Question What's the best way to promote your blog offline?

[Beverly]

I have a mom oriented blog that focuses on the efforts of local moms to raise healthy, eco-minded children. I'd like to get local moms in my area to visit the blog and contribute stories. Please share best ways to get local advertising for free or low cost.

 

[lowrider.STi]

Make a sticker with the adress and put in on your car. Worked pretty good in my case.

 

[SeanFace101]

It depends on your blog and what you offer you visitors. You can create great promotional products on vistaprint, then distrabute them in the right places to attract the most targeted people for your niche. As the above post says, you can add a sticker to the window of your car, you can also create pens, keyrings, stickers, hats, magnets, etc.. and give them away for free.

 

[lowrider.STi]

Also, I forgot about flyers. I've made some when I first launched my site and I got a really nice feedback.

 

[lucasbytegenius]

Stick a flyer up at your local community center, go door to door recommending it, and possibly even advertise in the local newspaper.

 

[Shortie861]

There are many ways you could advertise your blog in your area that may get attention from local mum's. As stated above making a sticker and placing it in your car window is a good way to start but also making small leaflets and pining them on boards in your local stores if they offer them is another good way.

 

[isuit21]

If your website regards children and parents, than I can recommend printing some posters and pinning them near schools. Promoting offline really works, if you find the correct places. I usually use Google Maps to my advantage for this task !

 

[Florentino89]

Here are a few efficient offline marketing tactics I have used to promote my various blogs.

1. Business Cards

For anyone to take you seriously, you need to have a business card. Bloggers are not exempt. Having a business card is a great way to introduce people you meet in day-to-day life about your blogging activity. Business cards are also very inexpensive to purchase with most costing less than 1 cent per card.

2. Industry Events

One great way to promote your blog in your niche is to attend industry events. This allows you to share your blog with a number of individuals who are interested in its subject matter. It is also a great way to associate yourself with authorities in your niche. Make sure to bring business cards and other swag (T-Shirts, pens, etc.) to make an impression on potential readers and partners.

3. Newspapers and Local Publications

While newspapers may be a dying industry, they are still very well respected and having your blog covered in the daily news is a fantastic free way to build credibility online. It may be a bit difficult to get the Wall Street Journal to pick up the story, but you should fare better with more local papers. Create a unique story angle on your blog and e-mail it along with a press release to journalists. In addition, getting a story published in the press also means seeing that story online with a direct link to your blog,

4. Readers Meet-up

If you have a substantial local reader base or live in a large metropolis, hold an official gathering for readers and people interested in your niche. It doesn’t have to be anything more than a casual get together to simply talk about the industry. This is a great way to strengthen the bond of your community and find new local readers. You can choose to hold these meetings at your home or at a more local and convenient location such as a restaurant, coffee shop, or even park.

 

[Geoffrey]

For my forum, I've printed t-shirts and ordered one for myself that I wear around campus. I also have a bumper sticker on the back of my car, and car door magnets, one on each door of my car (it's only a two door car btw).

 

[edwardkingston]

Promote on social networking sites like Facebok, Twitter .
it's best way to promote in my point of view

 

[seosan7]

A lot of good ideas have already been mentioned. Most local newspapers let people advertise for free in their community section of the paper. You can post flyers on community bulletin boards at your local library and other public places. Online, you can post advertisements on free classified sites like Craig's List. Many people browse Craig's List.

 

[RomanAnthonysMama]

I would say by posting business cards or flyers out and about. If it's a mom blog, then I would definitely hit up places like the library, local schools, Zumba classes and things of that nature, and local stores that allow you to hang it on their bulletin boards. Definitely try to hang them places that target the people your blog would interest. For instance, my dad is a musician, so in order to promote his website and services, he posts in local music stores and gas stations since a lot of people go there after gigs late at night.

 

[ozadin]

Flyers, book clubs, local gym, everywhere you go to, there's potential for you to advertise something, including your blog. It would be best if you go to a specific store that is related to your niche, but if you specify what your blog is about on your flyer, than you can just about post your flyer anywhere until you run out of flyers. You can also hire someone on fiverr, and ask them to print out and post them around their city or neighborhood as well.

