21 Ways to Promote Your Blog

Your blog is one of the "Big Three" platforms for your on-line presence (the other two are your Web site and e-mail newsletter). One of the most common questions people ask me is: "How do I promote my blog?"

It's a good question, because you can't just publish a blog and hope it will promote itself (or that Google will discover it and magically push it to the top of its search results!)

So today I'll give you 21 ways to promote your blog. I don't have space to go into these in detail, but I hope they will give you enough ideas for your own blog:

1. Add to your e-mail signature: Show your Web site address and your blog address.
2. Link to it from your Web site: Some people will find your Web site before your blog, so include a prominent link to the blog on the Web site itself.
3. Link to it from your newsletter: Direct people to your blog from time to time, perhaps to add their comments to your newsletter article.
4. Tweet every blog post: You can automate this using TwitterFeed.com, so that every blog post is tweeted automatically.
5. Tweet it again: Tweet your best blog posts again, on different dates and times, for people who missed it the first time.
6. Add your posts to Facebook: TwitterFeed also does the same thing for Facebook.
7. Show it automatically in on-line community profiles: Some on-line communities allow you to show your blog posts automatically on your profile page.
8. Show it on your LinkedIn profile: You can configure LinkedIn to show your blog posts automatically.
9. Add it to your business card: As with your e-mail signature, show your Web address and your blog address.
10. Include it in handouts: Encourage your presentation attendees to visit your blog (and explain why, of course)
11. Include it in your books and e-books: Promote your blog prominently in other material you publish.
12. Add it to articles and "tip sheets": Include your blog address prominently on these shorter publications as well.
13. Give permission for people to reprint the tip sheets: This gets your blog address out to their networks as well.
14. Mention it in presentations: An obvious choice for presenters, but many presenters only promote their Web site address!
15. Participate in relevant on-line communities: Actively participate in on-line communities, and people will be more likely to check out your Web site and blog.
16. Comment on other blogs: Find relevant blog posts on other people's blogs, and add your comments.
17. Write guest articles for other blogs: Find related blogs that complement yours (and reach the right market) and offer to write a guest article.
18. Submit articles to article directories: Publish to places like EzineArticles.com and include your blog address at the bottom of each article.
19. Mention it in a podcast: Mention your blog in your podcast (which is an audio newsletter), so listeners can follow your blog as well.
20. Invite people to comment on it: For selected blog posts, find colleagues and clients who could have something to say, and e-mail them to ask them to add their comments.
21. Write great content!: Finally, write high-quality content regularly, and you'll find that people and Google alike will promote your blog for you.

Even if you can't use all of these ideas yourself, I'm sure you can find some that are right for your blog.