Now that the “Blogging Tips” series has about 40 parts, I think it’s time to finally complete it - hopefully, soon. I still have some ideas for a couple of parts, but, meanwhile, do you (yes, you) have any questions? About blogging, blogging software, blogging optimization, promotion, SEO, etc.?
Just ask. If the answer is quick and simple, I’ll answer it in a comment (and possibly use it for some kind of FAQ); if it’s more complex, there may be a new post, possibly even part of the series.
Come on, free consulting! 
What more could anyone want? 
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I have a question, but I don’t think it has an answer. The question is: what is the best (must be free) way to promote my blog so that it can compete with the millions of others out there.
The reason I ask this is because it seems that I have good content, but no-one will even find out about it.
Zantor: that question has an answer, just not an easy one.
Assuming you already have good content, it’s mostly a question of:
1- “pure” SEO: making sure the search engines “like” the site
2- promotion: press releases, talking about the site in the appropriate forums or places, telling people about it
3- incoming links: having as many people as possible link to your site, especially if appropriate (that is, not just random links, but links from directories, or from related sites or blogs).
Some other things you can do:
1- use blog exchangers. They can give you a lot of traffic, although it’s untargeted traffic, meaning that most visitors are just surfing for credits, and not really interested in your blog at all. Still, even if it’s just one in twenty, someone will look at your content, and you may get “real” readers from there.
2- pay for visitors, using Google AdWords, or something similar. It can be great to “jumpstart” new blogs or sites, though, of course, it costs some money - but you can get “palpable” new visitors with just $50 a month. And these are targeted visitors, unlike the former.
I suggest you read the articles in the SEO category for some more tips.
Hope this helps.
Thanks!
I think I’ll try for the SEO tactic. I do get some google traffic, just not very much. If that were to increase it would be very benefitial.
OK, here is my question:
Are Press Releases worth it? Or just a waste of time?
I noticed you published a PR at PRweb.com and want to know the result of it, I mean traffic-wise. How many unique visitors? Did traffic grew a lot? It seems PRWeb.com is free, but there are other services that provide paid Press Releases, have you tried them?
adeus
Hi, Tiago.
I haven’t tried the free options in PRWeb yet, oddly enough, although I plan to do so soon. Paid entries work better because they appear in sites like Google News.
In general, they have given me good - not great, but good - traffic increases. Meanwhile, looking back, I see several mistakes I made, which prevented the results from being as good as they could be; practice makes perfect, I guess. For instance, my latest PR, about the anti-spyware guide, only got about a hundred extra hits in a day, but it could have been much better if it had been planned better.
One thing I haven’t tried yet is to make sure that a press release appears on the default Google News page - that is, one that wasn’t customized. Mine is, of course (I removed the sports section, for instance, and added sections about some more interesting stuff), but I’m betting that more than 90% of readers aren’t even aware that you can remove and add sections. Therefore, a press release that does appear in the default page has at least 10 times more readers than one that doesn’t.
Then again, there’s probably a lot more competition…
Anyway, my suggestion is that you try out a couple of free press releases, and see what difference it makes. I’m planning my 4th PR later this week (about the feeds tutorials), by the way.
Thanks for the answer Pedro.
Here is another question/observation… Is the subject of a press release worth it?
For example, I don’t think your post about “avoiding and removing spyware” was worth a press release, maybe if it was more developed but still… don’t know.
IMO, to make a good press release there has to be a “good” subject. (good isn’t the best word to describe it)
What defines “worthiness” here?
Of course, a press release for every single article would be absurd; however, I think that one for useful, original guides, or sites, or new features in sites, may be worth it.
I’d say what defines “worthiness” is the content. In the case I mentioned, there are plenty of other articles and sites dedicated to the spyware subject with more detailed info and guides, and I don’t know if your post was original or not.
Not wanting to blow my own horn here
but my post had something most other guides don’t: I don’t recommend spending a cent on paid anti-spyware stuff, and it’s little more than one page long. Everything else I’ve seen either recommends buying some absurdly expensive software, or is way too technical (or detailed) for the average user.
Getting back on topic: what defines “worthiness” is not only the content itself, but how useful it can be. Nothing is useful or interesting to everyone, of course; everything you write has some target in mind (even if that’s just “your friends”). But if what you wrote is useful to its “target group”, then I’d say it’s worthy.
That unique part of your post slipped my mind…but I don’t want to get into that.
The meaning of “worthiness” was well put, nice job
Zantor,
Just a quick note. I dropped by your blog, and immediately clicked off of it. As soon as it loaded, a page-blocking pop-up appeared, advertising crap I cared nothing about. Not only was it an ad, not only was it a pop-up, not ONLY was it one of those ones that pops up in the same window, over the page text —– but it was too big for it’s popup area, requiring viewers to scroll to see the full ad.
Seriously… drop those style of ads. They piss off more people than they’re worth.
I have put none of these kinds of ads on my site. I have no idea where that came from, but I have never seen them when I visit. This is the first time it has ever been mentioned to me!
I am really confused now!
Zantor,
I may have some piece of ad-ware or spy-ware I don’t know about. I scanned my system, and nothing showed up, but I’ll do a deep scan, again, to be sure. I figured it might be a part of AdBrite, but who knows.
Hmm.. May I make a suggestion about your AdSense ads? Try blending them in to your site, especially your link unit, up top. Better yet, blend your link unit in (same link color as the rest of your blog, NO backgrounds), and then put it either directly under your “Most popular posts” links (not seperated from it, like it is, now, but on the physical next line), OR even put it directly under the title “Most popular posts,” i.e. between the text “Most popular posts” and then the links to the posts. Like this:
Most Popular Posts
((google link unit))
post 1 : post 2 : post 3
If it’s a plugin, and you can’t do that, put the unit under the pop posts line. I guarentee you’ll see a rise in CTR from it.
The ad at the bottom would better be placed elsewhere, like between a post or two, and blended in.
*shrug* Just some suggestions that I’ve had success with.
Nice blog, by the way - now that I’ve actually spent time looking at it.
Thanks for the tips. I’m put some work into it on the weekend and see what I can do.