Have you always wanted a medium to express yourself? Nowadays, blog and websites can be created and customized within a matter of minutes – even without special graphic design or programming knowledge. Domain and hosting services like 1and1.com or GoDaddy.com offer bundle packages that include free blogs, email and website with domain registration for a low price. Or you can get yours for free with Blogger or Wordpress.
Now that have your blog, you want others outside of your social circle to know where they can find you, right? If you remember the shampoo commercial from the 1970s where the woman repeatedly chants, ‘And they told two friends…and so on’ while her image multiplies across the TV screen. Well, word of mouth is the most effective method of advertising, if not the cheapest – and it never goes out of style. An easy yet modern method of doing this would be to have a link to your blog underneath your e-signature. You can include your blog title and/or the purpose it serves in no more than two short sentences. A small graphic or logo can inserted for a personalized touch but is not necessary.
If you are a frequent poster on other sites, you might be able to include you blog or website address in with your comments. Of course, if you are not certain that this is permitted; ask the site owner or moderator (sometimes these are two different persons) before doing this as you don’t want to be blocked as a spammer.
One of the most popular (and quickest) is to submit your blog to a submission directory. These are like the Yellow Pages for websites but they are listed by category or interest. If you do a Google search by typing ‘blog directory’, you will come up with enough results to keep busy for a while. There are some that let you submit for free and others that offer a “premium” service which usually comes to a small amount that is billed monthly, quarterly or annually. If your budget is limited, the search can be narrowed by adding ‘free’ to your keywords.
Once you begin to build your audience, the best way to keep them is to post often. This can be daily or weekly but it must be consistent in order to hold interest.
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