Guest blogging for sites in your niche (or related to your niche) : Yes, you can always do a guest post for people who aren't exactly in your niche, but you won't be engaging with your target audience. It won't be as beneficial for you or your blog host to go this route, and search engines like Google generally won't reward these links as much as a quality link from a more relevant site.
• Find a blog with a style similar to yours : If you choose a blog that matches your own style of content, you won't have to work so hard to write something that will appeal to its audience (and your editor). 
• Write guest posts for blogs that offer a follow link : Sometimes when you write a guest post for someone they won't allow you to add a link from daily to your blog, which takes away some of the SEO benefits (to your blog marketing efforts) of having written this article in the first place. 

Some sites may offer you a nofollow link, which is a link that basically tells search engines to ignore it. While you're still exposed by writing for a higher authority blog, it doesn't make much sense to write for someone who doesn't allow you to include a link from daily or two, since your blog marketing goal is to build your own site's domain authority (with quality links from other sites) over the long term.

Create a good pitch for your target guest blog

After you've compiled a list of places you'd like to write for, the next step is to introduce yourself (if you don't already know them) and show them what you can offer by writing for their blog.

Here are the three principles I use to effectively showcase guest posts as a scalable blog marketing strategy:

• keep it simple : don't overcomplicate your introductory email. Their time is limited, so let them know in as few words as possible why you would be a good choice to write a guest post for their blog.
• Show that you understand their blog : Tell them what you like about their blog, consider mentioning a few articles you liked from them (this shows that you know their content well).
• Give guest post ideas they'll like : After researching their blog, try to think of topics that you know well, that they haven't covered on their blog yet. Give 2-4 good ideas that they could hold on to.

Don't be afraid to follow up if you don't hear from your recipient in a few days. Once your pitch is accepted, that's where the real fun begins.

Write a guest post you're proud of (and they'll love)

When you land a guest blogging opportunity, take your time writing something that matches their style. Write in a way that fits well in their blog, but it's also something you're proud to have your name on.

Your guest post is an introduction to you and your content, so it's worth the effort. From my perspective, I would also recommend not worrying about writing really long posts for a guest post (unless it's for a high profile post and it's been requested), but it's important to write quality content that represents you well.

Promote Your Guest Post (Meta Blog Marketing)

Once your guest post is published, you have a great opportunity to show your own worth to the blogger who took a chance on hosting your content. Do all you can to promote your blog post by sharing on social media, emailing your followers and reaching out to anyone you mentioned in the article to request a share.

Your hosting blog will appreciate the extra visibility, social buzz, and traffic. Plus, it will only add more authority to your blog (especially if your hosting blog has a larger audience than you do).

Doing the extra legwork to promote your guest posts will also open the door to asking your host blogger if they are comfortable introducing you to another blogger or two in your niche who might also be interested in taking a guest post from your share, especially if you are already able to demonstrate your own blog marketing techniques.

3. Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in your blog marketing

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is something you will hear over and over again as a blogger. Indeed, the ranking of your content in the results of major search engines such as Google can be the only difference between a few people finding your blog and literally millions of people finding your content.

If you can find the right keyword phrases and rank them on the first page of Google search results, you are almost guaranteed to see a significant amount of organic traffic to your blog daily.

How to rank your blog posts in Google search results

Today, Google is the number one search engine you want to prioritize your content ranking on. Not only is Google the most used search engine in the world, but it is also most visited website on the internet . Although other search engines can no doubt drive traffic to your blog, Google currently owns and believes 92,17% market share among search engines. 

And while I'll be the first to tell you that Google's algorithms change frequently, certain factors remain constant when it comes to top-ranking content:

• Write high-quality, original content that offers more value to Internet users than your competitors
• Write about specific topics that people (especially your target audience) want to read and learn
• Use keyword research to choose your target keywords and topics carefully

How to write better content (that people want to read)

When writing a blog post with the goal of outranking your competition in Google search results, there are some essential key ingredients you need to follow. These qualities will help you rank higher in a Google search and give your readers the kind of content they want.

• In-depth research : Much of the content you read on the internet is either fluff without much substance or half-copied, outdated stuff that keeps getting recycled for years. 
• Go deeper : If your competitors give 1 words on your keyword, try challenging yourself to write 000-2 times that number on the same topic. 
• Don't do keywords : Google is constantly trying to figure out how to properly index your page (and decide where to rank it). They do this in part by picking up the number of relevant keyword phrases in your article. However, it's not good practice to stuff your content with keywords so much that it detracts from your article. Google is getting better and better at this practice and will consider it a spam tactic.
• Write better headlines than the competition: If you can write more click-worthy blog titles than your competitors, this will lead to better SEO rankings and more clicks from web users. 

How to Do Smart Keyword Research for Your Blog Marketing Efforts

When thinking about what topics you want to write about on your blog, you should always include the keyword research in your strategy to ensure that you are creating content on topics that people actually want to read.

Simply put, keyword research can:

(1) give you ideas on what you should consider writing about

(2) validate that a particular topic you are considering does indeed have enough search activity

(3) it will also help you use the exact phrases for the topics you have already chosen, so that your potential readers recognize your content as what they are looking for.

For example, let's say I have a sleep blog. I chose the subject how to fall asleep easier for a blog post. I know what I want to write about, but is it something people are looking for? Do people search for the phrase " how to fall asleep or do they use other words that mean something similar?

Using a free tool like Google keyword planner – or even more premium (and reliable) offers like Ahrefs  ou SEMrush – can help you decide which phrases will work best for your topic.

Here are some additional helpful tips for conducting effective keyword research to ensure your blog marketing efforts stay on track:

• Target high volume, low competition keyword phrases as much as possible : The best options (especially for new bloggers) for keyword phrases to pursue are those that are fairly widely searched but have relatively low competition. 
• Use medium and long tail keywords : At this point in the life of the internet, it's hard to rank for just one keyword (and often not very useful either). In the early years of the Internet and Google, you might have been able to rank #XNUMX for a single word like blog , furniture ou parenthood . Today, there are far too many huge websites and great blog posts to easily rank for a single word. Instead, try ranking for a more specific keyword phrase (sometimes called a medium or long tail keyword) like: how to name a blog, how to start a blog, how to choose a blogging niche, blogging tools, and many other relevant phrases in my niche that deliver substantial amounts of relevant readers when all combined.
• Think about the season and the region : the search volume for a given key phrase is rarely constant. Some keywords become popular for a while, only to fade later in the year. The same line of thinking can be used for regions around the world. What's popular in December may not be popular in March, and what's popular in California may not be great for Oklahoma residents. To better research these differences, you can use a free tool like Google Trends.

After you've collected a selection of keyword phrases you want to write about, you can compile them into a blog planner (or editorial calendar) to plan when to write about them and publish your new SEO-optimized content.

4. Leverage social media for your blog marketing

Before I get into each social media platform (which we'll be doing soon), I want to start by making it very clear that I don't expect you to try to implement these blog marketing strategies on every website. social media. In fact, you shouldn't.

Developing a social media presence takes a lot of time and effort. So you should start by choosing only the one or two main platforms that your target audience spends the most time on and that you feel is the best opportunity to leverage your unique skills, strengths and experiences. to make as much noise as possible.

