A lot of people enter into blogging under the assumption that it’s as simple as having a few ideas, drumming up some content, and publishing it on a drag and drop website building platform. And while it can be this simple, you won’t get many people – if any – to actually read what you write.
Content creation is only one part of the equation. If you want your blog to be successful, you need eyeballs. And if you want eyeballs, you need exposure. Without it, your blog will find itself on life support.
3 Techniques to Implement ASAP
When it comes to earning exposure for your blog, there are dozens of tools and techniques at your disposal. Some cost a lot of money, while others are basically free. In terms of getting cost-effective results that are sustainable over the long haul, free is often better. Here are some simple, yet effective techniques we recommend:
- Guest Blogging
Are you familiar with guest blogging? It’s the simple practice of publishing original content on another blog in return for some sort of favor – typically a brand mention of your own blog and/or a link back to your site. The latter benefit not only provides a new clickable point of entry into your website – it also enhances your SEO standing.
“Inbound links have the heaviest weight of all the ranking factors in Google and Bing,” SEO.co explains. “Inbound links are considered much like ‘votes’ by one website for another. Links from more credible, trusted websites will be treated as more important votes, so it’s best to spend your efforts focusing on getting inbound links from authoritative publishers.”
By securing brand mentions and backlinks on authoritative publishing platforms, you’re able to successfully align your own blog with a brand that people (and the search engines) already trust. This results in higher rankings, more traffic, and a more positive association.
- Podcast Interviews
You might not be a podcaster, but that doesn’t mean you can’t tap into the value they offer. If you’re a blogger, getting featured on a well-known podcast with a large audience could lead to significant exposure.
“Being featured on a podcast has huge benefits,” successful entrepreneur Neil Patel writes. “It can give you a giant SEO boost. You can get thousands of visitors a day. It also increases your authority. If you’ve been on a podcast people like, you’ll be seen as an expert in your niche.”
The good news is that podcast hosts are always looking for guests to interview – particularly guests who have knowledge in their niche or focal topic. Run some quick searches on Google and try to find podcasts that overlap or align with your own blog. Then reach out and pitch them something that will offer value to their audience (while simultaneously giving yourself a platform to plug your own blog and content).
- Develop Roundup Posts
You can only take your blog so far. In other words, you’re limited by your own audience. If you have 1,000 Facebook followers and you share your post, only 1,000 people will be exposed to it (and likely only a fraction of them will actually see it). The key is to move beyond your circle by getting other readers and influencers to share your posts with their audiences. Developing high quality roundup posts is a great way to do this.
A roundup post is simply a blog post where you gather insights from different people in the industry. For example, if you run a personal finance blog, you could email a simple question to the top folks in investing, accounting, and entrepreneurship and let them know that you’ll feature their response in your post. Once you do this, you can share the article with the individuals that you feature. Naturally, they’ll want the exposure and they’ll share the article with their audiences. (“Hey, look! I was featured on this blog!”) The result is a direct increase in exposure and traffic.
It’s Time to Get Serious About Exposure
Any blogger who is serious about generating traffic, driving revenue, and creating a profitable business must be focused on exposure. Review the techniques outlined in this article and see if there are two or three that you can implement over the next week. You likely won’t get overnight results, but the exposure will eventually procure traffic, which will allow everything else to seamlessly fall into place.
Originally posted on November 7, 2019 @ 9:20 am
