Increase the reach of your blog

October 20, 2010 by 11 Comments
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I blog pretty regularly and many of you probably wonder how I find the time or the inspiration to do it.

The time issue is what it is. I know that it generally takes me about one hour to write a blog post.

As far as inspiration goes here is a post that I wrote  about thinking like a blogger called: Dr. Blogger or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blog.

Today’s post is inspired by: Jason Kaminsky of Philly Ad Kids.  Jason has a really interesting blog featuring thoughts and perspectives from rising stars in the advertising industry in Philadelphia.  Many of them are students and bring fresh and unique ideas and observations.  Jason tweeted me a question and I think this post will help answer.

How I promote my blog Social Media Philanthropy

Blog distribution

That’s what it looks like.  I’ll explain.

Once I’ve created a blog post, I share it on Twitter using the Hootsuite “hootlet.”  This allows me to share it on Twitter AND get statistics as to the number of clicks and shares each post gets from my primary Twitter account: @jgibbard.

Next I go to my Fan Page and I share the link there.  I don’t like sharing on Facebook through Hootsuite or any third party because I feel like that gives the appearance that I’m not on my Fan Page actively participating.  So I always share on Facebook instead of to Facebook.

After that, I highlight a portion of the post and click my Posterous bookmarklet.  This clips an excerpt of my post that I can post to Posterous with a link back to socialmediaphilanthropy.com.  The goal is to get more people here.

The Posterous blog autoposts to Blogger.  Again the goal is to maximize reach.  The same excerpt is posted on both Posterous and Blogger.  Both pages have a Fan box for my Fan Page.  The two places I try to drive traffic are the blog and the Fan Page.

Google Buzz is setup to pull in any new posts.  So new posts automatically get posted to Google Buzz.

Finally I created a Twitter account called @myrssbuddy that pulls in and autoposts my favorite blogs from around the web.  Chris Brogan, Conversation Agent, Brian Solis, etc.  The goal was to curate the best blogs so that other people wouldn’t have to.  I created an accompanying Facebook Fan Page so people could follow the content there.  I’ve included my blog posts in that feed to increase my reach.

This whole process takes me approximately 3 minutes.  I share to hootsuite, I share on FB, I clip to Posterous; the rest is on autopilot.  Once a system is setup it should take no time at all to post your content all over the web.

The Results

Since I’ve started doing this distribution strategy I’ve noticed that the number of places my traffic comes from has blossomed.  However, the amount of traffic has been more heavily influenced by the frequency of my blog posts than anything else.

If you want more readers, more fans more subscribers, you have to keep working at it and delivering something valuable where ever you choose to spread out.  I wish you all good luck and more readers.


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About Jeff Gibbard

Jeff Gibbard is the lead blogger and editor of Social Media Philanthropy and the President of True Voice Media, the Philadelphia Social Business Agency.

  • Jason Kaminsky

    Wow Jeff, you literally slaughtered two birds with one stone. You answered my question and got yourself a sweet little blog post in a result. Now that’s talent ;) I have to say, I am honored and inspired. Now I have to spend the afternoon today getting myself in gear. Thanks Jeff, you rock.

  • http://www.jeffgibbard.com/ JGibbard

    Glad to have helped. Looking forward to seeing Philly Ad Kids all over the net.

  • http://www.jeffgibbard.com/ JGibbard

    Glad to have helped. Looking forward to seeing Philly Ad Kids all over the net.

  • Pingback: Best of the Week! | Philly Ad Kids Blog

  • http://twitter.com/tomharari tomharari

    Jeff, great post breaking it down like that. A couple questions: What’s your take on the whole duplicate content issue with google and indexing? If an excerpt is going to posterous, that’s one thing, but then that same excerpt is going to blogger, so how does that play out? Also, I noticed you didn’t mention anything about submitting posts to social bookmarking sites likes digg, reddit, etc. Have you found those not to work for you, or have you just not gotten around to messing with them yet? Curious to hear your thoughts on this…

  • http://www.socialmediaphilanthropy.com Jeff Gibbard

    I’ve read that the whole duplicate content issue is non existant (http://bit.ly/fAEmGV). The strategy behind posting excerpts is less about search relevance as it is about meeting people where they are. Some people spend time on Posterous. When they are browsing for content on Posterous I want them to be able to find my content. Same goes for Blogger.

    I have my blog being fed into Digg, but I haven’t felt much traction from that. Especially with the new digg, I’ve found it more difficult to see results. I would tag my posts to Delicious and other sites but it comes down to time spent vs benefit. I syndicate my blog where I have seen results and where I can share most easily, either automatically or with a few clicks.

  • http://www.awebguy.com/ Mark Aaron Murnahan

    You have a nice and clean map there, and a well-considered one at that.

    I keep trying to put my example together in a graphical map, but it keeps changing and the icons become really tiny if I include them all. Having a routine helps me a lot, but to be effective can require a lot of work and willingness to adapt.

    A challenge arises if you post content in more places than you can give attention. Beyond just the posting of content, I find huge value in giving attention to all of those places where my work is syndicated (both automatically and manually). This makes it important to choose your promoted syndication carefully.

    It would be nice if everybody came to one central place to reply and add their two cents, but this is not a perfect world. We still must meet readers where they are, and facilitate their preferences. That means paying attention to those many places where readers may wish to discuss your topic.

    I have measured that only a small fraction of my readership is engaging directly on my blog, but rather in their respective preferred networks. It has the downside of others’ points of view being limited in scope by not merging the value of their thoughts for a larger discussion with all readers. One way I have attempted to assist this is by adding a line in the top and bottom of my RSS feed urging them to join the conversation in a centralized location. This is not just for my benefit, but to help thoughts merge and ideas sprout.

    Since I am in your blogroll, I am pretty sure you will not see this as a spammy promotion, Jeff, so I will share what I include in my RSS feed to help consolidate discussions to my blog. I will add that many people will completely ignore it, but it seems to be worth a shot.

    Top: “– View the original post and join the conversation at awebguy.com — ”
    Bottom: “What do you have to say about this? Please go to aWebGuy.com SEO and Social Media Marketing Blog and tell others what you think!”

    The bottom line is that it would be easier to put it out there and forget it, but as you and I know, you will get out of it what you put into it … nothing more … and sometimes less.

  • http://www.socialmediaphilanthropy.com Jeff Gibbard

    That is a damn smart idea Mark. I think I have some RSS edits to make.

    I wrote this post for someone in particular, I’ll be sure to forward them your additional comments. Great stuff as always Mark!

  • http://www.awebguy.com/ Mark Aaron Murnahan

    Thanks. I hope it is useful. If you need a hand with it, I am sure I can probably dig up a handy article on RSS edits. It is around here someplace in my mess of bookmarks.

    If you edit your feed, you may want to have this link handy to ping Feedburner with each change so you know you have it working just right.

    http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/pingSubmit?bloglink=http://www.socialmediaphilanthropy.com

    Don’t worry, it will not break anything if you overuse it. They will just throttle it.

  • http://www.socialmediaphilanthropy.com Jeff Gibbard

    uRock! Thanks for that link. If you come across that article, definitely send it my way. Thanks Mark, as always you showcase why you’re on “the hotlist.”

  • http://www.awebguy.com/ Mark Aaron Murnahan

    No, thank you, Jeff! Here is a handy article from Smashing Magazine titled “10 Useful RSS-Tricks and Hacks For WordPress”. It has some really good tips and is worth a look.

    http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/12/02/10-useful-rss-hacks-for-wordpress/

    NOTE: Number three is the one you can use to add things such as I mentioned.