How To Increase Website Traffic With Social Media Marketing

So you built a website for your business—now what? It won’t do you much good if no one ever sees it. While many small businesses rely on their websites as their primary marketing channel, they don’t do enough to drive traffic to them. Used strategically, social media marketing can be the solution to this common problem, but if you’re juggling all the other challenges of running a small business, you may not know where to start.

Social media marketing strategies to drive traffic to a small business’ website range from the basic things everyone should be doing to sophisticated methods that take a little more time and effort. If you’re looking at a totally flat traffic curve on how to increase website traffic, start with Step 1. By the time you get to step 5, you’ll be a pro.

How To Increase Website Traffic With Social Media Marketing

Step 1: Include Your Website On All Your Social Networks

The first thing you need to do on any new social network for your business is to include your website URL. On Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ company pages there is a specific place where you can put your website URL. Don’t forget to do that.

Step 2: Social Media Monitoring and Engagement

Once you have all your social networks set up with your website URL, you can start proactively monitoring and engaging on your social networks. By being proactive you can reach out to existing customers and potential customers to drive them to your website. Be sure to also share relevant content that are on your website to prospects. You can also listen to recommendation requests and share a relevant link to your website that answers their inquiry.

Step 3: Start a Company Blog

One of the biggest barriers to effectively using social media to drive traffic to your website is a lack of new content. Staying active on your blog is the easiest way to maintain a dynamic website and make sure you’ve always got something to say on social media. If you’re struggling to write quickly, trythese tips from our blog team. And remember, your blog isn’t just for written content.  If you made a YouTube video to increase brand awareness, like ourHootSuite Story video, embed it on your blog. The same goes for infographics, Slideshare, Storify, and all sorts of rich media. When you can point your social messages to great new content on your site, your followers are more likely to click through and become customers.

Step 4: Social Media Advertising

To take it up a notch, you can start using social media ads to increase website traffic. When using Facebook ads or a promoted Tweet be sure to link back to a dedicated landing page for conversion. You can also create ads on LinkedIn that links to a lead generation form on your site.

Step 5: Twitter Chats and Google Hangouts

Now that you’ve mastered the easy stuff, try hosting Twitter Chats or a Google Hangout. For example, we host a weekly #HSUchat on Twitter or you can host a one off Twitter chat like our #MKTGchat. These Twitter chats allow you to increase awareness of your brand, build relationships, and drive people to your website. Google Hangouts are another way to increase website traffic, like our Small Business week Google Hangout. This allows you to invite people to “hangout” and share insights about a specific topic and link back to resources on your website.

The above steps are just a few ways people who are beginners or pros can use social media to increase website traffic, and of course there are definitely more ways. However, the first step in ensuring your website is proactively seen by your customers is to be where your customers are.

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10 SEO Tips For Maximizing Facebook Visibility

No discussion of social media’s effect on organic search results is complete without considering Facebook’s well-laid play for “search” domination, in a closed-loop-members-only end run around Google’s public algorithmic crawl.

With 250 million users, the recent purchase of friendFeed and newly offered ability to search at macro and/or granular users’ network levels, Facebook’s internal community-search platform may well threaten other search models by sheer magnitude of participation and users’ trust of their friends, extended networks and themed groups.

Why SEO for Facebook is now crucial

Whereas most SEOs think “Google” and other mainstream engines when gauging the effect social media profiles on organic SERPs, Facebook is quickly becoming a massive walled-garden parallel organic internet. Think Facebook internal search results won’t matter? Think again and start “optimizing.”

According to its publicly released statistics, Facebook claims 120 million of its registered members log in at least once each day. Every month friends share 1 billion photographs and 10 million videos. In any given week users post over a billion content blocks, news stories, links and blog posts. There are over 45 million active user groups. Little-to-none of Facebook’s is activity is indexed by Google and other mainstream engines. It’s easy to see why Facebook’s members-only organic search results deserve attention!

At the root of this new consideration is the reality that Facebook is now allowing users to search the last 30 days of their news feed for status updates, photos, links, videos and notes being shared by friends and the Facebook pages of which they’re fans.

Check out my personal Facebook search results (from among friends) for “Indian food.”  I see my friend Reem ate Indian food  for lunch.

If other users have chosen to make their content available to everyone, you also will be able to search for their status updates, links and notes, regardless of whether or not you are friends. Search results will continue to include people’s profiles as well as pertinent Facebook Pages, groups and applications. Also note the cool ability to filter your personal  “search visibility” by various Facebook internal channels: links, status updates, wall posts and notes.

