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Whether you are an established pro blogger or just beginning to dip your toe into the water, the fact remains that promotion for your blog is an essential. You could be producing the best, richest, most varied content on the entire internet – but if you don’t have readers, very little else matters.

As a result of this obvious need, the internet is stuffed to the brim with tips that are meant to help draw the eye of readers. A lot of these tips have some merit to them, but here’s the problem: every other blog under the sun is doing them as well. If you want to truly stand out in what is becoming an ever-more dense marketplace, then you’re going to need to do something different.

So, steering away from ideas like “use social media” or “comment on other people’s posts” – what’s the next stage of blog promotion that can truly elicit excellent results?

1) Run A Giveaway

There’s no doubt that running a giveaway is a lot of work. The idea is pretty simple; you contact a brand, who give you a product to run a giveaway on. This benefits your blog as, to enter into the giveaway, you can request that people follow your blog and social media. While some of those potential new readers will drift away when the competition closes, some will stick around – and you’ll have developed a brand partnership at the same time.

The biggest problem you’ll have is managing the entries. You’re going to need a PO box if some of the submissions are to be done by post; you’re also going to need to be able to send the winning entrant their item, so check your mailing costs. As for selecting a winner, the tried and tested method is using a Rafflecopter, so make sure you’ve got that sorted before you launch your giveaway onto the world.

2) Offer Yourself As An Expert

One way to bring new readers and a sense of authority to your blog is to offer yourself as an expert on the topics you can best represent. The best way of doing this is to peruse the #journorequest hashtag on Twitter. This is where writers and journalists publish the kinds of people they are hoping to speak with. If a request fits into an area you know a lot about, you can volunteer your experience in exchange for a blog credit.

Not only does this spread the name and URL of your blog to a wider audience, but it also allows you to add “as featured in…” to your blog sidebar. This can help give new visitors a sense that your blog is professional in a way the majority of standard hobby blogs just can’t manage.

3) Brand Your Life

So much of the search for traffic is related to the internet. Of course, this makes sense; your blog is an internet-based entity, so of course the majority of your promotional work is going to go in this area.

However, it’s not just online you can catch new readers – there’s plenty of offline chances, too. Add your blog to your business card; even paste your URL onto the back of your car, in the hopes that one day someone behind you in traffic will be curious enough to visit. While these might seem like small fry, finding a loyal readership is all about spreading your net far and wide – so don’t be afraid to experiment!

Blog promotion isn’t an easy thing, but do it right, and you could find yourself reaping the benefits in terms of traffic for years to come.