In the final installment in our four-part series on increasing blog traffic, we’re getting creative and looking for out-of-the-box ways to market our blogs!
We’ve been chatting all this week about bringing more readers to your company blog. From Twitter and Facebook to using the good word of our fellow bloggers, we’ve come up with a pretty healthy list of blog content management and blog marketing ideas. But what if we’re missing something? What if we’re missing a lot of somethings? I mean, after all, there must be hundreds of other ideas to increase our blog’s traffic, right? That is why the final chapter in this little marketing lesson is all about leaving no stone unturned.
Contributing to other blogs is a fantastic way to get more eyes in front of your blog, but what about contributing to local magazines and community papers, too? I recently noticed in our mailbox-delivered local newspaper a column about crafting that was written by a woman who owns a local yarn shop. At the end of her article were links to both her shop’s website and her blog. Brilliant!
Not the crafty type and more of the businessy type? Then LinkedIn is for you. Sure, LinkedIn is filled with people looking for work, but it’s also filled with an audience hungry for information about the business world. Your personal or company LinkedIn pages are perfect places to put a link to your blog. We’ve seen clients with business blogs rapidly expand their readership by including the posting of blogs on LinkedIn to their blog marketing practice. It’s also a good place to find contributing bloggers in your industry who might bring some wisdom — and readers — to your blog.
And here’s another good method: Try using your blog to make news, not just rehash it! Interviewing a big shot in your industry? Have a first-hand look at a new product? Then post those to your blog! But you also want to let people know you’re breaking news over on your very smart company blog. Send out digital press releases along with links to your blog when you’ve got a much-talked-about story under your belt. Also, fresh pictures and videos should always be included on your blog because they, too, are newsworthy and they give great SEO.
Finally, seek out unusual avenues that match with your blog and brand’s identity. Sure, maybe no other granola company blog is sponsoring a kid’s fun run. Does that mean you shouldn’t, either, or is it a unique opportunity?
Thinking outside the box with blog marketing can only bring great results.
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