Writing a great piece of content is really only the beginning. It’s a given that you need to write really good content, but the part that many people forget about is the promotion aspect. Once you have a great post written on your blog, you need to get it out to the people who it will help most. In other words, you need to target your target audience.

Here are four ways to promote your blog posts. These would be referred to as white hat tactics, which means they are accomplished above board and with the good intention to really help out your possible readers.

1) Article directories like ezinearticles.com are a great place to start. Since a human reads each and every article that is submitted, articles have to be of a certain quality to actually get published. If your work gets published, then it meets the standards. You are allowed to include your url in the signature at the foot of your articles. Some of the people who read your article will click through to your website creating traffic for you.

2) Hubpages. Hubpages is a site where you can write content related to your niche, interest, or focus. Like ezinearticles and other article directories, Hubpages is respected by search engines as a high quality, well-moderated, user-generated content site. For this reason, content you write at this site will gain exposure for you, your work, and your website.

Read my post about how to make money with Hubpages, while promoting yourself and your content.

3) Write guest posts. This is something I have done very little of, but I see why it is such a strong way to promote your blog or website. When you offer to write a guest post for a website and your offer is accepted, it can only benefit you to take the time to make it as good as anything you’ve ever written before. When your piece if published on someone’s blog, that is like being introduced to a brand new audience as someone to pay attention to. A guest post at an established blog can do wonders for your credibility and can literally feed new referral visitors to your site very day.

4) Be available. If people leave comments on your site, write a reply. If they email you, send a response. Business (and blogging) is about reaching out to people and building relationships. Today it is easier to find and reach your audience than it ever has been before. Don’t waste the opportunity.