Getting traffic to your blog whether it’s new or old, can be extremely challenging, especially if you don’t know where to look. To make things easier for you, I’ve put together this list of 20 places to promote your blog for free website traffic.
You’ll notice I’ve only included 20 places in this article, and that’s for good reason. Namely, I’ve tried a lot of websites, and I’ve found a lot of duds. This post is completely dud-free, from my experience at least, and I’m confident they will provide you with the benefits you’re looking for.
All of the sites and tools I mention here have either been tested to work by myself or have yielded strong results from trusted professionals.
Why is blog promotion important?
I know how much of a struggle it can be to get traffic to your blog posts; When you write an article that seems to fall on deaf ears. The sound of crickets as you check your analytics and an imaginary old creaking door sound appears in the back of your mind.
The struggle is real. I get it. I’ve lived it.
As bloggers, we tend to think that writing great content is the sole key to success, and if we build it, they will come.
The truth of the matter is simple; no, they won’t.
They don’t know you’ve built it.
They don’t know how to get there.
And, they don’t even know what “it” is.
As a blogger, you need to be more than a great content writer, you need to become a content marketer as well (and graphic design, copywriter, web designer, etc.).
Now, this can be a challenge when you get started. Either you may be too scared to push your blog posts yourself, or you could go the spammy route and overdo it.
Both are no-goes. Just going onto social media sites and dropping your links everywhere is not going to get anyone to click through, you’ll be doing more harm than good and get yourself and your website earmarked as spam by the greater community.
If you’re too shy to post your content and are too afraid of being judged, well, then you won’t be judged, because no one will be there to read your content and judge you.
You are your harshest critic, and you’ll only know if a boat floats, once you put it on the water.
Promoting your blog posts is arguably the more labor-intensive side of blogging, the famous 80-20 rule if you will. 20 percent of your blogging work will actually be related to writing, whereas the remaining 80 will be marketing, promotion, emails, networking, etc.
It’s important to note this into your schedule, otherwise, your site may have the best content imaginable, but there will be no one to read it.
Let’s look at the places to promote your blog for free website traffic, where and how to drop your links without looking spammy, and how to best use these places for massive amounts of free traffic.
I’ve divided these up into a few categories, where you can ideally pick and choose a couple from each category to implement into your blog promotion strategy today.
Not tomorrow, not next week, start promoting your content today and get that traffic flowing.
I’m pumped, do I sound pumped? Maybe that last coffee wasn’t a great idea after all… Let’s get going.
Social Networks
1. Instagram
Instagram is becoming one of the most popular social networks in the world. It was once a challenge to post links on Instagram but over the years there have been some improvements to where you can link to your latest and greatest articles.
The most notable place to drop a link is in your bio, but you can also place links in stories.
2. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is another great social platform where you can share your blog posts and articles as a link in a share (or create an article on LinkedIn itself).
What makes LinkedIn special are the users. With over 500 million members, most of whom are professionals in a wide variety of industries, you’ll be able to promote your posts to hundreds of influential professionals within your niche.
3. Facebook
With over 2 billion active users every month, Facebook is still the most popular social network in the world. It is also one of the few places that people check to verify the authenticity of websites and businesses. This makes your Facebook Page a very important asset to your blog or business.
Once you’ve got your Facebook Page set up, you can invite people to like your Facebook page, and you can share posts that link back to your articles for your followers and other users to find and then read.
4. Facebook Groups
Like your Facebook Page, you can take advantage of another asset in the Facebook library, namely, your own group.
Typically, this would be an insiders’ group, or information sharing group, or just a community group that you host for your readers and community. You set the rules and regulate them.
You can promote your latest articles and your group members will most likely be lining up to read them. A great way to get some instant traffic once your group has gained a few members.
5. Pinterest
Easily my biggest source of traffic and my favorite for bloggers. Pinterest is a visual search engine, which means that you make great-looking images, implement Pinterest SEO best practices and attach a link to your post, and watch the traffic come rolling on in.
Seriously, Pinterest can bring in a consistent windfall of traffic when done right. These days, using Pinterest videos can be a better way to reach more people.
6. Twitter
By tweeting your latest articles on Twitter, you can get a massive amount of traffic. You’ll need to have very targeted followers on your account though, otherwise, your engagement won’t stand much chance at ranking and getting those readers in.
Another great feature of Twitter is that it is easy to contact much larger influencers and if a relevant influencer tweets your article, prepare your site for a boatload of traffic.
7. IGTV
Unlike IGTV’s main platform, Instagram, you can post likes in the descriptions when posting to IGTV. The caveat is that IGTV is a video platform and you’ll need to create a video for your post or repurpose a horizontal video as IGTV only accepts vertical video.
Once you’ve jumped through those hoops, however, you’ll be able to benefit from the less competitive IGTV with your videos possibly going viral on Instagram.
8. YouTube
YouTube is quite a special video platform. It can act as a search engine; allowing you to employ YouTube SEO techniques to rank your videos higher, even with a small number of subscribers.
You can earn additional revenue by enabling advertising on your videos once you meet the requirements.
You can also use YouTube as a social network and video blogging platform, with comments, statuses, live videos, etc.
When it comes to promoting your blog on YouTube, there are a number of options. Some of the simplest would be to repurpose a blog post and create a video about it.
There are many ways to then share a clickable link to your post from your YouTube video.
While YT is the most popular video platform, there are several YouTube alternatives you can try out as well.
Your own platforms
9. Email list
Your email list is your blog’s most valuable asset. If your socials disappear for whatever reason or your blog has all its information lost, you’ll still have this list of emails.
