Updated: June 28, 2009
Blogs are a great mechanism in achieving high search engine rankings – an informal way to connect with potential customers and develop a following for your products and services. But how do you grow a blog without resorting to paid advertising?
Of course, the over-simplified explanation is to add interesting content on a regular basis – some professional bloggers say daily but weekly is good enough to develop a following according to veteran copywriter and web marketer Michael Fortin in his article “How I Grow My Blog Organically Using These 5 Steps”.
Other than email signatures, Michael doesn’t advertise his blog…he continuously builds subscribers and generates revenue through sponsored links on his page for his own products or ones he’s affiliated with – revenue is a byproduct of his efforts, not the main focus of the blog or its content.
Hire a publicist or distribute extensive blog posts or articles to editors, directories, ezines, other blogs and even offline magazines. Allowing others to reprint, syndicate or otherwise redistribute is a great way to develop a following – other publications and resources can easily modify your article or post to fit their target audience, like I’m doing here.
Check out these SEO tips and more at Mike’s blog.