As bloggers we want our written articles to be seen, read and commented on. We want to provoke thought, teach something new, share news-worthy content with our readers and discover trends to connect us through the written word.
However, I have noticed that many will publish an article and then walk away and it makes me wonder why, why would you take the time to write something and not use the provided share buttons on the website or blog? (I hope we are past the stage of not having social buttons)
Discovery is only a part of the process, yes you added it to relevant categories and ensured there were tags/keywords to aid those who may be searching for your site online but the truth is, if you really want your article to be seen you need to up the ante using social networks.
Social signals is the future of SEO, having your written articles shared by other people will help it get seen better within search engines and since it is a more natural and authentic form of recommending an article, it is a favorable way for you to get readers to your blog.
Now keep your expectations intact, don’t assume that if shared that all of a sudden your blog will go viral. Viral buzz is overrated, very hard to accomplish and in today’s world something that most likely happens on its own, not forced.
If you have built strong social networking communities (ones you did not pay to have) your social signals will be higher, keep in mind, the more natural things happen on the web the better the chance it will be seen and the more friendly it becomes to algorithms.
Therefore, I wonder why people don’t share their own articles. You need not be reliant on others to find the content on the blog by themselves, though that would be the dream come true for all of us bloggers. The truth is most people won’t know your content is written unless you share it.
If you write content that is useful, creative and that is of quality, your share will turn into more shares tapping into social signals and the ripple effect is ideally what you want, but having your article sit idle is not the way to get it read, so share it.
