PROMOTE YOUR WEBSITE OR BLOG FOR FREE

Recent additions you
should join
Snipsly ... RedGage ...
SheToldMe ... Xomba ...
InfoBarrel ...
YouSayToo...
See all 6 photos
Tip - bookmark this
page and use it as a
checklist for promoting
your new site pages.
Chasing your tail
Ever watch a cat chase
its tail? That's what the
web seems like to me
sometimes. One link
leads to another.
Search any topic and
get more links. Click
enough links and you'll
get back where you
started.
Promoting your site is
like that. The tail keeps
moving! You want to get
your site's URL
mentioned in lots of
places where others are
likely to find it and
follow that link back to
you. Web 2.0 seems, in
part, to be about more
ways to get links out
there: tags, tag clouds,
search sites, expert sites,
site directories,
bookmarking . . . it
could make your head
hurt thinking about it!
How do you get your
URL out there? We are
not talking SEO here;
we are talking
Community Connecting.
There are many web
services waiting to do
this for you, and for
free! Don't try just one
try them all. The more
places your URL is
shown, the more
chances for a new
visitor to find and click
to your site.
Everybody needs a family
Create a family of
complementary sites.
That is, create a web
site and a blog and a
HubPage(s) and a Lens
(s). Cross-link them so
that if a visitor finds one
of your sites, that visitor
can follow your own
links to you and your
messages. Make them
on the same topic or
make them on various
topics. The key thing is
that each of your sites
should contain a link to
each of your other sites.
Some of the sites are
content sites like
HubPages where quality
content is desired.
Others are blurb sites
where a short blurb
and a link is sufficient.
For the article sites the
general process is:
Write about
something
compatible with the
content you want to
promote.
Include a link to your
relevant content on
another site. You can
generally only
include one or two
links to a domain, so
you can't promote
three hubs on one
InfoBarrel page.
This kind of writing
creates your family of
articles on your
family of sites.
To help you build your
family of sites I've
included sections below
with a recommended
place to get a free
domain name and
hosted web site, free
blog, free HubPage (like
this one) and a free
Squidoo Lens.
After you've built your
family of sites, use the
suggested services
below to get your link(s)
out there where visitors
can find them.
StumbleUpon
In their words:
"StumbleUpon is the
best way to discover
great websites, videos,
photos, blogs and
more. Channel surf the
internet and get
personalized
recommendations
according to your
interests. Keep an
online history of your
Stumbles, and rate,
review and share all the
cool things you find."
Checkout
StumbleUpon here
[A StumbleUpon
Thumbs up for this
article would be
appreciated - Just click
the Share It! button, just
above comments.]
Digg
Digg is is an article
popularity contest.
Winning or losing
don't matter; it's the
hits to your site that
count.
In their words - "Digg is
a user driven social
content
website...everything on
digg is submitted by the
digg user community ...
After you submit
content, other digg
users read your
submission and digg
what they like best. If
your story rocks and
receives enough diggs, it
is promoted to the front
page for the millions of
digg visitors to see."
Join Digg here. Submit
your site as a "story".
Get it dug (yeah) or
buried (ouch).
[A digg for this article
would be appreciated -
Just click the Share It!
button, just above
comments.]
RedGage
I really like the clean
red border on the
posts, classy look.
RedGage has an active
community. The
number one activity
seems to be posting all
your photos and
bundling them into
collections for others to
browse, rate and
comment on. Some
users post content in
RedGage blogs.
Of most interest to
article writers is the link
feature. Package your
article link, a title, a 200
character summary, and
tags. The tags can only
be one word, so that
limits the tag value.
The best thing is the
backlink to your article,
and the chance to pick
up readers from the
RedGage community.
YouSayToo
Most Hubbers have
blogs. Many use these
blogs as a place to link
to HubPages and other
articles. Getting people
to notice your blog can
be tough.
YouSayToo is a blogging
site where you can
create a blog, but more
important, you can
promote your existing
blog. It is easy to get
your blog listed. The
next step is to connect
your blog by adding a
YouSayToo widget. Then
you will host links to
other blogs in exchange
for other blogs
promoting your blog.
It's a painless win-win.
the blog ads rotate and
you get your fair share
of impressions on other
peoples blogs. So you
can get traffic from the
bloggers themselves, or
from their visitors. You
also share revenues via
you AdSense and
Amazon codes.
SheToldMe
Take your Adsense pub
code, and your list of
HubPages over to
SheToldMe. At this site,
you write a short blurb
about your HubPage,
copy in the link to your
HUbPage and publish.
Presto, another backlink
and another web
presence for your
article.
It's a 1,2,3 process:
1. Sign-up at
SheToldMe -
Start here, you'll
want your
Adsense code,
and an Email
address. You can
include a web site
URL, so why not
use your
HubPage profile
URL?
2. Wait patiently for
them to authorize
your account.
Might take a
couple of days,
they are small,
and apparently
careful.
3. Post your first
HubPage link,
then another,
then another...
Xomba
Xomba is one of the
newer sites that invite
you to create articles
(called Xombytes) or
blurbs (called
Xomblurbs). Take your
choice but be sure to
include a link back to a
pertinent HubPage to
get the back-link and
the promotion.
Xomblurbs are a cinch
to knock out. After
spending hours on an
article, add five minutes
to promote it.
