The 2:1 Blog Promotion Rule
When people ask me what I do and I tell them, the reaction is almost always the same. They look at me with an astonished face and say, “So all you do is write an article or two a day and make that much?” I can’t really blame them. On the outside looking in, that is what appears to be going on, but oh, if they only knew….
While the final product that people see is the article on the site or blog, it is just a fraction of the time that you need to actually spend to be successful. I spend far more time on the inside of my blogs and sites than I do actually producing content. If you are under the impression that blogging is just about writing, you will be greatly disappointed when you find that writing is just a part of what you must do.
Over the years I have come up with my 2:1 blogging rule. This is my rule that for every hour I spend writing, I spend a minimum of 2 hours promoting (the more the better). This is especially essential when you first begin a new blog because if you don’t get out there and promote it, nobody is going to know that it exists. As the blog gets more established and gains a readership, you can cut significantly down on this promotion time time since the readers, if they like your information, will help you promote the site.
I won’t claim to know the best way to promote a website, but I do know what has worked for me in the past. I spend the vast majority of my time commenting on other people’s blogs. In fact, when I begin a new blog, I try to make a minimum of 25 posts to different blogs each day for the first few months which can easily take several hours each day to do.
If you decide to take this approach, here are some hints:
Never comment to just comment: If you don’t have something significant to say about a post, don’t say anything at all. Your comments on other people’s blogs is a reflection of you and your blog. If all your comments appear spammy, then people will assume your blog is spammy. Make quality, heartfelt comments and while you may not get as many readers to your blog in the short run, many more that visit are likely to stay.
Don’t link to your blog in the comments: It doesn’t matter if you recently wrote a fantastic post on the exact same subject or if your entire blog is about that particular subject. Show the worth of your blog by your writing on your blog and in your comments on other people’s blogs. If you leave a quality comment, people will be interested in learning more about you and your blog - the link is in your name. There is no reason to place it in the comment as well.
Enjoy the commenting experience: So many comments that come to my blogs are so obviously made with the intent to promote their site. I think this is a terrible approach to take. If you have confidence that the writing on your blog is worthwhile content, there is no need to comment with promotion as the main objective (and if you don’t, you should be spending your time improving your content rather than commenting on other sites). Find posts that you like and make genuine comments not only on blogs in your niche, but where ever the links take you that day.
Stray outside your blog theme: A good way to test your blog writing is to see if it can interest those that would not typically come to your blog. A great way to find this out is to comment on blogs outside your niche. If people from those blogs find your information interesting, then you know you are writing well. If they don’t, you know you need to improve. While you will be writing on a niche, you should be writing for as wide a audience as possible.
Comment on smaller blogs: Some people think it is only worthwhile to comment on the bigger blogs, but I think time is much better spent commenting on smaller blogs. When comment on big blogs, your comment is lost in a sea of other comments. On a smaller blog, your comment, especially if it is a quality one, is much more likely to be noticed by others that visit the blog and will almost certainly be noticed by the owner. That is not to say commenting on the bigger blogs is bad, just that you should not focus exclusively on them.
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Posted: March 11th, 2008 under Blogging.
Comments: 14
Comments
Comment from Kenneth@Bloggers-Journey.com
Time: October 11, 2007, 10:15 pm
“Never comment to just comment”
I love this, most of them comment just to get a “link”. Will it probably be considered as spam, give out the comment of love.
Comment from Tarky7
Time: October 12, 2007, 1:24 pm
Really interesting and relevant. I found this site through the channel from your WP blog theme templates page. Nice Templates and an informative read. I sent you url for this blog to several of my friends online. Thanks !
Comment from surfindad.com
Time: October 12, 2007, 1:40 pm
As the benefactor of one of the author’s recent comments, I can attest to the fact that he practices what he preaches. The word “shock” doesn’t properly convey my reaction when I looked at the site of someone who recently commented on a micro 10 day old blog of mine.
His 2:1 rule, although painful, is very accurate. I’ve been very guilty of just blasting out a 10 minute post and my readership has suffered for it. Short posts make your blog look like an emo site or a news feed, both of which are hard to compete int.
People are looking for that “aha” bit of information or a compiled list of information that saves them the time of Googling several sources to find out. That requires time invested in each and every post.