There are  commercial results in my Facebook wide “everyone” SERPs from a restaurant promoting their participation in the San Francisco Food Festival.

Here’s another commercially-tinted result, R2 Indian Buffet. The listing was was sourced from R2′s Facebook Indian Buffet page.

Look at these 2 results for the search “seafood in New York.” Chef Andrew Hunter’s listing comes as a result of his using the words “seafood & New York” in the most current wall post.

Next, Andrea Cohn’s profile comes up #2 for “seafood in New York.  She’s promoting the Bongo seafood lounges, in West Village and Chelsea, with a wall post of  a martiniboys.com listing. Facebook is showing the title tag of the Bongo post Andrea bookmarked.

One other important observation: Bing is the official Facebook “web results” search engine. With the recent Microsoft/Yahoo deal Bing will be also be powering Yahoo. Consider the branding and traffic implications of Bing powering Facebook behind the garden wall, especially when one click actually takes users to Bing.com.

Ten Facebook SEO tips

1. Search results continue to include people’s profiles as well as pertinent Facebook pages, groups and applications. Therefore what you’ve done to date still works. The gravity of Facebook groups, which some thought lame, will increase as Facebook internal search is adopted.

2. Facebook gives us some clues regarding its algorithmic ranking factors.  Read it and understand. Stay up to speed on changes in the Facebook blog, as they will certainly occur.  Hopefully as Facebook grows they’ll make a search quality team ambassador available like Google’s Matt Cutts and Bing’s Sasi Parthasarathy. As people learn to spam these results, Facebook will react and SEOs will want more information.

3. In addition to wall posts, think SEO in tendering status updates, links and notes. You never know who will find it, searching for whatever.

4. Wall-post external content like blog posts and news should be optimized for important keywords, especially the content’s title tag.  If possible post content where the call to action and/or contact information is actually in the title tag. This gets your pitch to the search results as opposed to requiring a second click through to a profile page.

5. If you want your promotional data indexed in the wider Facebook, outside of your friends, make sure you select “everyone” in privacy settings > search. Though it’s possible users might not be happy if they were aware, existing accounts default to “everyone,” understanding this is a cool inside tip for early success.

When “everyone” is selected, others may see your data regardless of whether or not you are friends.  Reciprocally, users should uncheck if they want to exclude their profile from wider Facebook SERPs.   It would not be surprising if users protest when folks start to discover that all of a sudden some of their personal sharing is visible to everyone.

7. Remember that it’s not only wider (non-friends) Facebook search that matters. Your friends, friends of friends, networks and networks of friends are likely to trust you a bit more since you’re “local.”  It’s fascinating to extrapolate the implications of a “trusted local personal search network.” As a user or searcher, be aware of how Facebook search privacy settings function.

8. Seek advice from other tools Facebook gives us regarding users common social graphs. Lexicon, which is about to get deeper, and the Facebook paid search platformoffer cool insight regarding what’s hot.

9. Contribute continually.  A good portion of the physical search results are comprised of social graph points generated within the last 30 days.

10. Be there or be square! Stay tuned for attributes, in and out of Facebook, may factor in the search results as Facebook evolves.

A crucial new channel for search marketers to master

All of this has potentially massive repercussions for how marketers view Facebook chatter.  By really digging deep into how Facebook is searching internal content, you’ll be tapping into the next level of the web’s development, uncovering a gold mine of data about what people are talking about, what they like and dislike, and how they are influencing the opinions of others. This is clearly an important search frontier.

Dig around. Learn the specifics in form and functionality of Facebook’s newly enhanced organic search results. In order to “optimize” for Facebook internal search, it’s important to learn precisely what areas of participation to focus on for the most influence. Facebook gives us a bit of ranking criteria information regarding how the engine is wired. Facebook groups will matter more than before, as a result of the new search algorithm, if & when Facebook internal search achieves wider adoption.

As always in social media marketing, leveraging friends’ (and your own) recommendations, without being a spammer, is sticky business.  Follow the timeless axioms of social media participation. give more than you take by contributing unselfish & recurrent content recommendations for others to consume. Be holistic in how you promote your own content and (as always) think in terms of supporting the community first. 

