In my previous post I said how you can make money using blogs and advertising links. But once you have a blog set up, how do you get people to look at it? There are lots of tips and tricks you can use to promote your blog, which are effective and are free to do.

The main way people will find your blog is through keywords. Keywords are basically what people enter into search engines to find what they are looking for.
The keywords that will show up from your page will be the title of your blog and the headings of your posts. You need to think of a blog title that isn't too general and vague. For example, if you put 'Chinese Restaurants' as your blog's title, you will have very little chance of your blog turning up in the top pages of search engines, as there is just too much competition in that area. You need to add another key word to your title such as 'Chinese Restaurants in Memphis', or 'Cheap chinese restaurants'. On the other hand, don't make a really long winded title,as your title will be what catches people's attention. and if it is not catchy and to the point they will quickly lose interest.. When you have an idea for a title for your blog, search it yourself, this will show you how many similiar websites turn up, and this is an excellent way to refine your title.

Blog directories - register your blog with a blog directory. I found that this worked very well for me,and instantly increased traffic to my site. Some of the best blog directories are: www.blogarama.com, www.blogcatalog.com and www.bloggapedia.com. Register with as many blog directories as you can and you will start to see the traffic come in.

Email/social networking websites - put your website address in your email signature, so anytime you send an enail people will see it. Also post the website address on any social networking site you have, e.g. Myspace or Facebook. It's free and effective advertising.

Look at other people's blog pages - Don't sit back and wait for people to come to your blog. Scratch their back and they'll scratch yours. Leave a comment on their site and they will often come back and look at yours.

Think of anywhere you can place your blog address for free, do it, and you will soon start to see people coming to your website.