Already image-heavy blogs like fashion, cooking or travel often do very well on Instagram. Blogs focused on technology, finance, and business can perform better on LinkedIn. Those promoting their blog to younger generations may need to learn how to use Snapchat or TikTok.

Knowing which social media platforms will work best for your blog comes down to knowing your audience. Where does your audience spend their time online and how can you see your content there?

Keep in mind that none of the methods I share are magic bullets. With today's social media algorithms, marketing takes a lot more work than it did in the beginning.

It is possible to be successful with social media, but it takes smart practices and hard work. In this section, I will detail the easiest ways to get the most traffic from each social media platform.

How to promote your blog on Facebook

Facebook has been around since 2004 and currently has 2,6 billion active users . Familiarity with Facebook and high volume of users make it a common marketing resource for businesses and bloggers.

The only problem from a marketing standpoint is that over the years people have grown tired of being targeted on Facebook. They go to Facebook to see what their friends and family are up to, but aren't as interested in links and marketing posts.

In response, Facebook changed its algorithm to show posts from family and friends and less from brands and businesses. 

Don't panic, that doesn't mean that Facebook is hopeless for promoting your blog. Many Facebook users may be interested in your blog content. The trick is to connect with the good people on Facebook and doing it more (today) from your personal account rather than a less personal Facebook page for yourself.

Facebook's 2,6 billion users are appealing, but you're not competing for the attention of all users in your blog marketing efforts. Your blog will not pique the interest of all Facebook users. So what are some of the best ways to reach an engaged audience on Facebook? This isn't an exhaustive list of all the ways to promote your blog on Facebook, but it will give you some clear direction to get started.

Use Facebook Lead Magnets to promote your blog

One way to really nail your blog marketing on Facebook is to offer something to your audience in exchange for their time. A lead magnet is a great way to do this.

What is a lead magnet on Facebook? Many popular bloggers use a lead magnet to turn their readers into email subscribers. A lead magnet is when you give something away for free to get something non-monetary back from your new subscribers (like their name and email address to use in your subsequent blog marketing work). Here are some common examples of lead magnets:

• Checklists
• Checklist
• Recipes
• e-books
• calendars
• Planners
• Free courses
• Printables
• Spreadsheet
• Tutorials
• Guides

The idea of ​​a lead magnet can also be used to collect Facebook email subscribers. Although it won't drive traffic directly to your blog, an email subscriber list is very beneficial for your blog marketing efforts.

Limit promotional posts in your Facebook-focused blog marketing

In order to grow your audience on Facebook, it's important to limit the amount of promotional material you post. If you're writing a new blog post, you should definitely let your Facebook followers know, but that shouldn't be the only time they hear from you.

Other types of content you can share on Facebook to increase followers and encourage engagement are:

• Pictures
• Videos
• GIF
• Polls
• Personal life updates (if relevant to your blog)
• Statistics
• Quote
• Memes

These types of posts give people a reason to engage with your articles and a personal take on you (and your brand).

Appeal to your target audience (not everyone on Facebook)

Like I said before, your goal isn't to connect with everyone who uses Facebook. Your goal is to connect with the people most likely to enjoy and engage with your content.

This means that when you create Facebook posts or post an update in a Facebook group you are in, imagine what could help your target audience the most. What would they find fun, interesting or useful? You don't have to manage the needs of the whole world, only your target audience.

Avoid Clickbait links on Facebook

Another thing Facebook has tried to crack down on is clickbait links. Again, it's about creating a better user experience. In 2014, they published an article explaining exactly what they mean by clickbait (in English):

Click-baiting occurs when a publisher posts a link with a title that encourages people to click to see more, without giving them much information about what they will see. Posts like these tend to get a lot of clicks, which means these posts get shown to more people and appear higher in the News Feed.

Avoiding a clickbait style of writing is good advice for bloggers. You don't just want people to click on your links, you also want them to feel like you've answered their questions and provided something valuable. If they click on your link only to find that your article is poorly written or misleading, they won't return to your site.

In the case of a clickbait type writing on Facebook, you may also lose visibility. If your posts look like clickbait, they will significantly limit your impressions.

Facebook decides what a clickbait is based on several factors:

• How much time do people spend reading a linked post on Facebook : If people spend time on the article, Facebook thinks that suggests that they found some value in it. If they quickly hit the back button to Facebook, chances are it didn't work.
• Facebook analyzes the type of engagement it receives : One way Facebook determines which content should have greater reach is the number of clicks on a link. Since people click the clickbait, Facebook decided that likes, shares, and comments are often a better indicator of value.

Facebook explains:

If a lot of people click on the link, but relatively few people click likes or comment when they return to Facebook, that also suggests that people didn't click on something valuable to them.

So how do you avoid creating clickbait posts on Facebook? Let's look at a few click-bait style titles to see what's potentially misleading or vague about them:

• You won't believe what this actress did while on vacation!
• 5 shocking ways to lose weight FAST
• This Man's Story Is So Horrifying His Family Doesn't Know About It
• This Outrageous Food Trend Could Save Your Life

Ok, so in addition to instantly looking like spam, another collective theme about these headlines is that they lack important information. In the first example, from those  actress are we talking about? In the second example, chances are that the ways to lose weight won't be shocking at all or even different from ordinary weight loss strategies.

People know that once they click on the link, chances are the article will be useless. It will not meet their needs or desires. Effective blog titles stick  their promises. They tell people what they're going to get when they click, then they follow up with valuable content.

Join Facebook groups in your blog niche

Another way to promote your blog on Facebook is to join Facebook groups in your niche. The best part of this is that you connect with people who are already interested in your blog topic. You don't have to scour the entire population of Facebook to find people who like what you like. 

However, you should be careful when sharing your content on Facebook groups. I would never join a Facebook group and immediately start dropping links to my blog. It would appear as spam and probably get me banned. It's best to join a group that interests you personally and engage in normal posting conversations before posting links.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some Facebook groups specifically prohibit promotional posts of any kind. Read the fine print before trying to link to your blog because they might get mad at you or remove you from the group, defeating the purpose of your Facebook blog marketing efforts. . So be aware before promoting.

If you don't want to join someone else's group, you also have the option of creating your own Facebook group related to your blog and niche (like I did).

Many people have had success building an audience on Facebook where they can promote their blog et  bring like-minded people together. It can be a valuable resource for people in your niche and usually leads to higher engagement.

How to promote your blog on Twitter

The microblogging social media platform, Twitter, has been around since 2007. Compared to Facebook, it has far fewer users – around 330 active users per month . Despite the small number of users, Twitter still attracts a large crowd and unique blog marketing opportunities. So how do bloggers take advantage of audience on Twitter to promote their blogs?

Many of the same concepts we talked about for Facebook will work for all social media apps. This includes broadly applicable themes such as:

• Bring your content directly in front of your target audience
• Limit promotional posts (not everything you post should link to your blog)
• Avoid spam/clickbait content

Twitter is one of my favorite platforms for promoting my own blog content, networking in my niche, and following other influencers in the blogging world. Let's dive into some of the ways I use Twitter as part of my blog marketing strategy.

