What are the Best Ways you've found to Promote Your Blog?

[Alyssa Kirk@Teens Read and Write]

We're fairly new to the blogosphere and have been trying different things to help promote our blog. We just posted our first giveaway and have been getting a great response. We set it up so that as more people enter, we add more books to choose from and more winners. Our thinking was that this would reward others for helping to promote the contest.

However, we know you guys (new and veteran bloggers) must have some tried and true, original and creative methods that we don't know about that have proved effective in driving traffic to your blog.

In our experience the blogging community is a generous one. We have met lots of kind and wonderful people.

Soooooo... would you please share?

Please. Share with all of us here the ways that have been the most effective in promoting your blog and increasing traffic.

Thank you and we look forward to your responses.

[Stacy-Deanne]

Hi Alyssa,

You should get with other bloggers and exchange links. You can also participate in cross promotion with other bloggers. This is how a lot of bloggers do it. You can start by getting with some of these bloggers on this site. I am sure they will link to you. Don't just get with anyone, cross promote with someone who does a blog similar to yours to ensure readership. Use social networks such as Myspace, Facebook, Shelfari and Twitter to promote your blog.

Also you need to do things that will bring extra traffic. Don't just review books, have author interviews too. I've been interviewed on many blogs and so have a lot of authors. You can also ask an author to guest blog or you can promote an author in a Virtual Book Tour. Have another blogger guest blog then they will return the favor. Hold online chats, do contests. And you can always do it the old way, visit others' blogs, comment and hope they visit yours.

Have fun things thrown in. Do commentary, have a Q&A section. Have it where readers can write into you and you give advice subjects that you deal with in your blog, etc. Pass around the latest literary news and info. The key is to stuff your blog with tons of interesting info to make people come back and stay there.

I don't know if you are familiar with Dear Author and Smart Bitches and Trashy Books but these are two extremely popular, larger-than-life review blogs. Check them out and look at all the interesting things they offer.
Dear Author offers publishing news, author news and a great review system. Smart Bitches offers a lot of the gossip in the industry. Both sites are two of my favorites.

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

[Alyssa Kirk@Teens Read and Write]

Wow, Stacy-Deanne, this is a lot of great information. Thank you so much! I'm going to check this all out and go look at the blogs you mentioned. I really appreciate the help. I'm going to your site too and take a look at your books. I love thrillers and mysteries. You've been very generous!

Alyssa