There are those who stubbornly hold on to the view that if you generate great content then you do not need to work that hard to promote it. If this were true once when there wasn’t so much content online then it is certainly not true anymore. The harsh reality today is that the World Wide Web is full of great content that never gets seen.

You really do not have a choice but to very aggressively promote your content if you want it to reach a significant audience as you build up your website.

Here are 15 of the very best methods you can use to promote your content effectively.

1) The right keywords

The vast majority of people find the content they are looking for online using keywords. That means that nobody can ignore keyword research and hope to get away with it. While it is true that keyword research can be cumbersome and extremely time consuming the truth is that everything and anything you do to ensure that you have used the right popular keyword phrases on your content, that are not so competitive as to be out of reach will always pay off big time. Pay special attention to popular keywords that are not yet too competitive and also use search engines to find niches that do not quite have enough content to satisfy search engine demand.

2) Use quotes and excerpts on social media

Work hard to deliver real value on social media rather than just posting links. Use memorable quotes and surprising statements within your content to attract attention. Shocking statistics are really great when it comes to effectively promoting content. People will read them and get hooked and it will be very difficult for them not to click on your link and land on your blog to read the full story.

3) Post often

Posting regularly on your blog is tough. And yet when you fail to post often enough you are reducing traffic to your site. There are various techniques you can use to ensure that you always have something to post. For instance you can do follow up articles to a post based on your reader’s comments. Publish their comments and then answer or comment briefly and you have an interesting new post. Your email is another gold mine for great posts. Chances are that people write to you all the time with queries concerning the topic you cover on your blog. And when they do you obviously responded with a detailed email. Retrieve it from where it is lying idle in your email inbox. Edit and dust it a little and write a great intro and you have a brand new post. There are many other powerful ideas that will help you post very regularly with very little effort.

4) Peg Your content on current news

Current news is a powerful peg to hang your content on. And the more public interest the item you have in mind has generated the better. You can be sure that it will give you a lot more click throughs from social media and wherever else people will see your blog title. Ride on it for all its’ worth.

5) Promote with Facebook ads

Using Facebook ads to promote your posts on this wildly popular social media platform can b very effective. A lot more people get to see your posts and so will their circle of friends. With just $5 you can get over 4,000 extra views and attract a lot more attention to your content.

6) Use powerful images as often as you can

Images are processed by the human mind a lot faster than text. Anything you post on social media that has images or illustrations will get a lot more attention than plain text. Use this to boost your content to the maximum.

7) Name names

A powerful strategy is to quote others whenever it is relevant to what you have to say. Link back to their content and make sure that you shoot them an email or tweet to let them know what you have done. This will always get you tons of extra readers and the right attention to give your content a real boost.

8) Ask questions all the time

Remember your school days when teachers used to love those students who were always asking intelligent questions? Visit a high traffic blog and leave a comment and chances are that not very much will happen. But when you ask a question plenty is bound to happen. For starters it shows genuine interest rather than selfish traffic-seeking on your side. Especially if you ask questions that genuinely concern you and what you are covering with your content on your blog.

9) Guest posts are gold mines

You need to have a solid plan and timetable for your guest posts. This has to be the most powerful underutilized traffic generating tool on the web. And it is not just about the link back to your site that generates both immediate traffic and link juice for long term attention from search engines. It also gives you immediate visibility and helps build your reputation as an expert and authority in your chosen field.

10) Titles and headlines will make or break your content

There is a very famous copywriter who always spent a lot more time on his headlines than on the body of his content. He would spend hours coming up with all kinds of possibilities. That was long before computers came along let alone the World Wide Web but the lesson applies even more online today where readers are bombarded by countless things all seeking to attract their attention. Many great articles continue to be consigned to oblivion all because their titles are not attractive or enticing enough.

11) Reward subscribers

Loyal subscribers to your email list are your hottest prospects and a critical fan base in helping spread the word about your unique content. You should therefore be prepared to do almost anything to get names on your email list. How about rewarding your prospective subscribers with a really valuable gift related to your content that they cannot possibly turn down? This will rapidly grow your list and help you promote your content even more effectively to a larger email list.

12) Your email list will work magic

The biggest challenge any content marketer will always face is limiting the number of those unsubscribing while rapidly growing their list. Your great content should not only keep your audience interested but also presents opportunities every time you post to virally promote your content. Just make it easy for your subscribers to share and email your articles to their friends.

13) Linkedin groups Google+ communities and Yahoo groups

Online groups and communities are a great way to promote your content. Especially when you choose groups that are in your particular niche. The valuable content your produce will be going to an audience that is already hungry for the kind of information that you are churning out.

14) Use Reddit

Reddit averages over 71 million unique visitors a month. That is a number that cannot be ignored. And the site thrives on fresh content so give them your very best articles and watch your traffic soar.

15) Your email signature

Chances are that you send out a lot of emails. And if you have a few employees the figure quickly multiples. A brief email signature linking to your latest article will get plenty of traffic that it would have otherwise never gotten. Remember that emails get forwarded all the time. And don’t forget that the email service hotmail grew from a cold start to millions of users using only a tiny email signature inviting folks to open a hotmail account.

Author Bio:

Jason Smith is an online manager for AJ’s Truck & Trailer Center – Dump Trailers. Jason likes blogging about online strategies that are related to SEO, Content, PPC & Lead generation.