Okay guys, I'm gonna need help here. I have a new gadget blog . . . and have implemented an new content strategy (i.e. be different; be thorough; be fun) However, when it comes to marketing everything is a haze to me. I know how to link exchange, but I don't want to exchange with lots of sites and risk making my blog look unprofessional. I want to be more visible, and be "seen". How do I do this? Skinny
Making inroads into the tech blog world is not going to be easy, as I am sure you know. So, using non-traditional methods will surely be your best bet. I don't think having a large blogroll is a bad thing. Most of the biggest blogs on the web have huge blogrolls. I think that is actually a good way to go at the start as you have a nice tech blog and good content. So, trying to hook up with some other tech-related blogs are a good idea. You may also want to specialize a little more into a certain niche rather than simply "tech" as you may not attract a lot of people that are really interested in a particular market segment and gain them as repeat offenders. Offering give-aways, linkbait for people who comment and other non-traditional online marketing are great ideas and easy to implement.
Some great suggestions there by chachi. In addition, you could also try some simple, low cost offline promotion like giving away business cards with your site info at tech conventions and gatherings.
Real simple and cheap thing to do... Like said above with Business cards... Get creative and make a flyer and print them 2-up on a 8.5 x 11 sheet and take them to a local copy place and have a 100 or so made (Then have them cut in two) and put them up at any place like super markets or computer stores that have Bulletin Boards.. Black & White will be cheap, Color will cost ya.. Don't go Nuts with info, just the name of the site and it's address and some of the Specific things people will find there... Maybe a stupid idea but I got a bit of traffic from it in my small town.. hehe
Theres been some good suggestions here =- don't forget good old natural word of mouth also. Maybe write some articles for tech sites who will give a link to your site also. This will get your site better known.
*Find a website you want a link on and/or an author who holds a large readership weight. *Try and find the contact information for them (either through the blog itself, or whois data, or search for forums where they use same username, ect) *You want to find chat client information. People are much less informal on chat clients and you tend to pay more attention to some stranger IM'ing you, compared to email. *Suck up to them; either pose yourself as someone who's extremely interested in their site (have a list of unusual questions ready for conversation purposes), or someone who has similar interests (I've claimed to be a coder of 14 languages before to effectively headhunt other coders). Most important thing is to be as genuine as possible and make it fluently fit with your real identity (you own a blog relating to XXX). *Spend time developing a friendly relationship, don't suck up too much, but nearly everyone needs a friend After a while you usher the big question 'Hey I own this blog, think you could...' It's not for everybody, but it's saved me probably thousands in advertising costs, and I've built stronger relationships with people in the field, instead of just being another advertiser.