So shamelessly promote, I say!

If you want to be read, you definitely have to promote your blog somehow. Here are some ways you can do that.

• Post your blogs on Twitter. You could use a catchy title, preface each one with “New Blog” or “New Post,” and be sure to add “RT” if you would like people to retweet your blogs.
• Automatically have your Twitter posts feed into your Facebook account. This saves you the trouble of double-posting but ensures double visibility. Facebook is a great place to put your blogs anyway, because people often start conversations about them in threads—which shows up in their feeds, too, ensuring more readers if people should click on them.
• Use Facebook Networked Blogs and invite people to follow your blog. You can normally invite twenty new people to follow your blog each day.
• Use DIGG and other social linking media. Other great sites for promoting your links include StumbleUpon, del.icio.us and Reddit.
• Respond to every post. That is, unless it’s spam. This will keep your readers interested, the conversation flowing, and hopefully ensure many happy returns.
• Ask to be featured at relevant sites. Did you write about bullfighting? Maybe an animal rights site will pick up your story. Perhaps you can ask Treehugger to link to your story about global warming.
• Brand your blog. Is it all about parenthood? Maybe all of your published works? Perhaps it’s current events, or simply an online diary. Whatever it is, be consistent with it. Here are some more tips on blog branding.
• Comment on other blogs. But don’t do it just for the sake of promotion; make it meaningful. Leave real comments, not general ones—just use this rule: if you don’t have something to say, don’t comment. If you do comment, be sure to leave your link in with your name so people can visit your blog, too.
• Exchange blogs with friends or people with similar topics. You can add them to your “favorite links” or “blogroll” section and ask that they return the favor.
• Add your blog to blog directories. There is a great list you might be interested in here.

What blog promotion tips do you have? Have you used any specific strategies to help get a lot of bloggers to your website? Be sure to share them in the comment section.