Tips for getting your blog post/podcast/video promoted for you

I’ve been doing a lot of link sharing lately through Managed Assembly, @dotnetlinks, @dotnetpodcasts, @dotnetvideos and the recently redesigned DotNetKicks. There’s numerous other .NET link sharing sites, linkblogs and other methods so if you want to take advantage of these resources to get your stuff out there, here’s a list of things to make it easier for those doing the promoting on your behalf.

0. Make good content

Enough said.

1. Use accurate but short titles

When possible, keep your titles under 140 characters (less than 100-120 if you want retweets or your username included) so they can be easily tweeted. Make sure your title is a good summary of the content so the promoter doesn’t have to rewrite it. If you use a title that doesn’t reflect the contents or is intentionally inflammatory (say, if you’re writing about exception handling and your post makes good points but uses a linkbait title, I won’t promote it. Not that you care Karl).

2. Use proper HTML titles

A lot of sites automatically grab the title from the <title> tag on your posts. Bookmarklets (in use on MA and DNK) also grab this. If it’s just the name of your site without the post title, it takes extra work for the promoter to copy and paste it. Don’t clutter up your title either. Site name and post name is all you need. All that extra stuff isn’t giving you the SEO benefit you think it is for starters, but it also requires a lot of clean up when posting.

3. Make your Twitter name easily discoverable

I always try to include the Twitter name of an article’s author (and I’m not the only one) when posting links to Twitter. If I don’t have time to go search for you on Twitter it won’t be included so make sure it’s visible on every page of your web site. Unless you don’t care, which is fine too.

4. Include video/podcast length

If you post videos, screencasts or podcasts be sure to include the length of the video or podcast in the post. The length of a video can be as equally important as the title when determining whether or not to watch it.

5. Space out your posts

Maximize your exposure by spacing out your posts. If you write a whole bunch at once, schedule them out to be posted over a few days. Don’t clog up link sharing sites with a bunch of your posts at once as it will dilute the votes you receive.

6. Post stories yourself, but don’t use Twitterfeed

On most link sharing sites, including MA and DNK, self-submitting is allowed. Just don’t ask your friends to vote it up every thing you post. Also, if you have a link you want shared on @dotnetlinks, just do an @reply to either @johnsheehan or @dotnetlinks and I’ll review it.

The Twitterfeed thing is a personal pet peeve. I’m probably already subscribed to your blog if I’m following you on Twitter. I don’t need to know about it twice. If you really, really want to have your feed reposted on Twitter for the people that don’t like RSS, set up a dedicated account for it. Which reminds me, time to go set up @JohnSheehanBlog.