Starting a blog is easy. Getting people to visit and visit regularly – well… not so much. Some people will tell you traffic is a piece of cake and it might be – to them. As a new or somewhat new blogger, this may not be quite so easy. So perhaps you may be considering advertising.

Before we move on, allow me to first define advertising. Yes, we all know what it is and what it means. However, from my experience, when people ask the question where can I advertise my blog, the are usually looking to get free exposure.

Free Exposure

If this is what you are looking for, then these are a few things you can and should try.

Guest Blogging – despite some scare stories about Google not liking it – guess what? Sometimes, Google doesn’t matter (that) much. People do. So what blogs do your target reader frequent? Where do they get their news from? Identify those blogs and find out if they are open to guests authors. Write a solid, meaty post and pitch it.

Answer Questions – There are tons of places where you can answer questions. Facebook has plenty of groups you can join where your target reader hangs out. Quora is another place. Also check out StackExchange. While StackExchange was originally for geeky stuff, their network now covers many different topics from cooking and parenting to astrology.

Don’t just answer the questions. Be sure to re-purpose your answers on your blog, creating more content for you. By doing so, you will also have a handy link to point someone to when you encounter the question again.

Guest Speaking – There are lots and lots of podcasts, video channels and webinars online. Find the ones that appeal to your target readers. As with guest blogging, come up with an idea or a topic of discussion. Then pitch it to the hosts.

These are just a handful of free exposure options to keep you busy. Now for the real question.

Where Can I Advertise My Blog?

We’re talking about real advertising as in forking over money or some other resource (time, or free product).

Because this involves an expense, be sure to:

1. Not advertise the blog itself. Either create a freebie or write a top notch post
2. Put in place a mechanism to capture some contact information (email), preferably with an ethical bribe
3. Have plenty of call to actions and content that is designed to steer people to the lead capture

If these aren’t in place, you’d only be wasting your hard earned money. It doesn’t have to be perfect to begin with, it only has to work. Once you have these set up, then you can explore advertising in these places.

Facebook – If you have hangups about Facebook ads as a user, lose them. Facebook can be quite effective due to their ability to really fine tune who you want to reach. It is also inexpensive. All you need to start is $5 – $10.

BuySellAds – There are some amazing websites on BuySellAds. They can get pricey but there are some bargains in there if you spend a little time searching and narrowing your results.

BlogAds – Similar to BuySellAds.

Outbrain – uses a different approach. Instead of putting up a banner or display ad, you advertise your content. This type of advertising is also known as native ads. Can be quite effective but you must pick a post that is the cream of the crop.

Twitter and LinkedIn – are other social networks you can choose to advertise on. They may not have the fine grained targeting as Facebook but they are worth a try. If you are reaching professionals, LinkedIn is great. With Twitter, you can also target followers of a certain persona which is very interesting indeed.

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list. We’ve barely touched the surface but is a good cross section of places to get started. Once again, before starting – I cannot emphasize this more.

• Make sure you have your funnels in place to earn your money back as quickly as possible from your ads.
• Start small.
• Watch your ads like a hawk through out the day. Never ‘set and forget’ or you’ll literally, pay dearly.