 

[wasi90lk]

You can deliver flyers in your local community, you can also tell your friends and relatives about your blog.

You can sponsor local events.

 

[Nymph]

It is very difficult to accomplish this nowadays with the "banner syndrome" (failing to notice advertisements in publications) sweeping the globe thanks to shortened attention spans, but do not let this discourage you. The subconscious mind is a very powerful thing, and if you were to target the right audience and they skim through an ad or business card, they will be very tempted to look at the ad if you:

A) Make it noticeable or eye catching
B) Ensure that the ad promotes something on that blog that you feel they absolutely -need-, even if you have to convince them of it in the advertisement itself

One technique I find that works incredibly well is securing an advertisement in a newspaper. Call up your local newspapers or read through them to see how they format their ads. If you're lucky, you will find sections like finance or sports where you can easily promote your blog if it falls into the niche. If not, then you can try regular ad placements as well as custom spots if you convince them with the right price within your budget.

This works better than handing out business cards or driving around all day with a car ad because, most of the time, people are already in their homes when they read the newspaper. In fact, many consumers these days have their smartphones right there attached to them wherever they go, so if a new mother was interested in the information on your site after seeing your ad, it will be much easier for them to type out the full blog address instead of waiting until they get home or something and forget it altogether. This is also why it pays to have a shorter domain name since it is easier to remember, but it should not be too much of an issue in the newspaper. Good luck!

 

[Cammie27]

Since you are trying to reach mothers in your particular area, I'd suggest concentrating on youth-oriented venues in your community. Check into sponsorships of school/PTA events, band performances, sports leagues, and things like that - places where moms are concentrated and often take the time to look over the newsletter/playbill/roster while they wait for their own child's performance or at-bat. In my area, those types of advertising opportunities generally come at a very low cost... Sometimes as little as $20. They are an excellent way for people running a small business targeted towards a local audience to attract traffic and start building name recognition.

 

[mikong]

Promotion of blogs and or products requires a general knowledge on marketing. Marketing involves teaching you some strategies that has been proven to be beneficial in all marketing aspects. For beginners, The best avenue for promoting your blog is on social media sites. These sites allows you to be seen by people you don't even know or had an acquaintance with, so these sites are perfect for you especially that it is for free. So if you are wise, you should grab this opportunity of being able to advertise your products and or blogs without paying any promotional cost.

 

[leandros21]

Keep keywords for you town or city

 

[Yorozuya]

I have a mom oriented blog that focuses on the efforts of local moms to raise healthy, eco-minded children. I'd like to get local moms in my area to visit the blog and contribute stories. Please share best ways to get local advertising for free or low cost.

I'd definitely try flyers. You can design your own or use some template - there are a lot of free ones available all across the internet, you just have to look for them If you have your flyers designed just print out as many as you like, printing is cheap nowadays. Then look for locations in your area that your audience visits frequently. In your case I'd try children's clinic for sure, you will find lots of moms there Just drop your flyers there and wait for the results.

 

[Cammie27]

Promotion of blogs and or products requires a general knowledge on marketing. Marketing involves teaching you some strategies that has been proven to be beneficial in all marketing aspects. For beginners, The best avenue for promoting your blog is on social media sites. These sites allows you to be seen by people you don't even know or had an acquaintance with, so these sites are perfect for you especially that it is for free. So if you are wise, you should grab this opportunity of being able to advertise your products and or blogs without paying any promotional cost.

Marketing needs to be focused on reaching the target audience, though, and Internet marketing is often not the most efficient avenue for reaching a local target market. If it is free and doesn't require an extensive time investment it is certainly worth pursuing, but unless there's a way to connect it with the community - for example, promoting your Facebook presence on town/county Facebook groups - it is like swatting flies with a tennis racket. Most of what you "hit" won't be the audience you're aiming for.