Organic traffic is the winner when it comes to getting eyes on your blog content and it yields a long-term ROI that you just can’t get with paid ads. Good SEO can get you a nice bit of traffic, but the truth is, you have to do a bit more work than just SEO to get your blog noticed. 

Here are 13 high-ROI ways to promote your blog, most of which I’ve used myself to grow my blog and get it noticed by some big names.  

Let’s get right into it! 

1. Smart Guest Blogging 

Guest blogging is a fantastic way to get your name out to other people’s audiences. But there’s a catch. If you’re just reaching out to other bloggers in the hopes that their traffic will magically become your traffic, it’s not likely to work well. 

However, if you’re just a little strategic about it, smart guest blogging can be a superb tool to get more eyes on your own blog. To be successful, guest blogging requires 2 things: smarts and strategy. 

So here are a few smart ideas to promote your blog through guest blogging. 

Guest Post Bonuses 

Brian Dean from Backlinko suggests this smart strategy for getting more click-throughs to your site. Most guest posts allow for a short writer bio with a link to promote your blog or links throughout the post. 

But you don’t want to risk your readers skipping out before they get to that point. Or simply not being interested enough to click through. To prevent this, offer your reader something that entices them to visit your site. 

Basically, add a soft CTA to your blog post with a traffic magnet. 

• A handy bonus section with tips, tricks, and info relating to the blog post
• Link to another blog post that offers value to build on this one 
• A free resource that provides the kind of value they’re interested in 

The options are endless, really. You can get creative here, but the idea is to entice people to your site by offering free value. We use CTAs in emails, our own blog posts, and social media posts. Why not in guest posts? 

Follow-Ups for Links 

This gem comes from Jon Morrow over at SmartBlogger. Write follow-up posts, guides, etc to your guest post and ask for links or shares to them. This is a great idea to promote your blog as it builds on the value you’ve already provided in the guest post. 

It also works on the classic curiosity principle. If someone read and found value in your guest post, they’re likely to be curious about any follow-up information that could expand on or add to advice or tips in your guest post. 

Once you’ve written follow-ups or additional material to your guest post, reach out to the blogger again and ask for a link to the follow-up in your previous post. 

SEO Your Guest Post 

SEOing your guest post for a competitive search term will get organic traffic (in the search engines) to your guest post when people search for the term. This is probably the most tricky and time-consuming of the options, though, especially if you’re already SEOing your own blog posts.  This is a great guest blogging strategy that is really worthwhile taking the time to do.

Combination of the Above 

The above ideas are smart. Combining them and creating a long-term plan is a strategy. To have the best chance of getting traffic from your guest post, you can do all 3 of these together. 

• SEO your guest post 
• Add a bonus CTA 
• Write a follow-up that can be linked to later 
• BONUS: Update your content so it can rank higher

Smart and strategic. 

2. Visual Content 

Visual content is a winner, both on a blog and on social media. The fact is, most people would rather get their info from a visual than from reading 10 paragraphs. How can you leverage this to promote your content and drive traffic to your blog? 

If you’re sharing valuable visual content that explains complex concepts in a simple way, and you’re SEOing them and sharing them on your own social, it’s likely that they’ll get picked up, linked to, and shared by other bloggers for whom the content is relevant. 

Here’s why. Visuals are: 

• Skimmable 
• Quick 
• Eye-catching 
• Easy to understand 
• Shareable 

It’s not difficult to add a few visuals into every blog post. If you haven’t got any experience, you can get a graphic designer to do it for you. If you’re keen to learn, Canva is easy and fun. 

Quick note: There’s nothing wrong with sharing non-info pics in your content, but they don’t count as content. Every visual you share should contain valuable data or something for the viewer to learn. 

3. Podcasting 

There are two ways you can do this, and both are highly valuable. One, start your own podcast. Two, go on other people’s podcasts as a guest. 

It’s probably easier and less time-consuming to be hosted on other people’s podcasts first and get your own going later. The beauty of being on other people’s podcasts is that it offers you a chance to direct people back to your own website. 

