Great ways to gain publicity for your blog

Writing great content isn't the only aspect to building a popular blog. That content has to be seen by an ever expanding group of people so that it can pick up new followers and grow in popularity.

While great content is the lynchpin on which the popularity of the blog rests, it is the additional marketing efforts you undertake to get noticed that bring in the crowds in the first place. So what are the best ways to go and find those crowds?

Here's a list of some of the most effective methods for promoting and marketing your blog:

1. Enter your blog into competitions

Take a second to click on that badge and vote for my blog. Especially if you've enjoyed some of my really popular blog posts like:

• Stars wars characters discuss blogging
• Online marketing explained with reference to cows
• Testing your Internet marketing and online business skills

If you are worried about putting yourself out there, blogger's stage fright, then get over it quick. There's no point in being a shrinking violet in this game. The whole point of writing a blog is so that people will read it, and people won't read it if you hide yourself away.

Have some confidence in your writing and make sure you always write the best content possible. Sure, you'll always have some critics, but most people are generally willing to support anyone who offers them something of value.

2. Write guest blog posts

Writing a guest post is an exchange. You are giving the publisher content which enhances their SEO, reputation and PageRank (especially if that content is good), and in return you are gaining exposure to a different group of readers - in the hope that this will generate interest in your blog. In other words, you are increasing your reach.

You can even write a guest post for Site prebuilder.

3. Socialize your blog

One of the best ways to ensure that the content you create gets "out there" on the Internet is to integrate your blog with a number of social networks such as twitter, facebook, linkedin, stumbleupon and digg.

Initially, you won't have much of a following, so the effects may be small - but with time and patience this will grow to the point where every time you write something it results in a burst of interest and traffic.

4. Add your blog to blog aggregators

One of the biggest and best blog aggregation services (although it is extremely buggy with poor support) is technorati. If you can get it to work for you then make sure you claim your blog there.

Other notable services include Blog Catalog and Alltop.

Note that you have to have an RSS feed in order to work with these services.

5. Engage your readers

Try not to make everything a "one way" relationship. Offer competitions, polls or other ways for readers to become involved and contribute to your site. This gives them a sense of investment in your blog and they are likely to stay with you as a result.

For example, Site prebuilder is running a competition to see who is the best link bait article writer and it is free for anyone to enter, plus you can win a $50 Amazon gift voucher.

Think of it like looking at a friend's photos. More often than not you are more interested in the ones you are in. It's the same with blogs.