​9 Things to Do After You Publish a Blog Post

So you’ve written a new blog post and hit the “Publish" button?

Great.

Job done.

Or is it?

In fact, writing and publishing your blog post is just the start.

Unless you work hard to get your blog post noticed by your target market, the chances are few people will ever see it.

So what can you do to help your blog post be found by the people you want to see it?

Here are 9 things you can to do after writing and publishing a blog post to help get it found.

1. Promote Your Blog Post More Than Once on Social Media
Use all your social media channels to promote your blog post, but don’t just send out one update about your new blog post on each social media channel.

According to Moz the average lifespan of a tweet, for example, is 18 minutes. That means if your target market aren’t on Twitter at the time you post your tweet or 18 minutes thereafter, they probably won’t ever see your tweet.

That’s why you need to keep sending out updates, but be sure to:

• Send them at different times of the day. Most people are creatures of habit and check their social media accounts at the same times of the day. You don’t want the same people to see your updates about the same blog post over and over again. You want to catch lots of different people

• Use different words in the updates, but the same (shortened) url link. This way if someone sees an update about the same blog post they won’t think you are just sending out the exact same updates

• Similarly, use different images to accompany each blog post so people don’t see the same image lots of times

• Try to connect with people by asking them questions and thanking them for their retweets. This will help spread the word about your blog post and help with the SEO for your blog post too

 
2. Use Social Bookmarking Sites
Add your blog post to social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Delicious.

I would recommend that you take the time to comment on other blog posts too, otherwise you may come across as someone just out to self-promote, which social bookmarking sites don’t favour.

Be sure to fill out the account profile as fully as possible and add a logo/photograph when creating your account, so that people can find out a bit more about you and your business.

Include a link to your blog in your profile if you can.

It’s always interesting to check your Google Analytics account after adding your blog posts to social bookmarking sites, to see which ones work best for you.

You can then make the most of this information by targeting blog posts to the types of blog posts that are particularly popular on the social bookmarking site to see if it gets more links than usual.
 
3. Email Your Blog Post to Your Mailing List
Send your mailing list a link to your latest blog.

This is a great way to keep in touch and to stay front of mind.

By sending your mailing list valuable information you can quickly become an authority in your field.

Encourage them to comment on the blog post.

You could also promote your next blog post in the email by mentioning it in the PS e.g. Don’t miss next month’s blog post which will be all about xxxx.

4. Reply to All Blog Post Comments
When someone leaves a comment on your blog post, it’s very important to thank them and reply to their comment as soon as possible.

But don’t stop there.

Try to keep the engagement going.

Ask them to sign up to your RSS feed or join your mailing list so that you can let them know about future blog posts.
 
5. Add Your Blog Post to Google Search Console
Even if you have already submitted your website’s sitemap to Google Search Console it’s still a good idea to add your new blog post manually using the Fetch as Google tool.

That way your blog post will be added to Google as soon as possible, not just when Google next visits your website, which might not be for days if you don’t update your site on a regular basis.
 
6. Add Your Blog Post to Your Email Signature
Most professional email address accounts allow you to add all sorts of information to your email signature to help you promote your company. Why not add a link to your latest blog post?

7. Mention Your Latest Blog Post on Your Homepage
Don’t just confine your blog posts to one section of your website.

What if someone just visits your homepage (generally one of the most frequently visited pages of any website as it is the one that is advertised in most places)?

They’d miss your blog!

Promote your latest blog on your home page too and have a link to it to make it easier for any visitors to find it.
 
8. Check Your Website Page Order
If your website only shows the first 4 or 5 pages in the navigation and the rest of the pages fall into a drop down More Pages category or similar, make sure your blog is close enough to the Homepage to be shown in the main navigation.

If visitors have to work to find your blog on your website they may not make that effort. Make it as easy as possible for them to locate your blog.

9. Comment on Other Blog Posts
My final suggestion would be to leave intelligent and useful comments on other blog posts relevant to your own blog post.

Avoid adding anything like “That’s great” and then a link to your own blog post as that will probably just be seen as spam.

Instead, ask questions and offer useful information.

​Come across as an authority in the subject and people will then be more likely to check out your blog too.

I hope you've found this blog post useful. You can find out more about what we can do to help your business grow by visiting our Marketing Services page.

Or even better, go ahead and contact us now by phoning 0131 629 5117 or dropping us an email at tara@ticketyboomarketing.co.uk. ​