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