It’s only after you hit “publish” on a post that your real work as a blogger begins…
All that time and heart you put into writing that post? It deserves to get READ by the people you wrote it for!
So let’s go over exactly how to make that happen, shall we?
Last week I shared a “what to do BEFORE you hit publish” checklist. Today I’m back with a “what to do AFTER you hit publish” checklist for you.
Because it’s what you do after you hit publish that determines how many people read your blog post. Don’t sit around and wait for traffic to come to you.
Get out there and make a ruckus to let your potential readers know your blog exists and has great content for them!
Here’s your checklist:
1. Proofread and test links one more time.
Yes, really. Just one more time. Especially pay attention to your links. Does that “Pin It” button work? Did your tweetable come out right? Are the social media sharing options working?
Don’t drive traffic until you’ve completed this step.
2. Get busy on social media.
Share your post on all the social media channels you’re active on:
- Pin it on Pinterest
- Share it on your Facebook business page
- Share it on your personal Facebook profile (if appropriate)
- Consider which Facebook groups to share in
- Update your LinkedIn status
- Share in LinkedIn groups (where allowed)
- Stumble it on StumbleUpon (or whatever bookmarking sites you use)
- Post an image to Instagram
- Tweet it out and then schedule a few more tweets
- Share it on Google+
- Share it in Google+ groups (where allowed)
- Add in any other social networks appropriate to your niche
Be sure to use #hashtags and tag people where it makes sense.
3. Tweet, Facebook tag, or email people/brands you mentioned.
Who’d ya mention in your post? Did you link to a friend, colleague or another blogger? Be sure to send a note to let them know!
If you included a link to a product or service you’re recommending as an affiliate, let the company/brand/owner/creator know.
When you write positive reviews or share great resources, don’t be shy about reaching out to say, “Hey, you rock and I mentioned you on my blog. Thanks!”
4. Send an email to your list.
You ARE building a list right? If not, stop right now and go sign up for GetResponse (or AWeber, or whatever… just get signed up somewhere okay?). And get that subscribe box on your blog.
And then decide whether to promote that new blog post to your list. You probably should.
Pro Tip: Keep in mind that best times to send an email that’ll get opened are different from best times to publish a new blog post.
5. Send an email to a few friends, colleagues, or clients.
Now stop and think, who has recently asked you questions about the topic you wrote about in your post?
Who do you know that could benefit from the information? Take time to write a few quick personal emails to your friends or clients who would find it useful.
Do you have a colleague whose clients would find it useful, too? Shoot them an email and invite them to share it. Ask what you can share for them in return.
6. Respond to reader comments.
This is key to keeping engagement high on your blog. Respond to comments as frequently as you can.
Take time to pick out a few and click through to read, share and comment on your readers blog posts, too.
7. Thank readers for social shares.
Watch Twitter, Facebook, and other social sites for people sharing your posts and take time to stop and thank them.
8. Watch traffic to your new post.
Keep an eye on your stats to see what happens with your new post and where your traffic is coming from. Notice the trends.
Here are some things to keep a particular eye out for:
- Reach out to bloggers and websites that refer visitors/link to your site and send them a thank you note via email or tweet.
- Offer sites who’ve published your articles “priority notice” of future articles you release for reprint. With permission, email your articles directly to the interested sites so your articles are easier for them to publish.
- Watch the popular pages of your website then focus on building those pages with better copywriting, promote affiliate products, etc.
- Look for trends in the type of websites that are referring visitors to your site and use it to better target your marketing efforts.
9. Build internal links.
Do a quick keyword or key phrase search on your blog to find where you’ve previously written about related topics. Look for places to link from those old posts to your new post (and from your new post to old posts).
10. Search and comment.
Using Google’s search or a site like AllTop, go find a few popular posts about the same topic and leave a value-adding (non spammy!) comment with a link back to your post.
Pro tip: this works best on CommentLuv enabled blogs (choose “CommentLuv in the search drop box, or check this post for lists) because you get an automatic link back to your recent post, without adding it into your comment so it doesn’t feel at all spammy. Check out how this works by leaving a comment below.
11. Consider how to build on your work.
You’ve got a great post. What’s next?
If the post was popular consider…
- Does the post need a part two?
- Is it the start of a series?
- Can you turn it into a video blog?
- Is it perfect to turn into an infographic?
Example: this post and my post with the pre-publish checklist will end up as a printable PDF soon. Get on my list now if you want to be sure you get access to that. Just sign up here (totally free).
12. Circle back in 30 days.
Don’t let your post languish in your archives! Set yourself a reminder to come back and do another promotional push in 30 days.
Click To Tweet
What’s on your “after publishing” checklist? If you’ve been using similar strategies to mine, how are they working for you?
-
62Shares
- 62
Thank you so much for this post! Haha I needed this promotion breakdown so bad!
