by Katy Kauffman @KatyKauffman28

In Part 6, let’s look at five ways to promote your blog and use it to build your platform. We can grow our readership by connecting our blog to tools like social media, author pages, videos, and more. 

5 Ways to Use Your Blog to Build Your Platform

Generate interest in your blog by creating discussion questions on Facebook.  

Sharing a link to one of our blog posts on Facebook can get tricky. Facebook likes for its users to stay on the Facebook site, instead of leaving it to go somewhere else. Posts that have outside links in them may not be seen by as many people, so we have to get creative. 

On your Facebook wall, create a Facebook post that includes a discussion question related to your blog post’s topic. I’ve seen DiAnn Mills do this, and it’s fun to see how people have answered the question. Then in the comments section of that Facebook post, she leaves a link to the related blog post on her site, so people can see more about that topic if they’re interested. 

So two things happen—we can generate discussion on our Facebook wall about the topic we’re writing about, and we can generate interest in our blog by leaving a link. Creating these questions can get friends talking so they encourage each other, and they may find more encouragement on our blog as well. 

Provide a free download to blog subscribers.

A download, also called a “lead magnet,” can attract new subscribers to your blog. When someone signs up to receive your blog posts by email, it’s possible to send them a welcome email which includes this free download. 

We can use a program like Canva.com to create a colorful PDF to download. I like giving the PDF a cover page with the title of the download. In the rest of the pages, we can write about a topic that’s related to our blog, give recipes, share parenting tips, or offer any content that our target audience would love.

A newsletter service like Mailchimp can send your blog posts via email to subscribers. Once you’ve created your PDF, create a link in your welcome email. Instead of attaching a URL to the link, you can instead select “file,” and upload your PDF. Then when subscribers click the link, the PDF will appear in their internet browser. 

If potential subscribers know that they will receive a meaningful download for free if they sign up, they may be more likely to subscribe to your blog. They receive the benefit of the download, and you gain a new reader whom you can encourage. 

Use a plugin like “Better Click to Tweet” to help readers share your blog posts to Twitter. 

I love the button in friends’ blog posts that says, “Click here to tweet.” If you blog using WordPress, the “Better Click to Tweet” plugin gives you this button. You can insert it anywhere in your blog post, and it will allow readers to share to Twitter a quote that you’ve selected. The plugin lets you include your Twitter handle (like @KatyKauffman28), so viewers can easily find your Twitter profile. Grow your platform by helping loyal readers share your posts and draw more readers to your blog. 

Connect your blog to your Amazon and Goodreads author pages.

When you have a book for sale on Amazon, you can create an Amazon Author Central account that lets you share your bio and headshot on an author page. It also lets you share previews of your blog posts with links to your site.

You can also list your book on Goodreads, which acts as a library of books and book reviews. A Goodreads author page lets you connect your blog to your page, so viewers can find a preview of the most recent post and then click a link to see all your posts. If they love what they see, they may follow your blog, and your platform continues to grow. 

Embed videos in your blog posts so people can get to know you better. 

Finally, tap into the power of videos. Let readers get to know you better by sharing about a topic from the heart. Let them see your face, hear your voice, and discover your personality by talking to them on video. 

Record a video with your phone, and upload it to a YouTube channel which you can create for free. Once your video is uploaded, YouTube will give you a piece of short computer code that you can use to “embed” your video into a blog post. This works better than sharing a link to your YouTube channel. When you embed a video, readers can see a little video player in your blog post and watch the video right there. Then you will double the benefit of coming to your blog. They can both read encouragement on it and occasionally watch you share it and get to know you better.

If I can see an author’s face and hear their voice, I am more likely to revisit a website because I feel like I’m actually connecting to a person, not just to words on a blog. We can encourage our audience and connect with them both through the written word and the spoken one.  

These are just five ways to use your blog to grow your platform. Which way sounds the most appealing to you? If you’ve tried one, please share any tips or ideas for the rest of us. And happy blogging!

Click on the links below to view the rest of the posts in the series:

1. The purpose, topic, and scheduling of a blog – See Part 1
2. Blogging platforms, sidebars, and post length – See Part 2
3. An expandable outline for Bible-based blog posts – See Part 3
4. Ways to connect with other bloggers and support each other – See Part 4
5. Three tips for crafting effective blog post titles – See Part 5

Katy Kauffman is an award-winning author, an editor of Refresh Bible Study Magazine, and a co-founder of Lighthouse Bible Studies. She loves connecting with writers and working alongside them in compilations, such as Feed Your Soul with the Word of God, Collection 1 which is a 2020 Selah Awards finalist. She recently started The Lighthouse Connection, a monthly writers’ newsletter including writing tips, inspiration to write, and news of submission opportunities.

In addition to online magazines, Katy’s writing can be found at CBN.com, thoughts-about-God.com, and three blogs on writing. She loves to spend time with family and friends, take acrylic painting classes online, and do yard work in the morning sun. Connect with her at her blog, Winning the Victory, and on Facebook and Twitter.