Blogging is one of the most effective ways to promote your brand and engage with customers. Adding a quality blog to your website is a great way to gaining higher web traffic. However, it is not enough to just spend hours researching, writing, and uploading blog posts. If you want to grow your blog in order to increase your traffic and boost your website’s search ranking, it is critical you take time to promote your posts.

Below are 5 ways to promote your blog posts:

1. Share on Social Media

   Posting a link to your blog on social media platforms such as Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn can let people quickly know what your new post is about. Moreover, you can tweet your post 3-5 times throughout the week to gain traction. Additionally, your Facebook status update, tweet, or LinkedIn update should contain a creative headline that can entice your audience to read your article.

2. Comment on Other Blogs

   Commenting on other blogs can be a great way to generate traffic and give your blog a promotional boost. Your intriguing and relative comments on other articles can encourage other commenters to visit your blog. Also, when posting comments, please make sure to use your real name or brand name so that you seem authentic. This will be a great way for you or brand to gain online exposure. Moreover, remember to offer real insights in your blog comments and never, ever, try to create spam links back to your own site.

3. Submit Links to Bookmarking Sites

   Joining social bookmarking sites like BizSugar, Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon and submitting content can further boost your online presence. These bookmarking websites can promote your content up to millions of viewers who are actively searching for content within your specialty.

4. Add Sharing Buttons

   In addition to joining bookmarking sites, you can include sharing buttons in your posts. This can encourage your readers to share your content and help you spread word-of-mouth. After all, with the widespread popularity of social media today, a retweet or Facebook share can help you gain up to a few hundred new visitors or customers. Hence, don’t miss out on this free advertising opportunity!

5. Participate in Online Forums

   By joining forums related to your blog topic and becoming an active member, you can get to know other forum members and share new articles with them. When you create your member account, remember to include a link to your blog post in your signature so that other members will see it.