Promoting your blog posts will take up much of your time as a blogger. Most blogging experts agree that creation of content for your blog should only be about 20% of your time spent blogging.
Promoting you blog’s content is not a one time thing. Promotion is something that bloggers need to consistently do for both new and old blog posts.
Below we go through some of the ways you can promote your blog posts for free.
Promote Your Blog Post Through Your Email List
There’s a reason that every blogger says “grow your email list”.
If you are trying to grow your email list from the start of your blog, you have an automatic source of traffic at your fingertips.
You can send a weekly roundup or bi-weekly of content that you have put out, driving these readers back to your blog to read your latest post.
If you need an email service, here are some that are recommended by most bloggers:
- MailerLite (free for up to 1000 subscribers)
- ConvertKit (many bloggers find this service more user friendly)
- SendInBlue (up to 300 emails per day on the free plan)
Use Online Forums and Question and Answer Websites
Answer people’s questions with blog posts that you have written. Sites that are question and answer like Quora, or online forums that are in the niche your blog is in, are both great ways to promote your blog posts for free.
Both types of websites offer the opportunity for you to help answer questions and show your expertise. You can also leave a link to your posts that deal with the topic for people to find further info for what they are seeking answers to.
Some question and answer sites that are popular for bloggers:
Use Social Media
Post your blog post on social media as soon as you publish the post. This is one of the best ways to promote your blog posts for free and get that post in front of plenty of potential readers.
Also go back and re-share older content. Just because it’s not brand new doesn’t mean it’s not interesting to people.
Interact with other people in your niche and your followers. Don’t make it seem like you’re a robot. Thank others for shares of your content.
Pinterest is an amazing source of traffic, especially when used optimally. It is the main way most new bloggers get traffic while waiting for SEO to kick in with Google.
With Pinterest you have a way to create promotions for your blog that will carry on with time. Pins have a half life of three and a half months. This means it takes 3.5 months for a pin to get 50% of it’s engagement. That’s quite a life span promotion wise.
Here are some blog posts and resources that can get you on your way to tons of traffic from Pinterest:
- Tools You Can Use To Increase Pinterest Traffic
- How to Get Started With Pinterest for Blog Traffic
- Tailwind (you can give the free trial a go)
- Udemy Pinterest Marketing Courses
- Pinterest Ninja eCourse
- Making Pinterest Possible eBook
Always try out setting up a Facebook Business Page for your blog.
Some bloggers have success with their pages and some don’t. Unfortunately with the Facebook algorithm, unless you’re willing to fork over money to them your posts won’t make it to too many of your followers on this platform.
But there is one part of Facebook that is a great way to promote your blog posts for free:
Blogging Facebook Groups
Blogging Facebook groups are a great place to talk with other bloggers and even reach out for help when needed. Most you can even offer up one of your blog posts on a subject another blogger is asking for information on.
Another great thing about Facebook blogging groups is that most have daily promotional threads. These threads will have certain rules you need to follow to participate and promote your posts.
Some great Facebook blogging groups you can join:
- Blogging for New Bloggers
- Blogger Gal Collective
- Bloggers Supporting Bloggers
- Becoming a Blogger
- Blogging Babes
- Golden Bloggerz Blogging
Twitter and Blog Share Accounts
Just like the Facebook blogging groups, there are Twitter accounts that are for bloggers to come together to promote and support each other.
Some of the great Twitter Blog Share Accounts:
- GingerBloggers RT
- The Clique – Bloggers RT
- Pinterest Squad
- Influencer RT
- Golden Bloggerz RT
- Bloggers Hut
- Blogging Babes RT
- I spy … a blog?
You can also promote your posts on your own Twitter feed. With you feed you want to make sure to promote both new and old posts.
Instagram makes it a bit harder to promote individual blog posts.
You can have only one link in your bio, so one alternative is to make a landing page specifically for Instagram traffic.
Another alternative is to use LinkTree. LinkTree will allow you to send your audience from you Instagram bio link to a landing page that you can list multiple destinations and offers.
By using your own landing page or LinkTree you can promote individual blog posts in your Instagram account through your stories or Instagram feed and direct your readers to your bio link.
Use Push Notifications
Using push notifications on your blog is a great way to grow another group of engaged followers.
People who choose to get notifications from you are wanting to return and are eager to view your blog content.
With push notifications you are able to display a notification directly in your reader’s browser or to their mobile device.
