Promote your blog on forums and news sites

Whether you are blogging on WordPress, Blogger or any of the other blog hosting platforms, there is a simple way you can increase traffic on blog posts by using the many news sites and forums out there.

First it really helps if the topic of your blog post is timely, because that increases the chances the topic will be receiving more coverage and attention.

Let’s use the example of the next iPhone release. If you blog about technology and smartphones, then once the newest iPhone is unveiled you can do a post about some new feature or write a review. Make it amazing, add a cool picture, because today content is king.

After your post is done, here is how to find these new sites and forums:

— News Sites —
A simple Google search using the “news” tab is the answer. Instead of a regular Google search, click the “news” tab you’ll see near the search box.

In our example we would type something like “new iPhone.” You would then see the latest news stories from big news sites all over the world mentioning this subject.

Then on the news site’s comments section, add your own interesting thoughts and make sure they’re both relevant and helpful. In your profile on the news site or in the comment itself (check with the site’s policies to see what they allow) include a link to your blog post. If your blog’s homepage shows the latest post, then just list the homepage so the web address is not as long. In many instances, simply using http://example.com (but with your domain) seems to work for than other ways.

As long as your post is intelligent and relevant, then rather than being spam it’s just a modern way to network and share your insights with others while promoting your blog.

The key is don’t get carried away posting all over the place, make each comment meaningful and helpful.

The more relevant and thoughtful your comment, the higher the chance someone might be interested in finding out more about you or your blog. I’ve seen this have amazing results for one self-hosted WordPress blog I work with.

— Forums —

Popular forums are another good place to share a thoughtful comment and mention your own blog post if they want to view your entire opinion. To find these, do a regular Google search result but add the word “forum” or “message board.” So for our example we would you search the regular Google results for “new iPhone forum.”

This is actual human interaction, because comment links usually don’t mean much to the search engines, but relevant information means a lot to real humans. With Google Analytics and other such technologies, search engines are well aware how long people are staying on the page and how they are interacting with the site. So providing insightful posts is key.

And remember, the more timely you can make your blog post the better, because that is when all the forums a new sites will be buzzing about the hot item of the day.

Post By

Joseph Moody is a consultant for Online Institute, specialists in forum hosting and WordPress customization