Instead of simply leading them to your homepage, optimize your ROI by doing exactly what you’d do in a guest post: give them an attractive CTA to a free resource. 

There’s a reason that lead magnets work so well! And no reason you can’t throw one into a podcast. Brian Dean explains his process for this: 

• Create a separate resource pack for every separate podcast. 
• Place it on a separate website page, eg. www.lilachbullock.com/thatpodcast 
• Mention the free bonuses in the podcast. 
• Link to it in the accompanying text instead of your regular homepage. 
• Set up an email opt-in on the page for them to access it (optional, but recommended if you want to build your email list) 

Check with the podcast host before doing this. Most won’t mind, but you don’t want to burn bridges by inadvertently annoying someone! 

4. Content Tile – Create NEW Stuff 

Joe Pulizzi, founder of The Tilt, talks about the content tilt—the thing that sets your content apart from any other content out there. The key to… tilting effectively is to write NEW stuff. 

By new, I don’t mean recycling the same topics. The best way to stand out is NOT to try and out-write your competitors. It’s to find something nobody is talking about… And talk about it. 

It should be something useful, obviously. You can’t start posting content about how to teach your kitten to knit just because nobody is doing it. It needs to be something helpful to your niche. 

New angles on old subjects are another way to get your content tilt on. For example, “organic traffic” is a common search. Here’s a quick view of some related trending keywords according to Ubersuggest: 

So how do you take the idea of organic traffic and make it unique? It’s a valid topic to be writing about, but how do you make it interesting, different, still valuable, and stand out? 

One of my best-performing blog posts is this one about How to Forecast Organic Traffic. It’s about SEO strategy, but ultimately it’s more likely to come up when someone searches for “organic traffic”. 

A quick look at the keyword “forecast organic traffic” shows that it’s really not competitive. Nobody’s talking about it. 

But “organic traffic” is very competitive, so plenty of people are searching for it. 

Forecasting organic traffic is a unique angle on the same old subject. It piques curiosity. Everyone wants to know shortcuts, tricks, & hacks, and the word “forecast” catches their attention and makes them want to know more. 

The content delivers on the uniqueness promised in the title, too. It automatically stands out against the 10 competitors all writing about attracting organic traffic. 

5. Public Speaking 

This might not promote your blog in the way that you think. Most people at conferences aren’t going to be pulling out their phone or laptop while they’re there to get onto your blog, especially if you aren’t the only speaker. 

BUT, it is a fantastic networking opportunity. If you blog about SaaS, any conference you’re going to speak at is going to be chock full of big names, up-n-comers, and established businesses in the SaaS space. 

This puts you in touch with a bunch of people who could be excellent contacts for guest blogging, podcasts, and partnerships. This is networking at its best and most valuable. 

6. Video Content 

Video is twice as likely to be shared than any other form of content. If you want your content out there, you NEED to be putting out video content. Video can be shared on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms, linking back to your own website. 

You don’t need to start from scratch, either. Base every video in a piece of written or visual content. Don’t just read a blog post in your video, of course. 

Make it interesting, condense it into bite-sized chunks of actionable stuff so you aren’t just blurbing on for 15 minutes. Write a quick script beforehand so you don’t waste time waffling. 

Invest in a good camera, lapel mic, and lighting—no need to be the most expensive, but a step above a smartphone camera & mic. 

Nervous about being on camera? Doodly is a great option to create faceless videos that still pack a value punch. 

Video cheat sheet: 

• Find compelling content 
• Write script based on content 
• Uncluttered background 
• Good lighting 
• Improvise, don’t just read 
• Bite-sized, actionable chunks 
• Craft a compelling CTA 
• Link to the full post below 
• Can link to related resources 

7. Send Out An Email 

If you already have an email list, leverage it by bringing their attention to new blog posts and content. Nothing fancy. Shoot out a quick email with a curiosity-inducing subject line, telling them why they should read your latest post. 

I’m not going to get into the details of effective email marketing right now, but if you’re neglecting your list, you’re missing out on a whole lot of traffic. 

