Our guest today, Mariana Ashley ,gives us some advice on offline promos.

afk 4 Ideas for Promoting your Blog OfflineAlmost every blogging tips site, this one included, will give you plenty of great advice about promoting your blog to reach a wider and more diverse array of readers. While this advice is certainly useful, most tips focus on promoting your blog using various online methods, like social networking sites, linkbacks, guest posts, and more. Once you feel as though you’ve exhausted these methods, it is important to realize that you can promote your blog in the “real world” as well. Here are a few tips that have worked for me.

1. Create business cards and carry them with you everywhere you go.

This is a very simple and handy way to promote your blog on the go. You can easily create business cards using free, online software and quality stock paper, or you can always order them from a print shop, too. Carry them in your purse or wallet, and if you happen to strike up a conversation with a stranger at a restaurant, bar, at the gym or wherever, don’t forget to hand them out. Having a physical piece of paper that potential readers can refer to once they get home is a great way to generate curiosity among new readers. Having a physical piece of paper that potential readers can refer to once they get home is a great way to generate curiosity among new readers. You could also hand out some inexpensive promotional products from a site like Quality Logo Products, which will help with brand recognition.

2. Attend blogging conferences and Meetups.

While there are many blog readers who are not bloggers themselves, the majority of your audience who will play a key role in further promoting your blog will have a blog of their own. As such, getting to know bloggers in person by attending local conferences and Meetups (see Meetup.com) will help you widen your blogging network in a more personable way.

3. Write freelance articles for local print publications.

Although many people who consume media are skeptical of the future of print publications, there’s no denying that they still exist and they still have plenty of readers. A fun way to promote your blog is to write freelance articles for local dailies, and include in your byline your blog. For casual readers who don’t necessarily read many blogs themselves, seeing your name in print attached to an interesting and well-written article will pique their interest in looking you up on the Web.

4. Don’t underestimate the power of word-of-mouth!

Many bloggers only spread the word about their blog online. But they often forget their closer circle of friends and family, who, consider your close ties, will have a greater desire to tell other people about your blog. So don’t be shy—talk to everyone and anyone you know about your blog and encourage them to visit it!

While blogging itself can be very time consuming, promoting your blog can take up just as much time. Although promoting your blog offline should never be your only method, when combine it with online promotion, you’ll have a marketing strategy that’s tough to beat. Good luck!

 

About the Author:

Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031@gmail.com.