Consider Twitter spam and automation policies

Over the years, Twitter has come under scrutiny since the 2016 US presidential election with bots linked to Russian interference. In an effort to reduce fake accounts and election interference as well as general spam, Twitter has continually updated its spam policies. Some of the key takeaways from their policy include:

• No fake accounts : Twitter prohibits the use of fake accounts for spamming, abuse, or disruptive behavior. They search these accounts by looking for copied biographies, stock or stolen photos, or intentionally misleading profile information.
• Pay attention to automation rules : Twitter has a number of automation rules that I recommend you check out for yourself, but a few important things to know: don't automate trending topics on Twitter and don't try to influence or manipulate trending topics with automation. Don't post multiple duplicate posts on one or more accounts you manage.
• Avoid artificially inflating your engagement : It is forbidden to buy followers or engagement on Twitter. It is also against their policy to engage in “reciprocal inflation” by coordinating follow-up or engagement exchanges.
• Misuse of Twitter Product Features : It is against Twitter policy to send "unsolicited, aggressive, high-volume direct replies, mentions, or replies."

Start Meaningful Threads (Threaded Conversations)

Something that's super underrated on Twitter right now is the meaningful threaded conversations that break down a complex idea or analysis over many tweets into a single thread.

The most successful threaded conversations aren't super self-promotional, meaning people can profit from the thread, without feeling like they have to buy anything. 

You want people to interact with your content because you provide something authentic, real, and valuable. These types of threaded conversations are an opportunity to provide just that.

Use hashtags effectively on Twitter

Twitter hashtags are a movement in themselves. They were the first users of the social media hashtag before other social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest jumped on board.

But using hashtags for marketing is an art and takes time to perfect. I'll share some tips here to help your hashtag game stay strong:

• Don't spam people with Twitter hashtags : When Twitter posts have too many hashtags, they look like spam. In fact, although Tweets with hashtags get more engagement than those without, Tweets with more than two hashtags actually see a decrease in engagement. Twitter recommends using no more than two hashtags per post.
• Create unique hashtags for your blog : You can create a hashtag to make your blog easily found and followed on Twitter by your target audience.
• Use hashtags for special occasions or campaigns : If you have a specific event or giveaway on Twitter, you can create a new hashtag so people can follow that event. It also pays to use trending special occasion hashtags.

Find hashtags frequently used by major influencers in your niche to maximize your blog's marketing impact. If you're unsure which hashtags will give you the most reach, try using hashtags that industry influencers regularly use, as this type of relationship building can also quickly translate into more collaboration opportunities. .

Create a Twitter list to promote your blog

A Twitter list is an organized group of Twitter accounts that shows you a feed of Tweets from those accounts only. I wouldn't call a Twitter list essential to your blog marketing plan, but there are some useful things they can provide. Twitter lists can be used to promote your blog in several useful ways.

• Create a list of competitors and influencers in your niche: This will help you get a good idea of ​​how your competitors are promoting their content and a good indication of what is happening in your niche.
• Create a list including thought leaders in your niche: these are the people who are innovative and forward-thinking. It can mean your competition, but it can also mean groups, companies, innovators, influencers, etc.

Twitter lists give you an easy way to engage with the people most connected to your niche, which can also serve as a priority list of people or posts to build longer-term relationships with for larger blog marketing campaigns. over time.

How to promote your blog on Pinterest

Pinterest was launched in January 2010 and became so popular that the magazine Time included Pinterest in a list of top 50 websites in 2010 . As of 2022, Pinterest projects over 320 million monthly users (not too far behind Twitter).

I suggest choosing the social media platforms that best suit your niche, but you might be surprised at how accommodating Pinterest can be for a wide variety of industries. Pinterest has a reputation as the place you go to find a baking soda cleaning solution, pick up a recipe, or find a craft for your kids. Pinterest is certainly a source of inspiration for many of these areas of interest, but it can also be a beneficial resource for non-home style blogging.

So what makes Pinterest particularly useful for bloggers? This may not be the main reason you use Pinterest to promote your blog, but it's worth noting that Pinterest surveyed its users and found that 90% of users described Pinterest as "full of positivity". Social media can be a place of arguments and contention these days, so many people can use Pinterest to escape those disputes.

One of the most compelling reasons to use Pinterest is the lifespan of a Pinterest social media post. For reference, the average lifespan of an organic Facebook post in 2021 was 5-6 hours. An Instagram post can continue to gain engagement if promoted correctly, but many will lose reach within the first 24-48 hours. Tweets have a lifespan of about 15-20 minutes.

A pin, on the other hand, has a lifespan of 3 months and can continue to get engagement for up to a year after pinning. This is a huge difference when it comes to promoting your blog, and it also requires less work than other social media platforms. Now that I've made the case for using Pinterest in your blog marketing, let's talk about getting the most out of this platform.

Use a Pinterest business account instead of a personal profile

The first thing to do when you start promoting your blog on Pinterest is to turn your personal account into a business account.

The main reason for switching is that Pinterest gives you plenty of tools to help you grow your presence and track what's working and what's not. The analytics tools tell you things like total impressions and engagement as well as how individual Pins are performing. It's a very simple step, but it opens up a world of information to you that greatly simplifies your blog marketing efforts.

Use Pinterest keywords that appear in search suggestions

Like Google, Pinterest uses keywords to help people connect with the content they're looking for. Pinterest's algorithmic method is not the same as Google's, but there is a way to find out which keywords are most searched for on Pinterest.

When you do a regular search on Pinterest, it automatically shows you other words and phrases related to your search. These are views on frequently searched items on Pinterest and a way to help you find keywords to include in your Pin title and description. 

The drop-down menu gives you a selection of popular searches that include that keyword.

You can use these choices if they're related to the particular blog post you're promoting. I chose to search the word fashion to show you another way Pinterest reveals the popular keywords above.

Do you see all the little icons at the top showing keyword search words and phrases? It's a great way to see what people are looking for and how Pinterest guides them. If you choose one of the icons, you can further refine the search.

These keyword searches can give you ideas for keywords to include in your content, as well as topics to write about for your blog and even shine a light on potential partners to involve in your blog marketing efforts.

Carefully choose your graphics for Pinterest

One way to improve your Pinterest presence is to use the right types of graphics to promote your blog content.

Pinterest is good at providing resources for people to effectively use their marketing platform and engage with their audience. They wrote an article specifically describing quick tips for selecting your images for Pinterest (in English). The main takeaways from the article are:

• Use vertical images in 2:3 aspect ratio: this format means that your width should be ⅔ of the height.
• Choose images that stand out : Pinterest advises: “Make sure you use images that are visually appealing and will stand out in people's feeds. Your pin images should clearly highlight your brand or service and give people context about what you offer. Stay away from abstract images or stock photography that don't help tell a story about your specific brand. »

To design your Pinterest images, you can use a photo editing program like Adobe Photoshop and focus on using image dimensions that are much taller than they are wide, like:

• 600px by 900px
• 1000 by 1500px
• 1200 by 1800px

If you want to make it even easier, you can use a free image design program like Canva which has predefined dimensions for social media posts on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook:

Now let's talk about how often you should pin images, in order to stay relevant and drive meaningful engagement from your blog marketing efforts on this platform.