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5 Reasons Why Your Website Is Not Generating Leads (10 Fixes To Solve The Problem)

As a business development manager at Search Engine People, I am often approached by business owners & marketing managers who are seeking help with SEO. After some discussion, more often than not, it is realized that the goal is not necessarily implementing good SEO to their website; rather, the objective is to generate more qualified leads.

Of course, in order to generate qualified leads, you need good web traffic, and this is what a good SEO strategy can accomplish. What most business owners often overlook is how their website performs in converting that traffic into a qualified lead.

Let's look at the top 5 reasons why your website may not be generating leads for you.

1. Your Website Is Outdated. It Looks Like It Was Designed In 2008. ("The Foundation")

I tread waters carefully when I critique client's websites…. It's almost like telling someone that their baby is ugly. Fact of the matter is though, your website's design, content, layout, usability… it all matters! I will note again, it's not all about getting your website to rank on page 1.

Technologies evolve at an exponential rate. Check and see if you have the newest version of your web platform, certificates & software. There are inherent benefits in overhauling your website every 2-3 years. In addition to this, you should be updating your website frequently, blogging regularly and always testing your messages to boost your conversions rates.

According to a study from Carleton University in Ottawa, people develop an impression of your website in the first 50 milliseconds of viewing. That's about as fast as a single frame of standard TV!

So if your website looks like it was designed in 2008, and its usability is not as friendly as your competitor's, chances are good that your visitors are bouncing out (without converting)! Oh , did you know that Google now also prefers Responsive Designs? Yes, the foundation matters.

2. You Haven't Clearly Communicated What You Do, Where You Do It, And Why They Should Choose You. ("Who Are You?")

Sometimes it seems like so much focus goes into industry jargon, stock photos, buzz words and those annoying, fast-moving sliders on the homepage – it's hard to decipher exactly what the company does, who they service and why they are the best consideration.

Back to the basics! If you are an electrician in Vancouver servicing the Lower Mainland, offering 24/7 service (when your competitors do not)… Say so!

If you are a software company that caters to small businesses and can help customer save $ by proving X efficiencies, make it known.

In my sales process, I always ask the question, "what is your USP?". If you know, (and you should), what factors makes your business the best choice amongst your competitors, this should be clearly, and very quickly communicated on your homepage and landing pages. Usually, clients have fantastic competitive advantages – but unfortunately, it is either buried in the deep inner pages of their website or not communicated at all.

You have 50 milliseconds to make an impression, give it your best shot and make sure to always test these messages.

3. You Haven't Put Focus On Quality Content That Speaks To Your Targeted Audience. ("Do You Have What I Want?")

Know your services offerings; ensure that each has its own dedicated service page with quality content. Try to avoid having one service page listing all of your offerings with short bullet points. It doesn't do much in informing & converting your visitors, nor does it do you any favours when it comes to SEO.

Make sure you spend time performing good keyword research. People use numerous variations of keywords to search for your product offerings & services. In some cases, the industry specific acronyms, or highly technical terms you may use, may not be used widely by your customers.

A large portion of your web traffic is actually performing research and establishing buying criteria*. This is why content is critical. Know your audience and have quality content that effectively showcases your capabilities. Quality content helps convert, and also has tremendous SEO value.

* Hubspot

4. You Don't Have Any Brand Equity Or You Lack In Proving Credibility. ("Can I Trust You?")

Especially if you do not have brand equity, credibility is a key consideration. It is the "why should I trust you?" and this should also be clearly presented to provide a peace of mind and/or encourage your visitors get in touch.

Testimonials, trust badges (ie. BBB), and guarantees are all great examples on showcasing trust signals. If you're an ecommerce, security badges, free shipping/returns symbols and customer reviews can also do a great job in providing assurance and getting those conversions.

5. You Have No Calls To Action On Your Website. ("What Do I Do Next?")

You'd be surprised how many websites I have seen over the years with no phone number or method of contact visible on homepage… or it's very hard to find. This is exponentially more annoying when I am browsing from my mobile device and can't click to call….. I usually end up bouncing out and finding a competitor!

But having a phone number on your website is really the bare minimum. You should be telling the user what to do next – this is your CTA (call to action).

A call to action can vary, pending on your offering: Perhaps it is a "Free Consult", "Free Estimate", "Download Now", "Book Now", "Buy Now", "Order Sample", etc.

