How to Promote a Blog Post to Generate Traffic to It

How to Promote a Blog Post to Generate Traffic to It

Blogging is only half the battle. Promoting it is the other half.

While blog posts are valuable for nurturing existing customers and reaching new ones to bring in more traffic, effective promotion is necessary for content to be noticed.

The greatest challenge lies in discovering robust strategies that maximize reader engagement and boost your content’s visibility.

If you’re unsure how to promote a new blog post, these tried and tested strategies effectively generate more traffic for brands. 

Email Marketing

Email remains one of the best ways to communicate with your subscribers and potential customers, as well as promote your blog posts.

A few tips when marketing content through email include:

  • Teasing subscribers with snippets to pique their interest.
  • Using eye-catching CTAs to encourage them to take action.
  • Personalizing the email by including warm greetings and the subscriber’s name.
  • Sending follow-up emails to remind them to check out the amazing content.

When sending a teaser email, keep it simple. Short intros, non-distracting graphics, and a link to the blog post are more effective than lengthy content.

Did you know you can also repurpose your blog post into emails? Split them into smaller topics for variety and link each topic to the original blog post.

Marketing your blog post through email gives you direct access to subscribers via their inboxes. It’s also inexpensive, and the results are measurable by analyzing email opening rates and click-through rates.

When using email marketing as a promotional strategy, let your readers choose a frequency for receiving mail that won’t overwhelm them.

Also, segment your audience so that you promote your blog posts to the right audience and increase your chances of getting them read.

Share on Social Media Platforms

Social media apps on a phone screen.

Image from Pexels

Social media platforms like Facebook, X, and Instagram are great avenues for networking, microblogging, and media sharing.

If you’re wondering how to share a blog post on social media, an effective approach is to share teaser points along with a link to the full article.

You can also take advantage of WhatsApp Status, Facebook and Instagram Stories, and Twitter Threads that disappear after 24 hours.

An effective way to use these status and stories features is to break down your blog post into key points and turn them into multiple statuses, then include a link in the last status.

YouTube Stories, on the other hand, last longer. They disappear after 7 days, but they’re only available for channels with 10,000 subscribers. If you’re not eligible, promote your blog post through a short YouTube video and include the blog’s link.

With social media sharing, you’ll enjoy increased visibility due to a large audience. It’s also cost-effective since sharing is free unless you’re using paid ads.

You also get real-time feedback through comments, likes, and shares, and gradually build a community as readers interact with your post.

When choosing a social media platform, consider which suits your audience’s demographics. For instance, Instagram is popular with Gen Z while Facebook caters mostly to Millenials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers.  

Share on Content Publishing Platforms 

Content publishing platforms allow you to create and publish longer content than is possible on social media.

Popular ones include LinkedIn, Medium, Blogger, and WordPress.

Platforms like LinkedIn and Medium, which have numerous users, have inbuilt audiences where your posts are recommended to users, helping you reach a wider audience.

They also contain engagement metrics such as shares, comments, likes, number of views, and average time spent by readers on your articles.

Other platforms like Substack can integrate with email to further promote your blog posts to your subscribers. WordPress has SEO optimization features to help your blog post generate traffic.

These content publishing platforms are user-friendly, making them easy to use for non-tech persons. They reach a wide audience and encourage community engagement, and you can monetize your content through ads or sponsored posts.

When choosing the best publishing platform, consider your audience. For instance, LinkedIn caters to professionals seeking B2B content while Medium has a broad readership.

Get Help from Influencers

Host And Guest On A Live Show.

Image from Pexels

Influencers have a significantly large fan base, and they also have the power to influence their fans to make certain decisions.

With their wide reach, influencers can promote your brand’s blog posts to reach a wider audience and generate more traffic. 

Search your industry or niche to discover which influencers fit your needs. There are influencer search tools such as Upfluence and Promoty which make it easier to find them.

When you find the right one, collaborate with them on ideas such as allowing them to take over your social media for a day, and helping you promote your content to your followers and the influencer’s followers.

