A blog about blogging...about food and fitness.

Hey guys! Rachel here from Shedding It & Getting It with a little topic I like to call, “Ain't No Shame In the Game.”

Today I’m talking about shameless self-promotion….and how self-promote without being shameless. I know it’s hard, but if you want your blog to succeed, selling yourself is crucial.

HBH has already talked about creating great content, and I have no doubt you're using Matt's tips to do just that! But…what if the content is awesome, but no one is reading it? I recently read a great article on Outspoken Media called "Content Is Not King. Self-Promotion Is."

This article is all about how bloggers are often afraid to promote their own content. The author references this article and shares some of the reasons bloggers get sometimes get shy.

• People don’t want to be seen as arrogant.
• They don’t want others to call them out.
• They don’t fully believe in their content.
• They don’t want to be wrong.

I think these reasons are all true, but I am going to add another reason to the list: we don't want to annoy people!

We've all been spammed and scammed and seen those people on Facebook or Twitter who ONLY seem to care about their product or blog. We find them annoying and, well, we don't want to be those people.

But your future readers know the difference between lame scams and good content. If you promote yourself, people will click. If they feel like they've been tricked, they won't click again. I promise. So good content is key — because that's what's going to hook people in and make them regular readers and followers and fans.

DO share your blog via e-mails to your nearest and dearest when you first start it. Shooting out a little, "Hey, I decided to start a blog with all my recipes and running adventures!" note will mean you are at least on their radar. And my guess is they'll enjoy having a new way to keep up with you! DON'T e-mail them every time you update.

DO use Facebook to promote yourself. If you're shy, at least put your blog's URL in your profile. Just sharing the link to your newest blog post will drive traffic in a major way. Initially, posting to my Facebook profile was the only way I got readers — and it worked really well. I can't tell you how many friends that I hadn't heard from in years who have sent me messages telling me they like what I'm doing. I never would have been able to reach them otherwise.

DO create a Facebook fan page…when the time is right. A fan page is a great way to connect with your readers who aren't your "friends." But if all your readers are your friends, you may want to hold off on this until you have a bigger reader base. When inviting people to become fans of the page DON'T keep suggesting the page over and over again. There are few things more annoying than constant invites to a page you've already rejected once. The cool thing about your fan page is that people choose to see these updates, so you can feel a little less annoying.

DO use the fan page regularly. People don't want to become fans of something that hasn't been updated in three weeks. If you don't have a post today, just throw a question out there. DON'T abuse Facebook. Facebook users don't like when someone is all up in their mini-feed. Space your updates out throughout the day and write an interesting hook to accompany the link. (Hint: I've found that posts that go up between 8-10 at night when everyone is hanging out on Facebook drive traffic best.)

DO promote yourself on Twitter…but DON'T only promote yourself on Twitter. Twitter is a place to connect with people, so it shouldn't just be all about you. Go to your Twitter profile; if every Tweet starts with "Check out my…!!" then you're doing it wrong. You should be responding to other people's Tweets, re-tweeting other people's content, and Tweeting about things besides the latest entry on your blog. The more fun you are on Twitter, the more people will want to read your blog.

DO comment on the blogs you read and enter your URL in the comment form. Most bloggers are cool with you including your blog in the "Name" field (i.e. Rachel @ Shedding It). Not only is the author more likely to hit your page, but other commenters are too (especially if what you say is particularly funny or insightful). DON'T leave a comment on every post just to get clicks. This is very apparent to the blogger and to other readers. Comment when you actually have something to say.

If you're commenting on a big forum or site (think the NY Times Well Blog) then you may want to include your blog's URL at the end of your comment. After all, these sites get a lot of traffic — and those like-minded readers might be interested in your blog too. DON'T do this too often — it will look spammy. But again, if your comment is particularly insightful or you simply want to reference a super relevant blog post you wrote on the topic, it might be a good idea.

BE CAREFUL when linking to yourself in the comments of someone's personal blog. A lot of bloggers really dislike this. (If you're a blogger who wants to cut back on this, installing the CommentLuv plug-in goes far to discourage this practice, while actually encouraging comments.) A better way to share the link is to shoot the blogger an e-mail, "Hey, loved your piece on whole-wheat flour! I just wrote something along the same lines and thought you might be interested in checking it out!" This is a little more polite, but it also helps you build relationships with other bloggers. Most people are more likely to respond to e-mails rather than comments.

And if it makes you feel more comfortable, admit to being shameless! "Shameless plug here, but you can check out my blog Shedding It & Getting It for more info!" HA. See…no shame in the game!