Pin often (and pin multiple images to promote your blog posts)

Like any social media platform, the more you engage with it, the more engagement you will receive. This includes pinning other people's content, not just your own content.

One of the best things you can do is to create multiple boards that your target audience might find interesting. When naming your tables, try to choose keywords that your target audience might search for. 

My Pinterest boards include main topics such as:

• Make money blogging
• A board dedicated to my own content
• Social media advice
• Business tips and advice

These are all areas of interest to my target audience, as well as topics that interest me personally. Posting to forums outside of my own content gives people a reason to follow me, and it helps boost my other content as well.

Now, when it comes to posting my own content, it's also important to post often and to post different images promoting the same posts, multiple times. I recommend creating at least 3-5 pins (image variations with different titles, colors, background images) for each blog post you publish to get the most out of your blog marketing efforts on Pinterest. You can post these Pins all at once or over days or weeks, whichever works best for you.

How to promote your blog on LinkedIn

Leverage LinkedIn to connect with others in your niche

One of the obvious benefits of LinkedIn is your ability to network with people in your industry. You may be able to connect with people for potential guest blogging opportunities, find out more about your competition, and learn about the successes of businesses related to your industry. Here are some of the best ways to connect with people on LinkedIn:

• Complete your profile with as much relevant information as possible
• Join LinkedIn groups that are relevant to you or your niche
• Connect with other users on LinkedIn who are related to your niche
• Interact with other accounts

Use LinkedIn to build credibility for your blog

LinkedIn is a great resource to build your authority and mark your place in your niche. LinkedIn lets you send resumes to companies, but your account can also serve as a public resume about you and your blog.

It might sound a bit like bragging when you're creating your LinkedIn profile, but there are a few tips I'll share to make your profile more authentic.

• Share real things : There's no reason to inflate your accomplishments when sharing on LinkedIn. Be confident, but don't overdo what you've done or it will erode people's trust in you.
• Work hard to be accomplished : One of the things I share on my blog and LinkedIn is my writing experience. Writing for top companies takes real hard work and dedication. If you want to stand out in your industry, work hard to make it happen. 
• Don't forget it's the first time someone introduces you : you probably don't approach strangers to tell them about your achievements in life. However, if you were a business trying to sell something, you would work hard to show what is great about your product or service. It's the same with your blog. People are finding out about you and your blog, perhaps for the first time. It's your job to show them Why  your blog is worth their time.

Share useful content on your LinkedIn feed

In addition to profile information, also write a few articles on your LinkedIn profile. 

Adding these articles to LinkedIn will give you the ability to link to your blog and show people visiting your profile the kind of valuable content you need to share – it's a win-win from a marketing perspective. blog.

How to promote your blog on YouTube

YouTube has been around for some time. It was first launched in 2005 and has since become a major force on the internet. Some people wouldn't consider YouTube a social media platform, but since it's a networking site for sharing and commenting, I'm including it in this list.

What makes YouTube a useful marketing tool for bloggers? One of the most attractive aspects of YouTube is its huge audience. Next to Facebook, YouTube has the most active users with 2 billion monthly active users . Other than that, people respond very well to video content. Videos are known for increase conversion rates  and generate increased engagement and interest.

Of course, blogging and vlogging are two different things. Not everyone who starts on YouTube will have a successful blog, and not everyone who blogs wants to start a YouTube channel. That being said, you can choose to do both, and each will benefit the other. Let's see how to use YouTube for blog marketing.

Turn your blog content into actionable YouTube videos

One of the things you can do for your blog is to take the content you've already created in the form of text and images and turn it into a video. 

Certainly, the video creation isn't a super quick process (for me), and when you're already working hard to write great content, the idea of ​​adding a video element to it after writing 15 words can seem overwhelming to say the least. But, for some bloggers, creating video content is more energizing than sitting down to write for an entire day.

That's why I think using the same content that you share as a blog, on your YouTube channel, is key here. The most appealing part of sharing content this way is that you can link directly to your YouTube to specific related blog posts, and you can embed a YouTube video directly into your blog post. In fact, Google often seems to reward blog posts that have embedded YouTube video content, making it a blog marketing strategy with multiple types of payoffs.

In blog posts where I include videos, I tend to see a noticeable change in my Google rankings. Often times when I have an article already climbing to page #1 for a competitive keyword, it almost always gives me an extra boost after embedding a video I made on the same topic (especially if people watch the video in my blog post).

Don't forget that you can also use your YouTube channel as another way to make money with your blog . The same affiliates you support on your blog can often be translated to your YouTube channel, which can increase revenue as well as additional blog marketing rewards.

Ultimately, adding video content to your blog post can both create a better user experience and bring more future traffic to your blog.

Attract viewers to your YouTube channel

Of course, if you're not getting any views on your YouTube channel, you're unlikely to send traffic back to your blog.

Let's go over some tips to help you grow your presence on YouTube and ultimately bring interested readers back to your blog.

• Use Google keywords to create your profile, descriptions and titles of videos : Many people discover videos by searching directly on Google's search engine (not just by searching YouTube). This is why you should spend time researching the right keywords that will help your video rank higher in a Google search.
• Do YouTube Keyword Research : Discovery on YouTube is another way to gain subscribers and views on YouTube. To find keyword ideas, insert a keyword into your niche and see what happens. I typed in “blogging” to see what would come up in my niche. These autocomplete words are things people search for and are a good example of words you can include in your titles and descriptions.
• Make the Most of Your YouTube Tags : Tags are descriptive keywords that YouTube allows you to add that make it easier for viewers to find your videos. You can use the keywords you have already researched to put them in this section. You can also use your own tag brand to categorize it under your channel/blog name.
• Use custom thumbnails for your videos : Custom thumbnails increase the likelihood that someone will click on your video. For best results, YouTube recommends the following settings for thumbnail images:
  • 1280 x 720 resolution (with a minimum width of 640 pixels
  • Image formats JPG, GIF, BMP or PNG
  • Under 2MB limit
  • 16:9 aspect ratio

With these YouTube blog marketing best practices in mind, you'll be well on your way to growing a loyal following on this surprisingly underrated platform.

How to promote your blog on Instagram

Now let's talk about using Instagram in your blog marketing efforts, as its potential to attract a loyal following has grown tremendously in recent years.

Instagram burst onto the social media scene in 2010, and after becoming hugely popular, it was later acquired by Facebook in 2012. While text can be an important part of the Instagram experience, images are at the heart of what makes this platform special.

Instagram has a large user base with around 1 billion monthly active users, making it one of the most popular social media platforms on the planet. Unfortunately, despite the large following, many bloggers report that Instagram is not one of their main sources of traffic. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram also want to make money, which is why it's hard to get free organic reach through these platforms.

I always recommend focusing on one or two social media platforms, and for my blog, Instagram is not where I focus most. Twitter and YouTube suit me better, but that doesn't mean Instagram is without advantages.

Some people can turn Instagram into a microblog and have successfully monetized it that way. Others develop a large following and drive heavy traffic to their main blog. Even for people who don't have a lot of time to spend on Instagram, one of the biggest benefits is how easy it is to network in your niche. Without much effort, you can quickly find other users who share similar interests and find people in your target audience.