Join Xomba here. Add
your Adsense account
number (including
pub-). You might as well
make some coin while
you're at it!
Snipsly
Snipsley is a
"crowdsourcing
website". The idea is
that content comes
from a crowd or a
community. Wit Snipsly,
you can write a 3
sentence snippet and
add a link to post. Of
course, longer and
better content works
better for you.
Snipsly shares AdSence
revenue with you on an
80/20 basis. That's
pretty darn good!
Join Snipsly here.
InfoBarrel
InfoBarrel is a content
site, somewhat like
HubPages, or Squidoo,
but with a lot less
formatting pizazz. It's
more of an article site.
You'll want to create
fresh copy for this site.
Create an Info Barrel
article that relates to
one of your HubPage
articles (but doesn't
duplicate it), and
cross link the two
articles.
Join InfoBarrel here.
reddit
reddit lets you post
interesting sites, and
rate others. Reddit
selects site for you,
but its getting your
site shown that counts
here.
In their words -
"register on reddit so
that you can: post links
to new and interesting
sites you find around
the web, comment on
other people's links,
vote for the stories you
liked or disliked. (this
will affect their ranking
and help customize
reddit for you.)"
Join Reddit here.
Submit your site.
del.icio.us
deli.icio.us is a master
list of favorites in the
community including
yours.
In their words -
"del.icio.us is a
collection of favorites -
yours and everyone
else's. Use del.icio.us to:
Keep links to your
favorite articles, blogs,
music, restaurant
reviews, and more on
del.icio.us and access
them from any
computer on the web.
Share favorites with
friends, family, and
colleagues... Anyone
can browse del.icio.us
and see what others
find interesting."
Create an account here.
Mark your sites as
favorites. Be sure to
change settings to show
your name and URL
with your favorites!
Technorati
Technorati is the tag
central of the
Internet.
In their words -
"Currently tracking 50.9
million blogs -
Technorati is the
recognized authority on
what's going on in the
world of weblogs. We
help people search for,
surface, and organize
bloggers and their daily
posts."
Create an account here.
Claim your blogs
(actually claim all your
sites). Enter your site
description and tags.
Note that your site
needs to be able to
accept some html code
for your site to be
claimed properly.
Join HubPages now!
It's free!
This is a HubPage.
Everybody should have at
least one.
Not a HubPages
member? Join now -->
This type of expert
page is an excellent
addition to your
family of sites. Its
free. It works (you are
here now aren't you?).
You too can Squidoo
Squidoo :
Registration
Its free!
Do you Squidoo?
Squidoo is an expert
site, similar to
HubPages. This is an
excellent addition to
your site family. I link
between my Squidoo
Lenses and my
HubPages and get
bonus traffic.
dmoz
dmoz is a directory of
web sites. Why
wouldn't you want to
be in a directory of
web sites?
In their words - "The
Open Directory Project
is the largest, most
comprehensive human-
edited directory of the
Web. It is constructed
and maintained by a
vast, global community
of volunteer editors."
List your site here - 1)
Carefully read their
page on the listing
process.Look here for
the process, 2) pick a
category for your site 2)
submit your URL with
title and 25-35 word
description. An editor
will review your
application and get
back to you.
Furl
In their words: ...the
origin of the name
came from the very
geeky description of
what the system does -
File URLs. If you can
enter a URL and see it
in your browser, we can
save it for you ... as an
added bonus, the
definition of "furl" is "to
roll up and secure,"
which is exactly what we
do with all the
interesting Web pages
you find online.
File your URLs at FURL.
blinklist
In their words: ...Real
people with shared
interests list the websites
they care about. Rate
sites you like or save
them for later...
Join blinklist here.
Join a circle
Webrings are
communities of
websites, all with a
common theme or
interest area and
organized into a
circular "ring" of
mutual links, all tied
together by the
webring provider. The
webring shows at the
bottom of your site.
Users can click a link
from any site in the
ring to see another
site. If you are in a
ring you will pick up
browsers from other
site traffic.
Join here. Pick a
WebRing that matches
your site. Apply. Note
that you will have to
add Java or html code
to your site.
Blogs to consider
WordPress, free blog
tool for host of your
choice
WordPress, hosted by
them
Are you in the
blogosphere?
If you don't have a
blog yet, now is the
time to consider it.
You can post about
your sites and link to
your blog from your
other sites.
I currently use
WordPress. They offer
a free blog where
they host it for you.
You can also use
WordPress on your
own choice of host for
added flexibility.
Checkout Office Live
here
Look into Office Live
A free domain name
and free hosting is
available.
Need a free domain
name and host?
You'll never guess
who is offering to
register your domain
name for you and
then host your site for
you, all at no cost!
Microsoft Office Live
is offering several
package levels. The
first level is pretty
basic, but it is free.
Perfect for a resume
site, or a simple
starter web site.
Before you jump in
you should understand
what its all about. The
Office Live Lens
reviews the product
and puts it into
perspective. Then
there is a link to sign
up.
myLot
myLot is a discussion
oriented site that can be
used to research,
debate, vent, chat, etc
and get paid based on
your activity and
content. Seems to be
growing by work of
mouth. Remember, you
heard it here...
Join MyLot here.
What is missing here?
Please offer your
suggestions on other
sites and techniques
to increase traffic
through community
networking. Either
add a comment or
contact me by Email.
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article helpful, please
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