When seeking influencers to promote your brand’s blog posts, consider settling for ideas that benefit both you and the influencer. Therefore, your blog posts should be relevant to the influencer’s followers.

Also, look out for influencers with a genuine connection to their audience and whether their previous collaborations with other brands were successful.

Generate Backlinks to Your Blog Posts

Links from other websites to your brand’s website are a signal to search engines that your content is credible enough to be referenced. That is a big boost to your visibility and has the potential to increase your website’s traffic.

Here’s how to promote a new blog post by getting quality backlinks:

  • Create valuable content that people want to link to as their point of reference, and ensure you also link to credible sources.
  • Write for other reputable blogs (guest blogging) in your niche and include a link back to your website or a relevant article.
  • Get on Quora, Reddit, and other Question and Answer sites. Answer questions expertly there so that when you leave a link readers will want to click on it.

When using backlinks as a means of promoting your brand’s blog posts, remember to choose quality over quantity. A few quality links to and from reputable brands are better than many low-quality links that can harm your SEO.

Promote Your Content Through Organized Events

Presenter promoting content at an online event.

Image from Pexels

Structured gatherings like webinars and seminars provide a platform for educating your audience about various topics.

With these real-time question-and-answer sessions, you’re in a better position to discuss your blog post topics and provide the audience with links.

This is an opportunity to grow your readership base and connect with bloggers and other influencers who can share your content with a wider audience.

Ask your audience which event format they prefer, whether seminar or webinar and promote the event beforehand to encourage sign-ups.

If you choose to promote your blog content through organized events, consider discussing content that relates to your blog posts to encourage participants to follow up on your content.

Leverage Content Promotional Tools

Web analytics tool showing statistics on a laptop screen.

Image from Unsplash

Content promotional tools help market your content to reach a wider audience and increase your brand’s visibility.

These promotional tools include:

  • Analytical Tools: Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and SEMrush.
  • Email Marketing Tools: Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and Omnisend.
  • Paid Advertising: Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and sponsored posts.

To optimize content for search engines and conduct an analysis of your competitors’ performance, use analytical tools.

To help create newsletters and distribute them to subscribers, use email marketing tools. They also help segment your audiences and track subscriber engagement.

Paid advertisements, on the other hand, help you promote your blog posts through pay-per-click advertising, while sponsored posts enable you to collaborate with established brands to feature your blog post and further increase your visibility.

Select content promotional tools that are user-friendly to allow easy navigation. Also, check how well they integrate with your existing systems and processes.

Upgrade Your Blog Post Content

If your blog posts are underperforming, revisiting them and putting a spin on them improves engagement for your readers and enhances your brand’s authority.

First, review your content’s analytics using analytics tools like Google Analytics. Then, replace bits of outdated content with new information and recent statistics.

Break up large chunks of text into smaller ones and add elements such as subheadings and bullet points for easier navigation.

Optimize keyword usage, meta descriptions, and meta titles, and make the headlines catchy. This greatly improves visibility. Also, enhance the calls to action (CTAs) and add external and internal links.

Be sure to add visuals such as infographics, images, and videos to further engage the reader and make the content easier to understand.

If your brand chooses to upgrade your content to promote your blog posts, maintain your brand’s voice in the new content and make content upgrading a regular part of your content strategy.

Generate Traffic to Your Website with Express Writers

Do you long to step up your brand’s content game but don’t even know how to market a blog post?

While actively promoting your blog posts on social media and applying other methods discussed here is helpful, establishing a sustainable content strategy is of utmost importance.

At Express Writers, we make content that speaks to your audience. Our content strategy services include a content strategy plan, editorial calendar, keyword research package, one-off SEO topic research, and a single webpage title and keyword.

If you’re ready to increase your web traffic, order our Content Strategy Services and boost your online visibility.

How to Promote a New Blog Post: 15+ Trusty Techniques to Try

How to Promote a New Blog Post: 15+ Trusty Techniques to Try

You put lots of hard work into creating that new blog post. It cost you real money, time, and effort.

Now, how can you get serious return out of your content? 

Promote it.

