Promoting Your Blog Part 1

There are various ways to promote your blog. One is blog hops/link ups, since I already wrote a blog post on this on one of my other blogs you can just click here to read it. I don't think I covered looking for other parties while on a blog hop/link ups. I always look for other parties and try to remember to pin them or add them to my "I Party Here" page.

Guest Posts

Guest posts are a great way to attract more readers to your blog. The way it works is you find another blogger whose content is similar to yours. Bloggers create a blog to be posted on another bloggers, blog. Usually it contains a short bio, a link back to your blog and social media links. You then add a snippet of the blog post to your blog with a link leading to the blog it was posted on, so your readers can go there, read it, share and check out your hosts blog.

You can also ask another blogger to create a guest post for your blog. Some bloggers have a tab on their blogs just for guest posts. Here they will put what type of content they are looking for along with a way to contact them. They put a snippet of the post on their blog and it sends their readers to your blog. 

Giveaways

Giveaways are another way to promote your blog and business. Once again we are looking for a blogger with similar interests and one that hosts a blog hop/link up is even better. A short post is created which usually contains a short bio along with a description of what is being given away. Readers can enter the giveaway by completing various tasks such as following you on social media, leaving a prompted comment, signing up for a newsletter etc. Giveaways are done using "Rafflecopter." This is available for free, but has limitations. 

Host/Co Host a Blog Hop/Link Up

Hosting or co hosting a blog hop/link up is an excellent way to promote your blog, but can be time consuming. You can start your own party. If you do this I highly recommend finding co hosts. You can find many bloggers who are hosting parties who will have ongoing co host or ask during the party for co hosts. This is a good option because it is usually anywhere from a week to a month commitment. To promote the party find other parties to link up your post at. However, some parties state in the rules "No Parties." 

Time and Next Post

My time is very precious at this time in my life, so I am splitting this post up. The next post will include promoting a various social media. Don't miss this post as there might be some things one has not thought about or does not know about. After we don't know everything and must continue to be opened minded and always be willing to learn. See you next time.

Do you have a question about this post? Leave a comment or join the "So You Want to Blog" group on Facebook.

Blogger for Beginners

I have been blogging on Blogger since 2008. While I find this the easiest platform to use there are some things that are not right out there. Up point is you can pretty much Google any help you need for most platforms.

The first thing you want to do is sign for a Google account. Once you have done that go to the home screen and click on the blogger icon, which is a B in an orange box, then click more. Once you have done that look at the bottom of the page where it prompts you to create a blog.

Hopefully by this time you have the name of your blog, if not go back to brainstorming. 

• Make a list of what you are going to blog, if you have not
• Brainstorm various names that coincides with what you are blogging about
• Ask family and friends for suggestions
• Have family and friends vote for the right name
• Consider a logo, but this can be done later

When it comes to the address I have always just used blogspot.com. You can also add your own domain, sorry have not done this, but I can find out. When using blogspot.com it will search to see if the name you want is available. For this site it was not, so I added the number 2 after it. You can play with it until it still gives the name of you chose.

I started creating a fictitious blog for this post by the name "Come Dance With Me" which has been taken. This is another reason to play with words. We want to be sure the name we chose is unique. It took me 15 different names with the word dance in it until I found "Dance and Prance." 

Once that part is done you can start creating your blog. Start by choosing your theme. Don't worry about images or color those can be changed. Just click on the "Customize button. To customize the font, colors, images and more go to the "Advanced" tab. Don't forget to save your changes.

The theme I chose did not have tabs, if your doesn't you can go to "Layout" to add them. There you will see "Cross - Column" and the words "Add Gadget." Click on add gadget and scroll down to "Pages." Click the plus sign to add tabs.

For new tabs go to "Pages," create your page, publish it and go back to layout to add the new page to your tab.

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