In our experience, providing a phone # at the top right hand corner and also a quick form capture (above the fold of your website) works well and is considered to be best practice in conversion optimization. Different folks prefer different methods of getting in touch, so why not cater to your audience? Of-course if your business is mainly email based, you can put more emphasis on the form vs. phone #. We would recommend testing both and see which converts better.

Again, test your calls to action. In conversion optimization A/B testings SEP has performed for our clients, we have seen drastic jumps in conversions by making the slightest changes. Ie. changing colours, swapping a word from "business" to "corporate", or positions of where the forms are, and the like.

Tell your visitors what to do next and make it easy for them to! Don't forget to test to continuously improve your conversion rate.

In summary, SEO is not a stand-alone strategy. In order to generate qualified leads, you must also consider the effectiveness of your website. Visitors will generally pose the above questions when landing on a website. To continuously improve on lead generation, we must ensure we do our best to address these factors and always test!!!

10 Conversion Performance Boosters

1. Headline & Copy
2. Clear sub headline
3. Impeccable Grammar
4. Trust Indicators
5. Strong Call to Action
6. Strong Button CTA's
7. Easy on the links
8. Use Images & Videos
9. Keep it Above The Fold
10. Always Be Testing

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7 Tips To A Stellar Welcome Email

When a new subscriber comes along, you want to dazzle them. How? Greeting your new subscribers with a welcome email is the first step to impressing your new contacts.

To help you create a stellar welcome email, we have a list of seven tips to follow:

1. Send a welcome email immediately

When someone new signs up for your email list, they are actively seeking more information about your company. Don’t leave them hanging. You want to feed their curiosity while it’s piqued, which is why you want to send a welcome email right away – within 48 hours is best.

2. Offer value

A welcome email goes beyond the kind message that simply welcomes a new subscriber to your list; it sets the tone for your relationship. You want to show your subscribers that every email, including the very first one they receive, has value, says Shemiah Williams, President of Modern Graffiti Marketing Group.

“Sending a welcome email is the first step of good faith that you will honor their email address and commit to communicating valuable information with them,” she says.

What makes a welcome email valuable? To start, you want to deliver a friendly message that offers additional information about your business. A discount or promotional offer is also valuable to your subscribers and prospective customers. Here’s an example of a valuable welcome email.

Right out of the gate, it thanks the new subscriber for signing up, offers information about the email list and provides a coupon.

3. Reinforce the benefits of your email list

A welcome email should explain why it’s valuable to belong to your list. Tell your subscribers the benefit they’ll gain from receiving your emails. From the best deals to insider information, listing the benefits of your emails reminds subscribers that signing up for your list was a good choice. Take a look at the example below. The retailer welcomes the subscriber and highlights the benefits.

4. Gather more information

Your welcome email is also a good opportunity to gather more information about your new subscribers. They are showing interest in your business, now it’s your turn to show interest in them. The email above from REI is a good example. It encourages the subscriber to update their email preferences so they get only emails that they’re interested in. Gathering this kind of information is a win-win. Customers receive valuable information that they want, and you learn more about their interests. In the future, you’ll be able to send targeted emails to subscribers, which are more likely to lead in a visit to your website or a purchase.

5. Be brief and focused

A welcome email shouldn’t be a lengthy tome. Keep your welcome email short and to the point. You want to welcome the new subscriber, provide a few tidbits of information and include one call to action. Whether that call to action is in the form of activating an offer, updating email preferences or clicking a link to learn more about your company, you want to keep it simple. Too much information can overwhelm the subscriber, and that’s not the impression you’re going for.

6. Write in a conversational tone

When you craft your welcome email, write it as though you’re reaching out to a friend. It’s okay to be more personal or humorous with your emails compared to the content that you write for your website or blog. Your list of email subscribers are like your close friends. They’re the ones taking initiative to learn more about your company, so why not welcome them in as a friend? Make sure you write your welcome email in a conversational tone that makes the new subscriber feel like part of your tight-knit group, Williams says.

“A conversational tone is the easiest way to connect recipients; so, stray away from the business speak,” she suggests.

7. Create a welcoming subject line

Go beyond the basic, “Welcome to Our Company” subject line when you send a welcome email. Don’t be afraid to get creative. Here are a few examples:

• ModCloth: We’re delighted to have you! Here’s a little intro info
• Ann Taylor: A gift to welcome you to Ann Taylor
• Destination Maternity: Welcome. Get inspired and get saving
• Tiffany & Co.: Thank you for joining our email list
• DSW: Welcome, shoe lover. Take a look at our latest deals
• NOMAD: We’re glad you found us
• Overstock: Welcome to Omail – sit back and start saving
• ODC and Rythm & Motion: Welcome! 4 Classes for $22 – New Student Special
• Flavorwire: Welcome to Flavorwire, the inbox edition

With these tips, you’ll be on your way to welcoming new subscribers in style.