Without a boost from a few smart, strategic promotion strategies, that blog won’t get traction beyond bare-bones SEO and organic shares. (Which could be significant by itself, but why settle?)

If you feel comfortable letting your blog hang out on the internet without any help, be prepared for a surge of activity followed by a quick decline. Your blog will limp along for a while until it’s forgotten entirely.

If, on the other hand, you want to give all your new blogs a fighting chance at getting read by a wider audience – not to mention a longer lifespan online – promotion is essential!

So, how to promote a new blog post in ways that actually get it noticed? Follow along as we share our best tips and techniques.

How to Promote a New Blog Post: Your Comprehensive Guide to Boosting Traffic and Engagement

1. Do These 5 Tactics BEFORE You Promote a New Blog Post

  1. Make Your Blog the Best Version of Itself
  2. Build Your Email List Using Lead Magnets
  3. Optimize Your Blog Posts for Search
  4. Promote a New Blog Post Internally
  5. Build Relationships with Peers, Fans, Followers, and Customers

2. Promote a New Blog Post Using Email

  1. Segment Your Email List and Target by Interests
  2. Did You Mention a Specific Brand/Influencer in a Post? Email Them
  3. Write Your Emails the Right Way

3. Promote a New Blog Post on Social Media

  1. Use Instagram Stories
  2. Cross-Post to Each Platform You’re On
  3. Plug Your New Blog on Relevant Twitter Chats
  4. Add the Link to Your New Blog on Your Profiles
  5. Share Your New Blog Multiple Times on Fast-Moving Feeds
  6. Use Those #Hashtags and DO @ People
  7. Share Your New Blog to Your Social Media Groups and Communities

4. Promote a New Blog Post with Smart Tools

  1. Use Quuu Promote or Zest
  2. Curate Your Blog Posts in a Content Hub
  3. Add Social Sharing Buttons to Your Posts

Do These 5 Tactics BEFORE You Promote a New Blog Post

So, you’re all ready to start learning how to promote a new blog post.

Hold on one second. There are a few foundations we need to cover first. Don’t skip these steps – they’ll help make blog promotion much, much easier.

1. Make Your Blog the Best Version of Itself

Content promotion will mean absolutely nothing if all you do is lead visitors to a subpar blog.

All the promotional tactics in the world can’t save mediocre content.

Why?

Quite simply, people don’t want to read, share, or engage with content that’s “eh.”

They may be lured to a blog that sucks because they won’t know it sucks until they land there. Once they find out, they’ll bounce away from the crappy blog as fast as they can. You’ll be no better off than you were before.

That’s why you MUST commit to creating the best blog this side of the internet. An amazing blog makes people want to stay, read, engage, and share. Plus:

Amazing content promotes itself!

A case study from Ahrefs nicely demonstrates this point. They regularly receive organic promotion from outside sources without any effort, like this Reddit post:

Reddit example for Ahrefs case study

As they explain in the post, Ahrefs did absolutely nothing marketing-wise to get this kind of great P.R. – their readers love their content, and that love makes them WANT to share Ahref posts.

How Ahrefs posts get shared in Reddit

Simple logic, but something that a lot of people forget about when considering how to promote a new blog post.

Make sure your blog is amazing at the start, and organic promotion will follow.

2. Build Your Email List Using Lead Magnets

I can’t emphasize the importance of this next point enough:

Build your email list to create a built-in audience for your blog promotion.

According to the latest report from The Radicati Group, today there are over 3.9 billion people using email worldwide. That’s over half the population of the entire globe.

Radicati Group report about email

Not only is email widely used – it generates the most ROI per dollar spent out of any other marketing activity. (A Litmus study estimated that email is worth an average of $38 for every $1 spent.)

Your list, when you build it, is worth a TON. It’s a direct link to people who are interested in you/your brand, and thus the perfect channel for blog post promotion.

Next question: How do you build your email list?

Create lead magnets.

Lead magnets are golden nuggets of content that are high-value. You offer these as exclusive downloads for your audience in exchange for their name and email address. A truly high-quality lead magnet is well-written and packs in tons of helpful/valuable information.

