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Did you know that promoting your blog or website off the internet, can probably drive traffic to your site, which will possibly come back?
Recently, I've started heavily promoting Venture Level in the offline world, also known as "The Real World," and it has driven a significant amount of traffic, that not only visits once, but many times to come after their initial visit. You can also grab a whole different audience, that you may not be able to appeal to, through other forms of promotion.
Why is it a big deal to promote off the web?
To build brand loyalty. While you may not consider your blog a so called "brand," it is a brand. If you blog about poker, there is a very good chance there is another poker blog on the web somewhere. By promoting off the web, you are attracting people that probably don't read any poker blogs and since you are the first one they will probably visit, it will be captured in their minds. After some time, as they discover other poker blogs, they will most likely keep reading yours since it was the first one they have ever visited.
When you promote off the web, you are also capturing the audience in a different way. It is very different from web promotion because you are not making it easy for people to just click a link and click out just as fast. Say a person notices your flyer at a local sporting goods store, about your sports blog. It will require some effort on their part to take interest and remember the URL of your blog, so they can visit it later when they head home. If they are to have interest and they do end up visiting your blog, it means they won't just glimpse over your content for a full 10 seconds and click out. They will probably end up surfing around, checking out your older posts, and take some time to actually read what is going on in your blog- given that your blog doesn't look like it is from Web 1.0. When people click to your blog from somewhere else on the web, it was easy for them to visit it, so it will be just as easy for them to leave. Potential readers will probably not remember your site and chances are they may not come back because it took no effort to come to your blog in the first place.
Where can you promote?
-Local stores that sell items related to what you talk about.
-Public posting boards, like at grocery stores.
-Mailers
-Libraries
-Local organizations that relate to your content.
-Advertising in offline media (newspaper, magazine, etc.)
-Your current network (work, Monday night football friend circle!, etc.)
Always remember to ask organizations and stores before you try to promote with them!
A last thought-
I find that if the same amount of effort is put into offline promotion, as is put into online promotion, you might see a better ROI on your time with offline promotion because only people who really have "interest" in your offline promotion will visit. You should always remember to make your promotions intriguing and different. Don't try to sell people, instead try to appeal to them.
Also remember not to cater your blog to the wrong people!
