There are many esteemed authors and bloggers who have eloquently discussed the plethora of ways to increasing your blog traffic through online techniques. But I often find there is little discussion about the benefits of offline PR and marketing in growing your traffic and credibility.
Obviously in terms of some blogs it's of less importance as the target niche can be a purely hardcore online audience, but if you're dealing with a topic that has a broader appeal (for example shoes or clothes) then I think you neglect the offline opportunities to your detriment. For all the premature calls of conventional media sources dying on their feet in favour of Web 2.0 Social Media (Wiki definition of web 2.0) the so called "dinosaurs" of the media world still hold the attention of the many.
It was with this in mind that I looked more closely at an Inside AdSense case study which discusses a successful blog called AskTheBuilder. It struck me reading the case study how the principal contributor to AskTheBuilder, a guy called Tom Carter had numerous exploits outside blogging which included:
1. Nationally syndicated newspaper columnist.
2. Fronts his own radio show.
3. Makes frequent television appearances.
Can you see what I'm driving at here. Many successful bloggers but far from all, either have existing roots in conventional media avenues or have worked their way into conventional media avenues via blogging. It's not a prerequisite, but it's a definite advantage - examples Mark Cuban with Weblogs Inc, Jeff Jarvis of Buzz Machine, Jeremy Wright of Ensight ..... the list is long and illustrious.
This is a topic that is often neglected when talking about blog promotion but I think you underestimate it's importance at your peril. So here are some relatively low cost ideas for getting you and your blog into the offline media:
The Press Release
A well placed press release through a respected PR company can make your news land on the right desk, instead of making a rapid journey into the recycling basket. Example - the kid at million dollar homepage invested his first $1000 of revenue on a press release (an exceptionally clever move - his dad must be in PR! ), from there he ended up with stories and links on some of the most popular news sites out there. Obviously it's important to have something news worthy in the first place!
TV Exposure
Write to TV companies and program makers floating your expertise in a particular niche. You'll have to knock on a lot of doors but keep at it and you'll find that it can eventually pay huge blog dividends.
Newspaper Coverage
Offer to write a small piece in a local or national newspaper. You'll be amazed how eager some editors are for newsworthy information. Whilst the blogosphere is keen to point out the imminent demise of newspapers, they still wield a lot of power and influential eyeballs and will continue to do so for some time yet.
Published Research
Produce some original research analysis in your field. Again many newspaper and magazine editors will be only too happy to publish your work if you can give them something original that fits with a story their compiling. For one of my humble blog outlets - Ads On Blogs it was silicon valley's Red Herring magazine that published some of our data analysis. However, make sure your numbers stack up!
Radio Exposure
Contact radio shows offering to talk about your particular topic. I have personally spoken on some stations, which has offered me and my blogs the kind of exposure that normally costs thousands of pounds.
I'm scratching the surface, but I think you get the gist of what I'm driving at here.
Please let me know whether you think offline exposure has helped your blog profile and if so how did you achieve it?
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