How to Promote Your Blog Without Being a Pain

Social networks, blogs and forums are loaded with posts begging for pages views. A good number of the beggars are good people with good content. These talented people are lost in the mass of nonsense and deception spawned by pyramid schemes, referral plans and desperate bloggers looking for AdSense revenue. Is there an ethical manner to promote content without bombarding friends, family and acquaintances with email and instant messages?

Yes, but there has to be something worthy of promotion. So the first step to quality promotion is a quality product. While most online writers feel the need to promote every article they write, they are shooting themselves in their cyber feet. Over-promotion of mediocre content is boring the hell out of Internet users and ticking off webmasters. Less is more in life quite often. Promote only the best of your work and the Internet will beat a path to your door.

Most Internet authors are not great writers and never will be. That does not mean they do not have informative or poignant things to say. If you aspire to publish on the web, take it slow and easy. Here are a few tips learned the hard way, through mistakes.

Blogs: If you are building a blog, don't get in a hurry to submit to search engines. Just building a blog is quick and free. Building a quality blog takes time or tons of experience. Whatever the theme of your blog, proof the content thoroughly before seeking page views.

The best way to proof your own writing is to let it rest for a few days then proof. After your article or post rests, read it aloud. If you stumble while reading, it can be better written. Even with poor grammar, an article that has good flow can be a good read.

Spelling errors are deadly for your content. While every computer user has access to spell check programs, the lack of red squiggly lines under your text does not mean correct spelling. An "it' instead of an "if", is a common typo lost to spell check. Finding this type of typographical error can be difficult when proofing your own work. Letting an article rest before proofing helps eliminate simple typos that can destroy the flow of the article.

After you have built content on your blog, it is time to beg the family or close friends to help you proof. This will be painful for you and your proofreader if you have rushed the process. Make the task easy on everyone with a final proof. Remember, any break in flow while reading your article aloud signals a problem. Perfection is impossible to obtain, but that does not mean you should try for perfection in your writing. Friends and family are not the best proofreaders. They often hate to be critical. You, the author, have to filter as much information from their comments as possible, then correct as required.

The layout and color scheme of your blog should make life easy for your reader. Selecting dark background colors with colored text may look good, but can make reading difficult. Poor color and font selection can break the flow of even the most well written work. The location of sidebars, link buttons and photographs should not distract the reader. Less is more, if you want the reader to enjoy the thoughts you worked so hard to express. By viewing other popular blogs, you can better select templates schemes that match the theme of your own blog. You should note that some sites use dark background colors well and some do not.

Once you are satisfied with the blog you have built, it is time for search engine submission. Many will argue the point that meta tags are needed to enhance search engine optimization (SEO). This is no longer as important as it was in the past. The search engine crawlers (programs that read and evaluate your blog) are wise to most of the trickery. Most free blog services have basic meta tags, title and description, built into their templates.

A short keyword meta tag can be helpful. Use only highly relevant keywords without repetition in the meta file. If you overuse the keyword meta file, you can easily lose traffic as search engines may ignore your blog. Content is the key. You should have fifteen or more well proofed posts or articles before search engine submission. That content will found by the crawlers without the meta tags.

Unless you pay for inclusion in search directories it takes time for the blog to get listed. For most bloggers this is a good thing. You will have more time to tweak the look, feel and content of your blog. Additions to the blog, like really simple syndication (RSS) feeds, site meters and AdSense if desired, should be well thought out. Again, look at the popular blogs that most closely match your theme, for inspiration.

If you are trying to generate AdSense revenue, know your AdSense options. Color AdSense panels will generate more revenue, but may distract, even annoy your reader. Blending AdSense panels to match your site color scheme may look great, but can reduce clicks. The size and location of the AdSense panels can make or break the first impression of your blog. If you want your reader to stay, less can be more. A simple AdSense sidebar and footer is often a good start.

Free site meters, like the ones available on sitemeter.com, can provide you with a great deal of information. Not only the number of site hits, but page views, referral links, out clicks and general location of viewers. All this information will help you to determine the effectiveness of your blog and your blog promotion.

Content Sites: Freelance writers for content websites have the benefit of well designed and promoted venue to showcase their work. They also have the disadvantage of intense competition. Quality is again the key. With quality content, buddy groups and reciprocal networks on content sites are valuable assets. Instead of joining a buddy group just for promotion, try to find or build a buddy help group. Having buddies review content before submission can only improve the quality of content. Once you and your buddies are satisfied with the quality of the work, then it is time for promotion.

Promotion: Promotion of your blog or articles is much more effective if someone else does the promotion. Being active in a forum related to the theme of your blog/article is a great way to promote. While quality forums frown on self-promotion, most will allow you to include your blog URL or link, in your user profile. If you are active in a forum, post informative or witty comments. Good comments increase the likelihood viewers will visit your blog. If those viewers like your blog, they can post your URL without violating the forum's terms of service. This is the best promotion any blog/article can receive on a forum.

Well-written comments placed on related blogs will also increase traffic to your blog or article. There is a huge emphasis on well written! Make sure your comments are relevant and timely. A simple "Great job!" can be much more effective than a long discourse. If you have a comment of some length to post, compose and proof before posting. Everything you write online reflects your character.

Buddies can help you promote your blog. Not only by emailing their friends, but by helping in forum or blog promotion. While this may seem clandestine to some extent, it does not violate forum terms of service. Overuse of the buddy system of promotion is obvious to Webmasters, blog owners and forum users. Honest promotion, without trickery, is perfectly acceptable. If you want a buddy to promote an article or blog post, select the article with care. Make sure that the promotional post matches the thread topic. Don't hide the fact that you may know one another. There is nothing unethical about admiring the work of a friend or relative.

Some forums will allow you to include your blog link in your user signature. Instead of using your blog link in your signature, think about linking to your best article or post. You can also easily change your signature to link to an article relevant to the forum or thread topic. First impressions are important. Use that link privilege wisely to create the best first impression.

A final tip on forum promotion, "Promote unto others as they promote unto you." If you develop a following and someone promotes your work, reciprocate. If you see many errors in their work, tactfully share some advice before blindly promoting. Being the first to promote when you find quality content generates reciprocal promotion. So don't limit your promotional efforts to your buddy group.

While I am by no means an expert on SEO or online promotion. I know I despise over-zealous promotion of mediocre content. Occasional promotion intrigues me. I am much more likely read an author that makes an occasional promotion, than one that has dozens of posts begging for page views.