After content has been published, most bloggers do not even bother promoting their blogs.
For some, the idea of learning “content is king” makes them believe that a good content will market itself in a sea of hundreds and thousands of blog posts.
The truth is, if you do not have a decent-size audience yet your blog will virtually go nowhere. You need to buildup readership and that is one of the hardest parts of blogging. In fact, promoting your blog should be about ten times the amount of time you spent on crafting your content.
So if you think that spending several hours on that content of yours and a few seconds to hit that publish button are all it takes to have a successful blog, think again.
You have to get off the couch and stop dreaming that your post will draw traffic and build readership by itself.
Before You Publish… Tweak!
1. Don’t be too complacent about your content
Ultimately, that is your product and having a great content just ain’t enough. Consider not only yours but others’ perspective as well.
Allow somebody (I would like to emphasize on just “one” somebody who is interested in your niche), to read your content and be your critique. Take their criticism, analyze the gaps, and tweak your content further. The primary purpose of this is to collate different points of view from a limited resource because most of the time, we can’t see what others can. It’s like playing a game of chess where it is usually the spectators who can see the strategies from both players. But of course, it is still you who decide how you want your game to be played.
On the other hand, if you want to criticize your own blog (maybe because you have nobody to help you out) you have to take a few moments away from it. When you come back, read your content in the point of view of a new visitor and forget that you are actually the author.
Bottom line is, always think that what you have accomplished so far is just a draft of a greater content and your greater content would be a draft of a killer content.
2. You need a smashing headline to back up your content
Why?
Because the headline is the first thing that is being noticed by readers and you have only a few seconds to snatch their attention.
Headlines have this power to make your blog standout from the rest. And for you to harness this power means learning the art of crafting headlines.
Do not exaggerate what your headlines can claim. I would like to quote an interesting example from Sally Ormond’s article on making headlines great that goes like this, “Discover the top 3 tips that’ll make you a millionaire overnight.” I am chuckling as I write this line.
Rather than exaggerating to grab readers’ attention, just be honest and creative at the same time. You can play around with popular keywords and construct something catchy and mind-blowing. Take your time to write and rewrite, after all, it is your headline.
Over to you. What is your take about this topic?
Read the rest of the How to Promote Your Blog Before and After Publishing series here:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
Image Credit: Mufan96
About Ramcel Gatchalian
I hope you don't mind if I add something.
3. Create a magnetic first paragraph for your post. After a smashing headline has been released out of cage, the next important thing is to back it up with a sticky first paragraph for them to have no other choice than to click that 'Read More' button.
Anyways, it's really a crucial part to polish your post before publishing it. Sometimes, I have to read and reread the post and still found typos. If I haven't checked it myself, my readers will have to check it for me. Simple mistakes could make you lose your credibility. Thus, the possibility to lose some of your readers as well.
Your insights are always welcome Gian. I was waiting for someone to butt-in as I intentionally left this post “open-ended.” Kudos to you!
Your 3rd point is definitely valuable. And yes, the job of the headline is to have the first paragraph be read by the audience. And the first paragraph’s role is to have the second to be read. And so on. You might have heard that before but it is really a fact.
And on the polishing part, proofreading and tweaking is a must. Although there are readers who are forgiving about a few typo-errors on your posts, it is but proper to ensure that you maintain the quality of your articles.
It's not only about credibility but branding as well.
Really good points, Ramcel. Overselling our articles too much in our titles can really cause a lot of negative result. When we oversell, people tend to increase their expectations a lot more and if we can’t deliver we will lose a lot of audience in the process. We have to make realistic claims and do our best to wow them when they read the article.