5 Ways to Grow Your Blog or Podcast

One of the most frustrating factors about blogging, vlogging or podcasting is growing the brand and increasing the audience. It sometimes feels like a never ending task – however, don’t give up just yet as there are ways in which in expand your brand and increase your exposure online.

If you are like many of us who are looking for new ideas to attract and retain readers, then check out these 5 ways to grow your blog or podcast and make sure to leave a comment with a few ideas of your own.

5 Ways to Grow Your Blog or Podcast

1. Seek and Ye Shall Find! That’s right, take out some time each day to seek out people on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, Instagram, Linkedin, etc.

Join Facebook groups and communities and be active and social on them, comment and follow others. Use hashtags (#) on Twitter to find others who are interested in your niche then follow them, check out their followers and follow them as well if they seem like a good fit.

2. Create and Curate Great Content! There is nothing written today that can be considered original content, so use your own unique voice to put a spin on something you have read. Engage with your audience ask them for their opinion or ask open-ended questions.

Growth takes time and hard work, it is a marathon, not a sprint. Quality over quantity, remember to always write, create or curate great content for your readers and listeners to enjoy and ask them to share it -always end each post or episode with a CTA or a Call to Action!

3. Promote…and Promote…Then Promote It Again! Every blog post and podcast episode should be promoted several times a day on different platforms. Re-purpose the content into a visual format to post again, ie. lists, Headliner, infographics or Livestream it on FB/Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Use different intros and images or memes when promoting on various social media platforms during the day. Promote your blog post and podcasts again during the month and then each quarter thereafter if the content is evergreen. Blast your blog post and podcast show notes to your email list via a weekly or monthly newsletter!

4. Run Giveaways or Contests Who doesn’t like winning free stuff or entering for a chance to win free stuff? Reach out to businesses for products and services or put together something of your own (freebies from networking events). Request social shares, ask for reviews, mentions, retweets, and of course, blog follows and subbies.

Use Rafflecopter to run the giveaways or contests as this is a great way to establish your online presence and boost your blog’s and podcast’s growth – BTW congratulations to the winners of the “Beach Book Bundle Giveaway.

5. Social Media – Socialize and Engage!

Be a friend to make a new friend. Social Media is your way to directly engage and connect with your targeted audience. Share an inspirational message, a recipe or funny meme or joke, give it a personal touch. Stay active, curate and automate content using Feedly.com and Bufferapp or Hootsuite. Share content written by others and hopefully they will reciprocate.