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How Paid Advertising Can Complement Content Marketing

Paid advertising has been a part of the traditional marketplace for many decades as one of the most effective means of reaching new customers. Banner ads and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing efforts using popular companies like Yahoo and Google have been the mainstay of advertising on the web.

This was augmented by the use of search engine optimisation, a passive method of pulling potential customers to websites by using keywords that results in web pages getting high rankings.

However, with the saturation of typical advertising placement and the rise in popularity of other marketing strategies, the revenues that use to be generated through this method have really sunk to a new low. In fact, there are millions of people who use browser programs to disable ads such as these in order to enjoy surfing the web even more. This has made it increasingly difficult to see a decent return from paid advertising in isolation.

The answer to this has evolved under the concept of content marketing. Content marketing is a very effective method of reaching and converting visitors because it goes against the grain of paid advertising and interruption marketing – stopping people from doing what they are doing and trying to persuade them to purchase a relevant product.

Content marketing seeks to provide useful and valuable content to those who are looking for it, creating a positive experience and persuasive argument to act upon the content messaging.

Native Advertising is Effective Paid Advertising

Of course, it’s not just paid advertising itself, but the type of advertising that is used can make all the difference. One of the most effective types of paid advertising is known as native advertising. Traditional means of advertising, such as the commercials you see on television shows, has very little relevance for those on the web. This is because even with the use of demographics, age, and browsing habits a surprising number of ads have little to no effect on those reading the content of web pages.

Native advertising on the other hand, matches the ad with the content which will in turn be more effective. For example, for those who are reading about a particular brand of vehicle, having an ad for aftermarket accessories for that particular vehicle, like a cover or headlight for example make perfect sense.

In fact, this form of paid advertising can be quite effective when the product actually complements the content. By providing relevant advertising to the content of a particular site, you can really boost the sales of the products that you are offering.

The Skepticism Effect

Most internet users are always going to have some natural skepticism after seeing adverts and will look to do their own research to see if your product is really worth it’s money.

This is where you can actually use the skepticism of the readers to your advantage by posting up effective content on blogs and with others in your industry to help provide more information and bolster your brand and reputation.

By providing useful information about your product on other sites, you not only help yourself by augmenting the chances for a sale, you have also brought another person to the blog that the owner will appreciate as well. A blogger or influencer who is respected in your industry can add further credibility to your products and business.

Start Planning

Ultimately, both approaches of marketing require structure, budgeting and planning.

The primary focus of your paid advertising is to complement your content marketing strategies. So this means that both strategies should focus back to your primary marketing objectives, be it increase sales, market share or brand awareness.

Be sure that you really know your audience. The more you know about your ideal customers, the better you can serve their needs. This means that you will to match their behaviours with their online locations, providing content and ads that are suited to both.

In the end, reinforcing your paid advertising with content marketing will result in better online visibility and exposure. Further reasons to diversify your marketing strategies and combine both approaches include:

• Wider marketing scope
• More insights to gain
• More resistant to negative change
• More flexible to positive change
• Bigger earning potential

Paid advertising is still a vital part of any brands marketing strategy. While it is typically not the backbone of marketing efforts, paid advertising will still reach places that your content marketing strategies and SEO can not. Plus, you can gain a real edge over your competition that are only investing in one marketing tactic.

Have you found success in either paid advertising or content marketing campaigns?

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13 Steps to Take Your Content Promotion to the Next Level

Content promotion is an art. It requires strategy, time and, most importantly, people. In order to grow an audience and attract attention, your posts – no matter how great they are – need to be effectively promoted on social media, with email marketing and in real life. Here is a look at how to take your content promotion to the next level.

1. Start with relationships.

If your promotion starts with broadcasting, you are starting in the wrong place. We all want our content to attract attention but the seed of a great post lies in its value to others, not it your ability to make noise on social media.

Take a hard look at your current audience and the readers you are trying to reach. If they aren’t reading your work, whose work are they reading? Find out. One of the most powerful assets a blogger has is their network of other bloggers in a niche. It’s time to build that network.

