Advertising and promotion can really pay off when it comes to spreading the word about your blog. Although many of the link building activities you undertake also promote your blog, sometimes it’s worth spending a bit of money to get recognition fast. Here are some of the options.

Google AdWords

We’ve all seen Adwords ads. They appear beside search results and on website pages. They are short, to the point and related to the page content, making you more likely to click on them. What if that click brought someone to your blog? All you do is get an Adwords account, create an ad and choose keywords (using the keyword tool we mentioned in an earlier post) and set a budget for the campaign. You only pay when someone clicks the ad, rather than paying for display (hence the name pay per click advertising). There are dozens of pay per click advertising companies to choose from.

Social Advertising

StumbleUpon offers another way to promote your site. This site is based on users looking at and rating sites based on their interests. Your page becomes one of the sites they see when they click the Stumble button. Create a campaign by typing in your chosen URL, clicking on the interest area it best fits, and streamlining who the ad should be shown to and your budget. The more people like your site, the more likely it is to get lots of traffic, so it’s a great return for a relatively small investment.

Blog Advertising

You have probably seen those little 125×125 ad boxes on people’s blogs. These are not simply a way for bloggers to earn money, but a way for you to advertise your blog on other blogs and sites in your niche. All you need to do is sign up with a site, create a profile for your blog and specify the niche you are targeting. Depending on the ad system, you may have to buy ads with credits, buy ads with money, or show ads on your blog in exchange for having your ads on others. Three well known blog ad networks are BlogAds, Performancing Ads and Entrecard. Make sure that there are blogs in your niche with available ad space before you spend.

Reviews, Free And Paid

Getting someone to review your blog is another way to spread the word. While there are several sites that will review your blog for free, it may be worth spending some money for a paid review. The advantage of doing that is that you can specify that you get a broadly positive review. Paid reviews don’t cost much, especially if you don’t mind the Page Rank of the review site. The more popular the site is, the more the review will cost you, so you could spend between $10 and $100 to get a good review. Popular paid reviews sites include ReviewMe, SocialSpark and PayPerPost, as well as many of the sites listed in our review of paid blogging opportunities.

As you can see, there are several ways to advertise and promote your blog, and new ones come up all the time. If you are more concerned with connecting with bloggers, then advertising that focuses on this audience is probably the right pick. However, if you are seeking a more general audience, then perhaps pay per click advertising will better meet your goals.

Sharon Hurley Hall
Get Paid To Write Online.com

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