I had these weird ideas about blog promotion that I will share with you. You might laugh, or you might even try them out. If you do, please let us know how that worked out!

Can there be such a thing as free real-world promotion? Many of us are scared to promote our blogs in the real world, because it seems to be so expensive to buy ads and all that… so we limit ourselves to the blogosphere, where promotion is mostly free and easy from the comfort of our homes. But what if real-world promotion could also be… free? No expensive ads, just a few wacky ideas…

        1.   Keep a permanent marker with you at all times. Whenever you happen to be in a public bathroom, write something interesting on the walls/doors and your URL at the bottom: “Why are you reading this? Read this instead: www.megavegalicious.com”. Or write under the usual “Annie + John = BIG LOVE” this “Read all about it here: www.megavegalicious.com”. Or anything else funny. The marker can also be used on other surfaces, but don’t destroy public property :-))

        2.   Make a cheap rubber stamp with your URL and maybe a catchy phrase. Go to the bank, take out as many hundred bills as you can, and then stamp all of them. Then just simply put them back in the bank. Then ask for other hundreds and so on. You’ve noticed people write anything on bills. When it’s on a hundred dollar bill/or a fifty for that matter,  it’s more likely it will be read. Put that money back in circulation and there you have it, free advertisement for unlimited time, all over the country, and for an unlimited number of people. If you stamp something like “Win here: megavegalicious.com” they might just come.

        3.   Buy cheap balloons from your local market, as many as you want. Inflate, and write your URL on them. Then tie them to trees, fences, bus stops, or give them to kids. Everybody loves balloons!

        4.   Buy plain cheap white t-shirts in bulk, and then write your URL and maybe a catchy phrase with: permanent marker, special paint for t-shirts (cheap in stores) or iron-on letters.  Wear one when you go out to buy groceries or at the mall. Give some away. If there’s something like “I know I’m sexy, please stop staring - megavegalicious.com” on it, people will wear it. Give some to Salvation Army/make donations.

        5.   Write a catchy post on any subject that would interest a large number of people, and make it sticky, place it on your sidebar or anywhere visible. Then print out lots of ads about it. Make it short and use big letters for words like FREE. Then place the ads on the windshields of cars. For example, write a short post about you local Walmart. How good/bad it is, what’s new there, addresses and phone numbers, add some free coupons. Then print out small ads that say something like “FREE Walmart coupons/info about your local stores - megavegalicious.com” , go to a busy local Walmart and place those on cars, hand them out to people and stick them in the bathroom. They already shop there, so they might be interested.

        6.   Buy peanuts/candy in bulk. Pour them in some containers, ad spoons in each. Make/buy small white paper bags, and on each add your stamp with your URL. Now you’ve seen those kids that sell all sorts of stuff outside stores to make some pocket money or people selling stuff to raise money for different causes? Find some kids in your neighbourhood that want to do that, or some fund raisers. Give them free stuff like that that they can sell, provided they use your personalized little bags with your URL on them. From an XLarge bag of peanuts they can sell maybe more than 20 little bags for $1 each, and people buy if there’s a fund raiser. There’s no work involved for you, and you can even develop a long-term relationship with a non-profit organization/fund raiser (like a school, church, animal shelter etc.), that would benefit both.

        7.   One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Make sticky ads with your URL and stick them to junk laying around everywhere. Just look around and you’ll find your “canvas” to “paint on”, abandoned stuff that nobody uses anymore but is still there, in the public view. For example, an old abandoned car, a piece of anything that fell off and nobody bothered to throw away, a couch that was left on the sidewalk for people to grab, the big trash cans in your apartment complex, etc. Add a phrase like “I know I’m trashy, stop staring!”, “Please take me home”, “They abandoned me!!!” or anything funny will attract more attention.

        8.   For holidays, print out lots of small images related to the holiday, and, of course, add your URL on each. For example, for Valentine’s you can make more than 20 small red hearts from just one piece of printing paper. Make colored Christmas trees, Santas, pumpkins, bunnies, flags, there are so many holidays to choose from, thank God. Distribute them in public places, stick them on windows, etc. I think this is a good idea, as they won’t be considered “spam” and removed right away, if it’s cute and people are reminded of the holiday spirit they will more likely like it and leave it there until after the holiday. You can run your “Marry Christmas!” campaign for a few good weeks!

        9.   Write a short one-page pamphlet with jokes/interesting facts/info and include your URL. Print out as many as you can, make holes at the top, tie a bunch together with string, and tie them in public places like on poles, bus stops, fences, trees, anywhere.  This way the wind won’t blow them away, and people can just remove one from the string. Everybody will surely be interested enough to take one, and they will soon dissapear. Write interesting, funny stuff and add “If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit www….” or ” More here: www….”.

        10.   One hand washes the other. You do something for me, and I’ll do something for you, it might just bring you some free advertisment in the real world.  Go to a local store (maybe one that’s related to your blog’s niche - if you write about computers, Internet, blogging etc. why not go to a computer store) and ask them if you can put some of those take-one-with-you small ads there, or leave your business cards/pamphlets at the cash register. In exchange, if you have a car for example, tell them you will put a big banner on your car’s door with their business ad, for free. Or you can advertise for them on your blog, put a big advertisment sign in your yard, etc. You might reach a new audience interested in your niche this way.

I hope you’ve enjoyed some of my wacky ideas, if you have more please let us know, maybe I’ll write some more and give you the credit, of course! And if you try any, I would be more than interested to hear about it!

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