Here are a few really specific ways to network with your peers. It’s the first step in massively growing your audience:

• Comment on their blogs.
• Include their work in roundup posts.
• Send them an email to ask a thoughtful question.
• Follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
• Don’t patronize them. Simply let them know you like their work. Make sure there are links to your own work in your email signature and social media profiles so that it can be easily discovered when you contact people.

2. Plan your topics strategically.

Think about promotion before you ever write a word. Depending on the topic, you can identify platforms or groups of people that might like your work. For example, content about technology might get traffic from a Hacker News submission while a post about holiday decorations will play better on Pinterest. Every vertical has websites, social networks and message boards that cater to readers. Examine them. Think about the topics that frequently succeed in your niche and follow their example (and network with the bloggers that write them).

3. Choose the right format.

Should you go with a listicle or a case study? A Q&A or a column? There are so many ways to shape your content that it can lead to “analysis paralysis.” First, take a look at these 72 content types and see what feels right. You may also want to align the format of the content with other successful pieces.

4. Shape your content accordingly.

I’m a huge fan of Digg. I know that articles featured on Digg get thousands of hits. Here’s a quick look at how I got one of my articles featured on the site by writing it specifically for the platform.

The Digg editors appreciate timeliness, thought-leadership, cultural relevance and longform content. (I’m sure this isn’t part of their editorial guidelines, just my observation.)

I took a look at my vertical: technology. Were there any timely events coming up that might interest a wider audience? (In technology, there’s always an interesting event coming up.) In this case, Internet Explorer’s 18th birthday was just around the corner. I put together a visual history of Internet Explorer and submitted it to Digg the morning of the event.

It was featured on the Digg homepage that day and shared on their Facebook and Twitter channels. It delivered an enormous amount of traffic and social shares. And it happened because our team was strategic and prepared.

Not every piece of content is right for a mainstream platform like Digg but every piece you write should be worthy of a link, a share or a discussion in a message board. Here’s a few tips to increase the likelihood that people will help you promote your content:

• Quote smart people. It provides value to your reader but also gives the quoted person a vested interested in your post. You can take it to the next level by interviewing a leader in your vertical.
• Link to external resources. “A rising tide lifts all ships.” Don’t be afraid to link to your competitors’ content if it provides value to a reader. Let them know about the link you gave them and ask them to share the content.
• Use visual aids. Learn how to use Photoshop, Pixelmator or another image editing tool. Even the simplest visuals are proven to help your content gain traction on sites like Pinterest and Twitter.

5. Focus on quality and value.

In other words, forget about SEO until after your intelligent, insightful, share-able post is written. Too often content creators fall prey to SEO’s tempting shortcuts. Stay strong. And more importantly, stay laser-focused on creating content that delivers value to your readers. Content written for SEO has a funny habit of failing miserably. Write, edit, edit again, then optimize for search.

Neil Patel does a great outlining a longterm approach to high-quality content:

You can write great content, but it doesn’t mean you will see an increase in traffic. You can write crap content in large quantities, and you are more likely to see your traffic numbers go up.

In the long run, however, crap content will lead to disappointed readers, which hurts your long term traffic. Yes, in the short term, things will grow like a hockey stick, but once search engines continue to see that users are bouncing away and no one is willing to tweet your content or even link to it, eventually your traffic will tank.

6. Go Big.

Mackenzie Fogelson from Mack Web Solutions recently wrote an amazing post on “big” content on the Moz blog. She recently released a 147-page guide on community building and details the experience here.

The point is this: “big” content draws attention. You can’t do this every day but you can do it monthly or annually. It doesn’t have to be a PDF or ebook either. Here are a few ideas for big content that you can apply to nearly any vertical:

• 100 best blogs in [vertical]
• A crowdsourced list of tools for [target reader]
• The complete history of [person, place, thing]

Editor’s note: Vero’s new content strategy (outlined here) is focusing on big content (see it here). So far, it’s working really well (look at the numbers here).

7. Don’t publish during happy hour.

So many bloggers are guilty of this. You spend all day working on a great post. By the time you finish, most of the office has gone home or hit up a nearby happy hour. You are so excited about your post that you hit “Publish” at 5pm on a Friday. It gets lost of a sea of disinterest and by the time Monday rolls around, it’s too late to resuscitate your dying article.

Plan to publish at peak times. Belle Beth Cooper offers these suggestions on the Buffer blog.

