17 Free Services to Get Your New Blog Noticed
Simply-Basic.com is a relatively new blog. What’s something that most new bloggers worry about? Making sure someone actually reads their articles! Previously I wrote about two free sources of web traffic. Writing this post really piqued my interest, and made me wonder what other services were available to increase exposure to a new blog like mine. There are many things you can and should do to increase the quality of your blog. A good list of things that will help your blog can be found at Problogger, here. But this list is not meant to be a comprehensive list of how to market your blog.
Rather, I’ve collected 17 websites that will help you promote your new blog. I’ve actually tried many of them. I’ve made this a list with short reviews of each website so you can know what it is before you check it out. Thus said, this will be a longer post then the norm. But if you are looking to get some new sources of website traffic, this may just be what you need.
The List
The links below will open in a new window.
Feel free to check them out as you read.
1.
Name: 9rules
URL: http://9rules.com
What is it?
9rules is a way to distribute your articles to a larger audience. It’s a different form of the social sites like Digg. Instead of just sharing the headlines, you can share whole clips from your articles. When the user clicks on the article to finish reading it, they are redirected to the post’s permalink. A wider distribution of your articles means a higher number of people who will see it and (hopefully) come to your site.
2.
Name: adgridwork
URL: http://www.adgridwork.com/
What is it?
Adgridwork is a nice advertisement exchange service. The ads look similar to Google Adsense ads, but are fully compatible with them (meaning you can use the two together). You show text ads on your site and your ad gets shown on other sites. It’s a nice, easy way to get your blog exposure to a larger audience. You can read my review of this service here.
3.
Name: BlogBurst
URL: http://www.blogburst.com
What is it?
BlogBurst may be a stretch for new blogs. If you get in, though, it could help immensely. Imagine seeing one of your posts in a major news source like FOX or Rutgers. Sound impossible? BlogBurst actually submits your blog posts to large news sources. Occasionally you may have a post that gets picked up, feeding you thousands of readers at the same time. Sounds like you’d have to have something pretty good to blog about. But hey, never hurts to try.
4.
Name: Blog Carnival
URL: http://blogcarnival.com
What is it?
A blog carnival is a collection of blogs or blog articles about similar topics. Often these “carnivals” are published in an online magazine format. They have blog carnivals about almost any topic you could think of. Simply submit your blog to the carnival that matches what you blog about, and have your content syndicated. You must submit your posts to the desired carnival before its next edition comes out. Not all posts are chosen, but if you have some quality writing, you’ve got a decent shot
5.
Name: Blog Catalog
URL: http://www.blogcatalog.com/
What is it?
Blog Catalog is a “social blog directory”. By registering your blog, users have easy access to your blog’s profile, as well as an RSS feed of your latest posts. Viewers have the opportunity to visit your blog, rate your blog, or even make comments on it. You can do the same to other blogs, which will usually lead them to check out your own blog to see who’s been looking at theirs.
6.
Name: Blog Explosion
URL: http://www.blogexplosion.com/
What is it?
I’m slightly skeptical about this next one. I tried to register so I could know more about it before writing this, but the registration component was down for “maintenance”. It seems to be a banner/advertisement swap of some sort, where you show a banner on your site in exchange for a banner shown on some other site. I’ve never been a big fan of these type of services, merely because I’m skeptical of their effectiveness. Nevertheless, it is a candidate for being a resource for website traffic. I’d be interested in hearing anybody’s experience with it.
7.
Name: Blog Hub
URL: http://www.bloghub.com/
What is it?
Blog Hub is an online blog directory. Simply upload your blog details and a thumbnail of your site, and your blog is listed (subject to human review). It’s not a way to get fast traffic to your site, but it will provide a link that will boost your site’s Google page rank.
8.
Name: Blog Rankings
URL: http://www.blogrankings.com/
What is it?
Like Blog Hub, Blog Rankings is another Blog directory. It allows people to rate your blog. Doesn’t look like there are too many people who actually use the rankings, but again, any extra links to your blog are helpful.
9.
Name: BlogRush
URL: http://www.blogrush.com/”
What is it?
BlogRush is a beta service that broadcasts your latest post title to other blogs. You copy the code for the BlogRush widget from their site and include it in your own site. Other’s post titles are displayed here, and yours are displayed else where. You can see an example in my side bar (at least as of writing this). It’s actually an interesting service. Unfortunately, it seems that the same posts are always there, but I do know they are rolling out some new features soon.
10.
Name: Blogger Swap
URL: http://www.bloggerswap.com/
What is it?
Blogger Swap is a not-as-cool version of Blog Rush. Basically it is a widget that displays a thumbnail of another member’s blog. Your thumbnail is shown on another member’s blog in return. It doesn’t display your latest post or anything, so it may be harder for viewers to want to visit your blog. It may be interesting, however, when used with Blog Rush or another service.
11.
Name: Buzzer Hut
URL: http://buzzerhut.com/
What is it?
Buzzer Hut is yet another blog directory. You may be asking yourself “Why another directory?!”. Well, like I’ve been saying. It’s free links! You may on occasion get people who find your blog from the directory. But more likely, people will find you blog easier because your website as more inbound links to it. Search engines place importance on this when displaying search results. The more inbound links, the higher up the list you’ll be (well, that’s the basic version, but you get the idea). You don’t even have to register for this one. Just show up and submit your blog.
