In today’s How to Grow Your Audience With Blog Tours post, I’m going to share ways to help you increase your traffic and sales and expand your online community with blog tours. Of course, blog tours are a marketing tactic used by book authors and publishers.
However, the good news is that they can be just as effective if you’re launching an information product, like a video marketing course, or a coaching program. Furthermore, they are a great tool if you want to raise your profile, build your following and grow your business.
What is a Blog Tour?
So, a blog tour is where you visit several blogs and publish guest or joint venture posts on them. Often the content is print, but you can also share video posts depending on the type of blog you’re guesting on. In essence a blog tour is most effective when you guest post on blogs that are relevant to your target audience or your products and services. For instance, a crime author wouldn’t achieve the results they wanted if they posted on a romance author’s website.
What Goes into a Blog Tour?
Now, a blog tour does require a bit of advanced planning. You must focus on your strategy and what you hope to achieve from your blog tour. It’s not just a case of decide on an idea today and post it tomorrow!
Let’s look at some ideas to help you plan your blog tour.
1. Establish your goals and objectives for your blog tour.
2. Identify and research the potential blogs you want to post on.
3. Check their guest post submission guidelines if they have them.
4. Make a list of content ideas for each of the blogs you plan to guest post on.
5. Pitch your idea to the blog owners. Explain to them what your post will be about and then wait for a reply.
6. Write your guest blog post or hire a ghostwriter to do it for you.
7. Make any changes needed to improve your content.
8. Submit it to the blog owner once they have approved your application to post.
9. Mark the date in your calendar. Ideally you can have your guest posts set up so that you’re present online on various blogs on consecutive days in a row.
10. Go full steam ahead with marketing that blog post. Alert your blog subscribers, social media followers and email list and invite them to visit and join you.
11. It’s important that you respond to comments as quickly as possible. New connections made on guest blog tours should be nurtured. In addition, it’s crucial that they trust you so that going forward they want to become your customers.
You’ll probably agree that these ideas are straightforward and possible to accomplish. However, let’s look at a few of the more challenging aspects of a blog tour and ways you can get the most out of your blog tour.
What Do You Want to Achieve with Your Blog Tour?
It’s critical you set specific goals and are 100% clear on what you want to accomplish from your blog tour. Establishing your goals lays the groundwork for the rest of your strategy. Moreover, it helps you format your content and find the right blogs to approach. A blog tour is an ideal way to create enthusiasm and a buzz around any new releases you have coming up. In addition, it can significantly raise the profile of your business and engage a much wider audience for your products and services. Of course, one of your main objectives is to create a captive audience and then have strategies in place to implement some of the following:
- Drive prospects to your email opt in page
- Send them to a sales page
- Create brand awareness
- Position yourself as an expert in your niche
- Drive traffic to your website (good for affiliate income and traffic numbers for ad revenue)
- Build backlinks to your website.
Finding Your Blogging Opportunities
There are some great ways out there to find guest blogging opportunities. Remember, a rewarding blog tour will have you travelling from blog to blog over several days. Furthermore, being visible on consecutive days can be more beneficial and create more momentum. Therefore, it’s crucial that you understand your audience and know where they hang out. Consider the following questions:
- Who is interested in your information, products, or services?
- What problems do you solve?
- Who are the people you’re solving problems for?
- Where do they go to solve their problems?
For example, perhaps you’ve created a mini-course for non-fiction writers about how to sell 5000+ books per launch. So, your audience either has a book that they’re trying to sell or they’re an aspiring author who might be motivated to finish their book once they’ve completed your course on how to sell them. Now, they’re likely visiting writing websites and marketing websites searching for tips and tricks to help them finish and sell their book. In this case, it might be a good idea to approach bloggers who deliver this type of content and suggest doing a guest post on their site.
That is why it’s essential you know your audience. You must understand where they are in their process. What questions do they have and where do they go to find the answers? Your products solve one problem, but what happens before and after that?
Where to look:
Social media – use hashtags that your audience might use and find relevant bloggers this way. Also take a look at the people your existing customers and followers are following. This can lead you to some appropriate bloggers.
Blogs you follow – who do you follow in your niche? Identify industry leaders and visit their blogs. Are they relevant to your audience?
Google Search – Search online in a way your audience might search. What keywords do they use to find information? Now, you can limit your search to blogs. Also, you can simply search for the term “Guest blogging” plus your keywords to see what comes up. The information you can glean this way may save you hours of searching time.
Guest blogging directories – MyBlogGuest.com is one example of a blogging directory. Consider using a resource like this for research purposes. You can also post that you’re looking for guest blogging opportunities and see who reaches out to you.
And don’t forget to connect with your friends and connections, your existing customers who may also own a blog, and your list. Depending on your niche, some of your existing leads and customers may be ideal places to add to your blog tour.
Writing Your Pitch
It’s important to remember that when you’re contacting various bloggers you’ve identified they’ll want to know what’s in it for them if they agree to allow you to submit a guest post. Make sure you’re well versed in the blog’s goals, audience, and motivations. Think about what you can offer them. For example, you may actively promote your post on their site, so they can receive increased traffic. You might also agree to post about them on your own website or blog. One way to get their attention and provide a benefit is to offer a giveaway along with your post. It’s a bonus for them because they’re giving their audience unique information and a gift, too.
Ensure you make it clear what your goal is, what you’re promoting and what your guest post will be about.
Reach out and connect with them 6 weeks before your launch. This gives you time to establish a rapport and discover if they need you to provide anything else. You want to make sure everything is ready to go before the launch.
If they agree, get your content to them on time. Make sure to thank them again for the opportunity. When you submit your material, also include any images or your photo, a short bio, and most importantly any buy links. While you may be creating unique content for different blogs, it’s a good idea to make sure your buy links and your bio are consistent on all the sites.
Finally, be sure to promote your guest appearance. It’s vital you create a promotional strategy for your entire blog tour.
Your promotions might include:
- Emailing your list
- Announcements on social media
- Publishing the dates, times, and locations of where you’re going to be blogging on your own blog.
I hope you’ve found value in my How to Grow Your Audience With Blog Tours post. It’s important to keep in mind that you are a guest on someone’s blog. Match their audience needs, respect their blog style and format, and be present to answer comments on your post.
Be a blogger that gets invited back and leaves an exceptional first impression. Then, the next time you’re ready to go on a blog tour, you know that you have connections and resources lined up.
Blog tours require a bit of planning and organization up front, however they can be enormously productive. Growing a captive audience with a blog tour requires a solid objective, relevant industry blogs to include in your tour, quality content, and a bio box that supports your goals and objective.
Is the time right for you to set up your own blog tour?
To Your Success!