• 70% of users say they read blogs in the morning
• More men read blogs at night than women
• Mondays are the highest traffic days for an average blog
• 11am is usually the highest traffic hour for an average blog
• Comments are usually highest on Saturdays and around 9am on most days
• Blogs that post more than once per day have a higher chance of inbound links and more unique views

Based on this insight, plan for greatness by posting early in the week and early in the day. It gives you time to promote and your audience time to respond.

8. Drop an email.

The people on your email list are there because they 1) value what you have to say and 2) appreciate your work enough allow you to communicate with them. Permission marketing is based on trust. If you have a truly great resource for your readers, email them. Just be careful not to abuse this privilege. Their trust in you in fundamental in the success of your blog and your business.

9. This isn’t a press release so approach it differently.

Press releases are dead because public relations firms don’t understand how the media works. Luckily for bloggers – who are the new media – your content is much, much more valuable than a press release.

Every blogger has gotten a press release asking them to write about a product or person. It’s a cry for help, a shameless sales pitch. When promoting your content, don’t act like a PR person!

As a blogger, you have already found a great topic and written an interesting post. The work is done, you are just letting people know about it. Be careful to avoid sounding like PR person … it’s a surefire way to kill interest in your work.

Instead, act like a journalist. You want to pitch your content, not sell it. For example, you might email the editor of a popular blog with an excerpt of your post to say “Hey, I’ve got this great article that I think your audience would appreciate.” Or you could @ mention them in a tweet or tag them in a Google+ post. There are so many ways to connect with influential people outside of selling to them.

Editor’s note: See how we earned 300+ links and 2,500+ social shares on a single post with this exact strategy.

10. Post links carefully.

Forget about directory submissions. They don’t work. What does work, however, is posting on submission sites and message boards. There are a number of submission sites that can send hoarded of interested readers to your content if you approach them carefully.

• Reddit. Self-promoting isn’t outright banned on Reddit but it’s certainly frowned upon. The great thing about Reddit is that there is a Subreddit for just about every topic. The down side is that without a lot of listening, commenting and engagement on your part, your submissions will likely go unnoticed. If you decide to post on Reddit – and you should if your content is valuable enough – make sure you follow the rules. (Each Subreddit has a list of rules on its sidebar.) It’s also wise not to lead with a link. Get involved in a Subreddit by commenting and listening before promoting a piece of content.
• StumbleUpon. You can submit a lot of links to StumbleUpon assuming that they are interesting or noteworthy. Don’t bother submitting news-jacking articles, which are fine to write but require a different approach to successfully promote. Instead, choose your best work and submit it under the proper category. The results may surprise you.
• Pinterest. Visual aids can improve nearly every post. You don’t need to create an entire infographic but you could select a poignant quote and pair it with a graphic. Canva makes this really easy. You could also create a pie chart or bar graph with tools like Piktochart or Infogr.am. Once you create these assets, Pinterest is a great place to put them to work. Create boards for lots of topics and post your work here.
• Google+. One of the best features of Google+ is the Communities. Just like a real community, you have to give in order to receive. Get engaged in relevant communities and you will likely find a willing audience when you have something great to promote.

11. Ask for links politely.

There is a right way and a wrong way to ask for a link. Here is an example of the right way.

You’ve built a good relationship with another blogger. You frequently link to their work, you chat on Twitter and you are hoping to find a time to meet up for coffee soon.

Over the past week, you’ve been pouring your heart and soul into an awesome post. It’s a great resource for the community and you know that your audience will eat it up. Once it’s posted, you ask your blogger friend if they would consider linking to it in a future post or sharing it on Twitter. If your relationship is based on trust and value, and your content is as great as you think, it’s highly likely your friend will link to your work. Return the favor sometime. Or, even better, link to their work before you publish.

12. Create content about your content.

You can promote your own content internally as well as externally. For example, link to your “big” content on a regular basis in other posts. You should also include your best content in roundup posts occasionally. Build old posts into your social media schedule – Evergreen Post Tweeter automates this on WordPress blogs – to stretch out their life and write follow up posts as your topics evolve.

13. Repeat.

Content promotion is an ongoing cycle. Your network of bloggers will always be growing, your audience will expand and your strategies will become more effective. You will learn where to promote content, who you can rely on for a link and when to publish posts for the greatest impact. Pretty soon, your work will promote itself, leaving you with more time to work on the next great post.

Have questions? Leave them in the comments … we love to chat content.

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