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Episode 3Apr 17, 2020· 22:42

10 Ways to Promote Your Blog For Free

▸ Show notes from the creator
Does organic traffic feel elusive? If so, you need new tactics. That's why in this episode I'm sharing 10 ways to promote your blog for free! More Show Notes From This Episode: What’s up my bloggy friends! I'm slowly updating the show notes for this and every episode of The Bloggy Friends Show. My new home base for all things Bloggy Friends can be found here: https://www.famousashleygrant.com/podcast/ Be sure to follow me on social: Facebook | Instagram | X | LinkedIn | TikTok | YouTube ------------------------------------------------------------------- This podcast is supported by affiliate partnerships. Please check out a few of our partners below: – Start a podcast today here: https://rss.com?via=famous – Create content from your own voice with Castmagic's Suite of AI Tools: https://get.castmagic.io/dcjy15cirnts – Want to help support our show? Buy a girl a drink perhaps? https://ko-fi.com/famousashleygrant – Need content for your podcast or blog? Check out Tools for Motivation! The links above are affiliate links. This means my podcast will receive a small commission if you order through any of them at no additional cost to you. Affiliate commissions are one of the ways my podcast makes money so that I can create episodes free of charge. If you do purchase anything from my links, I sincerely would like to thank you for your support!
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About this episode
Does organic traffic feel elusive? If so, you need new tactics. That's why in this episode I'm sharing 10 ways to promote your blog for free! More Show Notes From This Episode: What’s up my bloggy friends! I'm slowly updating the show notes for this and every episode of The Bloggy Friends Show. My new home base for all things Bloggy Friends can be found here: https://www.famousashleygrant.com/podcast/ Be sure to…
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Show notes & timestamps
00:00Ashley introduces her 10 best ways to promote your blog for free.
02:41Ashley explains how guest posting works and why it’s her #1 favorite traffic strategy.
04:17Ashley talks about participating in roundups and link parties to tap into new audiences.
05:09Ashley covers doing joint giveaways with other bloggers.
08:45Ashley suggests using your email signature to promote your blog.
09:27Ashley talks about different tactics for getting media coverage as a blogger.
11:59Ashley recommends writing for sites like Medium to establish expertise.
13:02Ashley stresses the importance of strategic social media use.
15:45Ashley explains how guest podcasting can drive new traffic.
17:20Ashley talks about interviewing experts and quoting them.
18:33Ashley suggests networking online through groups.
20:40Ashley does a quick recap of all 11 free traffic-building tips.
Full transcript
00:13
What's up you guys? Famous Ashley Grant here
00:16
and today I want to talk to you about something
00:19
that is very near and dear to my heart. I want
00:23
to discuss 10 ways to promote your blog completely
00:27
for free. You see, here's the thing. Whether
00:30
you're blogging for business or blogging for
00:33
a hobby, the reality is most people just want
00:36
to get traffic. After all, the more visits to
00:39
your page, the better. And the truth is, it can
00:43
get really expensive when we try and use paid
00:47
advertising to generate traffic for us. And you've
00:51
got to be honest with me here. Even if you are
00:53
looking into paid traffic, you're probably still
00:56
trying to find some way to get organic traffic.
00:59
And if you have products to sell, it might be
01:03
worth it for you to do paid traffic. But most
01:06
people that I know, especially my clients, are
01:09
on extreme budgets and they have to save every
01:12
penny they possibly can. And that's honestly
01:15
the real reason that I went into trying to find
01:18
ways to generate free traffic for blogs. My clients
01:22
understand that they need to get people to their
01:25
websites. That's how they make money. But...
