Are you overwhelmed?
Blogging can be hard. It’s even harder when all you think about is all the hundreds of things you “should” be doing to market your blog, and you have no idea which of those things will bring you the greatest return on your investment.
Today, I’d like to help you out by telling you five things that might be on your blog marketing “to-do” list that you can go ahead and take off of it for the time being. None of these things are necessarily bad, but as a new blogger, I know how helpful it can be for someone to give you a hint about what you can do that really will make a significant difference– and what won’t.
Marketing Time Waster #1: Checking Your Stats Obsessively
Here’s the thing about statistics. They’re only meaningful if you know how to interpret them and if you intend to do something about them. If you’re just looking because you’re curious, it’s not the best use of your time.
There’s a lot you can do to change your plans if you know how to interpret the data your stats show, but early in your blogging career, focusing that energy on networking will be more productive. Unless you have a clear idea of what you’ll do once you have the data, you don’t need to worry about your analytics just yet.
Marketing Time Waster #2: Looking for Followers in the Wrong Places
I could talk about this all day long. This is not the first time I’ve written about it, because I see so many new bloggers making the same mistake. And I know why, too.
Read Stop Getting Social Media Followers: Do This Instead
It’s really tempting to participate in follow-for-follow agreements and other shortcuts to growing your social media following. And while it can be an effective way to boost your numbers, it’s also a sure fire way to rob yourself of valuable networking time– time you could otherwise spend participating in meaningful conversations and building real relationships that will benefit you and your blog for the long haul.
Marketing Time Waster #3: Watermarking Every Last Image
Some bloggers are really worried about having their photos stolen, so they spend hours watermarking every last photo in each post. If your post has twelve photos (kudos to you if it does) then that ends up being quite a bit of work!
The thing is, if somebody wants to steal your photo, they’ll probably just edit out the watermark anyway. I figure if they want my images that much, they can have them.
Watermarking is a good idea, but in my opinion you really only will NEED to put your logo/site name on the images that stand to get shared– not necessarily screenshots or step by step instructions. If you’re looking to save time, this is one corner I think you could stand to cut.
Marketing Time Waster #4: Poorly Marketing Your Email List
Do me a favor. Don’t throw a cookie cutter “Sign Up for My Newsletter!” box on your site and expect subscribers to start rolling in.
Unless your posts are the most brilliant work ever written, chances are you won’t have people clamoring to fill their inboxes with your posts. If you want to build an email list (and you should), you absolutely must figure out a way to entice your readers to subscribe. What will they get? When will they get it? How is your email list different from/better than others?
Everybody has a newsletter. If you’re going to take the time to create one, then take the time to market it effectively… or skip it altogether.
Marketing Time Waster #5: Scraping the Internet for Content to Share
If you’re a marketing junkie like me, you’ve probably heard the term “curating content” before. If you haven’t, curating content is looking for great stuff to share.
Doing this has some advantages, because it’s a nice way to establish who you are and what your followers can expect to see from you. If you have good taste in content, chances are that over time people will want to follow you for more.
However, there are more effective ways of doing this. My content curtain process now revolves almost entirely my networking efforts. It’s a waste of time to wander around the internet looking for content that will make you look cool without any thought at all to where that content is coming from.
One great way to find things to share is to join one of the IBA’s Sharing Networks. Another is to join Triberr. But neither of these are my favorite. (shh! Don’t tell the person who created the sharing networks I said that… oh wait… that was me) =D
If you’re looking for good content to share, look no further than the people online who you want to get to know better. If you do not have a list of these people on some type of RSS service, create one NOW. That’s the single best piece of blog marketing advice I can give you. When you have a minute to look for great stuff to share, share theirs and share it frequently enough that they start to recognize you.
How many people should be on this list? It really depends on how many people you think you can reasonably visit on a semi-regular basis.
When you do visit, make sure you leave a comment. When you do share, make sure you tag them so they’ll see it. Real friendship is the ultimate goal here.
This is by far the most productive blog marketing strategy I know. Choose your list carefully and nurture those relationships frequently and I guarantee you, you’ll see results.
Conclusion
Blogging is so much fun. It can also be stressful, time consuming and draining– if you don’t know where to focus your efforts. With a clear direction and a proper plan, you’ll be leaps and bounds closer to finding the balance that will help you be a successful (and SANE) blogger.
About the Author: Brittany Bullen is the founder of the International Bloggers Association. When she’s not busy plotting world domination and wrangling kiddos, she’s usually writing over at brittanybullen.com.
Brittany says:
I have a passion for helping people turn their blogging hobbies into real careers.
If you’d like to sign up for my free blog monetization email course and website consultation, click here now.