The most popular blogging tool in the world is WordPress

There are 1,319,460 blogs on WordPress right now.

THIS blog was just ranked the 8th fastest growing blog out of over a million!

Thanks to YOU, the reader for visiting, coming back again and again, reading the posts, and commenting on the issues. 

Recently, on LinkedIn Answers, someone asked a question about how to promote a new blog.  I provided a brief answer there.  However, I figured my visitors should have a more thorough response to that question.

So, in honor of being ranked #8 on the “Growing Blogs” list, here are 8 tips to help you grow YOUR blog as well…

#1 Put your blog URL in your email signature, so everyone you email with will be aware of it.

#2 Make sure aggregators and social bookmark sites such as Technorati, Digg, del.icio.us, and Stumble are aware of your site by opening accounts and marking your blog.

#3 Visit other blogs relevant to your target audience, and leave comments on the blog postings other people have created. DO NOT make these posts blatant invitations to your blog. Simply add useful, relevant information that adds to the quality of the original post, along with a link to your blog in your signature.

#4 Add the URL’s of other bloggers in your niche to your “Blogroll”. Then notify them that you have done so. Do not ask them to reciprocate with a link from their blog. If they like what you have to say, they will. If they don’t, they won’t. But at least adding them to your blogroll starts the conversation.

#5 Use a blog “pinging” service such as http://www.pingmyblog.com/ or http://pingomatic.com/ to let search engines know your blog exists.

#6 When invited to post or be interviewed on other blogs, graciously accept.  Provide them with good quality content which will make people want to read more of what you have to say.  Make sure they place a link to your blog in the post.

#7 Pick a niche (or not).  Have you ever heard the quote “Get rich in your niche”.  It means to focus on one area, and don’t get distracted by anything else, and you’ll be more successful.  I’ve heard it related to writing, public relations, marketing, and blogging.  Unfortunatley, in my case, I have multiple niches. So I blog about all of them.  So far, it seems to have worked.  My main areas of focus are business, DRTV, internet marketing, bringing new inventions to market, teleseminars, and customer service.  Each of these niches are related, and each brings in niche specific traffic to my blog. 

#8 Find a way to piggy-back on other media.  On thing that has led to huge traffic on my blog was the TV show American Inventor.  By blogging about the show from an Infomercial/DRTV perspective, rather than an entertainment angle, I received a lot of traffic from search engines and other blogs who recommended others read mine because of the unique twist.  The millions of people who watched the TV show, then went to search about the inventors or inventions now find my perspective on business, marketing, and new products. 

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