Blog ‘Spring Cleaning’ – Day 3
I‘m late! For a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!
Sorry I’m late with the task today! My Internet connection has been in and out all afternoon. So frustrating to have a page take forever to load, just to time out in the end! Everyone is catching up on yesterday’s homework, which is just fine, because today I won’t ask you to write anything new. Today’s focus is promoting the post you wrote yesterday, or any other post you think is worth publicizing! If you’re just starting, feel free to go back and revisit day one or two if you’d like. Oh, and I’m going to see Alice in Wonderland with the hubs tomorrow night, so – as you can tell – I have that on the brain. 
Day 3: Promote a Blog Post
First, read ProBlogger’s lesson on how to promote a blog post. As for me, Twitter is probably the easiest and most effective way I promote my writing. I get caught up in the chatting, so it’s easy to forget to share my links on Twitter. This is why I use a combination of tools – a WordPress plugin called Twitpress, that automatically notifies Twitter as soon as I publish a post, and TwitterFeed, a web application that imports my RSS feed into Twitter and publishes my links every few hours. This means that every one of my blog posts is guaranteed to be tweeted twice, without me having to do any extra work. If it’s a post I’m especially proud of, or a giveaway that I want to promote, then I favorite it in Twitter so I can pull it up and retweet it whenever my little heart desires.
Facebook is another easy option, since so many of us use it. Like Twitter, it’s easy to get distracted… caught up in looking through your friends’ photo albums and playing Farmville, for instance. Taking full advantage of the applications available is a must! I used to use Social RSS to import my blog into Facebook, but now I’m using Simplaris Blogcast. It’s a little tricky to install – you have to first add it to your profile, and then your page, but I like it so far. If you’re anything like me, not many of your family members or “real life” friends even read your blog, right? This is why I don’t have anything blog-related on my profile. I save that for my blog’s Facebook page. If you want to promote your blog on Facebook, I highly recommend doing it this way. Read Mashable’s Facebook Guide Book to get ideas on how to best use Facebook.
And then there’s Delicious, StumbleUpon, and Digg… other popular sites for promoting your blog posts, but ones that, personally, I don’t use very often. I’m not comfortable Stumbling my own posts, and really dislike “begging” for it from other bloggers. But that’s just me.
Linking within your blog to other relevant posts is an obvious way to get readers to stick around and visit a few more pages. Adding related links to the bottom of your posts, for instance. There are plugins and tools for this as well. I’m going to install Zemanta tonight to add related links to my posts and share my links on other sites. I’ll let you know how I like it.
Participate in carnivals and memes! This not only gives you ideas of what to write about everyday, but also gives you a place to link up somewhere you’ll be seen by others interested in the same topic! The Daily Meme lists a bunch. My friend Tara, from Feels Like Home, participates in a blog carnival almost everyday, I believe… this is a list of her favorites. Denise at Run DMT is another good example. She links up each one of her posts to one (or more) carnivals each day, and judging from the amount of comments, gets a lot of traffic from it.
Lastly, and indisputably the best way to gain new readers, in my opinion – leave comments on other blogs! It’s easier said than done, I know. I get a little overwhelmed when I open up Google Reader to 1000+ items and don’t know where to start sometimes, but I try to comment on at least 10 different blogs each day.
Today’s homework?
- Promote one of your posts. It could be yesterday’s list post, or something else.
- Visit and leave a comment on 5 blogs. Minimum.
- Create a Facebook Page for your blog. If you already have one, update it… consider whether you are taking full advantage of its potential.
If you’d like to participate, leave me a comment so we can visit your blog and see how you’re doing! You can also link up specific blog posts (or Facebook pages!) relating to today’s challenge below:
21 Comments
Leave a Comment
Sponsors
Stay in Touch
Subscribe by Email
Grab my Button
 |
<a href="http://thedomesticbuzz.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/1205/thedomesticbuzzbutton.jpg" border="0" alt="The Domestic Buzz" Title="The Domestic Buzz"></a> |
Find Us on Facebook
Recent Posts
iTunes fun
Connections
 |
|
 |
|
I unintentionally did this task today! I posted about free seed packets and linked a post I had written about our garden to the new post. I also try to comment on at least 3 blogs a day. I don’t know much about blog carnivals so I will have to check that out. Thanks!
Thanks for linking to me.
I haven’t looked at that list in ages, so I’m not sure how good it is any more.
I do post the carnivals and memes that I’m participating in each day, so if someone wanted to see a list of linkies on any given day, they could check my posts for the week. I’ve organized them by theme, so all of my food linkies are on the food posts and all of my crafty linkies are mentioned in the crafty posts.
I’ve also been looking at my stats to see which linkies are bringing traffic and which aren’t. I’ve been slowly weeding out the ones that don’t.
.-= Tara @ Feels Like Home´s last blog ..Hopeful =-.