01:29
they need to do it for either as cheap as possible
01:32
or in the best case scenario for free so without
01:35
further ado here are my 10 best ways to promote
01:39
your blog absolutely free and we're going to
01:41
kick things off with my absolute favorite way
01:44
to do it and that's with guest posting the reason
01:47
that guest posting is my favorite way to get
01:49
traffic to your blog is because you can take
01:53
the audiences of other people and then use them
01:57
to get over to your website. More and more business
02:00
owners are hopping on the blogging train as they
02:02
realize how much blogging can set them apart
02:05
as experts in their field. Unfortunately though,
02:09
your own blog can only take you so far in establishing
02:13
credibility in your industry. At some point you're
02:17
going to want to learn how to guest blog to get
02:19
featured on other people's websites. because
02:22
this helps spread your message to a larger audience.
02:26
Guest posting is a fantastic way to showcase
02:29
your message on other blogs. Basically a guest
02:33
post is simply a blog post that is written by
02:35
you or at least with your byline and it's hosted
02:39
on a website that's not your own. But how can
02:42
you land a guest post on your blog of choice?
02:46
So here's the quick and easy path to becoming
02:48
internet famous and gaining some serious street
02:51
cred with guest posting. Alright, I'm going to
02:54
walk you through the fast five steps to get on
02:58
other people's blogs. The first step is you're
03:01
going to research it ahead of time. The second
03:03
step is to pick a handful of blogs. You don't
03:06
want to be pitching everybody. You want to go
03:08
after the people that are in your niche. Step
03:11
three is get crafty with your pitch. Step four...
03:15
is to send that pitch and then be patient. And
03:18
then step five finally is to write the post and
03:22
then submit it to the blogger. I know I rushed
03:25
through these steps really quickly, but what
03:27
you really need to know is your goal whenever
03:30
you're trying to do guest posts should be to
03:32
go after blogs that are in your niche. You need
03:35
to go after the websites that already have a
03:38
warmed up audience that are interested in things
03:40
that you might have to say. I did a full breakdown
03:43
of all of these steps in the show notes. So if
03:47
you go to bloggyfriends .com, they're in the
03:49
show notes for episode three. So I highly recommend
03:52
checking that out. My second tactic for getting
03:54
free traffic is to participate in roundups. Now,
03:58
you've probably seen them all over the internet.
04:00
Things like 20 Thanksgiving recipes, or 15 Halloween
04:04
costume ideas, or 10 Valentine's DIYs. Each one
04:09
of those roundup posts typically links back to
04:12
another blogger's amazing post that was just
04:14
perfect for the theme of the write -up. How can
04:17
you create a post of your own? So let's say that
04:20
you want to do a post like 17 rum recipes. You
04:23
could reach out to other bloggers and ask them
04:25
to submit links to posts that fit the theme of
04:28
what you want to write about. Or you could search
04:30
for rum recipes and then ask the authors of the
04:33
ones that you found for permission to share them
04:35
in your post. You might be wondering why you
04:38
need to ask for permission. Well, this is because
04:41
if you want to use any of the images in your
04:44
blog post from someone else's website, you technically
04:47
need to have permission to do so. And by letting
04:49
a blogger know ahead of time that they're going
04:51
to be featured, they are 10 times more likely
04:54
to share your post once it goes live. Facebook
04:57
is a fabulous resource for finding bloggers interested
05:00
in hosting or participating in roundups. In fact,
05:04
for my own personal blog, I have found several
05:06
Facebook groups that are dedicated to roundups.
05:09
If you go onto Facebook and you search blogger
05:11
roundups and then click groups on Facebook, you
05:15
should be able to find a few groups that are
05:17
perfect for participating in and for hosting
05:19
roundups. Once you start posting more and more,
05:23
you might begin to be asked if you can submit
05:26
your links for other bloggers for their own roundups.
05:29
Another great way to participate in a roundup
05:31
is to submit a link of your own to what's called
05:34
a linky party. Now what's a linky party? A linky
05:38
party or a link up is a party on the internet
05:40
with colorful drinks and gluten -filled snacks
05:42
where only the most prestigious members of the
05:45
blogosphere hang out and have fun and make fun
05:48
of other bloggers that have crappy traffic. Okay,
05:50
I'm totally kidding. That's not how it is at
05:52
all. In its simplest form, a linky party or a
05:55
link up is an event that a blogger hosts on their
05:58
website. They invite other bloggers to share
06:01
their work with a new audience on a specific
06:04
topic or a theme. You don't actually need to
06:07
be invited to the party. You simply need content
06:09
that relates to that party's theme. Then, just
06:13
like that guy at work who always seems to know
06:16
when there's cake in the break room, you mosey
06:18
on in and you join the party. So let's say you
06:21
run a website. all about nutritious recipes.
