Blame it on sheer volume and oversaturation. There are just too many blogs out there. There’s one about every topic that you can imagine. Perhaps that’s the reason why approximately 95% of blogs apparently fail.

When there are just one too many blogs out there, not every blog gets the readership it deserves. It’s up to you to make sure that you get your blog in front of your desired audience. If you have the option to put money behind your efforts and run ads, then, by all means, do so. However, not everyone has those resources. More often than not, you have to rely on creativity, ingenuity, and tips from well-meaning marketers (like myself) who are willing to share their tricks of the trade.

So, without further ado, here are my best guidelines for effectively promoting your blog posts without paying for it.

1. Publish more

Definitely one of the most effective, yet often ignored, ways to drive traffic to your site and increase visibility is by making an effort to publish more articles. Research has shown that brands who publish more than 16 blog posts a month are likely to get over three times more traffic and over four times more leads than blogs that don’t.

2. Write longer posts

There’s a bit of a debate regarding this one—especially given how often Google’s algorithm changes. By and large, the standard has always been 300 to 500 words. It meets the standard prerequisites in terms of appropriate search engine length and ensures that you’re not creating material that’s too long for audience’s short attention spans.

Furthermore, new studies have now emerged that show major search engines are now giving preference to longer and more comprehensive articles. I would say 800 to 1000 words are a good range.

3. Use your email list

If you were diligent about gathering your reader’s contact details, then you probably already have a working email list you can use. If not, this is the best time to start one. The most successful bloggers will vouch for the fact that emailing their audience directly helps drive a significant amount of traffic to their blog.

4. Leverage on SEO

To be clear, you should always write your posts anchored on a desire to inform and provide relevant material to your audience. But what use would that be if no one sees it? This is why optimizing for search engines is important. Doing basic keyword research and working to incorporate this into your articles can help drive more people to your website.

5. Publish resource articles

Referencing a resource article and using that to boost traffic to your blog can help boost your visibility. It can draw traffic from both the original resource and generate new ones from your own pool of readers. Be sure to properly cite your sources. 

6. Use social media

If you’ve built a significant social media following, use it to promote your latest posts. Be sure to add a great caption to go with it in order to encourage more people to share your content.

If you want more ideas on how to promote your posts in the most cost-effective way, give me a call. I’d be happy to sit down and discuss what we can do for you.