What happens after you publish a post? Do you wait for it to magically receive tons of traffic or do you have a strategy in place to help market your new post?

Less than a year ago, I was running a lifestyle blog that received little to no traffic. Why? Because I didn't know how to properly promote my post after publishing it. I went almost two years having a routine, "Hit Publish and wait for readers to find my post." How were readers going to find my post if I didn't actively promote it?

I actually spend 1 day a week writing my post, and the other 6 days actively promoting it.

Here are tips I use to get my posts seen by hundreds of people.

1) Make a graphic for your post and pin it to specific group boards using Pinterest.

I make all my graphics using Photoshop, but there are ways to create Pinterest Graphics using Canva.com (which is FREE and amazing). Why is this so important? Pinterest is amazing for getting traffic to your site, but remember that it is really important for you to have high-quality graphics.

TIP: Make your images stand out by making them vertical, I use images that are: 1000 (width) x 1400 (height). 

2) Tweet out your new post & Pin it to the top of your Twitter Feed

I promote my new post every day, a bit excessive but I must be doing something right if I get 100 views on Twitter a day. I schedule all my posts using buffer and schedule a tweet about my new post every day, but use a different copy for each tweet. 

Imagine how spammy it would look if I had the same copy each time I promoted my post. Mix up your copy and also, don't forget that you need to be actively sharing other's content as well. So, I would share 5 other helpful blog posts by those in my niche, and throw in my new blog post. 

Don't be afraid that you'll look spammy, Twitter feeds move very quickly.

Here's how to pin your newest post to your Twitter. Click on the post that you want to pin, on the right-hand side there should be "..." (highlighted in the photo), and then go down to, "Pin to your Profile Page". 

Why this works: Every time someone clicks on your Twitter, they will automatically see the pinned tweet. So, instead of seeing the latest thing that you tweeted (which could be another person's content), they will see your new blog post. 

3) Promote your new post on Facebook Groups

Hopefully, you've been able to read my post on "How to find Clients in Facebook Groups"  if not, click here to read it. Facebook groups aren't only great for finding clients but it also works the same way for promoting your blog posts. Make sure to keep a chart of daily promo threads and write down specific days that the groups will let you promote your post/service. Then, use that to your advantage and post on those days. 

Another option you can do, if you really want to get more eyes on your post is to use the search feature: 

I go into more detail in my Facebook Blog post

Use this search feature to find people who are actively posting questions that your new post can answer.

Advanced Tip: You can use this feature on TWITTER as well.

Simply go to the RIGHT, type in the keyword you're looking for (in this case, banner design) then make sure to click, "LIVE". By clicking LIVE, it only shows you the tweets that are the most recent. 

“How do you expect people to find your blog if all you do is press “publish” then leave?”

4) Use Instagram to promote your post & Change your Bio

I'm new to the Instagram game, but so far I've been able to find plenty of customers there and make great relationships with other bloggers as well! Using the Pinterest graphic you made for your blog post, resize it so that it fits Instagram and upload it onto your account. Most bloggers just stop there, however, we're going to take it another step further. 

You're going to go and edit your bio so it reflects your latest blog post (of course, you can use this to promote your latest product, sale, etc). Here's what mine looks like right now for example:

You can tell from my bio that I'm advertising my Sidebardesign course, which you can access here. But, if I really wanted to make the link stand out, I could have written something like this, 

"Learn how to design a gorgeous sidebar FOR FREE, click here: bit.ly/sidebardesign" 

Then, when you post up your IG graphic telling those about your new post, you can simply write, "Clickthe link in bio to read the post!" because IG doesn't allow clickable links.

TIP: Make it as easy as possible for people to read your post. No one is going to want to type out the URL in their browser, so if all they have to do is click the link on your bio - they'll be more likely to do that. 

5) After you hit publish, start commenting on other blogs.

Commenting on other blogs is always a great idea, it helps build relationships, gets your name out there and you can even see an increase in your traffic. When I had my lifestyle blog, I didn't have ANY social media except Instagram (and even then, I didn't see any engagement) so the first thing I did that helped me get more traffic and more followers were commenting on other people's posts. 

When you comment on someone else's post with a great comment aka more than one sentence then most of the time they're going to visit your site and see what you're all about. Commenting on other'’ posts also increases comments on your blog posts (which is how I end up getting comments on my blog posts for this blog). 

“Although it may take more time than simply pinning your new post to your twitter feed, commenting on other blogs is more active and in return (for me) yields the best result when it comes to getting more traffic & also getting more comments. ”

How do you write a great comment? Make sure you address the blogger by their name (look at their about me), read the WHOLE post, and then write your comment. I don't tell them to come over to my blog, because that can look spammy and doesn't look attractive to me (though you can if you want). 

6) Make it easy for others to share. 

 The easiest way for your content to get shared is to make it easy for others to share. At the very least, make sure you have SumoMe. SumoMe gives you those awesome share icons on the right-hand side. Here's a detailed tutorial on how to use it with a video tutorial as well! 

How do you make your content easy to share? If you have any blogging BFFs, now is the time to ask them for some help! Amber from The Ultimate Business Book puts everything in google docs or excel sheets and asks her BFFs to share them. 

By having prewritten copy, all your BFFs or readers have to do is copy and paste the tweet, share the premade image, or share the Facebook post!

“Imagine someone going up to you and asking you to share their latest blog post, now imagine someone sending you files where you can easily pick and choose what platform you want to share it on along with a photo. ”