52 of the Ways to Promote your Blog

In the meantime, here are 52 Great Ways to market your blog:
1. Submit your site to the main web directories - you’ll find a good list at Directory Maximiser
2. Make sure that the whole of your blog is indexed on the main Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN/Live
3. Get a Google Sitemap on your blog to help to get it fully indexed
4. Participate in online business networking sites such as Linked In, eCademy and SoFlow
5. Make it easy for your readers to bookmark your blog on the social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us, Furl etc.
6. Make sure you submit your blog to the main Blog directories (Good list here and here)
7. Also submit your blog to the main RSS directories
8. Ensure that you automatically ping the main blog Search Engines and Directories suach as Technorati and IceRocket to get instantly indexed - good list of pinging addresses
9. Join a number of relevant online communities or discussion groups for your market area
10. Maximise the design of your own blog: highlight posts or subjects that will attract and retain readers
11. Add comments - relevant, useful comments - to other people’s threads or blogs
12. Use Pay per Click (PPC) advertising like Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing
13. Advertise on sites such as Gumtree or Craigslist
14. Make sure that you run an ezine (e-newsletter) alongside your blog and make the two work together
15. Make sure that you link out to other blogs in your blog posts and, for special recommended blogs, in your BlogRoll
16. Join MyBlogLog to be able to make contact with other MyBlogLog users and develop relationships
17. Set up a social network part of your blog with Ning
18. Write your own e-book (perhaps using content from your blog) and give away free chapters to encourage visitors or subscribers
19. Start your own meme or viral networking idea (such as 2000 Bloggers)
20. Attend local networking groups such as BNI, BRE etc - tell them about what you do and reference your blog
21. Set up and develop a profile on online social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo etc.
22. Create a free account on BT Tradespace
23. Interview people for your own regular podcast - perhaps you could make it like your own online radio show
24. Contact other relevant ezines and offer to write articles for them
25. Submit your articles to article directories (Ezine Articles, Article Alley etc.)and link to your blog in the signature
26. Submit your own ezine to ezine directories such as Ezine Directory or Best Ezines
27. Include podcasts as part of your blog to distribute interviews, informational pieces etc.
28. Convert some of your existing articles into podcasts
29. Create a lense at Squidoo
30. Distribute and syndicate your articles and podcasts via your RSS feed
31. Offer free white papers or specialist documents which are branded with your blog and RSS details
32. Set up teleconferences or teleseminars focusing on your main content areas
33. Write a review of books on Amazon.com linking back to your blog
34. Distribute press releases via online news services such as PR Web or Press Box
35. Add a poll or survey to your blog and post/distribute the results - try SurveyGizmo if you are a Wordpress user
36. Read other blogs and leave your own comments on them
37. Use trackbacks when you reference other bloggers’ posts
38. Create podcasts of your best posts and syndicate them, as well as submitting them to iTunes and other podcast directories
39. Sign up to Feedburner and include the Headline Animator in your email signature and the one you use when you post to forums
40. Make sure you include your blog address on your business cards and company stationery
41. Customise and improve your RSS Feed using Feedburner - include special offers, sign up opportunities and make sure the feed delivers the full post
42. Increase RSS feed sign ups by offering a sign up bonus to subscribers - how? Just ask!
43. Offer readers the chance to sign up via email (Feedburner and Feedblitz offer the service
44. Put files and follow ups to presentations, conferences and seminars on your blog for attendees to read and download
45. Offer to become a Guest blogger on other blogs and invite Guest bloggers to write on your own blog
46. Make sure to submit articles to and participate in Blog Carnivals (more on Blog Carnivals here)
47. Optimise your blog where possible and particularly the Categories, Title Tags and Meta Tags
48. Participate regularly in conversations on other blogs
49. Post answers on LinkedIn Answers and Yahoo Answers
50. Try LinkBaiting using controversial subjects or opinions – be careful though!
51. Contact the main bloggers in your market area and introduce yourself or send details of a particular post that might interest them and above all,
52. Write great content that people will want to read, recommend and link to!
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by Mark White, Blog Consultant in Blog Directories and Search , Marketing your Blog , Corporate Blogging , Blogging for Small Businesses , BBB Bloggers Guides , BBB Quick Guides , New Media Marketing , Promoting a Blog

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10 Effective Ways to Boost Banner Click-through

Banner advertising is one of the most widely used marketing medium on the Internet. Though banner click-throughs have decreased to less than 1.0% in the past year, it is still possible to achieve reasonably good click-through of 3.0% and above.
Below are 10 effective steps that successfully used to help clients boost click-throughs on their banner campaigns.