12.
Name: CLIQ
URL: http://www.cliqin.com/
What is it?
CLIQ is a tool similar to Blog Rush (see above). You join a CLIQ, or private community of bloggers. Your widget that you place on your blog posts the latest headline from members of your CLIQ. It’s actually a great idea that I like better than Blog Rush, I just haven’t found a CLIQ to join yet. You can read a stellar review about it over at Jeffro2pt0 here.
13.
Name: Forum4Bloggers
URL: http://www.forum4bloggers.com/
What is it?
A great way to get exposure to your website is to post quality comments on forums. Forum4Bloggers provides just such a place. Here they want you to announce your site, tell them whats going on, and give suggestions to other bloggers. A good way to meet other bloggers who are in similar situations. Not only can you leave your link, but you may even be able make some contacts with other bloggers who will review your blog as an exchange.
14.
Name: MyBlogLog
URL: http://www.mybloglog.com/
What is it?
MyBlogLog, a Yahoo service, provides two functions. The first is some basic stats about your blog. The second is a community around your blog. With MyBlogLog you can network with like-minded bloggers and readers. It provides an interesting way of networking with your potential readers and, hopefully, turn them into regular readers
15.
Name: reviewback
URL: http://www.reviewback.com
What is it?
reviewback is an interesting service. It allows you to network with other bloggers and perform review exchanges. What this means is you’ll review someone else’s blog on your site, and they’ll review your blog on theirs. This method of “advertising” is one of the best way to get new readers. You can read my brief review here
16.
Name: WidgetBox Blidget Maker
URL: http://www.widgetbox.com/make_blidget.jsp
What is it?
The WidgetBox Blidget Maker lets your readers turn your blog into a widget. What does this mean? First you set up your blog by entering your URL and feed URL. Then when readers click on the small button that WidgetBox has you place on your website, they can turn your blog into a widget that displays your latests posts. They can customize the look and color of the widget, then paste the code on pretty much any website they have control of (such as MySpace, Blogger, etc). It’s a great way to have others do your advertising for you.
17.
Name: Zimbio
URL: http://www.zimbio.com/
What is it?
Zimbio is host of collaborative blogs. You sign up and then can submit your own articles or posts to any of the Zimbio blogs. Your articles show up (images and all) and display a prominent link to your posts permalink. It can be confusing, however, because people may post comments to the Zimbio blog, which won’t show up on your actual blog. But it is a good way to get your articles more exposure until you get more regular readers.
Conclusion
So there you have it: seventeen services you can use to increase exposure to your blog. This is by no means a definitive list. Nor is it meant ot be the seventeen “best” services. Just a few that I found that looked promising and could help you. If you feel like raving, ranting, yelling in disgust, or just know of some services that didn’t make the list, let the community hear about it in the comments section.
Useful Articles
This article was written by John Kolbert on October 18, 2007 and filed as Reviews, Tutorial/How-To. Get the latest articles by subscribing to the RSS feed. This article, including images and attachments, is property of John Kolbert and is not to be republished or translated without prior written permission.
Pretty cool list of services you’ve got here. Thanks for linking to me in regards to CLIQ, I was hoping to see that service listed here. 9rules looks interesting out of this bunch, I may have to give it a try.
Jeffro2pt0’s last blog post..Gravatar Has A New Home - WordPress
nice list . I love the free services you can use on the net to promote your blog.
Matt Ellsworth’s last blog post..I?m attending the Ross Goldberg?s Masters Internet Marketing Seminar Are You?
This is a good list of advertising opportunities for aspiring bloggers to try out. I’m already using Zimbio and BlogCatalog, and both seem to be providing some benefits.
Interestingly, I have actually seen my Zimbio profile get assigned a PageRank of 2 and show up in search results, sometimes in close proximity to one of my actual posts that happens to be linked from the profile page. This increases exposure by taking up extra slots in the SERPs for the same keywords.
Meanwhile, BlogCatalog has been useful because of the little widget and avatars they have. This allows me to visit several different blogs that are using the widget, and when they see my avatar show up on their pages, they will often click through to my profile page and add me to their friends lists.
When this happens, I will receive emails notifying me of the adds, from which I will visit their profiles, track down their blogs, and often leave comments. It’s another good way to advertise and bring in more visitors.
Karlonia | Internet Marketing Blog’s last blog post..By: Malignition.com – The Don’ts of How To Make Money
@Karlonia I’m glad you liked the list! And thanks for the personal examples, it just goes to show how effective some of these can really be if you actually use them.
Thanks for this list - I’ve been blogging for over 3 years and hadn’t heard of some of them. Another one I’d suggest is Technorati - http://www.technorati.com - you register and click on ‘claim your blog’ I think is the phrase. It is a bit like Google but for blogs and I think it picks up new blog posts quicker than the other search engines because it is specific to blogs.
Liz’s last blog post..Altering a silk wholecloth wallhanging….
@Liz Great spot! Technorati is one I should have included. Though I have to admit I don’t use it for much other then to check backlinks once in a while. I’m glad you found the list useful!