When to start "marketing" a blog?

[runningbird]

I have a few articles up on my blog. Then I realized I need to save up a lot of articles first so I can take breaks, take vacations, etc. My question is should I start marketing it before I start regularly posting articles? By marketing I basically mean starting up a banner exchange program. I don't want people to come to it and think it sucks, but I also don't want to post 25 consecutive articles when I begin and have no one read them.

[Jonathan Browne]

It really doesn't matter. Stop overthinking and take action. Keep posting articles and build backlinks slowly.

[Refocused Living]

I second what Jonathan says. If you've been writing great content, it doesn't matter how many posts or articles you have up - the few people that will come to your blog will stick around and see what else you have to offer later in the future.

Don't focus so much on building a huge archive - put your focus on content that people want to read and share with others. If you can do that, any marketing that you do, whether you have 4 posts or 40, will pay off. (At least, that's always been my experience with my blog!)

[mustard76]

Seriously. You need to stop thinking and start promoting.

Stop reading this thread and start marketing your blog!

[runningbird]

lol This seems pretty unanimous...but I'm still hesitant!

Do you all have lots of regular readers? It only seems logical that if I couldn't post an article for a couple weeks that I would lose a lot of regulars. But maybe not. :/

[SimonaRich]

Start marketing your blog once you have 50+ visitors. Now conentrate on creating great content. Once you constantly have 50 or more visitors, start monetizing your blog.

[RT Wolf]

Have you read this? Marketing From Your Conscience by Steve Pavlina

Do you absolutely believe in the value people can findk with each of your posts? Then get the word out there!

Basically...it doesn't matter either way. I think the hesitation might be from not really believing in your value.

[Jonathan Browne]

Lol think about what your saying here though. Even if you lose some "regulars", it doesn't matter as the content you will continue to post will attract new visitors and "regulars". Most businesses fail because of that attitude of trying to appease the 'regulars'. It stops people from growing and evolving out of fear that they will lose customers. It's like a band trying to keep making the same music they started out with.


Anyway, I think your more likely to annoy someone and make them stop following you by posting far too much content with no value then having them unsubscribe because your not posting enough. People don't really read blogs because they are encylopedic. Most people just want to learn something, discuss something, be entertained, distracted etc. They want good free and authentic information. I think being a blogger is sort of being like a smart friend. You go to your friends who knows about cars rather than the car dealer because your friend is interested in helping you solve your problem. You tend to buy a game because a friend recommended it over reading a review in a game magazine. Your friend doesn't list all the fine aspects of the game and give a carefully thought out score. He says "yeah thats a f-in awesome game man! Great stuff, and because you know him and that he likes some of the stuff as you, you trust his opinion."

Blogs are really about the personality of the writer. People want an interesting, free, and up to date take from someone they feel a trust for. If they wanted in depth and encyclopedic advice they would go to a bookstore and purchase a thick book on the topic.
So market right off the bat and get people interested in what your doing, make friends, comment on what other people are doing. Put your name in peoples minds through repeated exposure.

[Karyme]

I'm in the same predicament. I'm afraid of how people might judge my blog. But this post has been helpful, so even though I didn't start it, THANK YOU ALL!

[mindfulconstruct]

I understand it can be overwhelming, I feel the same way at times with my own blog. Basically what it all came down to was I put together this huge binder with all these tabs for different sections, like entry drafts, marketing strategies, analytics (to see how the traffic is), and so on.......because there is so much to consider when you have plans for monetization and expansion.

Now with the binder, I remain relatively clutter-free when it comes to the site. If I have an idea or a lingering question or a plan...I punch the holes and place it in the appropriate section of the binder, so that when I actually do the work, I do it from a mindful space, rather than from the anxiety of "Oh, if I don't act on this right now something bad will happen!"

After getting perspective on my long-term goals for the site, I realized that while right now I have 60+ ideas for entries...I need to pace myself with once a week (unless it's a really inspired week), so that I can allot enough time for all the other good stuff like promotion.

So I would say, figure out your goals, write them down, and then assess the time you need for each goal. Some things are a matter of reading an article, other things may be a matter of enrolling in a web design class...it really depends on what you need. After that, then you can see what makes sense in terms of the order you want to take on the marketing steps and the time you want to spend each week.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by SimonaRich

Start marketing your blog once you have 50+ visitors. Now conentrate on creating great content. Once you constantly have 50 or more visitors, start monetizing your blog.

Why do you say 50? Is it because this is the mark to actually make money from things like advertising?

[runningbird]

yeah, thanks everyone.

I've decided to start getting it out there. I unpublished the lesser posts for now until I can touch them up.

[Chris Cade]

I started marketing my blog when it had 1 post... that was a few months ago. Now it has 2 posts At this rate, my next post will be in another 1-2 months.

Provide quality content, give people a few ways to subscribe, and market the heck out of it. Write when you feel like it.

[The NorthStar of Hope]

You all seem to be extremely confident & positive.. Do you all generate a steady monthly income from your blogs?

If yes, then, what's the stream of income you are using?.

[Chris Cade]

I just realized that after having only 2 blog posts, my blog already ranked #2 on Yahoo for my keywords... and the site that ranks #1 is my primary content site

As for confidence / income. Right now I'm focusing on growth, so expenses exceed income. If I chose to bootstrap then I'd be profiting.... same will be true as my sites continue to grow with economies of scale.

[runningbird]

Did you use site build it?

[Jonathan Browne]

If your making a blog you really don't need site build it. You could use blogger it's really easy to use adsense with blogger and you can actually do quite a bit with the gadget feature. As long as it can be done with html or javascript your pretty much set.

If your trying to build a site that's actually a business you might want to go with sbi. You can also check out joomla or wordpress. Don't make a blog on the free hosted wordpress though. You can't use adsense on it so it's pretty pointless if your trying to monitize. Adsense is still one of the best, easiest ways to monetize a blog despite what people say. There are other ways, but most of them take research and planning to implement. Most people just are too scared to place their adsense prominently that's why they make no money from it.

[The NorthStar of Hope]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Browne

or wordpress. Don't make a blog on the free hosted wordpress though. You can't use adsense on it so it's pretty pointless if your trying to monitize. Adsense is still one of the best, easiest ways to monetize a blog despite what people say. There are other ways, but most of them take research and planning to implement. Most people just are too scared to place their adsense prominently that's why they make no money from it.

Can you please tell me how to build a non-free Blog.
I've just launched a stupid trial free blog..
But I need an expert's opinion like yourself.

Here you go

Proactive People’s Blog

[mindfulconstruct]

Originally Posted by The NorthStar of Hope

You all seem to be extremely confident & positive.. Do you all generate a steady monthly income from your blogs?

If yes, then, what's the stream of income you are using

Ah, well the confidence and positivity are for the monetization. They're to keep me going until the streams start flowing.