Although you can experiment with paid advertising on Instagram, here I will share some tips to increase your audience and use Instagram to promote your blog without any extra expense.

Choose your images very carefully

Instagram is a visual platform first, and that's why you need to choose your images carefully. Users browsing Instagram will quickly pass images that are low quality, overly amateurish, or otherwise unattractive.

Some basic rules for posting attractive images:

• Use a quality camera : Many smartphones today can take phenomenal photos, and since the Instagram app is probably already on your phone, that makes the process pretty seamless. That being said, if your phone is outdated, you may need to invest in a camera that takes better quality photos. 
• Use photo editing software : Don't rely solely on Instagram filters and their editing software to make your images stand out. Try using editing software like Adobe Lightroom, VSCO, or Snapseed to make your images even more stunning.
• Make your images consistent : some Instagram users have such a targeted style that you know that  it's their image as soon as it appears on your feed. They are able to achieve this continuity by taking photos with similar colors, filters and retouching.

Your Instagram bio is important real estate for blog marketing

It is not easy to share links on Instagram as it is on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest. The main reason is that users with 10 followers or less are not allowed to share links in stories or posts. Without 000 followers, you can share links in your bio and the description of IGTV videos only . That's why I suggest making the most of your Instagram bio. You're only given 150 characters, so make that count.

Your bio should include a description of who you are/what makes you unique and a call to action directing people to your blog.

Since Instagram only allows one link in an Instagram bio, many bloggers use a link tree instead of a link to their homepage. Using this free tool will allow you to include multiple links to different destinations. So if you want to draw attention to a brand new post, you can add it to a link tree. You can also include other social media pages, a YouTube channel, or an e-commerce store.

Use Instagram to network with other bloggers in your niche

Networking is one of the most useful things Instagram has to offer. With just a few clicks through hashtags or Instagram search and crawl, you can easily find people in your industry.

The more people you interact with, the more likely they are to like, comment or follow your Instagram back.

Collaborate with others on Instagram

Once you start growing your follower and following list on Instagram, you can start looking for other people in your niche to collaborate with. Collaborations are a great way to grow your audience and help other people grow theirs too.

Here are some ideas for Instagram collaborations:

• Join Instagram engagement groups
• Start or participate in a challenge post
• Start a loop
• Share other people's posts or stories
• Do a guest post for other bloggers who use Instagram and promote it

Start with these fundamental best practices and strategies for promoting your blog on Instagram and you'll be well on your way to building relationships with other bloggers who can help increase your return on this platform.

How to promote your blog on Medium

Medium is one of the best free blogging sites still around today, and it was launched in 2012. Today, Medium has between 85 and 100 million monthly active users.

You may have noticed that average content sometimes ranks high in competitor search results. Medium also has an incredibly high domain rating and nearly 610 million backlinks (which you can explore at Ahrefs backlink checker ).

It may seem counter-intuitive to use a separate blogging platform to publish your content. The problem may be that you'll drive more traffic to Medium, but that won't help your blog grow. That's actually a reasonable concern, but keep in mind that Medium can also be a great way to connect with a wider audience and give them a taste of the great content you regularly share on your main blog. I like to think of Medium as a blog marketing tool rather than a competing platform.

So how do you take advantage of Medium's vast reach to promote your blog? Here are a few ways that I find to be the most impactful.

Republish your blog content on Medium

Republishing work on Medium is a way to promote your blog without having to create additional content. One thing to keep in mind is that if you simply copy and paste the same content into Medium that you have on your blog, you may hurt your rankings with Google. Here's what Google has to say about duplicate content:

In some cases, content is deliberately duplicated across multiple domains in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings or gain more traffic. Deceptive practices like this can lead to a poor user experience when a visitor sees substantially the same content repeated in a set of search results.

Google strives to index and display pages with distinct and original information at the top of their search results.

To avoid this error, Medium suggests that you “upload” your blog content to their platform instead. Medium explains:

“If you have a story published elsewhere and want to import it into Medium, you can use this handy import tool. Using the import tool will automatically backdate the post to the original date, as well as adding a canonical link to ensure your SEO won't be penalized.

You can upload your content directly to the Medium platform. Note that this can only work on a desktop computer. Medium also explains that you can only repost content for which you have the rights. When you upload an article, Medium automatically places a link at the bottom to the original post.

When it comes to reposting content, I would choose material that has been on my blog for a while. You need to give search engine crawlers a chance to rank your blog and this will give you time to learn how well it performs before you add it to Medium.

Publish original content to the medium

You can also choose to post original content on Medium. I wouldn't spend as much time or effort writing for Medium as I do for my blog, but it can be an introduction to a larger audience that you may not be reaching right now.

Write quality work when posting on Medium, but don't worry about writing lengthy articles that take up a lot of time or resources.

General advice on using Medium to promote your blog

Medium, like most social media platforms, works best when you post often. You may end up writing (or reposting) an article that goes viral, but your chances of success increase when you have more content to share.

When it comes to designing your blog posts, Medium makes it easy for you. Their minimalist platform by design uses lots of white space and simple fonts for each post. This means you can focus on images and writing without having to worry about many other design aspects.

To make your posts appealing to readers, use a high-quality image at the top of your post and a title that grabs their attention but clearly conveys the topic of the article.

Finally, increasing your follower count on Medium will help you see your content better. One way to do this is to track people who interact with your content. You should also follow other people in your niche or people who would be your target audience. Interact with their content, and chances are they will also interact with yours.

How to promote your blog on Snapchat

Snapchat has been around since 2011 and has quickly gained popularity among younger users. Snapchat counts approx. 238 million daily active users according to Statista . Fifty-three percent of users are between the ages of 15 and 25, while those 56 and older make up just 4% of users.

Snapchat has seen a decline in users and some people have predicted that it could lose out to other platforms like Instagram. However, after a decline in business and growth, Snapchat again seems to be enjoying a steady increase in users and revenue in recent months.

It's important to note that Snapchat isn't the most accessible platform for your blog marketing efforts (compared to the others we've discussed). Unlike other platforms where your content is shared and can be viewed indefinitely, Snaps and Stories have a limited viewing time. This means extra work to keep delivering fresh and relevant content to your community.

On the other hand, Snapchat has less competition than some other platforms and offers some truly unique ways to engage with your audience, especially if you're particularly interested (or skilled) in video content. 

Here are some ways to use Snapchat as a blog marketing strategy to increase your readership.

Make your Snapchat public

A first step when using Snapchat to promote your blog is to make sure your account is public. This makes it easier for people to discover you and see your stories, which is pretty crucial from a blog marketing perspective. If your account is private, it will be harder for people to find you organically.

Understanding Snaps and the different types of Snapchat stories

There are different ways to share content on Snapchat. One way is to send a snap to individual people or groups of people. This is the first feature Snapchat rolled out when it launched. Snaps disappear once viewed or usually disappear within 24 hours if unviewed.

The other way to share videos is through Snapchat stories. A story is a video or image that Snapchat constantly updates, but as I write this article, there are several ways to share a story on Snapchat.