These are avid readers of your content. People that know and trust what you have to say and if you have to start over again, they’ll be there to help you take your content even further.
Your email list should be some of the first people that read your latest posts, that is why they are signed up to your email list, after all, they want to read what you are producing.
I use ConvertKit as my emailing service. As ConvertKit was started by bloggers for bloggers, they know exactly what we’re looking for and have easy-to-use features for both pro and newbie bloggers.
10. Quote influencers and experts
By quoting influencers and experts, you’re inviting these people to read your article. A lot of the time, they’ll then share your article with their followers and you may receive a windfall in traffic and you may even get into further contact with the expert.
Many influencers use tools like BuzzSumo to see when websites are talking about them, so chances are they will already know about your article. If they haven’t though, you can always pop them an email and mention that you linked their quote and what they think of it. Don’t ask for a share, most of the time they’ll share your article automatically out of goodwill.
11. Ask for shares
The easiest way to get more shares and promote your blog is to have your readers do it for you.
Add a convincing call to action for your readers to share your article and you’ll be surprised how many more shares you’ll receive.
Even if only 2% actually share your content you can reap the rewards massively. For example, if you have 5000 readers, and only 2% share your post, that means that 100 people have shared your article with their entire audience, this could really add up and you may even exceed the original amount of readers.
Q&A Sites
12. Quora
One of the best ways to share your latest posts is by linking to them as an answer to relevant questions. This creates a very targeted clickthrough and by explaining enough of your content to corroborate that you know what you’re talking about, readers will be more enticed to click through and get the full scoop.
This is generally how Q&A websites work and Quora is one of my favorites.
The better your answer, the more upvotes it gets from the community. If your answer has the most upvotes, it will show up first as the best answer. With popular questions, this can be a really great source of traffic.
Focus on questions that fall within your niche and you’ll be driving traffic to your blog or business in no time.
13. Reddit
Instead of being a simple Q&A platform, Reddit is the world’s largest online community with a subcategory for almost every topic imaginable.
By being an active member in the community and focusing on providing value first, you’ll be able to drop your links where applicable and you can receive incredible amounts of website visits.
Remember not to spam and look for very niche-specific subreddits to contribute to, and provide as much value as possible.
14. Niche Facebook Groups
Facebook Groups that you join can be another massive source of traffic if you and the group are active and you follow the rules of each group when it comes to posting links.
Niche Facebook Groups can be great places to promote your blog as they provide very targeted and specific traffic.
You can also find collaboration opportunities on some Facebook Groups; this will allow you and your collaborator(s) to all share the post and give it an even stronger push for traffic.
Automatic RSS aggregators
15. Feedly
RSS aggregators automatically pull your latest articles and share them with their users interested in that topic. Feedly is one of the best in this regard and all you have to do is sign up and become a member for your blog posts to be promoted via the Feedly feed.
16. Bloglovin’
Similar to Feedly, Bloglovin pulls your latest articles automatically and presents them in various categories to the Bloglovin community. You can also follow your favorite bloggers for their latest articles and likewise, your avid readers will be able to follow you.
Other places to promote your blog
17. Flipboard
Flipboard is a magazine-styled article submission website. You submit your posts to your magazines (like Pinterest boards) and other users can save your posts to theirs. This is similar to retweeting on Twitter or repinning on Pinterest. Flipboard is one of the most popular Pinterest alternatives out there.
If one of your flips happens to go viral, this can result in thousands of visits per day.
Here’s what you need to know about Flipboard (directly from Flipboard).
18. Mix
Formerly StumbleUpon, Mix works in a similar manner to Flipboard. If one of your articles starts to trend, you’ll bring in thousands of new site visitors that can be converted into raging fans.
19. Digg
Digg is another curation site where you can promote your latest blog posts. With millions of users and followers, if your post becomes popular or becomes one of the Editor Picks, your website can receive thousands of views very quickly.
You’ll find a wide variety of content on Digg, so it’s time to start digging in (Yes, I immediately regret making that pun).
20. Zest.is
Zest is the marketer’s curation site. You’ll find some of the best articles that cover pretty much everything as long as there is some form of marketing connection.
Installing the Zest.is Chrome extension will replace your new tab and present you with content from your chosen niche.
You (or someone else) can submit your own articles to Zest.is, and if they meet the content guidelines, your content can be seen by thousands of readers.
4 best practices to follow when promoting your blog
1. Become a part of the community
The best way to utilize all of these places to promote your blog for maximum traffic is to become a part of the community and learn to understand how these sites function. By becoming an active community member, other members will recognize that you’re not just there to sponge off any potential traffic.
2. Focus on a few
Don’t try and tackle every place I’ve mentioned here. You’ll spread yourself too thin and the impact that you may be able to leave in the community won’t be very high to yield great results.
As I’ve mentioned before, pick a few places and then focus on knowing the ins and outs of them. Once you’ve gotten them down you can look at expanding.
3. Use social sharing tools
Social sharing tools like Grow by Mediavine or Social Warfare allow your users to easily share your content for you.
As I mentioned at #11, ask your readers to share your content. If you included a great call to action or the content is just so good, they will be wanting to share your valuable piece of content.
Utilizing sharing tools makes it easier for your readers to share your post with their followers. And as we know, the easier it is to do something, the more likely it is to be done.
4. Be patient
Patience is key, results don’t happen overnight, especially when you need to show your value to the community beforehand. Be patient and stay at it, consistency is a vital aspect of success.
These are my favorite 20 places to promote your blog for free website traffic.
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