How To Get Your Blog Up In Lights

Following on from my previous post about the latest AdSense case study - Askbuilder.com, I thought it would be helpful to elaborate on one piece of advice that is often over looked when trying to elevate a blog's status and exposure. I like to refer to it as "getting your blog up in bright lights".

To make my point check out Tim Carter's (chief contributer to Askbuilder) other exploits outside blogging:

1. Nationally syndicated newspaper columnist.

2. Fronts his own radio show.

3. Makes frequent television appearances.

See what I'm driving at here. Most, but not all, really successful bloggers either have existing, firm roots in conventional media avenues or have worked their way into conventional media avenues via blogging. It's not a prerequisite but it's a definite advantage - examples Mark Cuban with Weblogs Inc, Jeff Jarvis of Buzz Machine, Jeremy Wright of Ensight ..... the list is long and illustrious.

This is a topic that is often neglected when talking about blog promotion but I think you underestimate it's importance at your peril. So here are some low cost ideas for getting you and your blog in lights:

• A well placed press release through a respected PR company. Example - the kid at million dollar homepage invested his first $1000 of revenue on a press release (an exceptionally clever move - his dad must be in PR! ), interest went off the richter scale from there. Obviously you have to have something news worthy but a good PR man will be able to guide you on that.

• Write to TV companies and program makers floating your expertise in a particlar niche. You'll have to knock on a lot of doors but keep at it and you'll find that it eventually pays off.

• Offer to write a small piece in a local or national newspaper. You'll be amazed how eager some editors are for newsworthy information. Whilst the blogosphere is keen to point out the imminent demise of newspapars, they still wield a lot of power and influential eyeballs and will continue to do so for some time yet.

• Produce some original research analysis in your field. Again many newspaper and magazine editors will be only too happy to publish your work if you can give them something original that fits with a story their compiling. For Ads On Blogs it was Red Herring magazine that published some of our data analysis - more on that later this this week.

• Contact radio shows. Ads On Blogs recently offered some advice on blogging for LBC Radio 97.3 - Londons biggest talk radio station with approximately a million listeners and were given a free plug in return. That kind of exposure normally costs you thousands of pounds and returned a traffic spike like you wouldn't believe.

I'm scratching the surface, but I think you get the gist of what I'm driving at here: - Yes online viral marketing is great, but don't disregard the offline stuff too.

Tags: PR, MARKETING, BLOG, RADIO, tv, NEWSPAPERS