• Private Stories : Private stories can be shared with a select group of people. This can be useful if you have a group of people on your Snapchat that you already know are interested in your blog, and you have something specifically geared towards that engaged group that you want to share.
• My Story : these are all your usual stories (videos and photos) that remain on your story for 24 hours.
• Geo Stories : stories shared by location. People near you can choose to see stories near them, and if your account is public, they can see yours.
• Our stories : Our Stories are a bit different from a story you share on your normal Snapchat account. When you share on "Our Stories", you're sharing with a wider audience, and it can appear on Stories, Snap Map, and even third-party apps.

Snapchat describes it as follows:

Our Stories are collections of snaps submitted by different Snapchatters in the community, collected and categorized. Our Stories capture a place, event or topic from different points of view. 

Another big difference between Our Stories and other stories is the lifespan of stories. Instead of being visible for just 24 hours, it can last "much longer," according to Snapchat, making it all the appeal for your blog marketing efforts if you can crack the code to get featured by Snapchat.

Promote your blog posts on your stories

Once you understand how to use stories, you can start using them to promote your blog posts.

You can start with behind the scenes teasers talking about upcoming blog posts. You can preview or post videos about new content that your readers can look forward to.

When you publish a blog post, you can create a story to send people to. Unlike Instagram, Snapchat lets you post links to your stories, making it easier to direct traffic when your blog posts go live.

Create original Snapchat content

Part of growing Snapchat followers and promoting your blog is creating an environment that people enjoy. Snapchat is meant to be entertaining, so your Snap content should fit into that atmosphere.

The things you share on Snapchat will work better if they're authentic and show your audience a different side of you than they get from a more polished platform (like Instagram or LinkedIn).

Maybe you need to display bloopers on your Snapchat, or give a window into what a blogger “really” looks like in your space. Many bloggers learn how to set up an organized photoshoot, but Snapchat can be where you turn the camera and show that your house is a mess in the background, or that you've just rolled out of bed and have started working that day.

Play around with the filters which are also available on the app. Follow Snapchat trends. Think of Snapchat as the social media app where you can have fun with your audience as a blog marketing platform.

How to promote your blog on TikTok

Impossible to talk about social media platforms without mentioning the one that has exploded since 2016 when it was released: TikTok.

TikTok is estimated to have over 800 million active users, most of whom fall into the age group of Gen Z and Millennials (15 to 30 mostly). TikTok is also the most downloaded app on the Apple App Store. If your target audience is older, you may not have to spend a lot of time promoting on this platform, but also popular and spreading quickly, it may be worth trying to grab some of the momentum. from TikTok.

Build your brand on TikTok

Instead of thinking of TikTok as a specific place to promote new blog posts, it's better to think of it as a platform to build your brand. In the same way that Snapchat is used to entertain, the same can be said of TikTok, and the real opportunity is to use it as a platform for high-level blogging marketing efforts that may not involve promoting every individual article that you publish.

On TikTok, you'll notice celebrities creating funny short videos that are relevant to the cultural happenings going on right now. They don't create a lot of videos directly promoting their new movies or TV shows, but they often show a different side to their audience. This is more of a long-term strategy, and you should apply the same principles when considering TikTok in your own blog marketing mix.

How to grow your TikTok audience

Growing your TikTok audience means getting more people interested in your brand. But how do you get people to notice your TikTok? Here are some ways to get started:

• Join or start a TikTok challenge : There is almost always some sort of TikTok challenge floating around on the app. Many challenges are launched by ordinary TikTok users. It can be a challenge to ask your partner a question and see how they react, or it can be a challenge to dance to a trending song on TikTok. Companies and brands will also launch their own TikTok challenges. Colgate launched a #makemomsmile campaign around Mother's Day to promote its toothpaste. These campaigns can help reach new audiences and get people interested in your brand.
• Connect with other TikTok influencers : It is common for TikTok users to do collaborations with other people on TikTok. Sometimes this is done via TikTok duos – videos that appear side by side and can look like they are interacting with each other. Other times, it means TikTok users meet in person to make joint videos. To quickly grow your following, it's a good idea to network with people who are already popular on TikTok. These influencers will give you a head start and help give your account more reach.
• Spend time on the TikTok app : The best way to learn TikTok is to spend time watching videos on the app. It's the easiest way to see what's trending and what people are reacting to. Jumping on the bandwagon of whatever is trending on a particular day is actually encouraged on TikTok, but don't forget to add your twist to the new trend.

Keep in mind that TikTok is always evolving, as it is one of the newest major social media platforms to experiment with your blog marketing efforts. For example, in the summer of 2020, the US government took issue with TikTok's parent company being based in China and threatened to remove the app from US app stores. All of this isn't to say that TikTok shouldn't be a priority for your blog marketing strategies, just that you should just expect some unpredictability with the platform at the moment.

5. Use your blog layout to make your blog more sellable

The design of your blog's overall layout might not seem like an important aspect of your blog marketing plan, but it plays a bigger role than you think. Blog marketing isn't just about getting people to your blog, it's also about convincing them to stay once they arrive. A smart blog layout will help keep people on your blog and lower your bounce rate.

Here are some of my proven best practices for improving the user experience readership of your blog, which will contribute to higher conversion rates, more repeat visitors, and a more sellable blog overall.

Use a clean, easy-to-digitize design

At the center of my own blog design, I like to use lots of white space to keep my reader's eyes focused on my blog text and images. This clean design makes it easy for people to navigate my blog and find important stuff without being visually distracting.

I also make sure all my blog posts are easy to scan. This means using lots of cascading titles and subtitles. This practice makes it easier for people to decide whether or not an article answers their questions. 

Organize your layout for easy access to other parts of your blog

One way to drastically reduce your rebound rate is to facilitate navigation on your blog. There are several ways to do this, but a top and bottom navigation menu is a great place to start. 

Every page of my blog includes this same useful navigation information‚ with the top menu linking to my best content, my guide to starting a blog, my about page, my contact page, and my blog roll. At the bottom, I give even more specific instructions with recent blog posts and podcasts, my most popular articles, and links to pages about working with me.

In addition to menu bars, I also make sure that every blog post I write has plenty of (relevant) internal links. Including these links brings more value to my blog posts and leads to a lower overall bounce rate. Plus, it's a fundamental tenet of effective on-page SEO best practices to help build authority for your blog posts.

Remember, the longer people stay on your blog, the more value Google thinks your blog adds (meaning higher rankings in a search). More time spent also means more time to lead to conversions like email subscriptions or purchases through affiliate links.

Easy-to-identify branding to better promote your blog (visually)

Branding is a marketing and blogging term that refers to how you present your business (or in this case, your blog), largely from a visual perspective. Your branding can include a well-designed logo, a unique color scheme, a slogan, or highly developed graphics.

In other words, when people visit your blog, they should be able to identify your particular branding. Your branding sets you apart from other blogs, it adds personality, and (when done right) can even be a standalone blog marketing strategy that attracts readers who resonate with your brand.

6. Make your content easy for readers to share

Word of mouth is another fundamental aspect of blog marketing that is hugely underrated. Think about it: as bloggers, we should make it as easy as possible for our readers to tell others about our blogs, right?