1. Employ Action Words
Use action words like "FREE" and "Click Here" in your banners.
Offering something "FREE" in your message attracts the reader to click on your banner. Banners with "Click Here" teasers and similar action phrases also increase click-through.

2. Use Short and Punchy Headlines
A short and punchy banner headline makes a difference. Always load your headline with benefit statements - offer solutions to the challenges that your customers face. If you sell diet products, try "Lose 10 pounds in four weeks!". Work on a winning combination of text and graphics in your banner ad.

3. Animated Banners vs. Static Banners
Animated banners usually outperform their static counterparts by more than 100%. Surfers are more likely to notice banners that are animated. Example: If you have the words "Click Here" flashing in your banner, it will perform better than a static version.

4. Adopt Better Designs
Many of us are not graphic artists. We can create simple banners but it is hard to match the work of a professional graphic artist. You should engage a professional banner ad designer to create your banners. Expect to invest $80 per banner.
The standard sizes for banner ads are 400x40 pixels or 468x60 pixels. I recommend that you design a 468x60 banner. With the clutter of graphics on most webpages, a larger banner has a higher chance of getting noticed.

5. Try Trick Banners
These banners resemble Windows dialog boxes, scroll bars, submit buttons or blue-colored underlined hyperlinks. They attract you to click on the dialog boxes and scroll bars - which you are already accustomed to doing with the Windows operating system. If you use trick banners with short and punchy headlines, you can get click-throughs above 10.0%!

6. Reduce Your Banner File Sizes
Reduce your banner file size to less than 15k. The last thing a surfer wants is a slow-loading webpage. Most websites and banner exchanges do not allow excessively large banners.Create a fast-loading banner right from the start. Optimize your banner file size through your graphic software or an online graphic optimizer.

7. Rotate Your Banners Regularly
Always have 2 or more banners to promote each product. A banner usually burns out after a surfer has seen it 3 times. They will ignore (if not hate) banners which they see repeatedly. If your click-through is steadily declining, then it is time to rotate your banners.

8. Target Your Banners
Place your banners on websites visited by your potential customers. If you promote gourmet coffees, place your banners on sites targeted at gourmet coffee drinkers. The quality of leads generated are higher, and more likely to result in sales.
Running your banners on targeted sites generally yield higher click-throughs and return-on-investment (ROI). You are reaching people who are most interested in what you have to offer. Of course, you can try websites with general audience if they generate substantial ROI.

9. Monitor Your Banners' Performance
Make it a point to check on your banners' performance every few days. Monitor the click-through rate. The click-through tells you how well your banner performs. Most banners fetch a click-through of between 0.8% to 2.0%. If your banner gets more than 2.0%, it is doing a pretty good job.
By monitoring your banners' performance, you can kill under-performing banners before they waste away your advertising dollars.

10. Do Your Mathematics
Do your mathematics for each banner advertising campaign. Calculate the cost-per-visitor, cost-per-sale and return-on-investment ratios.
For example: If a website charges you $20 per thousand impressions ($20/CPM), and you get a 2.0% click-through (20 visitors), your cost-per-visitor is $1.00 ($20 / 20 visitors). And if 1 in every 10 visitors buys your product, your cost-per-sale is $10.00 ($20 / 2 sales). So if each sale of your product produces a gross profit of $15, then your net profit per-sale will be $5.00 ($15 gross profit - $10 cost-per-sale).Your return-on-investment (ROI), before non-marketing expenses, is 50.0% ($10.00 total net profits / $20 investment). This campaign is profitable!
Try advertising on different sites or using different banners. Find the winning combination(s) that can yield the highest ROI. Comparing Deal A which yields an ROI of 20% to Deal B that yields 60%, your advertising dollars work three times harder (and profitable) with Deal B! by Chee Wee from evrsoft.com

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