06:25
You could host a Linky Party by inviting other
06:28
bloggers to share links to posts with their favorite
06:31
nutritious recipes. You might niche it down even
06:34
further by limiting the event's topic to desserts
06:38
or gluten -free recipes. Again, I have a full
06:42
breakdown of the Linky Parties on my Bloggy Friends
06:46
website in the show notes. So I highly recommend
06:49
going over there and checking out exactly how
06:51
to get in on it. Moving right along. The third
06:53
tactic that I have for getting free traffic is
06:57
to do giveaways with other bloggers. And I know
07:00
you've seen these on Facebook. I have seen at
07:02
least 20 of them in the last week. Basically
07:06
the way that they work is when you're part of
07:08
giveaways with other bloggers, you promote each
07:10
other for the good of all of you. In giveaways
07:13
that I've participated in with other bloggers,
07:15
it's gone like this. One blogger will secure
07:18
a giveaway item and write a post about the giveaway.
07:21
The host blogger then creates the giveaway entry
07:23
form and the host blogger also shares all of
07:27
the information with all the bloggers that are
07:29
participating. Each blogger will then write their
07:32
own intro and their own headline for their own
07:34
website. Then they share each other's posts and
07:37
boost them up on social media and then the winner's
07:40
chosen for whatever the giveaway is. Other giveaways
07:44
that I've seen are where one host blogger will
07:47
host the giveaway featuring something from each
07:51
blogger that's participating. For example, maybe
07:54
there's 20 bloggers who have written a book or
07:56
have created a course and they'll do a themed
07:59
giveaway where everybody who participates gets
08:03
the email addresses of anyone who signs up to
08:05
get those freebies. So instead of one person
08:08
pushing out an opt -in, you've got 20 people
08:11
pushing out an opt -in, but all on one form.
08:13
And then they just share the email addresses.
08:16
It's a great way to get a bunch of traffic really
08:18
quickly. my fourth tactic is the simplest to
08:22
get traffic to your website and that's to use
08:26
your email signature now this one's pretty self
08:28
-explanatory but if you have a website and it's
08:32
not listed in your email signature, it should
08:34
be. Putting your blog site in your email signature
08:37
is not only a decent way to generate traffic,
08:39
but it could lead to paid gigs for you. And if
08:42
nothing else, it shows that you're serious about
08:44
your business. One woman I knew, she began putting
08:47
her recent blog posts in her email signature.
08:51
A few times, this led to her emails being forwarded,
08:54
and it even created new leads for a product that
08:56
she was selling. On another note, if you aren't
08:59
emailing your list regularly with your latest
09:01
posts, you should be. Now, I will be the first
09:04
to admit that I'm horrible about this with my
09:06
personal blog. In fact, spoiler alert, I don't
09:09
even have a really good email list, but I'm working
09:11
on it. The thing, though, is my clients, they
09:14
always see a nice traffic surge when they send
09:16
emails to their lists featuring their most recent
09:19
blog posts that have been published. All right,
09:23
moving right along. Tactic five, get yourself
09:26
in the press. Now, this is not always easy to
09:29
do. And some people think that they need a public
09:32
relations specialist to be working for them.