Create lead magnets offering high-value information, then offer them to readers in exchange for their email address. Once you get their email – boom! – your list building has begun.

Once you have an email list, send out messages to it with links to your new blog posts. Done and done.

3. Optimize Your Blog Posts for Search

Besides blog promotion, don’t forget about SEO. It’s a major way to scoop up organic traffic to your blog posts from search engines like Google.

That said, a LOT more goes into proper SEO besides just inserting keywords in the right places. You need to think about factors like:

  • Content quality
  • Whether your content fulfills user search intent for your focus keyword
  • Whether your blog showcases relevant expertise for the topics you’re covering
  • Your site design and page-load speed
  • Your use of links and sources in your blog
  • And more

It’s important to get your SEO down before you think about how to promote a new blog post with other tactics. That’s because SEO is a passive way to draw more traffic and leads to your blog. Cover this base, draw in readers organically, and then hustle for more traffic actively using the other tactics we’ll cover in this post.

If you’re new to search engine optimization, read Moz’s comprehensive guide to get the lowdown.

moz seo guide

4. Promote a New Blog Post Internally

Linking internally is one of the best ways to promote your content to people who already read your blog.

What do I mean by “linking internally”?

Basically, just that you include links to your other blogs inside your new blogs. This is what that looks like:

internal link example

Inside this EW blog, the internal link takes you straight to a related post that further explains the concept of CDF.

EW blog

As you can see, internal links in your blog posts are there to help your readers, first and foremost. Your links should be there to provide more information or further reading.

Secondly, and most importantly for blog promotion, those links also lead your readers on a journey through your website and content. It’s a great, free, easy way to promote your other blogs – old AND new.

5. Build Relationships with Peers, Fans, Followers, and Customers

What’s another foundational tactic to do before you learn how to promote a new blog post? Start building relationships online.

Connect with peers in your industry. Talk to your followers, fans, and customers on social media. Most of all, do it genuinely.

This, itself, is not about promoting your brand. It’s about forging friendships and building your network. If you start anywhere, start here.

Not only will you create a support system for yourself and your business, but you’ll also give yourself a built-in audience who will cheer you on when you start promoting new blogs and content.

Remember: These relationships aren’t one-sided! It’s important to give as much as you receive. Cheer on others in your network and industry, share posts, write comments, and engage. I guarantee you’ll get back every ounce of goodwill you put in.

How to Promote a New Blog Post Using Email

Now that we’ve gone over the basic steps to follow pre-promotion, it’s time to dive in. Get out there and promote your new blog posts, starting with email.

1. Segment Your Email List and Target by Interests

Remember that email list you built? It’s time to put it into action.

First tip: Don’t just send your new blog post emails to your entire list. Segment your list into smaller groups, first. Then, target each group by their interests.

This will make your emails far more personalized, which readers really appreciate, according to research from Dynamic Yield.

email personalization

Plus, email segmentation is a proven way to increase your email opens and clicks, and decrease your bounces and unsubscribe rate. This MailChimp study compared segmented email campaigns to non-segmented campaigns. The segmented campaigns performed much better:

mailchimp email segmentation results

For example, segmented campaigns got 14.31% more opens and 100.95% more clicks than non-segmented email campaigns.

Some examples of email list segments may include:

  • Splitting up your list by demographics (where people who live in the same general area are lumped together)
  • Splitting it up by gender
  • By age groups
  • By education level
  • By job industry

To learn how to split up your email list into smaller segments, read this guide by HubSpot or these tips from Optinmonster. Using email segmentation is how to promote a new blog post strategically.

2. Did You Mention a Specific Brand/Influencer in a Post? Email Them

In most well-crafted blog posts, you will be citing research from other sources or mentioning other brands, influencers, or industry experts.

These links, citations, and mentions are a perfect opportunity for blog promotion. Crack open your email and send your new post over to the person/brand/influencer you gave a nod to.

This is a great promotion technique, especially if:

  • You furthered the topic discussion in some way that might be useful to them
  • You promoted the person/brand or gave them an accolade

For best results, make this about being useful, not about being spammy. If you send an annoying email like this, without any context…

“Hey! Check out my awesome new blog post! You won’t regret it!”

