Blogging is an effective way to share information and show the world that you are an expert in your field. It can also be a lot of fun! On the other hand, when you spend hours researching, writing, and editing your posts, it can be discouraging if it doesn’t seem that anyone is reading it. Fortunately, Facebook has many different methods you can use to put your blog in front of potential readers.
Personal Profile
To import your blog to your personal profile, navigate to the Notes page. To the right, under Notes Settings, click on Import a Blog. You only need to copy the feed URL from your blog, paste it into the box provided, and click on Start Importing, and whenever you post something to your blog, it will automatically appear as a Note on your profile. More importantly, it will come up as a news feed item for your Facebook friends when you log in. This serves the double purpose of keeping your name in front of them even when you don’t have time to personally log into the site, and encourages them to read your blog.
The only trouble with this method is that even if your Notes are set to be visible to everyone, only your friends are likely to know about them, so it’s not likely to bring you any new readers, so you won’t want to stop there.
Business Fan Page
Hopefully, you have already created a Fan Page for your Business. If you’re not familiar with this feature or how to use it to benefit your business, please let me know in the Comments section or through the Ask a Question form, and I’ll cover this topic in a future post.
Once your Fan Page is set up, you can begin importing your blog to the Notes section, just as you did for your Personal Profile. Many of your fans may also be your friends, but since anyone can become a fan, you’re much more likely to pick up new readers (and hopefully new clients) this way. I recently noticed that the number of my fans has more than tripled in the last six months, and was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few unfamiliar names and faces among them. By the way, if you’re not yet a fan of Organized Assistant, I hope you’ll become one!
Applications
In addition to the two methods described above, there are a number of Facebook applications designed to help you find new readers for your blog and, since blogging is part of building online relationships, to find interesting new blogs to read as well. I have not explored all of them, but am happy to share information about those that I’m using myself.
One such application is Networked Blogs. This application allows you to import posts to your Facebook wall, and have them show up in your friends’ News Feed, but unlike Notes, you are not restricted to importing from one blog, which is very beneficial if you happen to have multiple blogs. In addition, it adds your blog to a directory which appears both on Facebook and on NetworkedBlogs.com, which greatly expands your reach. Once you’ve added your blog, you will have to ask your friends to confirm that you are the author, as it will not appear on your profile until 10 or more confirmations are received. Readers can choose to follow and/or rate your blog, and this information will appear on the blog’s page on Networked Blogs.
Blogged is another blog network that has a Facebook application. Similar to Networked Blogs, you begin by creating a profile, and you can then add as many blogs as you own. Once added to the database, your profile and your blog will appear both on Facebook and on the Blogged website. Since different people use different applications, this is just one more way to expand your reading audience.
There are currently over 50 blog applications on Facebook, many of which allow you to import your blog to Facebook. If you’re not yet taking advantage of this free and easy way to promote your blog, it’s not too late to get started. If technology is not your forte, I’d love to be of assistance, so please contact me and we can set up a time to talk.
