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The following is a guest post submitted by Luis Sandoval Jr. of Daily Slackr. He is a graphic freenlancer that runs a small firm that helps other small businesses, while continuing to expand his knowledge of social media.

Too often I hear people that are unhappy with the traffic that they are receiving on their site. In their minds as soon as they created their blog they want people to simply know they exist and traffic their site to read the pearls of wisdom and insight they are sharing with the world. Sure in an ideal world this would be the simplest of formulas, but in reality marketing has to be done to garner any kind of recognition.

I started blogging about a month and a half ago, and having worked in the world of social media, I did not expect to have immediate success, but was still clueless as to just how necessary marketing was. I guess the first recommendation I have before you start, or even if you’ve just started is to READ! I cannot emphasize this enough. Reading other blogs is the best way to gain insight on just how others are attracting readers. Read topics that interest you and others that don’t. I remember reading topics I knew would not interest me and then suddenly finding myself reading their archives. Something they are doing attracted me to continue, and that’s the type of flare you will be looking for.

For many writers it’s their style of writing, their use of story telling, the interesting photos, their level of expertise, or perhaps the people they have access to, but while reading their posts surely something has attracted your eye. Review all of this, understand their layout and their placement of topics throughout the post. Not only will this give you a handle on how to write your own, it will give you some direction when you create your own blog, whether you’re using Wordpress, Typepad, Blogger, or any other myriad of blogging tools.

Now reading is just the fundamental foundation of getting started. It’s so basic that perhaps you felt it remedial, but I only mention it because sometimes the most basic is the most often overlooked. Detailed below are other ways to market your own blog to get the kind of traffic you’re looking for.

Participation

In a world filled with writers there is a good chance that what you are going to write about has already been done. Does that mean you should stop? NO! Not only should you not stop, you should embrace what already exists. I say this because this is going to be the community that you will be leaning on. Everyone that goes into blogging understands that they are co-existing with other similar topics, but their own perspective is what creates a uniqueness amongst the brand.

With a community that is already thriving, you have to find a way to “plug-in” to the community and make yourself stand out. Networking is required and this requires participation. As you search the net for blogs that interest you target certain ones and become active in their commentary section and/or forums. This gives you an opportunity to plug your own blog, but also shows that you are interested in other people and that the community does not simply revolve around you. Sharing your ideas in no way takes away from your blog, it enhances it. By staking your claim as an expert on a particular topic other commentary/forum readers will make the trip to your blog to see what you have to say on the topic.

Don’t agree with what you read in the commentary/forums? No problem, a part of being active is debate, so comment on the commentary. The more you promote the dialog between people the more ideas are shared. Now not everyone will be open to having their thoughts challenged, but the few that openly discuss the issue are the ones that you want to follow and be a part of.

Again, no one knows you if you remain solitary unto yourself, get out there and be active!

Personal Branding

I’ve seen this topic more than anything else. The idea of you being you is an old concept that may have been shared by your family, your teachers, perhaps even close friends, but nothing rings truer when establishing your online persona. There is no need to be anyone else other than who you are. This is all apart of your own uniqueness that you will bring to your blog whether it’s a writing style, a speaking style for a video blog, a topic, fashion, perhaps your makeup, anything that makes you YOU is fair game in the online world. Typically those that fall outside the box are those that gain the most attention.

For example, I personally follow Gary Vaynerchuk, because as a wine enthusiast, he brings wine to the masses. His unorthodox methods of wine tasting and sharing of experiences is unique to the wine world. His loud voice, his spitting into the bucket, his swishing of the wine, his “rocker” look all add to the personal touch of his blog.

If you try to be something you are not, over time you will be exposed as a fraud and often times you will lose your following. Be yourself! You are the face of your own product. In a world where openness is requiring businesses to drop their facade, communicate with the community, and expose their undersides, there will be little room for hidden agendas, sneak attacks, and false caring for a community.

Chris Brogan does a great job explaining personal branding in a series of articles that are sure to get you thinking!

Social Media As A Tool

By now if you are into blogging, you’ve heard of social networking software such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, FriendFeed, etc. To many these tools are just another way of chatting with people, similar to instant messaging (IM). This could not be further from the truth. Ultimately, like anything else, the tool is only as productive as the person using it. That being said, perhaps it’s time you review your online habits and take a second look at some of these if you’ve tossed them to the wayside. By scouring the net you will find numerous productivity articles explaining the uses of these programs in marketing anything including your own blog.

I can only share my personal experiences with using social media tools, but I know for certain that others have experienced success with these. Even our own Mike Huang, of Bloggin-Ads, has used Twitter as a source of promoting new blogs and new blog posts.

I use Twitter to announce when a new post is up, and generally I receive some traffic through that. Now I’m a active participant on Twitter so the community knows that I’m not ALL about getting traffic to my site, so when I do post something they are usually happy to check it out for feedback. I also make sure to highlight my blog on my other communities such as Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn. This drives a variety of traffic to my site from my peers, to the younger crowd, to the professional types in my network on LinkedIn.

Again, using these tools is just another outlet for marketing yourself and your site.

Traditional Marketing

I personally have not done this with my own site, but I felt the need to mention it since this is another option for the more financially capable. For starters, you could always go the route of the pay per click. This would increase your exposure by paying into the marketing and ranking business, and in turn perhaps generate some income for you through the right advertisers. This can be a risky route for those looking at making a quick buck as this method can take some time to cultivate and watch the market to see where to direct your advertising.

A much safer route is by offering advertising space on your site. When the advertising becomes mutually beneficial, both parties succeed in promoting their product. Take a look at Bloggin-Ads, along the right column are a list of advertisers that he is marketing, but in turn they are marketing him as well. These companies feel that this site is trafficked enough, and feel confident in marketing their wares.

Another safe route is by linking from other sites. As you establish yourself in the community and build relationships, you can always have other sites link to your blog and in turn you could offer a link to theirs. What this does is generate ranking for your blog, but also gets others to notice the link community. By being a part of that community you’ve increased your exposure.

Feedburner is another great way to not only market yourself, but also to keep track of your site’s analytics, such as how many subscribers, how many visitors, what they are clicking on, etc. BlogCatalog is another promotion tool that I just recently signed up with that highlights your blog within the BlogCatalog community. Both Feedburner and BlogCatalog offer pay options for more exposure, but their free exposure seems to work pretty well for me, but the option is entirely up to you.

Self Promotion

Finally, the idea of self promotion puts the footwork of marketing yourself entirely on you through your everyday activities. For example, does your email have a signature option, if so have you included your blog’s address? Vistaprint, MOO cards, and other printing options offer cards either FREE or extremely low prices for you to market yourself. I have already ordered my own set of MooCards with all of my social networking contact information on there and on the back in bold lettering is my web address for Daily Slackr.

All the signatures in all the forums that I am a part of have my blog address on it, whether it’s related to the topic or not because you never know where you will find your followers and subscribers.

Ultimately by using these methods you will see your RSS Subscription rate increase, and overtime as you build your online reputation, that number will skyrocket as people refer to you as the expert of your field. Always stay connected, always be open to learning, and always be willing to participate, those rules of the blog world will carry you far!

This was a guest post submitted by Luis Sandoval Jr. of Daily Slackr. He is a graphic freenlancer that runs a small firm that helps other small businesses, while continuing to expand his knowledge of social media. Bloggin-Ads currently in need of a few more guest posters that would like to obtain a permanent spot here on this blog. Please contact Mike if you’re interested.

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