Hi Tara – I did notice that you aren’t submitting to as many linkies as you used to, and now I know why! Thanks for commenting.
I’ve commented on 3 so far!
.-= Amy Mayfield´s last blog ..Fin. And an Idea. =-.
I’m a little behind, but I made some changes to my blog inspired by you (I’ve commented on more than 3 blogs today!). I put all my personal info on separate pages under the blog title, and put the blogroll up there too. If you get a chance, I’d love it if you could check it out and let me know if you think it’s an improvement. I sure am trying!
.-= Cheryl´s last blog ..I do NOT love you, you purple freak! =-.
To think that I’m inspiring someone… I’m honored! And I’m first in your blogroll – woohoo! I like what you did with those links. It makes it easy for someone who’s visiting your blog for the first time to find out about you, your blog, and how to contact you. I hate when I have to go hunting for an email address.
Thanks for participating in the spring cleaning!
I need to get better at promoting my blog. I’m still trying to figure out what to write about. It is kind of a mess of many kinds of posts. Not sure if people are interested in that! Thanks for this series. I’m learning a lot.
.-= Briana´s last blog ..Babies! =-.
I’ve noticed most blogs (including mine!) are just a mishmash of different topics, so don’t let the fact that you don’t have a specific niche get you down! If you really want something to write about, what about going the homeschooling route? I know there are tons of homeschooling mom bloggers out there!
I try to do this everyday! WOO does that make me a star student??? Yeah I didn’t think so : (
.-= Jessica Jones´s last blog ..Forgive Me Father For I Have Sinned…. =-.
O.K I think i’m caught up. I promoted my blog on twitter. I also do it daily with FB. I have my blog fan page set up already and I also try to stay active on a daily basis with that. I comment daily on other blogs. One of my weaknesses is Twitter. I dont seem to get conversation from other bloggers. I do have the TweetMeme.
This is so fun.
.-= Nicole @ Help! Mama Remote…´s last blog ..Day 2 Blog Challenge =-.
Nicole,
Twitter wasn’t easy for me at first, but now I have a hard time staying away LOL. I found that using TweetDeck completely changed the way I use Twitter. I have close to 9000 friends, so there’s no way I could keep up with everyone. With TweetDeck I sort people into columns – ‘good friends’, ‘locals’, ‘PR tweeps’, etc.
The key is to get involved in conversations. Answer questions when someone asks for an opinion. Retweet those tweets that you like. Participate in Twitter parties. That’s how you make friends!
I’m catching up! WooHoo!
.-= Robyns Online World´s last blog ..31 Days to Build a Better Blog – Day 2 =-.
You are keeping me on task and focused, thanks Mariana!
.-= Kelly´s last blog ..Friday Follow – The Oscars =-.
Blog improvement/maintenance/tweaking is an ongoing task. I’ve read thru a few of your Spring Cleaning posts, and hope to incorporate some of your ideas. Thanks for sharing them.
.-= Dawn – She is Too Fond of Books´s last blog ..Book Review: *The Opposite of Me* by Sarah Pekkanen =-.
Hi Dawn – I’m trying to catch up on everyone’s comments; sorry to be replying so late! Just wanted to say thank you to you for following along. Glad to hear my posts are useful to you!
Back again with more questions lol I’m on facebook and I’ve had a fan page for awhile now. Question is do I use both notes and networked blogs to publish or should I just pick one?
.-= Krista S.´s last blog ..Blog "Spring Cleaning" – Day Two {Write a List Post} =-.
Hi Krista. Sorry to be replying so late. My slow Internet in Texas got be so behind, but I’m catching up on everyone’s comments finally! About FB – I honestly got nothing out of Networked Blogs, so I only used it for a short time and then blocked the app. As for notes, I didn’t like how FB imported my *entire* post instead of offering the option of just posting a link or an excerpt. My rec would be to use an RSS app or to post links yourself. I know this is hard to remember to do, though.
Phew…I am gradually catching up! I can’t thank you enough for initiating this Mariana! I really love giving so much focused attention on my blog!!
.-= Cathy´s last blog ..31 Days to Build a Better Blog – Day Three =-.
This is a great idea. I too love to use commenting on other cool blogs to get new readers. In fact, that’s what I was doing when I found YOU! I love to find great blogs that use comment luv which helps get more visitors. The comluv.com site has a great search function which allows you to search blogs for a specific keyword that are using commentluv. It’s a win/win! I look forward to reading more of your blog spring cleaning!
Jackie
.-= Jackie Lee´s last blog ..Are You Having an â??If You Give a Cat a Cupcakeâ?? Day? =-.
wow I just reread that comment and it seemed so spammy. YIKES. I’m really not a spammer, I just am totally in love with that plugin.
This made me laugh! Could it be that we’re so used to reading spam comments, that it’s rubbing off on us? I’ve also left similar comments LOL.