Want to Build a Blog Following? Distribution is Your Key

So you write a blog.  Now what?  Well, getting some eyeballs on your blogsite might be nice.  As a real estate broker, having a well-run, popular blog helps establish credibility, build a reputation as the local expert and aid you in educating potential clients.  Blogging success comes down the to number of hits you get to your site, which is determined by how you market and distribute your message. 

There are a few techniques for putting your blogs in front of the right people. Chris Brogan, a well-established blogger, shared a few of his ditribution tips, in his blog post "Distribution Points for Your Blog."  These recommendations include the following 3 major channels and 1 minor tool:

• LInkedIn,
• Twitter,
• Facebook,
• Email.

My blog is one of my key tools in growing business. I use it to promote other people’s good work. I use it to share my way of thinking. I use it to equip you for success, knowing that should you need more than what’s offered on the blog, you’ll ask for a way to work with me. Here’s how I look at distribution and why I think it’s important.

Three Distribution Channels

I currently share my blog in 3 main places: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. In each case, they are shared differently.

In LinkedIn, I have the WordPress for LinkedIn connection, so that imports my blog in a simple, clean way into the regular fabric of LinkedIn. If I really need traction on a post, I might share it again in my network updates, but I try to use that very sparingly. LinkedIn doesn’t really like a lot of link promotion.

On Twitter, my automated account, @broganmedia shares out my blog post, but I don’t rely on just that. If I think the post is good, I tweet out a link to it, asking a customized question with that link. For instance, if I were tweeting out this story (and I will), I’d say something like, “how many distribution points do you have for your blog?” And then I’d put the link to this post. Make sense?

On Facebook, it’s shared via a note. I don’t do very much with that method, to be honest. Instead, I rely on shareability, as I’ve covered it before. But, lest you think I don’t value Facebook’s addition to my blog, I’ll tell you of the time that Steve Rubel accidentally kept me from quitting Facebook. You see, I was just about to hit the delete button, when I saw that a new message had come in. Steve said to me, “I don’t know why I never saw your blog before now, but it just came across my screen on Facebook.” I thought, “rats,” and kept my page alive.

Email – Sparingly

Now, let me be clear. I love it when you subscribe to my blog via email. If you haven’t, feel free to sign up here (I respect your privacy):

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But I really rarely and sparingly send out emails pointing to my posts. For the most part, if I know how to reach you, you probably subscribe to my blog. Secondarily, it feels like a waste of an email touch. I’d rather use those for important things, like promoting Invisible People.

One last note about email: I think it’s great to put a generic link to your blog in your email signature, if that’s what you most want people to do after you email them.

Distribution Elsewhere

There are many more services through which you can distribute and/or promote your blog. I’ve only talked about the three major and one minor method through which I’m distributing [chrisbrogan.com]. By all means, feel free to add other points in the comments, and we can talk about those, as well.

What about you? Where else are you distributing your blog? How have you found the experience? Any questions on what I’ve put up above?