10 ways that StageofLife.com will help promote your blog (or writing) and get you more exposure:
1. It's Free: Submitting essays and blogs to Stage of Life is always free. Writers and bloggers must register on StageofLife.com before promoting their blog or essays on the site, but it's always free. Beware of sites that require a fee or want you to pay to post your essays or material. Our goal is make the world a better place, so we had as few barriers as possible for writers to do this.
2. Back Link: All of our writers may include a link back to their blog or personal website in their public-facing StageofLife.com profile page. Back links are incredibly important for establishing sources of traffic back to your home site or blog.
3. Exposure: Based on current traffic levels, in 2011, the site is expected to welcome over 100,000 visitors.
4. National Press and Marketing: Stage of Life submits a monthly press release via PR Newswire. Our press mentions have run on Forbes.com, CNBC.com, FoxBusiness.com and dozens of other media outlets. StageofLife.com also uses its Facebook and Twitter page to promote and tout its blogger posts, esp. on seasonal and timely topics.
5. Writing Contests on StageofLife.comWriting Contests: Stage of Life runs writing contests in three of the ten life stages. The writing contests for high school students, college students and parents will be expanded to include all ten life stages in 2011. These contests are backed by a national brand sponsor and the winners are invited to become Featured Writers on StageofLife.com
6. Featured Blogger Status: For bloggers who feel personally aligned with our mission of making the world a better place, one story at a time...we can provide greater exposure by making them a part of our core writing team. We hand select these writers based on writing samples they submit and move them to "Featured Writer" or "Featured Blogger" status on the website. These bloggers receive additional placements for their essays, including a spot on the Stage of Life home page, and a monthly email from StageofLife.com CEO, Eric Thiegs, on the growth and status of the website.
7. Diversity: StageofLife.com works with bloggers and writers from all walks of life and all religious and political backgrounds. Take a look through the collection of essays and blogs on the site. You'll see a diverse range of voices and people involved in our project. In fact, our woriginal artwork in each of the mastheads for the ten life stages showcases our commitment to ethnic diversity as well. While many websites narrow in on one particular life-style niche, our hope is that our anti-niche approach offers a wider variety of material and more opportunity for unique view points to be heard.
8. Life stage bloggingLife Stage Growth: Our site is designed so its users, readers, writers and bloggers can quite literally grow throughout their lives together...along with the development of site itself. You could essentially start blogging in high school with StageofLife.com and 50 years later, still be writing on the site in your retirement. The exciting thing for bloggers looking for more exposure is that their blog posting on Stage of Life will be seen by teenagers, parents, home owners, baby boomers, singles, and everyone in between. It's a chance for writers to share their story with people who may need their advice now...or in the future.
9. Free Lesson Plans: StageofLife.com is working within the educational community to offer up free lesson plans for Secondary Language Arts teachers to help get their students writing more outside of the classroom through the use of blogging. This collaboration with teachers and blogging provides a fresh set of eyes for the Stage of Life writers and bloggers contributing to the site.
10. Collection: Like a journal or diary, Stage of Life will archive each and every essay you submit so that readers who like your writing style from reading one of your blog postings or essays can find others that you've posted on Stage of Life. During the submission process, Stage of Life will also ask each blogger/writer to select a category in which his or her essay could do the most good, e.g. ethical dilemmas, relationships, money, family, and more. The archives of your essays and blogs can be found on the Stage of Life profile page for each writer and in the story archives for each stage of life on the site.
It's Hard Finding the Right Exposure for Your Writing...
We know it's hard for bloggers to find legitimate, trusted sources and websites to help them get more exposure for their writing. We know it's hard for writers who want to find ways to promote their work. We talked to some of our bloggers and here's what one of our Featured Writers had this to say about why he uses Stage of Life to promote his writing,
"You need to find the right websites to help you promote your blog. They need to have a good image and real traffic to give your writing exposure. They need to be a good fit for your message, and for me, a place with a positive energy. I find all of these requirements are met by StageofLife.com, which is why I use them to promote my blog and share my essays with the world."
Bloggers promote their writing on StageofLife.comWe started Stage of Life as a way to help bloggers reach more people. Since it's beta launch, the website has seen tens of thousands of visitors from all 50 states and over 146 countries / territories. And since StageofLife.com is not controlled by venture capital funds, outside controlling interests, or a large corporation, our writers and bloggers are on the ground floor of an idea that we hope will organically grow in a grassroots manner...with that homegrown feel.
Our writers are the true face and voice of what we're doing at Stage of Life...a blog hub that will give words of wisdom and encouragement for everyone for years to come.
Next Steps...
Promote Your Blog on StageofLife.com
1. If you haven't already, register on StageofLife.com. It's free and it allows anyone the opportunity to upload a story.
2. After you've uploaded a few stories, if you want to get more involved, contact us directly about being considered as a Featured Writer. Featured Writers need to have shared a story on StageofLife.com in at least 3 of the 10 life stages before being considered as a Featured Blogger. Send us an email with the urls of where those posts appear on the site. We'll review and will contact you.
Our door is always open for writers and bloggers who want to add their voice to our project. Don't hesitate to contact us and please feel free to share this invitation with friends or family who may be blogging or writing and looking for more exposure.
