Publishing a blog post? Here’s something you need to keep in mind:

You can’t just hit publish and hope for the best.

Because the number of bloggers is expected to reach 31.7 million in 2020.

What do these stats mean for your interest in publishing a blog post?

I totally get it.

These numbers sound a bit intimidating.

But they’re also a valuable opportunity for your business to reach a larger, more diverse community.

Because with so many people using blog posts for everything from recipes to advice on important milestones, blogging is a great way to connect with your ideal customers.

But how do you stick out among thousands of other websites?

Today we’re going to discuss some promotional tactics you can use when your company decides that publishing a blog post is a good idea.

Please note that I included affiliate links, however, I only endorse products I believe in, and it won’t cost you anything extra.

1) Don’t forget about your long-tail keywords

If only one SEO term sticks in your head it should be “long-tail keywords”.

But the heck is a long-tail keyword anyways?

Yoast SEO offers the following definition:

Long tail keywords are keywords or key phrases that are more specific, and usually longer than more commonly searched for keywords. 

Using these keywords in your headlines, images text, and sentences makes the competition way too harsh.

To see what I mean by that, I’m going to show you two different search engine results.

The first one is just a generic search for the word “writer”:

Notice how it attracted a lot of results?

The truth is, the keyword is too generic.

Now let’s take the same subject and search for something super specific about writers:

But why is that the case? Because the first result was for something general with a lot of meanings.

And the second one was for a specific type of writer, based in only one country, that offers only one kind of writing.

If you go from the general to the specific with your keywords and headlines, you’ll have less competition as well.

2) Do your keyword research

Not sure what long-tail keywords to choose?

First things first, check out what searches for your chosen subject are the most popular.

Determine popular keywords with Google:

If you want to get a sense of what people are searching for, type in your blog post’s subject on Google.

For example, here are the results that come up when I search for “writing a blog post”:

Google automatically displays the most popular search engine hits, when you type in any word or phrase.

So if you want to attract readers, use these results to inspire your long-tail keyword choices.

Find out what’s popular on BuzzSumo

The Google technique and the Buzzsumo interface definitely go hand-and-hand.

Because Google shows you what searches are popular, and Buzzsumo focuses exclusively on social shares.

Next time you’re scratching your head about what headlines get the most attention, you can get a sense of what is attracting the most attention by typing in any word or phrase.

For example, here’s what happens when I search for “writing a blog post” on Buzzsumo:

The best part of Buzzsumo is that you can use this to find out what headline structures are the most popular for your chosen subject, and use what you learned to inspire your headline choices.

3) Run your headlines through a headline tool

Another key part of your blog post is the actual headline.

Because headlines are often a huge part of what makes someone click on your post instead of someone else’s.

And the tool I recommend is the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer Tool.

With this tool you have two options:

• You can sign up for the CoSchedule blog content and social promotion tool and it comes with your account.
• You can get it for free here.

Basically what the tool does is offer a grade and overall feedback on your proposed headline.

To show what I mean by that, I’m going to copy and paste a book title into the tool:

Once I copied and pasted the title into the headline analyzer, it analyzed the structure of my content.

And it analyzes everything from grammar to structure, readability, and word choices.

Generally the higher the grade, the better.

Because this will help make your headline do well on not only search engines, but also on popular social media platforms.

And that’s really helpful intel to know before publishing a blog post.

4) Install Yoast SEO

If you’re unable to invest in an SEO specialist and you don’t have an SEO background, I highly recommend getting the Yoast SEO tool.

Because the right number of keywords and what makes content readable varies far too much to rely exclusively on what you think is right.

As you write your content, the tool makes it easy for you to select the right Meta Descriptions(basically descriptions of what your content is about that show up in search engine results) and keywords.

And then it takes what you wrote and offers a simple “red light, yellow light, green light” grading system, along with suggestions for improving the readability and SEO aspects of your content.

5) Reuse Your Content…Always

If you’re publishing a blog post that doesn’t have a seasonal focus, it’s likely reusable.

Here’s my short-list of good ways to reuse your content:

• When customers want free advice, you can send them a link to one of your blog posts. This is a great way to still be helpful without having to spend way too much time working for free.
• Re-post on social media, while tying in your content to whatever you have going on at a specific time *E.G: making social media how-tos about planning for the new year, previewing your approach to things when you need new clients, etc.*
• Send members of mutual social media, Reddit, Alignable, and Quora groups a link to your post when it is a useful solution to something they’re struggling with.
• Send links to your content to former, potential, and current clients and customers when it might be useful to them.

6) Email bloggers with similar audiences

If you want to do a really good job at building an audience, you have to tap into blogs with similar audiences.

You can do this by either writing a guest post or emailing bloggers directly with similar audiences, who you genuinely think are doing great work.

I know that may seem a bit intimidating, but honestly, the worst that can happen is they don’t respond.

And as someone who gets way too many “dear sir or ma’am” and “to whom it may concern” emails, make sure you address them by their first name and get the spelling of their name right!

Otherwise, you will seem like nothing but an icky spam email created by someone trying to sell something and reach anyone that will pay attention.

And that’s not what you are. You’re simply someone trying to build relationships with other bloggers and readers.

Frame your email by saying “huge fan of your blog and here’s why, based on what you talked about in post X, Y, or Z here’s a post that I think you might be interested in. Feel free to share it on your social media accounts.”

Instead of competing with what’s already out there, focus on delivering content that stays true to what you believe in/ have to offer the world.

And when you apply the right tools, when publishing a blog post, you’ll slowly but surely attract like-minded readers who ideally become customers over the long-term.

So…tell me…

What methods have you found useful when publishing a blog post and trying to make your blog posts stick out among the competition?

And are there any that you’ve tried that you still find confusing/ frustrating?

Feel free to share in the comments below.

P.S:

If you’re still struggling with finding the right blog content promotion strategies for your audience and business…

Check out my one-to service, the content strategy sessions, to nail the perfect strategy for what you have to offer.

For more info about my one-to-one blog content promotion services click here.