PushEngage is push notification service you can use, they have a free plan available until you go beyond 2500 subscribers. PushEngage also has a WordPress plugin to use with their service, making it even easier for you to get push notifications installed on your blog.
PushCrew is another push notification service that can be integrated with WordPress. But their free plan only goes up to 500 subscribers.
Create and Use Visual Content
If you create visual content, many people will use that to share your post. This is a great way to get more social sharing done for you blog post. Especially through Pinterest.
If you have visually pleasing images people will be more likely to share your content through Pinterest.
Canva is a great tool to edit and create visual graphics. PicMonkey is another tool for images that is loved among many bloggers.
Where for Get Free Images for Your Blog
Use Plugins to Make it Easy for Your Content to be Shared
Be sure to make your blog posts easy for your readers to share on social media.
Sumo is a great plugin to use on WordPress that adds share buttons for multiple social media platforms on each blog post. You can also add share icons to images through Sumo.
If you are using Jetpack on WordPress, they also have a sharing feature for your posts.
Share Other’s Content
Share content from other bloggers that is related to yours.
This is not “bad for your business”. Sharing other bloggers content encourages other bloggers to share your blog posts and interact with your blog.
Do Guest Blog Posts
Writing for other people’s blogs is a great way to grow your blog’s audience.
When you do a guest post on another blog you are putting your writing and your links in-front of readers you have not reached yet.
Feature Other Bloggers
Feature other bloggers in your blog posts and ask them to share.
Neil Patel has used and recommends this as a way to promote your blog. Once he has written an article that includes many links to other bloggers content he then emails those bloggers letting them know that he linked to them and asks them to share if they like the post.
You might feel like you don’t have enough pull in your niche or expertise to ask bigger bloggers to share your content, but you do! Go ahead and send them an email or a dm, what’s the worst that can happen? They don’t share it, that’s it!
Run a Contest
Simply run a contest for a reward. The reward can just be a printable resource that you have made, that way it doesn’t cost anything. Make one of the requirements to enter that participants need to share a certain post.
Running contests that encourage your posts to be shared make it easy to get publicity for your blog post without having to put a huge up front cost for advertisement.
Bloglovin’
Bloglovin’ allows you to add your blog so others can follow it. You just add your blog and start to get followers who are looking for content in your niche.
With Bloglovin’ every time you publish a new blog post your Bloglovin’ followers will get a notification. This is kind of like push notifications or an email list that you don’t have to manage in any way.
This is a way you can promote your blog posts for free passively by just adding your blog once to Bloglovin’ and letting it do the work for you.
You can follow BloggingYourBlog on Bloglovin’ here.
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Hi Jo,I have recently started a blog. I am also a new member of the Golden Bloggers Facebook group . That is how I found you. I didn’t realize there was so much to it. Thank you for the tips. I have read many tips from other bloggers too, but yours is one of the best and the most beginner friendly. I have started blogging about my own experience with Vertigo and I need a lot of help. I know where to come now if I need more.
Hi Jonathan!
I’m glad you found it all helpful 🙂
This is one of the best posts I’ve seen with helpful tips for bloggers. You’ve provided a detailed and comprehensive list and I’ve bookmarked several of your suggestions. Thank you for this valuable resource!!!
Thanks so much! I’m glad you found it useful 🙂
Great job on your list of free solutions for blog promotion. I especially found the list of Facebook Groups helpful and requested to join one of them. As an additional resource for your readers, I wrote 63 top tactics that bloggers can use to drive more traffic to their blog posts that’s available at https://dmarketingu.com/63-top-tactics-to-promote-your-blog-posts/
It lists 63 actionable tactics across 10 content creation categories, and even has a free one-page checklist that bloggers can print and use as an action plan for each new post that they publish. I hope it’s helpful for your audience.
Very helpful tips. I may have to use a contest to get people on my email list
Some great tips here for any blogger – thank you for sharing. Definitely going to try some more of these methods.
So much valuable tips on blog promotional, one area that I have discovered that can drive traffic are Twitter Threads. I use them daily to promote my blog. Thanks for sharing these useful tips!
Hey Jo, I found your tips very interesting and helpful! Though I know about bloglovin, I have an account on it. Still got to know about many other option for which I was unaware. I will definitely try this. Thanks for sharing.
I have been facing low traffic on my blog. Thus I was searching for solution of this issue. Your blog has helped me to get rid of this blog. I really appreciate the kind of topics you post here. Thanks for sharing information that is actually helpful. Good day!