09:34
But I personally, anytime I had something cool
09:37
going on with my blogging, I would just reach
09:40
out to local TV and local radio to see if I could
09:43
somehow get in for some kind of a segment about
09:45
what I was writing about. The goal is to set
09:48
yourself up as an expert in your field and reach
09:50
out when the news may need you. Let's say, for
09:53
example, that you're a travel agent. Right now,
09:56
we're in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
09:58
And though at the time that you're listening
10:01
to this, it might not be going on anymore. Let's
10:04
say something like that is happening and you
10:06
have a business that is related to something
10:09
going on. So the travel agents are definitely
10:12
being called by the press right now because everybody
10:14
wants to know about how to handle canceling and
10:18
postponing their trips. So if you're a travel
10:21
agent, that's a perfect time to get onto the
10:24
news. And I highly recommend if you do have something
10:27
that is relatable that the press is already talking
10:29
about, reach out to them. Usually you can find
10:32
them on Twitter. I've noticed that a lot of the
10:34
news outlets will put the Twitter handle of the
10:38
person who wrote an article or is doing a segment
10:42
on TV, they'll put their Twitter handle. So definitely
10:44
reach out if you have something cool that you
10:46
think that the press needs to know about. Another
10:48
way to get into the press is to write a book
10:50
or teach a class on what you know and then send
10:53
out a press release. Believe it or not, sometimes
10:55
the media will pick up on this. You never know
10:58
until you try. Another great way to get into
11:01
the press is to get involved with a charity event
11:03
or host a newsworthy event of your own. Additional
11:07
tips for getting into the press is don't expect
11:10
the press to come to you. Reach out to the media
11:12
anytime that you have news to share. And remember,
11:15
like I said, social media is your friend. So
11:18
use it to its fullest potential and post all
11:20
your newsworthy content on all platforms. And
11:23
if necessary, tag the outlets that you think
11:26
might be interested in covering it. My sixth
11:29
tactic for getting free traffic to your website
11:32
is to write for a website like Medium or Reddit,
11:36
Quora, or even Thrive Global. Whenever you're
11:39
posting on different websites like this, it's
11:42
a great way to get traffic because you're setting
11:44
yourself up as an expert. For example, let's
11:47
say you've written a lot of posts about dieting.
11:49
If you rework a post that's already on your current
11:52
website, you could load it to Medium. Or you
11:55
could answer questions about dieting on Reddit
11:58
or Quora. Oftentimes, you will get a link back
12:01
to your site in your profile, and you could even
12:03
add links to your comments and articles that
12:05
are loaded to the platforms. One of the things
12:08
one of my ghostwriting clients used to do is
12:11
she would go onto forums to answer questions
12:13
about honeymooning. And her advice was so good
12:16
that people would go to her profile, find her
12:18
website, and then go and look her up. And from
12:21
there would hire her to book their honeymoon.
12:24
So if you have something that you're already
12:26
an expert in, it might be a good idea to go onto
12:29
these forums and see what kinds of questions
12:30
people are asking and then answer them so you
12:33
can generate more leads and more traffic. guys
12:37
my seventh tactic for getting free traffic is
12:42
strategic use of social media now you'll probably
12:46
already know that every time you write a blog
12:48
post on your website you should be sharing it
12:52
on social media but you should go further than
12:55
that if you've written for another person's website
12:59
like done a guest post for it You should be sharing
13:01
that as well, but then also tagging the brand
13:04
or the website that you've written it for. If
13:08
you've gotten on the media, you should be sharing
13:11
that and tagging the media outlet. If you've
13:13
quoted someone in the post that you've written,
13:16
tag that person too. You never know who's going
13:19
to share what you've written. Personally, I wrote
13:22
a big article for a... for a website and it featured
13:26
a lot of experts. And whenever I posted or when
13:29
the website that I was writing for posted the
13:32
article, I tagged as many of the experts as Twitter
13:35
would allow me to. And what was cool about it
13:37
was every expert that I tagged either liked or
13:40
retweeted the post, which gave it more traction.
13:43
And as a result, I actually landed a new client
13:45
because of that article. So I can't say it enough.
13:49
You've got to tag people that you're talking
13:51
about whenever you're sharing it on social media.