Excellent curiosity-inducing tidbits toad to emails: 

• Statistics about your topic 
• Your own experience (stats are great here too) 
• Case studies 
• Actionable tips 
• Helpful tools 
• New strategies 
• Free resources 

You don’t want to share your whole blog post in the email. Just enough to get them curious. Link to a blog post in the email that builds on that info and your traffic should get a boost. 

[do you have a screenshot of an email that you’ve sent out about a blog post or something similar?] 

8. Revamping Old Content 

Stats change. Trends change. Information changes. The key to getting relevant traffic is to make sure your blog is evergreen. 

If your blog posts are quoting old info or aren’t relevant anymore, you’re going to lose traffic. Simple as that. 

Revamping old blog posts to be relevant in today’s climate is time-consuming, but can yield amazing results. Here’s how: 

• Start with your oldest posts first 
• Don’t rewrite – revamp only what’s necessary 
• Replace old images/visuals/screenshots 
• Update old strategies and ideas 
• Change dates in titles 
• Add a “last updated” date 

9. Blog Collaborations 

This can be tricky, because it’s more than just writing a guest post for them and getting one in return. This is best for case studies, industry studies, research, white papers, and so on. 

This may not be the most accessible idea to you if your blog is fairly new. But if you’re well-established and looking for new ways to promote your blog so you can gain more traffic, it’s a very viable option. 

[any collabs we can screenshot?] 

10. Leverage LinkedIn 

LinkedIn has gained traction in recent years and it’s a superb platform for professionals. Simply repurposing your blog posts into LinkedIn articles can gain you a whole lot of new traffic that you didn’t even know existed! 

This is super easy because all you need to do is copy and paste the exact post, visuals included. No extra work on your part and just a few minutes of your time. 

Note: Make sure it’s an article and not a post. Posts should be shorter and can link to an article if you like. 

[anything we can screenshot?] 

11. Reply to Comments 

This is a chance to build relationships with people who are interested in your content. It shows that you: 

• Take the time to read comments 
• Care about those who are commenting 
• Want to provide even more value 

Replying to all comments may seem like a huge time-waster. But this has the potential to reward you immensely. This is where interested parties can turn into customers, and where customers can turn into repeat customers! 

You don’t need to go into detail on every comment. A simple “thank you” is enough if it’s warranted. If you can, tagging them is a great idea. Also gets you seen by others who may not be in your network! 

Replying stirs good feelings in your commenters and makes them more inclined to leave comments in the future again, as well as share. 

12. Case Studies 

Whatever your blog is about, proof that your ideas/thoughts/strategies work is invaluable. If you’re a business coach, compiling a case study on one of your clients can bring in more traffic than you realise. 

It’s not difficult. They tell you their experience with your coaching (or advice, tips, tools, etc) and you write a post specifically highlighting their experience. That’s all there is to it. 

Why does it help you to promote your blog? 

• It shows proof that your stuff works. 
• They’ll probably share it like crazy. 
• Others they know will be curious and click. 
• Those in the same position as them will want some of that. 

13. Add Social Share Icons 

This makes it easy for someone to share your content directly on your blog. Mine look like this: 

And they’re located at the bottom of each blog post. There’s a lot you can do with this, depending on your website: 

• Make the more colourful and eye-catching 
• Have them down the side of the post instead of the bottom 
• Use a moveable widget that stays on-screen even with scrolling 

Another nice feature you can easily add is Click-to-Tweet quote, or Tweetable Quote. These make it super easy for someone to quickly Tweet a specific quote out of your blog post. Quick and could get you more traffic from their network. 

[not sure if you can enable these or get a plugin or something so we can take some screenshots? If you’d rather not, I can screenshot someone else’s!] 

Final Thoughts 

Traffic is the lifeblood of a blog. If you aren’t getting it, you aren’t going anywhere! These lucky 13 ideas will help you to promote your blog without spending on paid advertising, which is a whole different ball game. 

What do you think? Have any of these worked really well for you? Or not worked at all for you? Which ones are you going to try with your own blog? 

Would love to hear your thoughts! Leave a comment below (promise I’ll reply to it 🙂