So you've written your blog...now what?

Blogging is a big deal these days. Lots of companies are using it for the added value that it brings to their SEO efforts. Others utilize blogging for personal reasons. Major corporations set aside lots of money for the so-called "mommy bloggers" of the world. Blogging is indeed a huge industry. Lots of time and effort go into crafting the perfect post, starting with a content calendar and then, of course, writing your content.

Chances are, if you took the time to write the article, then you want as many eyes on it as possible, right?

I thought so.

If the last step in your blogging efforts is just hitting the publish button, then you are missing out on lots of potential visitors to your content and ultimately to your site.

There are tons of resources out there for steps to take once you've published your content. So, I won't bore you with the 101 ways you can promote your post. Rather, I will share what I do personally to help boost my own blog posts.

Get Social!

This step is a no-brainer for most people, but, just in case, let's cover it again. Facebook and Twitter are fantastic resources for your brand. They allow you to interact with your fans, but, more importantly, as a brand, you are able to direct your followers to the content that you want seen. Just remember to mix things up!

Stumble!

StumbleUpon has quickly emerged on the scene as a competitor in the social arena. What's more is that StumbleUpon is a major traffic driver to many websites. StumbleUpon allows users to submit a page that they would like to have 'stumbled'. Pages are then categorized by topics that are selected in the uploading process. As a user of the site, topics of interest are selected and then articles matching those selections are then shown.

Pinterest

Pinterest is quickly becoming a force in the social media sphere. For many bloggers, Pinterest is the number one source of traffic, even beyond organic Google searches. There are lots of moving parts in making Pinterest work as a traffic source, but the number one takeaway is this: a pretty image that is Pinterest friendly will get lots of clicks. A pinable image that performs the best on Pinterest is a vertical image that is 500 x 750. Be sure that your background image being used in this application can be stretched to that size with no pixilation. It typically takes 3 months for a pin to gain steam, but the results are worth the effort!

Pinging Services.

There are lots of pinging services available, but my go-to is Ping-o-matic. Pinging services allow you to alert the search engines manually that your blog has a new post up for indexing. Sometimes it is helpful to give Google a little nudge, which is where pinging comes in.

Marketing your blog can be a job all by itself. At the Marketing Squad, we would love to sit down with you and talk about how we can help ease some of that burden! Contact us today or leave a comment if you would like to continue the conversation!