…You’ll get ignored, or worse, marked as spam. Instead, make a point to be thoughtful, intentional, and useful. This is as much about relationship-building as it is about blog promotion.

Look at this example written by Brian Dean for inspiration – it’s simple, relevant, to the point, and personal (this is how to promote a new blog post using networking power!):

Brian Dean email outreach

3. Write Your Emails the Right Way

In keeping with the above point, you should also focus on writing your emails the right way.

Here are a few things you shouldn’t do:

  • Don’t clutter your email with babbling unrelated to the topic. Get to the point.
  • Don’t be overly promotional.
  • Don’t be impersonal. People WANT personalization, remember? (See tip #3).

And here are a few things you should do:

  • Be friendly, open, and genuine. People can see through a ploy for attention from a mile away. Aim to be helpful and informative, not promotional and spammy.
  • Use your voice. Be you.
  • When in doubt, keep it short.

For more tips on creating readable emails, check out our post, How to Write Content for Email Marketing.

How to Promote a New Blog Post on Social Media

Social media is a major channel you can use to promote your new blog posts. Follow these tips to get the word out there.

1. Use Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are HUGE! According to data from Statista, over 400 million users are active on Stories daily. Plus, the IG Stories feature is twice as popular as Snapchat.

ig stories active users stats

Its high-use factor means it’s a great channel to promote your blog posts. Here’s how:

If you have 10k followers, you can add a link directly to your story. The best part? It only takes a few seconds to record yourself talking about your new blog and add the link.

Don’t know how to use Instagram Stories? This IG Stories guide from Later covers every aspect for the newbie.

how to use instagram stories

2. Cross-Post to Each Platform You’re On

Don’t just post a link to your new blog on one social media platform. Create unique posts for ALL of your accounts. This is how to promote a new blog post to get it in front of more people.

This is necessary because your entire audience doesn’t live on one social channel. They’re spread out.

Some people use Facebook but not Twitter; some are on Instagram and Twitter but not Facebook; and some people prefer LinkedIn exclusively for networking. Create posts for each channel to get the most traction and hit every type of social media user in your audience.

3. Plug Your New Blog on Relevant Twitter Chats

If you join a Twitter chat, you’re welcome to share a link or two as long as it relates to the topic and adds value. I’ve shared links from our blog relevant to the topic at hand in a Twitter chat and earned a lot of clicks.

Relevancy and usefulness are key, here. If sharing your link in a Twitter chat doesn’t hit either checkbox, don’t share it.

4. Add the Link to Your New Blog on Your Profiles

One often-overlooked place to promote your blog is on the main information panel on your social media profiles.

This is what it looks like on Instagram, using @cmicontent as an example:cmi instagram

On Twitter, too:cmi twiitter

And even on Pinterest:cmi pinterest

On these platforms, in particular, the featured link is prominent. This is a perfect spot to plug the link to your newest blog post, as anyone visiting your account will no doubt see it immediately.

5. Share Your New Blog Multiple Times, at Optimum Times, on Fast-Moving Feeds

Some social media feeds move fast – so fast, lots of your followers may not even see the link you posted to your new blog post.

For these feeds – think Twitter and Facebook, especially – it’s a good idea to post about your new blog multiple times the day you publish. Here’s a good rule of thumb for how to promote a new blog post:

  • Post once, right after you publish the blog
  • Post a few more times, a few hours apart

Keep a few things in mind to make sure more people see your post:

  • The best times to post on your chosen platform based on research
  • The best times to post based on your audience’s preferences and habits

For example, SproutSocial analyzed their own customer data to determine the best general times for posting to the biggest social media platforms, like Facebook:when to post on facebook by sproutsocial

CoSchedule did research on this topic, too, and came up with some benchmarks for each platform:bes tposting time facebook by coschedule

Don’t consider this type of research your posting Bible, though. Take into account your audience, and try experimenting with post times to see if you can find your personal sweet spot.

