All too often, after completing an online writing project or blog post, writers fail to take full advantage of the online resources available to them for promoting their work. Building a web presence is an essential component of writing, which cannot be overlooked. Writers who desire to capitalize on their ideas and knowledge must employ as many social media tools as possible to expand their readership.
Social media is a revolution which has overtaken the traditional ways of marketing and brand building in the writing profession. The assimilation of online writing and social media is not a fad, it is here to stay. Writers must grab on to these online tools and overcome any technical or motivational challenges they may encounter in order to succeed as an online writer.
Creating a Web Presence: Overcoming Challenges
The following are three common challenges online writers encounter as they build a web presence for their articles and blog posts:
- lack of technical knowledge regarding social media.
- determining where their ideal reader hangs out on the web.
- remaining motivated to keep their articles flowing and on target.
Addressing these challenges is essential for success and begins with marketing articles through multiple social media tools.
Article Marketing: Building Backlinks
This strategy requires the use of multiple sources for attracting readers and must be part of a writer’s overall optimization strategy for attracting readers. The following are article and blog post marketing techniques which support a writer’s efforts to build a web presence.
Forums - search engines index forums, so posting in forums and blogs is a way to get quality backlinks by using anchor text (article keywords) within the post.
Article Directories – repurposing articles using a different approach or angle to engage new demographics, larger or smaller niche markets, different genres or styles, or to be more creative in the articles approach. These repurposed articles are then forwarded to article directories.
Backlink article directories include TheWhir, ArticleBase, Propeller, Redgage, and SheToldMe. The following are three of the top 10 article directories according to Google and Alexa.
- EzineArticles – has a page rank of six. This directory allows the use of backlinks in the author’s resource box.
- Buzzle – this is another strong article directory with a page rank of six. This directory allows authors to provide a backlink to their website or blog.
- Suite 101 – has the best page rank of seven. This directory allows authors to provide backlinks to their own articles within Suite 101, along with providing backlinks to their websites or blogs on the author page for building a web presence.
Link Exchanges - avoid exchanging links with unknown people or bartering for links. These practices often lead to connections with link exchanges or link farms which may be disastrous for SEO and cause a website or blog to be banned from search engines.
Social Media: Finding Ideal Readers
Social networking websites are popular and for a good reason – they work! These social media sites help build backlinks fast. The following are a few examples of social networking sites ideal for online articles and blog posts:
- Twitter – provides a convenient avenue for sharing an online writer’s articles with potential readers. Success comes with building a large following and following others with similar interests. The critical element here is to pay attention to what other’s tweet to help tailor online articles to me their needs.
- LinkedIn – this professional network is another social networking service which provides the opportunity to join groups for networking with others based on common interest, experience, affiliation, and goals. These groups help writer’s expand their online writing readership.
- Facebook – this is another strategy for sharing online articles. Building links with Facebook isn’t as easy as some other techniques; however, the majority of readers are looking for interaction and fun. It is also an effective tool for reaching many, many people if used right.
- Friendfeed – is a real-time aggregator which provides writers the opportunity to promote their articles to general readers and select groups with common interests.
- Diigo – provides the opportunity to share articles with individual readers and through groups. The diigo social media service also helps identify ideal readers, along with tailoring online writing work for a specific niche.
Building a web presence is critical today and for the foreseeable future. The tips presented for promoting online writing assists writers with increasing their readership, along with monetizing their blogs and online articles. This is why it is essential to overcome any challenges a writer may incur regarding building readership, because successful online writing leads to increased motivation to write more.
David R. Wetzel - Dr. David Wetzel's experience includes more than 25 years in continuing, adult, and teacher education.
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