If you were to have a business instead, you would hope people in your local community would tell each other about the great product or service you provide. If you had an auto repair shop, you'd want everyone with a car in town telling their friends and neighbors that you have the best service around.

Blogging is no different, except that most referrals happen online – and a lot of them happen on social media platforms, hence why optimizing these types of referrals fits perfectly into your blog marketing efforts. So how do you make sure you get as many referrals to your blog as possible?

Of course, write great blog content is the first step to making sure you're meeting the basic needs of your audience, but once you know your content is useful, how do you get people to share it with their social media communities and tell their friends about it? The answer is to make it extremely easy to share online.

Add social media share buttons

One way to make it easier to share your content (and make your blog marketing efforts easier) is to add social media sharing buttons.

I make it easy to share my content with the plugin Better Click to Tweet for WordPress. Better Click to Tweet lets me take a phrase, quote, or phrase and turn it into a clickable graphic that people can easily share on Twitter with just one click. 

This way, if anyone likes that particular quote, they can easily click that link and immediately share it with their Twitter followers.

You can also implement this same blog marketing strategy with Pinterest. Many people use a free WordPress plugin like pin It to add discreet 'pin' buttons above their images, to encourage people to share their images (and blog posts) on Pinterest. 

You can find easy to share buttons and widgets for any social media platform of your choice, but the main takeaway is to remove all obstacles that would prevent someone from taking the next step to share something you posted – and show them a one-click button that makes marketing your blog a lot easier.

7. Network in your blog niche and make real connections

If you want to be successful in almost any type of business (especially blogging), you need to invest time in building real, meaningful relationships, often referred to as networking.

Although I'm personally not the biggest fan of the word networking , because it involves a superficial and transactional relationship, it is nevertheless something that can be used to forge deeper, mutually value-driven relationships that open doors for you, get people interested in what you create and give you the opportunity to learn from people more experienced than you. 

Meaningful networking has been fundamental to executing my blog's business plan, and it's something that can also help promote your blog in the months and years to come. Now, let's look at some of the ways I've used networking as a basic marketing strategy for blogging.

Find influencers in your niche on social media

Social media is an easy first step to finding people in your niche who are already influential community members. All the major social media platforms can work for networking, it's more about choosing which channel will work best for you, as well as your blog niche .

• If you blog about business and finance, you'll find some of your best connections on LinkedIn or Twitter.
• If you have a fashion blog, Instagram will probably be your best platform.
• If you have a news and politics blog, Twitter will be your platform
• If you've started a food blog, prioritize Instagram and Pinterest reviews

While the networking possibilities are kind of endless, the important thing to remember is that you need to spend the most time on social media where your audience already exists. This is where you will get the most return on your blog marketing efforts.

Once you find the right influencers in your niche, start by following their accounts. Leave relevant comments, ask smart questions and also give them meaningful feedback in the comments section of their blogs. As you interact with their content, you may be opening the door to new relationships with people who are already successful in your niche. These are the people who can help you amplify your work by learning how to promote your blog.

Reach out to people you mention in your blog content

One thing I do regularly is to reach out to everyone I mentioned in a recent blog post, to let them know I've included them in my content and to encourage them to check out what I've written. You can help promote your blog by tastefully mentioning influencers in your content and then sending them a link to the blog post that features them.

It doesn't take much effort, but it can be a very effective blog marketing strategy, especially for how little effort it takes to execute. Also, don't feel like you have to write a novel in your email to every influencer. In fact, shorter is often much more effective – a quick disclaimer, a link to the blog, and a quick caption of where they're mentioned can be reason enough to reach out and let them know.

When emailing an influencer, consider asking them if they would be willing to share your article with their audience. Make it easy for them by providing a quick link (and a pre-written sample tweet) that they can easily share.

Be open to the possibility that they may not be interested in sharing your article, but you have already taken an important first step in creating a value-driven relationship with an influencer in your niche. Over time, you may be able to develop a mutually beneficial relationship by continuing to mention them both on your own blog and in guest posts you write elsewhere. Keep delivering value and investing in the people who can have the most impact in helping you advance your own blog marketing, and it will eventually pay big dividends.

Become a guest on podcasts and YouTube channels

As bloggers, it can be easy to forget that it's not all about the writing. You should also network using other forms of media like podcasts, video content, webinars, live streams (and other channels that fit well with people in your niche).

If you know someone with a relevant podcast or YouTube channel that could help you with your blog marketing efforts, ask them if they would be interested in having you as a guest, being sure to note that you will of course promoting the event to your audience as well. 

Remember, before embarking on a podcast, prepare ahead of time based on what the episode will cover, so you can provide impactful advice and ideas. People will listen to see how well you know your craft, so be ready to meet the moment.

Welcome thought leaders in your niche

You can get guested on other people's podcasts and YouTube channels, but you can also start a podcast yourself and host your own show. The more influential the guest, the more audience you can attract (especially if your guest talks about the episode once it's released). 

This tried-and-true blog marketing strategy, asking guests about your own blog, podcast, or YouTube channel, is often flattering to the guest, and they'll usually be happy to promote their appearance on your show. Just make sure you have reasonable value to air them in terms of reach (how many people will hear or see their interview) and the effort you will put into promoting the episode. 

When you share these types of posts or include influential guests in your podcast, you're sharing your audience with them, and they (ideally) are sharing their audience with you by promoting the content once it's live. It's another example of a win-win where everyone gets something of value out of the equation.

 Co-host webinars with a brand or blogger

Another way to network and create valuable content at the same time is to co-host a webinar with another blogger, influencer, or brand in your space. Your combined audience will come together and you can give a presentation, answer questions, or just talk about a topic relevant to both audiences at once.

To quickly summarize if you're unfamiliar, a webinar (or virtual summit) is an online event that often features a Q&A session and a presentation component. You can share your expertise, and your guest can also share theirs. If they have a larger audience than you, it's a good way to show that you have authority in your niche as well, and it's a good place to promote your blog from a branding perspective. .

You don't have to limit yourself to other bloggers either, I've often found that notable brands in your niche are more than willing to co-host a webinar (and the results can be even more impactful). It's a great way to show off their product or service to your audience while providing something useful to everyone who comes along.

8. Use email to promote your blog and get repeat visitors

Email marketing has long been synonymous with building a successful blogging business. As a result, most blogs have at least some means of garnering email subscribers (whether through the promise of a weekly advice column, notifications about new content, a free course, a lead magnet, or other).

Why does email marketing have such an impact on most bloggers? Because it helps bring together a group of highly committed people in one place. People intentionally choose to join your mailing list (and can unsubscribe at any time). What is important though is that they are on your list distribution by choice , meaning they're already interested in your work, and your emails can get them interested in your blog, drive traffic to new content, and (probably) serve as the first paying customers for all the products or services you decide to launch.

Gathering email subscribers and keeping them engaged takes time and effort, so let's review some of the ways you can use email as a basic blog marketing strategy today.

Optimize your blog to collect email subscribers

There are many WordPress plugins and different blogging tools to collect email subscribers, but I love the HTML/CSS snippet by ConvertKit that easily integrates (often by pasting a single line of code) into just about any major WordPress themes on the market today.