6. Use Those #Hashtags and DO @ People

Another factor to remember when composing social media posts promoting your newest blog: Use hashtags and mention relevant people!

It’s surprising how much more engagement your post gets when you include some well-chosen hashtags and mentions.

This is a good example of hashtag usage on Instagram from a candle company, Frostbeard Studio:using Instagram hashtags

And here’s another post they shared that includes a mention of who originally created it:how to ig mention

Not sure which hashtags to use? This post from AdWeek has some excellent tips for finding the right ones for your posts.

7. Share Your New Blog to Your Social Media Groups and Communities

Final tip for how to promote a new blog post on social media:

Share that puppy with your groups and communities!

That includes Facebook groups, group chats, discussions, and forums. Especially if you’ve been engaging in your groups for a while, you’re likely to have a whole team of people ready to spread your post around the web like there’s no tomorrow.

When it counts, lean into your networks and use them to your advantage. Again, relationship-building always pays off.

How to Promote a New Blog Post with Smart Tools

Beyond email and social media, you may be scratching your head for ideas on how to promote a new blog post.

Good news – there are tools out there for that.

1. Use Quuu Promote or Zest

Want your content pushed out to more people? Tools like Quuu Promote or Zest make it ridiculously easy.

You have to apply and pay, but these are high-quality “sources” of content for marketers. That means you’re getting in each tool’s high-quality promotion queue, where they only approve the best of the best for promoting to their audiences. (Check out Quuu’s promotion criteria to see what I mean. It’s strict!)

quuu promotion criteria

These useful tools qualify content, which is good in a world of 3+ million published blogs/day. They help separate the wheat from the chaff – and YOUR blog posts could be the wheat that gets promoted to subscribers. (Just make sure your content is the best of the best – scroll back to the top of this post, to “Make Your Blog the Best Version of Itself” to get my drift.)

2. Curate Your Blog Posts in a Content Hub

Content curation is a great way to do a few brand-promoting activities at once.

  • It builds you up as a thought leader because you’ll be sharing and highlighting the best content that catches your eye (as well as your own high-authority content, which will get the benefit of association).
  • You’ll build an asset that both supplements and boosts your own content and blog posts. (For instance, you know video does really well with readers, but you don’t produce a lot of it yourself. In this case, you can curate relevant video content from other sources to supplement your own blog posts.)

There are plenty of good tools out there for creating content hubs:

  • To create one to host on your own website, try Scoop.it. Here’s an example of a content hub they created called “Content marketing resources”:

scoop.it content hub

  • Or, try Flipboard to create curated boards with your blog posts and related content from around the industry. Look at this Flipboard from Copyblogger


copyblogger flipboard

3. Add Social Sharing Buttons to Your Posts

What happens when your readers are on your website, reading your content, and they want to share it?

If you add social sharing buttons to each post, they’ll have an easy way to do just that with a few clicks. (Much, MUCH easier than copying and pasting your link into Facebook or Twitter.)

A good tool for the job is Monarch, a WordPress plugin. It gives you lots of options for button placement and design.

monarch social sharing

Bonus: These buttons also make your blog posts look snazzy and professional. Win-win!

How to Promote a New Blog Post: Done and Done

This is where our exhaustive answer to “how to promote a new blog post” ends, but…

How far your posts go from here is up to you.

Blog promotion takes a lot of work, but it’s worth it. You’ll help MORE potential leads and customers find your amazing posts, which will lead to more traction for your brand.

Don’t let those promotion opportunities fall by the wayside – dig in and take advantage. They’re not difficult, and they WILL lead to better ROI for your content babies.

One more thing, before you go…

One Final Tip for How to Promote a New Blog Post

Don’t outsource TOO MUCH of your promotion and creation.

Help and delegation are good, but remember that you need to be the idea originator for all your blogs.

I can’t stress this enough! You promoting your own content should be natural and authentic.

You can absolutely hire someone to help schedule and post for you, but make sure you’re in the thought process! In short, don’t outsource the thought in thought leadership – that needs to come from you.

How do you plan to go forth and promote your new blog posts? Let us know your game plan in the comments!

CTA blog post