Homeschool bloggers are poised to help the public get a more realistic perspective about life as a homeschooler. The Internet makes information easily accessible and personal blogging can provide readers with glimpses into the insights and behind-the-scenes lifestyles of citizens from every walk of life.
Politicians and religious evangelists have embraced web-based promotion as a way to reach out to the public and homeschoolers can do the same. A homeschool blogger may have nothing to sell and might not even be making money from his or her blog, but the importance of spreading the message is not to be minimized. Homeschooling is a legitimate lifestyle choice that deserves to speak for itself.
Social Networking for Homeschool Bloggers to Build Incoming Links
Search engines give higher ranking (ie: send more traffic) to websites that have more incoming links. Whenever a new blog entry is posted, be sure to publicize it through Facebook or Twitter. The process can be automated, using Facebook's Networked Blogs application and the Facebook for Twitter application.
Leave quality comments on other homeschool blogs and websites. Be sure to include your URL (blog address) so that readers (and search engines) can find the source of your witty and intelligent comment.
Create a Facebook page for your homeschool website or blog. When you're signed into Facebook, visit any Facebook Business Page, like the Homeschooling at Suite101 page and on the bottom of the left side column, click on "Create a page for my business." Choose "Brand, product or Organization" and from the drop-down menu, select "Website." Follow the instructions on subsequent pages to complete the page. Once it's made, use the "Developer" link at the bottom of the page to create interactive sidebar widgets. Use it to share links to your newest posts and encourage your readers to share, too.
Participate in Blog Memes, coordinated blog-post events that center around a theme, like the recent "I'm that mom" meme for unschoolers. Other popular memes are "Wordless Wednesday" and "Thankful Thursday." When participating in these events, be sure to visit other bloggers and leave comments, increasing your incoming links for highly-trafficked articles.
Learn how to turn your graphic into a clickable button readers can use on their site to promote you.
Get Listed in Homeschool Website Directories
Alltop.com has a homeschooling page. Instructions for adding new sites to the directory are at the bottom of their directory. Other directory services like DMOZ can also provide an incoming link to your site. Check to see if the local homeschool support group website offers a member's directory listing. The state's homeschool association may also offer a listing service. The Evolved Homeschooler hosts a wiki-style directory specifically for secular homeschoolers.
Blog readers and other bloggers may help promote the website, if they have the opportunity. The Sociable plugin for Wordpress has icons that allow readers to share each post or page on Twitter, Facebook and many other less popular social networks. Choose the ones that readers are most likely to identify with.
A 125x125 pixel graphic on the sidebar of a blog with text asking readers to "Add my blog to your sidebar" can be a very effective way to get incoming traffic. Use an html "textarea" command to create a field where users simply copy and paste the image and graphic code at once, so readers don't have to download the graphic. This method makes it easier for you to change the graphic, without communicating with each site owner individually.
Search Engine Optimization and Paid Directory Listings
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO is a method of writing that uses the same words users are entering in their search, as the post title, categories and tags of each blog entry. It's important to know, but for personal blogs it's not as effective as a good social networking campaign. For a homeschool website, a cursory knowledge of SEO practices is worthy of research.
Paid directory listings and services that charge a fee to add sites to the search engines are generally unnecessary. Most blogging platforms are set up to automatically "ping" search engines when a new entry is posted. In addition, whenever a link is shared on Twitter or Facebook, search engines "see" that, too. A large majority of web surfers use Google as their primary search engine. Runners-up MSN, Yahoo and Bing use similar algorithm to "find" new web content. In most cases, there's no need to announce one's presence to the search engines.
The very best way to get incoming links is to write posts that are so wonderful readers are motivated to promote for you. Every post might not be awesome, and the chances of being noticed without a little effort on behalf of the blogger are slim to none. High quality posts and built-in tools that make reader sharing easy are surefire ways to get more traffic, comments and incoming links to a homeschooling blog or homeschool website.
Lisa Russell - Lisa Russell is a freelance writer and mom of six daughters. She blogs about their life at lisarussell.org
