Get APLawrence.com by RSSBlog Promotion Techniques
2008/12/28
You probably know all the obvious blog promotion techniques: commenting on other blogs, giving away E-Books, running contests, press releases, networking, PPC (pay per click) campaigns.. did I forget anything? Well, one of the most clever blog promotion ideas I have seen is represented right here:
That's a "badge" that Liz Strauss regularly awards to blogs that she finds and likes. Every week she runs a list of two or three blogs she has added to the S.O.B. (Successful and Outstanding Blogger) list. Lots of people do something similar, but Liz cleverly took it a step farther with the badge.
She invites the recipients to proudly display that badge on their sites. That, of course, is more advertising for http://www.successful-blog.com - and people do put the badges up!
I think that's the surprising part. Well, maybe not too surprising: Liz seems like a genuinely nice and caring person and the offer of these badges really comes across much more as Liz doing something nice for you rather than you helping to promote her site. Also, her site is useful, interesting, often fun: nobody is going to get mad at you for sending them there. But still, at the end of the day, Liz generates a lot of links back to herself from this clever promotional strategy.
You and I probably can't emulate this. Well, I might be able to do something similar with a "GTC" (Great Technical Content) badge - who knows, maybe I will someday - but my point is that you can learn from people like Liz not just by reading her blog (though yes, you can certainly learn things there!) but also by watching the things she does. She's a smart marketer; watch closely and learn.
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Sun Dec 28 16:25:08 2008: Subject: Thanks and the secret LizStrauss
http://www.successful-blog.com
Thank you for your kind thoughts.
The key is ... if I did it for the links, it would never have worked. :)
Sun Dec 28 16:29:40 2008: Subject: TonyLawrence
That's a good point - the reason people don't see it as shameless self promotion is because there's no pressure - nobody HAS to display that badge to stay on the list and nobody has to display it for you to treat them well. Heck, you put me on a long time back and this is the first and only time I've ever mentioned it, but you've always been a sweetheart - you probably don't even know or care who links back and who doesn't.. and that is just why it works so well!
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