Promoting your Blog without Being Obnoxious

Whether you are an individual blogger looking to increase your readership, or a large company using blogs to market your product, one of the most important things you can do is promote your blog by commenting on other blogs and in forums. When it comes to this kind of blog promotion, there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. While everyone seems to believe they know the right way, it only takes a few moments browsing forums and other blogs to see that they don’t. The following list will give you good ideas on what to do, and more importantly what not to do.

DON’T…

• Be too obvious:
  • The most common mistake people make in blog marketing is quite honestly by being far too obvious. When someone leaves a post on a forum that says “Hey check out my blog!” it will often be ignored if not deleted.
• Spam comments:
  • There is no doubt that leaving comments on other blogs will get traffic directed to your site. However, if you spam comments you are likely to upset the blog owner and irritate potential readers.
• Be rude:
  • Yes, swearing and rude behavior will get your comments noticed, but they will also get you banned and will not increase your traffic very much if at all.
• Go off topic:
  • If you are posting in a forum or leaving a comment on a blog, the worst thing you can do is post something that is completely off topic. People are using the forum or blog because they want information on a particular subject, by introducing off topic conversations you might make a lot of people angry.

DO…

• Leave the URL to your blog in your signature:
  • Most forums and blogs have a space where you can list your URL. They do this because they want other people to share their websites (it increases traffic) and you should take advantage of this.
• Leave intelligent comments:
  • The best way to get someone interested in what you have to say in your blog is to say something worth reading in the first place. When you leave a comment in a forum or blog, try to make it intelligent and worth reading. If people like what you said they will check out your listed URL.
• Check out URL’s listed in other user’s profiles:
  • By checking out someone else’s blog you can not only find another place to leave a comment, but when you do, chances are the blog owner and other readers will visit your blog as well.

By following the above tips you should see a steady increase in the traffic to your blog. Also don’t be surprised if people start quoting your blog elsewhere.