How to Promote Your Blog Posts for Absolutely Free

Small business marketing is not easy, but it doesn't have to be expensive. We've got some great tips to show you how to promote your blog posts for absolutely free in this article.

There are so many small business marketing tools, tips, and tactics it's difficult to know where to start. It's not uncommon for small business owners to move from tactic to tactic with little success and finally throw their hands up in frustration.

One of the most successful marketing strategies for many small businesses today is Content Marketing, and the first tactic most people turn to is blogging.  Why?

Blogging has been around for a long time and it's fairly easy to get started, which is why I think most people turn to this content marketing tactic first.

There are a host of benefits to blogging and if you'd like to learn why you should be blogging for your small business check out THIS ARTICLE from Corey Wainwright. 

If only this were true. Creating blog posts without promoting them is a recipe for failure and a mistake many small businesses make. You should spend more time promoting your blog posts than you do writing them. The importance of promoting your blog posts can't be understated.

There are a ton of ways to pay to promote your blog, and you can actually successfully promote your blog for free. Below you'll find a comprehensive list of how to promote your blog posts for free.

Note : Some of these strategies will work better for certain types of businesses depending on whether you are selling to consumers or businesses.

If you have an email list (which I hope you do), then promoting your blog posts to your email list is the first place you should start. Your email list is a warm audience that has a higher likelihood of responding well to your blog posts.

If you need to start building an email list we recommend Mailerlite. It's easy to use and they have a great free plan to get you started. If you need help getting started don't hesitate in reaching out to us, we'd be happy to help.

Other popular email marketing software you might want to consider is Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Active Campaign, and AWeber.

What social media channels are your small business active with? You should create posts for every social media channel you use for each blog post you create. If the social media channel uses hashtags, create a description for your post with hashtags on keywords that will help your post show up in searches.

Here's a sample of a recent Facebook post we had to promote a blog article:

There are a plethora of online forums. Find ones that apply to your business niche and use your blog posts to answer questions. This is a great way to promote your blog posts and build credibility. Your blog posts will be much more detailed than a lot of other forum answers and help set you apart from the pack.

For our business,  Quora and Alignable are great places to help others by answering questions with blog post articles we've written. Check out one of our Quora answers HERE for a sample. 

• Reddit 
  This is a very popular site where people find answers to their questions and help others in the community. If you choose to syndicate content here I would highly recommend spending a little time to understand how it works. There are some nuances to using Reddit and it can be a bit confusing. Check out Neil Patel's epic article about Reddit HERE for more in-depth information.
• Linkedin Publishing 
  If you serve the B2B market this is a fantastic site to use. You can publish your articles in their entirety and share to your audience and relevant LinkedIn groups.
  
  CLICK HERE for a recent example of an article we published on Linkedin.
• Medium
  Medium is a great website to discover content on a number of interests and connect with like-minded people. You'll find publishing articles on the site fairly similar to publishing an article on Linkedin.
• BizSugar 
  This is a site for small business news, tips, and networking. You can submit articles you've written to the network. If the audience is a good fit for your business this is an easy site to get involved with.
  

It's very common and recommended to link to other resources within your blog posts. If you link to someone else's article it's a great practice to reach out to them and let them know. Here's a sample of a message I sent a few months ago. 

SAMPLE EMAIL OUTREACH

Hi Kevin,

I just came across your article on employee engagement research. It was a great help in creating our most recent blog post.

Just wanted to say thanks for the information. I mentioned you in the article if you'd like to check it out.

If you feel the article is worthy of sharing I'd be honored. Either way, thanks for putting out some great information.

Regards,

Tim Fitzpatrick

You won't always get a reply or a share, but this can be a great way to connect with other people and gain some exposure to their audience if they choose to share your content.

If you are not well versed in how to find someones email address (so you can reach out) this will help - How to Easily Find Email Addresses for Prospects in No Time Flat.

I hope you found at least one of these 5 tips on how to promote your blog helpful.

Create a blog promotion strategy that works for you and stick with it.

Content marketing is not a sprint, it's a marathon. Everything you put out there is a little digital breadcrumb that helps people find you. Be consistent and be patient.

Did you find this helpful? Feel free to comment below and share.

Header image courtesy of Pexels.