13:54
Another important thing for strategic use of
13:56
social media is that if you don't have share
13:58
buttons on your website, you need to get them
14:01
today. You want people to be able to easily share
14:05
your posts on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn,
14:09
everywhere. The best blogs make it super simple
14:12
for people by including social share buttons
14:16
in every post. Another strategic use of social
14:20
media is to ask your readers for shares. Seriously,
14:24
asking people to share your posts is a fabulous
14:27
way to generate more traffic because people are
14:29
most likely to share just because you ask them
14:32
to. Another important note for getting more traction
14:36
out of your social media use is to use niche
14:39
specific hashtags. When you do this to help promote
14:43
your blog posts on social media sites, other
14:45
social media users who are following similar
14:48
hashtags are more likely to find you and your
14:50
content. This is why when you use a hashtag like
14:53
yoga in a Twitter post about the yoga article
14:56
that you just published on your blog, yogis that
14:59
you've never met before might bend over backwards
15:01
to like and share that post. An added benefit
15:05
to niche -specific hashtags is that you're more
15:07
likely to drive qualified sales leads to your
15:10
website. That is when you start selling products
15:13
if you aren't already. Finally, I recommend using
15:16
click to tweet buttons in your blog posts. There
15:19
are several sites that offer this and it allows
15:21
you the ability to create a button that you embed
15:24
into your posts that your visitors can simply
15:26
click to generate a tweet about your posts and
15:29
link back to it. My eighth tactic for traffic
15:33
is to get interviewed on podcasts. And I've heard
15:36
this said many times that guest podcasting is
15:39
the new guest posting. So it's very similar to
15:42
the steps for getting a guest post. The difference
15:45
is instead of offering your written content,
15:48
you're going to be offering your voice. You want
15:49
to offer your expertise. Not only has doing interviews
15:54
on other people's podcasts gotten me traffic,
15:56
but it's also gotten me paid. And the same thing
15:59
can happen for you. What you want to do is target
16:01
podcasts that cater to your potential audience
16:04
for your blog or your website. Know in advance
16:06
what you want to talk about. Make time for the
16:09
recording. And before you make the pitch, you
16:11
want to listen to previous episodes of the podcast
16:14
to determine if you're a good fit. For example,
16:17
if you're listening to a podcast that has never,
16:20
ever, ever, ever interviewed a guest, why on
16:23
earth would you offer yourself as a guest? You
16:25
want to avoid podcasts that have nothing to do
16:28
with your field unless you have something exceptionally
16:30
relevant to offer. Don't wing it. You want to
16:34
start small with smaller podcasts and then use
16:36
that as social proof that you deserve to be on
16:39
the big names. And after your podcast goes live,
16:42
you guessed it, go to social media and share
16:45
it everywhere. My ninth tactic for driving traffic
16:49
is to interview experts and quote them. You want
16:53
to interview people on video, in person, on the
16:57
phone, etc. Get those awesome knowledge bombs
17:00
and then share the wisdom of what you're learning
17:02
in blog posts, on YouTube videos, Instagram TV,
17:06
etc. Once you post it, though, tag them. Tag
17:11
whoever it is that you've interviewed. More often
17:13
than not, they're going to share whatever it
17:15
is that you're tagging them in, simply based
17:18
on the interview you've done with them. Now,
17:20
one thing I did learn whenever I was at podcast
17:22
movement last year is that they're more likely
17:24
to share whatever it is that you're interviewing
17:27
them about if they haven't shared this information
17:29
before. So if they've said the same thing in
17:32
interview after interview, they're less likely
17:35
to tell anybody about the one that they did with
17:37
you. So if you can ask them unique questions,
17:40
they're more likely to share your podcast, your
17:43
YouTube videos, your Facebook lives, etc. One
17:46
of the big reasons that it's so important to
17:48
tag experts whenever you're sharing interviews
17:51
that you're writing about them on your social
17:53
media accounts is because it gets you access
17:56
to their audience as well. So let's say you're
17:59
tagging someone like John Lee Dumas, who's like,
18:02
what? royalty of podcasting. If you tag him on
18:06
social media, his audience is more likely to
18:08
see what you've posted because they're already
18:11
looking for stuff about him. So that's why I
18:14
highly recommend if you have interviewed anybody
18:16
who is an expert in their field, share what they
18:20
said in their interview so that you can get access
18:23
to their audience. My tenth tactic is to network
18:27
online. And by network online, I mean get involved
18:30
in Facebook groups and LinkedIn groups. One thing
18:34
I will tell you, though, is on both of these
18:35
groups, you shouldn't just share your links to
18:38
your website randomly. You want to make sure
18:40
you're following the rules of whatever group
18:42
you're part of and then only sharing your links
18:44
on days that you're allowed to. For example,
18:47
one of the Facebook groups that I'm in, they
18:49
have Follow Fridays, and that's the only day
18:52
that you're allowed to share links to your own
18:54
website. But what's cool is whenever you are
18:56
in those groups and you post your links on those
18:59
days, that's when you're most likely to get a
19:02
nice spike in traffic, especially if you have
19:04
people that are in your group that are already
19:06
interested in something that you're doing. Another
19:09
way to network online is to create your own Facebook
19:13
group. After all, if you're the one that's in
19:16
charge of the group, you can post as many links
19:17
as you want to. So if your business has something...