You’re welcome! :)
Wow Michelle! Thank you! This is exactly what I need! I was searching for an answer for a while. Thank you for making it super clear! :)
I wrote several blog posts as well. Please feel free to stopby and leave me your comments. I appreciate your feedback for any improvement. xoxo :)
You’re welcome, Pearl. I’m happy to hear this was helpful for you. I’m a checklist fan. :)
BOY these are great tips. With a full-time job it can be challenging to get all of this done.
It can be. I’ve found that automating as much as I can is helpful as well as just setting time throughout the day to check in on my blog – those little 5 or 10 minutes add up.
Great stuff, Michelle! Thanks for the tips!
Hey Dr. Steve, great to see ya here! Thanks for reading and commenting.
Great tips Michelle! I appreciate the way you broke the steps down – I’m missing a few!
Have a fabulous New Year :)
Happy New Year to you, too! :)
You can schedule post on social media through Hootesuite or similar services. Also set up automatic social media linlks through WordPress if that’s how you host your blog. I use similar techniques for my articles and YouTube videos.
I liked this post, but was curious if you could explain how to create our own click to tweet box. I’m not on Twitter, couldn’t you have a box like this for people who are on Twitter even if you aren’t? Additionally, I was wondering if when they click on the click to tweet box, does it just send the title of the blog post or does it send the whole post? Thanks! Debbie
Aha – this is the part that I struggle with the most. I feel weird shooting off my posts to every site, but you are right – how else would anyone find my work?
Thank you so much, Michelle #HUGSS (Bookmarked ;) )
Kitto
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for that article, going to print it, a goog recap for all the things to do. Some of them I had never thought of doing, sending personnal e-mail to people who might be interested and the search and comment, and so trying to colaborate with poeple writing about the same topic! :-)
I love this post very much. I’ts very informative and helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for yet another great post, Michelle. There are a few things on this list I need to add to my own checklist!
If I may, I’d like to add another, which I have found very effective and has more than doubled the amount of traffic I was getting from LinkedIn. And that is to write a small synopsis or excerpt about your post and then post that synopsis/excerpt on LinkedIn Pulse, with a link to your actual post. Then share your LinkedIn Pulse post on your LinkedIn status update.
It’s just another medium to use and gets you another back link to you original post, from LinkedIn.
Great checklist. I can’t wait to get the PDF to keep handy.
Hello Michelle,
Thanks for this article about promoting our blog post.
It’s a perfect reminder for most of us.
I found your blog on FB and just wanted to visit it. I heard about CommentLuv before but I never considered intaslling it on my blog.
Today I just downloaded it and will be using it.
Thanks again
I really enjoyed reading this post Michelle. Thank you for the encouragement to:
– start building a subscriber list (#4)
– keep an eye on the stats (#8)
– build internal links to other posts (#9)
– consider how to build on our work (#11)
These points really stood out as practical steps I can take to improve on my blog.
Thanks Michelle!
Fantastic tips. Right on the mark. Happy new year to you and this engaging community of bloggers!
p.s. Would you consider doing a post about inbound links?
Brilliant checklist, gonna keep it handy this new year. Happy New Year all!
Great post and great tips for evrryone who wants to build a profitable blig. Thanks a lot Michelle :-)
Thank you for these lists! I knew I should be doing something but didn’t know what!
Love your posts and content!! Pure gold for helping everyone!! When messaging others you have mentioned do you recommend private messages to them or their pages?
Awesome post! Thank you for the tips it would help me a lot!
Another great post, Michelle. I make tons of noise after I post an article. I send it everywhere I can think of! I have a question for you regarding posting in FB groups. How do you personally proceed with this. Do you you use Hootsuite? If so, how many groups do you send to at once, and how often? Thanks so much for all that you do.
I need to get back to scheduling a tweet of my post in the following week/month; thanks for the reminder!
Thanks pointing and shoving me in the right direction.
Awesome checklist! I have been going through various posts and so far this is the best one. Thank you!
Hello Michelle,
Really enjoyed reading your posts. So helpful and lots of tips!! Love #12 by the way. Thanks for sharing. You’re awesome!
~ Sonny
I have it sharing automatically to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+. As soon as it’s published, I share it manually to StumbleUpon and Digg. Then I have missinglettr send out a number of tweets over time. But I cold do better at sharing to Instagram. I dropped LinkedIn because it wasn’t doing anything for me (despite following the advice) and it was boring compared to the others.
Hi Michelle. Even after a year and a half your list is still right on the money. I do most of the things that you mentioned. I never thought of promoting my blog post again after 30 days but it sounds like a great idea. I’m also going to look into your pro tip on searching for other blogs to comment on. I love Commentluv but it can be difficult to find other blogs that also use it.
I have it sharing automatically to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+. As soon as it’s published, I share it manually to StumbleUpon and Digg. Then I have missinglettr send out a number of tweets over time. But I cold do better at sharing to Instagram. I dropped LinkedIn because it wasn’t doing anything for me (despite following the advice) and it was boring compared to the others.