How to promote your blog like a pro

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Before you promote your blog

Before you can even start on your 80% (promoting), you have to make sure your 20% (content) is the best it could possibly be. Make sure to proofread, edit and format every blog post.

For every blog post you should be able to answer these 3 questions:

• What is the purpose of my post?
• Who does it benefit?
• How does it benefit them?

You want to give your readers incredible value, you want to give them what they are looking for and more.

Related reading: How to write a killer blog post.

Another thing to check before you start promoting your blog is your Search Engine Optimisation. Optimising your content with relevant keywords will allow your audience to find you in Google.

To help you find the right keywords and phrases you can use this free keyword tool. Once you’ve got the keywords you want to use, install the Yoast SEO plugin to help you add your keywords to each blog post.

If you need more detailed steps on how to optimise your blog post for SEO, read:

SEO for Bloggers – The Essential Guide

Last but not least…
Your branding and blog design. Does your blog look professional? Will your branding connect with your target audience? Is your blog uncluttered and easy to read?
If you want a few last minute design tips read my post:
How to design a kick-ass brand for your blog.

And to double check you’re not scaring people away from your blog, read:

12 reasons people leave your blog and never come back

Okay now we know your 20% is in top shape let’s focus on the 80%.

Promoting your blog

Social Media is probably one of the first marketing tools you think about when it comes to blog promotion. And rightly so, since pretty much everyone is on social media these days.

But which platform do you go with? Or how many platforms should you be on?

When first starting out it’s probably best to focus your attention on 2 social media platforms (’cause you’d rather kick-ass on 2 then be average on 5).

Pick the 2 platforms that are best suited to your target market and products.
For most bloggers I recommend starting with Pinterest and Facebook, these platforms can drive some serious traffic to your blog if you use them right.

Have a look at the Buzzsumo results of craft blog ‘A Beautiful Mess’, especially the Pinterest shares are through the roof!

But social media is not the only way you can drive traffic to your blog so let’s have a look at 10 effective ways to promote your blog.

10 ways to promote your blog

1. Pinterest

If you thought Pinterest was just for drooling over exotic holiday destinations or discovering wacky craft hacks, think again. Pinterest is actually not really a social media platform but more a visual search engine.

Like online shops pin photos of their products, you can pin images from your blog post that will lead people to your blog.

To get the most out of Pinterest you need to set up a business page and create a keyword-rich profile. Add a friendly photo of yourself or use your logo for the profile picture.

To finalise your set up, you need to claim your website, you can do this in the settings.

Related Reading:

How To Claim A Website On Pinterest (without using code)

How to add a pin to Pinterest

How to Create Tons of Pinterest Pins Super Fast

Now you’re ready to create some boards. I’d recommend creating at least 30 boards that are related to your niche. Think about topics that you write about on your blog, ideally you can pin each of your blog post to several of your boards. Give all your boards keyword-rich SEO description and add a category.

Create one board that will only contain pins that link back to your blog. Set this as your featured board, so it will show at the top of the page.

Now you have to create some stunning pins with click-worthy headlines. It is very easy to create your pins in Canva. The ideal pin size is 600 pixels wide by 900 pixels high. Canva has pin templates ready to go, all you have to do is add a your image and a caption.

• Quick tips for eye-catching pins:

• Use bright colours
• Don’t add too much text, make it easy-to-read
• Try using transparent overlays to make the text stand out more
• Use quality photos (you can get free stock photos at Pexels and Unsplash)

Here’s an example of one of my pins (make sure to pin it to your blogging board!)

With your account set up and pins added to your blog posts, you can start pinning. According to Pinterest you should be pinning 15-25 times a day. Pin mostly from your own blog and about 10 pins from other bloggers. Pin at different times of the day and never pin the same pin back to back or you’ll start looking spammy.

To increase the reach of your pins, you need to pin to group boards. Group boards are boards with multiple users but managed by one person. Group boards have their own followers so if you pin to a group board with 10.000 followers your pin will increase its reach dramatically.

To find group boards, have a look at other bloggers in your niche, go to their boards and you’ll see their group boards. They have multiple people in the profile picture, like this:

Click on the board and see if they accept new contributors. Often you have to send them an email with a request to join their board. Try to join about 20-30 quality group boards relevant to your niche.

If you’d like a step by step guide on how to set up a Pinterest business account, Pinterest SEO and how to enable Rich Pins -> get my free guide below.

FREE GUIDE

PINTEREST SET UP FOR SUCCESS

The secret to Pinterest success is to pin consistently every day and preferably at optimal times when your audience is online. The best way to do this is with a Pinterest scheduler like Tailwind.

My favourite thing about Tailwind is that you can upload one pin to 10 different boards with one click. This saves me a lot of time on scheduling.

Another great thing about Tailwind is that it schedules your pins at optimal times when your audience is online. This increase your pin engagement and gives your pin a better chance to get seen and go viral.

You can try Tailwind for free here.

2. Facebook

Start on Facebook by creating a business page for your blog. This way people can follow/like your page and get notifications when you post something.

Try to post a minimum of 3 times a week and twice a day at the most. Post both your own content and share content from others. This way you’ll have more content to post and the owner of the shared post will appreciate and notice you.

Make sure all content you share is quality and valuable for your audience this way you’ll become the go-to person in your niche.

You can follow my facebook page here

Facebook is a great platform to get truly social on. To get noticed you should join several facebook groups that are relevant to your niche and actively participate. Share and like content, tag people, be helpful, answer question and always reply to those who join in.

Most Facebook Groups have blog post promotion threads or social media threads which will really help you with sharing your blog content and growing your social media following.

I’ve compiled my favourite Facebook Groups for you, you can get them here.