19:21
that you think a lot of people would be interested
19:23
in joining, perhaps you should create a Facebook
19:25
group of your own. For example, one of the ghostwriter
19:28
friends that I have, he created a ghostwriting
19:30
group to teach people how to become a ghostwriter.
19:33
And he invited a bunch of people to join the
19:36
group to discuss tactics for getting clients
19:39
and billing and things like that. So if you can
19:42
come up with something that makes sense to create
19:46
a Facebook group around, why not create a group
19:49
of your own? All right, you guys, I can't believe
19:53
it, but we've already gotten to the end of my
19:55
10 ways of generating free traffic. But because
19:58
I just feel like it, I'm going to give you one
20:01
more bonus tip. My bonus tip is to try to apply
20:05
to speak at a summit or a conference. Now, I
20:09
know that right now we're in the middle of the
20:10
coronavirus pandemic and live conferences aren't
20:13
happening, but virtual summits are popping up
20:15
everywhere. And if you speak in a summit or at
20:18
a conference, you'll notice an uptick in traffic.
20:20
Not only will the summit or conference typically
20:23
share your website, but if someone hears what
20:26
you're saying, they're going to be more likely
20:27
to seek you out and find out more information
20:30
about you. I know that was a lot to digest, so
20:33
let's do a quick recap of everything we just
20:35
talked about. My 11 ways to promote your blog
20:39
for free. The first one is guest posting. Number
20:43
two is to participate in roundups or linky parties.
20:47
Number three is to participate in giveaways with
20:50
other bloggers. Number four, if you're not already,
20:54
use your email signature to promote your blog.
20:57
Number five, get yourself in the press. Number
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six, write for Medium, Reddit, Quora, etc. Number
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seven, strategically use social media. Number
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eight, get interviewed on other people's podcasts.
21:15
Number nine, interview experts and quote them.
21:19
Number 10, network like crazy, baby. And number
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11, my bonus tip, apply to speak at summits or
21:28
conferences. So that was a lot to digest. I know
21:32
I covered a lot of information today. And I highly
21:35
recommend you go to bloggyfriends .com to look
21:37
at the episode three show notes where I do a
21:39
full breakdown of everything that I just discussed
21:41
here today. So you guys can get all the tactics.
21:44
And if you have any questions, feel free to reach
21:46
out to me. And I'll be happy to share anything
21:49
else that I possibly can to help you get more
21:52
traffic. And one of the things that I'd like
21:54
to invite you to do is tag me on social media
21:57
on Twitter. I'm at Ashley is famous. And if you
22:00
tag me there, I will happily retweet anything
22:03
that you send my way, as long as it's, you know,
22:06
ethical and not illegal. I hope you enjoyed this
22:11
overview of 11 free ways to generate traffic
22:15
for your website. Until next time, may your page
22:18
views be high and your bounce rate be low. Thank
22:20
you so much for listening and have a great day,
22:22
my bloggy friends.