In this post we will discuss promoting either your website, or a particuliar article on your website. This is a living journal, so please check back later as we continue to expound on the subject.

Overview

So how do we measure our promotion efforts? Well you need to set goals. For an activist, the goals could be more than folks simply viewing your website. You may want folks to sign on to a petition, or join an email list.

For this exercise, we are going to set a very simply goal. We want to get at least 100 different folks to visit our website each day. That means we want 100 folks to visit the front page of our website each day.

Lets Get Started

Since this post is intended for activists, lets get active and start our promotion campaign. Remember, our goal is to get 100 folks a day, to read an article on the front page of our website.

• Write a short review of your article ( a few sentances).
• Decide how to categorize your article. For example, "Book Review", "Political Opinion". Categories are often referred to as "Tags". You can create a list of category/tags by using a comma delimited list. For example: Book Review, Political Opinion, Chicago.
• Create an account on websites that allow you to post your review and categories:
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
• Post you review. Note: The following websites are referred to as "social networking sites". 
  • Digg calls it "Promote New".
  • Delicious calls it "Save a new Bookmark".
  • Yahoo Buzz calls it "Submit A Story".
  • Reddit calls it "Submit A Link".
  • StumbleUpon calls it "Add A Site".
• Tag your Article. Tag means set a category. You can set multiple tag/categories for your article. For example: Chicago Politics, Illinois Politics, Privatization. Note:
  • You sepeate the tags with a comma.
  • Many folks will find your article by the tag (category), therefore it's important to categorize your article correctly (appropos to your article).
• Tell Your Friends. You now want your friends to visit the social networking sites and add their names to your review. Each of the social networking websites work slightly different. Digg asks your friends to "Digg" your review. Your friends vote a thumbs up on your review and the underlying article. Your friends can also write comments that creates a discussion (buzz) your article. Note:
  • Each of your friends must also have an account on each of the social networking sites.
  • You should send a direct link of your review to your friends. Many of the social networking websites provide you with a "Send to Friend(s)" mechanism.
  • Recommended: Use Twitter and post links to your reviews.
• Tell Strangers. Social networking sites let you find like minded folks.
  • For example, log in to Digg and search for "Chicago Politics". Find an article you agree with. Click on "diggs", then "Who dugg this?". Click on a username, then click on "Add Friend".
  • Once you've added a new friend, your friends will see a link to you and your reviews.

Video :

Additional Resources:

• You will need an email address to create accounts on any of the social networking websites mentioned above. If you or your friends need to create and email address or account, please see our blog post and video "How to Create an Email Address" here.