How and where you collect emails on your blog is a matter of opinion, of course. I use popups to grow my mailing list, it's a very viable way to capture emails from subscribers. Other places you can place an email signup form include your:

• On your mind
• Footer
• In the introduction of your blog posts
• Landing pages dedicated to lead magnets
• At the bottom of each blog post

There's no limit to where relevant email signup forms can be placed around your site, just make sure they add value and make a contextual offer that times achieves your blog marketing goals and provides value to your readers, in exchange for their email addresses.

Grow your email list with a lead magnet

A lead magnet is simply something you give away for free, to encourage people to take action (like signing up for your mailing list). 

Here's a short list of some of the most successful lead magnets I've used to grow my blog mailing list:

• Free spreadsheets and paperwork
• Free lessons, whether delivered by email or video
• Free Templates
• Free eBooks
• Free consultation calls
• Discount codes or special offers to join a class or buy a book

Choose a reliable email service provider

As you collect email subscribers, you will need the right email service provider (ESP) to deliver content to your subscribers. An ESP (like ConvertKit ) offers email services that make it easy to both collect email subscribers and send email campaigns to your subscribers. Some offer a high degree of individual targeting based on specific actions a subscriber has taken on your website.

In my opinion, there are three main candidates when it comes to choosing an email service provider for your blog marketing efforts:

• MailChimp
• Weaver
• ConvertKit

Any of these three would be a solid choice for managing your email marketing, but for those just starting out and needing a 100% free tool, I recommend using MailChimp's service. You can collect up to 2 email subscribers for free with MailChimp, which is a great way to experiment with email in your blog marketing mix.

Once your subscriber list approaches around 2 people, I highly recommend you upgrade to ConvertKit , where you'll unlock all the email marketing features you'll need to build a profitable business around your blog.

Some of my favorite features that come with ConvertKit include:

• Visual automations and timed email sequences
• Organize your followers with tags and segments
• Easy-to-integrate signup forms and landing pages
• Editing emails with built-in designer tool (or HTML options)

Increase your email open rate

Sending emails to your audience won't do much in terms of marketing, if they don't open those emails. That's why it's worth learning how to increase email open rates with your subscribers.

The first step to getting a high open rate is to build trust between you and your audience. If you constantly email content that they are not interested in, they will never open your emails. If pushed far enough, they will take the next natural step and unsubscribe.

To avoid boring your mailing list, limit the number of emails you send. If you start showing up in their inbox every day, even if they are interested in your topics, there is a much higher chance that they will kick you out of their inbox. In some cases, many people receive hundreds of emails a day, which can be overwhelming and even stressful. So only write when you have something to share, like special offers for subscribers, or to alert them when new content is uploaded to your blog.

Here are some actionable tips to improve your blog marketing with engaging subject lines that will encourage more clicks in your emails:

• Avoid spam like special offer or limited time
• Use personalization whenever possible
• Experiment with including emojis if your audience resonates with it
• Don't be vague, but still appeal to their curiosity
• Avoid using all caps (or serial caps, in my opinion)
• Use numbers like " 5 clever ways to start a business this weekend »

Write emails that get high click-through rates

What drives high click-through rates with your email campaigns? In simple terms, write something your subscribers will want to read . You have to earn your place in their inbox, so only send emails when you have something to share. You will learn over time what your target audience responds to best, so a little experimentation is required.

As you learn more about your readers and your blog marketing efforts become more active, here are some ways to increase your click-through rate for your emails:

• Consider your email design A clunky, text-heavy, or unattractive email won't result in many link clicks. Instead, make your emails attractive and easy to scan. ConvertKit (and other ESPs) offer several templates to help make the design more user-friendly.
• Include a clear call to action If you want people to take an action from your emails (which you do), clearly state in your message the exact action you want them to take.

• Offer answers to problems : The implicit issues of my subscribers is always how they can create and maintain a successful blog. So in my email I point out a way to improve their blogs this week.

All emails to your audience should be relatively straightforward, straight to the point, and deliberate about the action you want them to take in the moment. This is what effective blog marketing looks like.

9. Identify and learn from your competitors

Once you start to really understand your target audience, the next step is to study your competitors (especially if they're already well established in your niche). What is your competition already offering in your market, and how can you add more value or offer a unique touch that will better appeal to a segment of the audience you want to reach? Seek to answer questions that go to the heart of your competitor's blog marketing strategies, such as:

• How are your competitors selling their blog content?
• What lessons can you learn from their layout, presentation, social media accounts, newsletters, etc.?
• Which content mediums seem to be performing the best for your competitors? (Written, audio, video or other messages)

Keep in mind that you can often glean some of the most effective unique blog marketing strategies from people who aren't even in your niche. Thinking outside the box can inspire you for marketing strategies that clearly work well in other industries, but haven't yet been applied to your own field.

10. Study your analytics to understand if your blog marketing is effective

One of the most useful long-term blogging skills you can develop is understanding, interpreting, and extracting actionable insights from your site analytics. 

Without analytics, you won't have a good idea of ​​how effective (or not) your blog marketing strategies really are. Your blog marketing efforts may not be as effective as you think, but you can refine them with helpful analytics that provide actionable insights to learn from.

Make the most of Google Analytics

Google Analytics can highlight extremely detailed and valuable information about what your readers consume, how they discover your content, where they come from, how long they spend on a particular article and much more. A (very short) list of high-level information categories you can learn from Google Analytics includes things like:

• Real-time visitors : an overview of everyone who is currently on your blog, including where they came from and what page they visit
• Audience : lets you know how many people visited your blog on a given day (it also shares new and returning visitors, sessions, page views and bounce rates)
• Acquisition : This tells you which pages people came to first, what traffic source brought them to your blog, and where they went
• Behavior: Behavior shares every page people went to on a given day (this list can also include internal link clicks) and more
• Conversions : you can set conversions in Google and it will tell you when you have reached certain goals on your blog.

This only scratches the surface of how you can use the insights provided by proper analytics software, especially when it comes to learning how to do more effective day-to-day blog marketing.

Social media analysis

Each social media platform has its own flavor of analytics, but each can be extremely helpful in understanding your audience on the platform. 

You can learn more about your audience demographics, the total number of impressions your content is getting, which individual posts are performing better (create more), and gather detailed insights into your followers' engagement. Many social media platforms also give you insight into how many people click on your blog links, from individual posts or from your profile.

For some social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, note that you will first need to sign up for their (free) business accounts in order to access this information.

How will your blog marketing strategies change today?

Whew, I know this guide is  beaucoup . I have, however, warned you by titling it as a true ultimate guide.

I designed this guide to intentionally focus on just ten of the most profitable, impactful (and repeatedly proven) blog marketing strategies that can be applied in any niche, rather than offering a cursory list of 100+ blog marketing ideas with no instructions on how to implement them. My goal is to show you exactly how to get a real return on your time spent promoting your blog.

So with that in mind, I hope this guide achieves that goal and helps you see measurable results from your blog in the weeks, months, and years to come…

Which of these blog marketing strategies are you going to experiment with?

Did I miss any that worked well for you?