Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Holly Hamann on September 24, 2009 at 11:39am

While there are lots of tools and tricks out there for promoting blogs, I have a few that I really like that seem to work. Posting and being part of a community like MomBloggersClub is one for sure! I work with thousands of bloggers and here a few that seem to really help:

1. Twitter - if you are a blogger, it really pays to learn to love Twitter. Its a great way to share your new posts with a large audience and find other blogs to comment on. You can also search Twitter by topic (i.e. "teenagers" or "day care") and share your posts with people who are looking for info you might have blogged about.

2. Tag your posts - both Blogger and Wordpress let you add keywords to each post (although WP is better at this). Take a few moments with each post and think about what terms someone might type into Google. Adding those keywords helps search engines connect your blog with people who are looking for topics you've written about!

3. Comment on other posts. Not just a quick "hi - love your pics!" but a genuine, thoughtful comment that tells that blogger you really connected with their site and looked around. Your comment can add value to that bloggers post by providing even more info for their readers. Make your comment as interesting to read as the post.

4. Guest post on other blogs. Most sites and blogs are always looking for more content and posts. It gives the blog author a break for a day and exposes your writing to new readers. Its tempting to think that your efforts would be better spent on your own blog but giving to others ALWAYS comes back to you!

5. Link to bigger blogs. I'm not suggesting you go link-crazy but its helps your Google rankings when you link to larger blogs that have high "credibility" ratings with search engines. So if you are posting about something at Target, go ahead and hyperlink to their site. If you blogging about a product, store, celebrity, quoting from a news source, visiting a city - go ahead and link to their site.

6. Add social tools to your blog such as BlogFrog - BlogFrog is a network of almost 20,000 bloggers who all link to one another via widgets. So when you visit a BlogFrog site, your blog actually shows up on their widget for ALL their readers to see. It drives reciprocal traffic. You can even add an instant community to your site that lets readers interact, which draws more traffic. In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of the co-founders of BlogFrog so I might be a little biased :) But I am first a mom like you as well as a blogger and member of MomBloggersClub.

Just wanted to share some tips that bloggers I have worked with seem to really like. I'm looking forward to hearing what tips and advice everyone has so I can pass them on.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Meg on September 24, 2009 at 6:29pm

Hi Holly

I just discovered BlogFrog the other day and I love it. Its a really easy way to build a real community around your blog. What an awesome idea!! :)

Meg

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Claire McFee on September 24, 2009 at 11:56pm

Thanks for the great blogging tips Holly -very helpful I have just joined up to blog frog -seems nice and easy!
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Louise Ross on October 13, 2009 at 11:28am

Hi Holly,
These are great tips. Thanks for sharing them and reminding me that there are "6 easy steps to building blog traffic."
Louise

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Margaret Rogers on September 24, 2009 at 11:48am

I agree with Holly's suggestions! I also include my link in my signature on emails and I created a Facebook page and connected it to my blog with Networked Blogs (an application). I'm still growing but it helps!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Healthy Mom on September 24, 2009 at 11:05pm

I have found twitter to be good. stumbleupon.com guest Blog posting get me a lot of traffic. I have reciprocal links with other blogs.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dominique on September 25, 2009 at 12:12am

Holly's suggestions are great! I thinks he just about covered everything.....if you're not on BlogHer I highly suggest it. It does get kinda hard to keep up with all the social networking sites, but I figure it's part of the job. Also I think the key is to plug into your audience. Read other blogs and comment obviously. Bloggers love comments. Pay special attention to find other blogs that are in your niche. Guest post.....and reply to every single comment on your blog. This gets more difficult as you get more readers, and may even be unreasonable for some. But if you only have 50 followers - respond. People love to know taht you read their comment and ppreciate it and took the time to respond. They'll probably come again.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by JamericanSpice on September 25, 2009 at 2:37am

Thank you for these great ideas!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by jazzy on October 7, 2009 at 10:11pm

Twitter, StumbleUpon and networking have all been good to me!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sisterlisa on October 9, 2009 at 6:01pm

I join other networks that are like-minded with my blog, whether it's homeschooling, ministry, etc. Twibe.com is another great way to network with other like minded Twitter-folk.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dagmar Bleasdale on October 10, 2009 at 12:54am

I LOVE Twitter for promoting my blog. I have almost 2,000 followers who read my tweets, and my blog stats reflect that a lot of my readers find me via Twitter.

I just became a contributor for NYC Moms Blog, and I hope writing posts for them will increase my traffic. We'll see :) I also have guest posted a few times.

I want to look into the BlogFrog... Sounds interesting :)

Dagmar
Dagmar's momsense

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jen on October 13, 2009 at 7:14pm

@Holly, those are some great tips. I had never heard of BlogFrog and tagging had always been an afterthought for me. I think I'm going to be doing some editing tonight.

• ▶ Reply