Starting a new blog is a lot of fun, but getting people to actually visit the site can be very challenging and frustrating. There are literally millions of blogs out there, with more coming each day. With so many options it’s hard to make yours stand out from the crowd.

Content is critical to every blog, but getting people to notice that content is a real challenge. You could have the greatest content out there, but if no one is seeing it it really isn’t doing you any good.

Want to get that blog off the ground quickly? We’ll look at 7 things you can do to start promoting that blog right away. These are promotional methods that have worked for many bloggers, and they are capable of taking a blog from nowhere to success.

1. Social Media

Social media sites are great for promoting websites and blogs because of the huge potential for traffic, plus you can use them for free. Social media is especially useful for new blogs because it is something that can produce immediate results, unlike search engine optimization.

If you want to get results from social media marketing, you first need to be an active social media user yourself. Take time to visit the sites, get familiar with the content that does well and start to build a network of other users.

At this point you will want to create content with this audience in mind and try to get some help from your friends with voting for the content and promoting it.

2. Social Networking Profiles

If you’re already a user of networking sites like Facebook and MySpace you should add a link on your profiles to your new blog. This will not send a ton of traffic, but it will help to start getting the blog moving forward, and it will start your link building efforts.

Take just a few minutes to link from your social profiles. If you’re not already using networking sites, set up some profiles and add a link to your blog.

3. Use Twitter

Twitter has exploded in the past year to become a must for online marketers. If you can actively use Twitter on a regular basis and build up an audience of followers, sending out some tweets about your blog or posts can make a big impact.

Be an active Twitter user, build up a list of followers, and you can promote your own blog posts and see immediate results in terms of visitors and re-tweets from other users.

If you are a Twitter user and you already have some followers, this is a great resource to announce and promote your new blog.

4. Advertising/PPC

If you have a budget to spend, advertising your new blog can have a big impact in terms of visitors and branding. Banner ads tend to not attractive a ton of clicks, but they are also helpful for just getting your name and your brand in front of a targeted audience.

Pay Per Click is a favorite of many online marketers because it is an option for any budget and because it can be very cost-effective. You’re only paying when someone is visiting your site, so there is no wasted money.

5. Blog Carnivals

Blog carnivals are really nothing more than a collection of posts on a specific topic. A blog will host the carnival and other bloggers can submit links to their own posts on the subject. You won’t get big traffic from this method, but you will easily start to build some links.

You can find carnivals to submit to at www.blogcarnival.com.

6. Write Guest Posts for Other Blogs

My favorite way to promote a new blog is to write for other blogs with a similar audience. This is an extremely effective way to build your name recognition and your reputation, not to mention that you will get a link to your blog in an author bio.

You may get some visitors that click through from your guest posts, but not that many. Those that do will be highly qualified visitors. Writing for others is also a good way to build some connections with influential bloggers.

7. Blogroll Link Exchanges

Link exchanges are popular among bloggers because links are needed for search engine rankings. Find some other blogs in your niche that offer solid content and see if they would be interested in exchanging blogroll links with you.

You will start to get some inbound links to your site, which can help to enhance your credibility with the search engines.

Rob Fleming Can Drive traffic to your website or blog with his powerful SEO/SEM Article Promotion techniques. Find out how by sending him an email with his contact form. To change this standard text, you have to enter some information about your self in the Dashboard -> Users -> Your Profile box.