It’s easy to get frustrated with one eye on the 6 and 7 figure earning blogs and the other eye on the load of your current job and commitments. Personally, I feel the trick is in setting goals, realistic expectations, and timeline oriented commitments. There are countless blogs on all of the above, but here are the ones I set:
1) Goals - In 60 days I’d like to have 50 RSS subscribers.
2) Expectations - In 60 days, I’d like this blog to cover fixed expenses. (At $3.99 per month per hosting, what can I say? I’m a sandbagger!!(
3) Commitments - I will blog 2 times a week for 60 days, regardless of my RSS rate, nasty comments, or “want to.”
Sorry for the long comment, and thanks again for taking the time to comment on my blog. It’s nice to see successful bloggers giving back to the blogging community.
Comment from surfindad.com
Time: October 12, 2007, 1:47 pm
Not “benefactor”, but “beneficiary”. Man, I hate typos….
Maybe there’s a 2:1 rule for comments too? 
Comment from BillyWarhol
Time: October 12, 2007, 3:10 pm
I’m a little Gun Shy to comment now*
I think if people take the Time to pop by + maybe even Read the post than more Power to them if they Leave a Comment*
Of course I don’t get many Comments on my Blog so I’m grateful for anything!!
Comment from Justin D
Time: October 21, 2007, 1:04 am
I think this makes sense. I’ve always preferred to comment on smaller blogs because I tend to glaze over after about a dozen comments and just assume other readers do too. If you can show up before they stop paying attention you’ve got a much better chance of interesting that user. It comes down to time management.
Let’s assume a user spends 10 minutes on a blog post. Let’s give 60% of that to the post and 40% to the comments (ideally). The earlier the comment appears, the more likely they are to click through to your site since they have a lot of allocated time left to spend on this particular post. If they read your comment at the end of their limit, the chance to click through is less since they’re ready to move on anyway. My $0.02.
Comment from The Money Post
Time: November 7, 2007, 10:14 am
All very good advice. I think the same principles apply to forum posting. Most forums will allow you to have a signature link. If you have threads/posts worth reading people will seek you out.
Comment from kl3tte
Time: December 6, 2007, 3:54 pm
This is a great article . I like your 2:1 rule, but I got an interesting question — maybe two:
1.) Do you think the used technology and the design is important for the success of a blog?
2.) How many time, related to the 2:1 rule, do you invest in technical details? Is there perhaps a 2:1:2 rule?
Comment from financial hack
Time: December 6, 2007, 4:12 pm
1.) Do you think the used technology and the design is important for the success of a blog?
2.) How many time, related to the 2:1 rule, do you invest in technical details? Is there perhaps a 2:1:2 rule?
I think that these come into play more once you have established your blog and are getting a decent amount of traffic. While they are important, they are not what I focus on when I’m getting things started. I tend to start fooling around with the technical issues once the blog is established and doing fine even without traffic promoting it.
Pingback from Die 2:1 Blog-Vermarktungs-Regel
Time: December 6, 2007, 4:14 pm
[...] sehr interessanten Tip finde ich die 2:1 Blog Promotion Rule. Er beschreibt darin, dass eigentlich mehr Zeit dafür notwendig ist den Blog bekanntzumachen, als [...]
Pingback from Blogging Magazin » Blog Archive » Wieviel Zeit sollte man für die Vermarktung des Blogs aufwenden?
Time: December 8, 2007, 8:43 am
[...] sehr interessanter Beitrag ist die 2:1 Blog Promotion Rule. Der Autor beschreibt darin, dass mehr Zeit dafür notwendig ist den Blog bekanntzumachen, als das [...]
Comment from Idetrorce
Time: December 15, 2007, 10:00 am
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
Comment from yakuza
Time: December 16, 2007, 9:13 am
are you sure about that? owh well, you are the one with the fortune. I guess you are right anyway.
Comment from BillinDetroit
Time: December 27, 2007, 11:48 pm
I get basically no comments on my blog that aren’t clearly link-sucking spam. But I delete them anyway. I don’t post spam and I won’t settle for it on my own sites.
Still looking to make my first dollar (actually, a euro would have more value to me) … for now I am just trying to post a few quality posts a week while I learn the writing and promotional trade.
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