So you’ve set up an awesome blog. And you’re generating really great content. But your Mum is your only subscriber! What now?
Well it’s time to spread the word so that you can begin accumulating dedicated readers.
Remember that thousands – if not millions – of web surfers are always searching for information to answer the questions they have. In a B2B context, your buyers are searching for information about how to best fix their business pain.
Perhaps one of the most effective techniques to spreading the word is guest blogging. Now you have content and a process consider finding alternative locations for your blog. Will your industry associations or trade magazines take a regular contribution from you? How about a business partner? Spend some time figuring out who wields influence in your buyer’s sphere and see if they are open to sharing blog posts with each other. Not only do you reach another subscriber list you may get a free post or two in return.
Guest blogging is also looked on very favourably by Google, in terms of inbound links, and will do wonders for your SEO rankings.
Joe Pulizzi, founder and chief content officer for Junta42 Content Marketing Institute and co-author of Get Content Get Customers, lists some simple steps you can take to help get the word out:
- Include the blog URL in all email signatures.
- Put your blog address on your business cards, direct mail and print advertising.
- Find relevant forums like LinkedIn Groups and comment on trending topics, refer back to your blog post. Be careful to comment genuinely and helpfully and don’t be overly self promotional.
- Writing blog posts and distributing them via social media, social bookmarking sites, RSS and email will help you to get found by new people.
- “Like” yourself. Many business owners forget to tell employees to ‘like’ their own sites on LinkedIn and to follow on Twitter.
- Tell employees that you’d love it if they shared relevant blog posts with their networks.
- Leverage Twitter hashtags. When you promote your blog via Twitter, use relevant hashtags (i.e. #marketing or #MKTG).
- Share your blog posts on your corporate social media pages.
- Post to your LinkedIn status.
- Include links to your blogs in any press releases. By using services such as PR Newswire, Marketwire or PRWeb, you can get your blog link placed in sites like Google, Yahoo! and sometimes hundreds of other sites. Make sure to select the SEO option where they embed links in the releases.
- Put your blog on company invoices and other correspondence to customers.
- Showcase your employees on your blog. Employees are your most important asset, put them front and centre.
- Develop an opt-in monthly/quarterly eNewsletter out of your most popular blog posts.
- Talk about your blog when you speak at events.
- Listen to customer issues on Twitter and respond with links to blog posts that answer their concerns.
- Use the blog as your customer FAQ.
- Post your blog on social bookmarking sites like Digg, and Reddit
- Create a list of favourite bloggers relevant to your market and notify them that they made the list. They may promote your blog and possibly comment.
- Comment on other blogs. It's hard to be a blogger if you don't share. Show your expertise on other blogs and contribute valuable feedback.
- Never ever stop. Your blog is a promise to customers.
We have rewritten and updated our free eBook on Business blogging best practices. Its got loads of great tips and some amazing statistics about how blogging can drive traffic AND LEADS. Download your copy now, we hope you find it valuable.
