We are all impatient. We like instant gratification, and when it comes to blogging, these emotions are no different. Most business bloggers understand that it is important to create interesting content on a frequent and consistent basis.

Bloggers understand that their reward for this content is increased traffic and leads from search engines, social media, and other sources.

While content works, bloggers need to employ other tactics to help market their business blog to aid the achievement of their business objectives. So if you feel like your blog has rocking content but aren’t yet happy with the reach and results of that content, try some of these ideas for marketing your business blog online.

1. Leverage Employees and Customers - The people who already know and work for/with your company are a great source of reach for your business blog content . Contact customers and employees via email or another method of communication that they prefer, and ask them to comment on a blog post. By participating in this engagement, it is likely they will also start to share your content with others in their networks.

2. Include Your Blog in Traditional Communications - Is your blog URL on your business card? How about your email signature? Do an audit to understand where your are missing opportunities to promote your blog in print and “traditional” electronic communications like email.

3. Write Guest Blog Posts - Sure you are busy writing awesome content for your blog, but it is important to take a little time to write guest blog articles and get them published on other industry blogs. These guest articles will normally include a link back to your blog as a credit for your contribution. This will not only improve your search engine authority, but also expose your content to an new audience and drive additional traffic to your blog.

4. Get Active in Online Communities - An online community could be a LinkedIn group or a more traditional online forum. Use tools like BoardReader to identify online communities consisting of your target audience, and then listen and become active in those groups. Don’t promote your blog; instead, simply answer questions to establish yourself as a thought leader. As you do this, other members will check out your profile (which should include a link to your blog) and may actually become readers or even subscribers to your blog.

5. Mention Media and Influencers - It is no secret that the web contains industry influencers who have the reach and credibility to help others build their own credibility and influence. Because the web makes it so easy to track mentions, most influencers have vanity tracking set up and know when their name is mentioned. By mentioning influencers in your content, you increase the likelihood that they will share your content with their audience.

6. Investigate Content Networks - Content networks are sites and services that exist to aggregate content on a certain topic. An example of a content network would be Networked Blogs , a service that allows blog authors to syndicate their blog content. Many industries also have their one content networks, often run by industry trade publications. Spend some time researching to determine the best content networks for your blog.

7. Invite Guest Contributors - On the internet today, everyone has an audience and reach. While some people have a bigger audience than others, the focus of a business blog should be to gain exposure to as many relevant new visitors as possible. By inviting guest authors to contribute to your blog, you are creating an opportunity for them to also share your blog with their online and offline networks. Regularly including guest contributors can help to increase the amount of new visitor traffic to your blog over time.

8. Hold a Contest - People love to win things. The contest doesn’t even need to be for a prize that is an expensive item; the prize could be as simple as a free gift bag of goodies related to your business. The contest could be for sharing a link to your blog with others, for leaving the most comments, or something else that engages your readers. The important part is to make sure it is easy for your readers to enter the contest.

9. Mix Up Content - Sometimes increasing blog readership and engagement is about mixing up the types of content you publish. At HubSpot, we have published posts with audio, video, and even cartoons. By switching up the type of content you publish, you will likely reengage current readers and attract new readers from outside sources. For example, if you create a video, upload it to YouTube and embed that video into a blog article. By adding content to a large content network like YouTube, you also increase the chances that new blog readers will see your video there and then visit your blog.

What suggestions do you have for more blog marketing?

 

Photo Credit: batmoo

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