How To Promote on Dance Advantage

I’m a busy dancer, writer, and mom. I receive press releases, emails, and newsletters daily – many from folks that want to appear in a post on the blog. I’ll admit, I typically bypass any email that does not immediately strike me as having a connection to dance education (the primary focus of this blog) or an obvious benefit for my readers.

How To Promote A Product

Advertise

Dance Advantage offers site-wide 125×125 advertising slots in the sidebar which are reserved for Recommended Resources. What does that mean? I want to form relationships with companies that I feel are highly relevant and that I can recommend to readers (which requires some experience or exposure to your product and business). With the increased use of social media, establishing this relationship is not difficult. If I have not yet come to you and you think your service/product pairs well with DA, I’d like to know more about you. Consider inviting me to review your product or comping a membership to your site or service

You might also consider sponsoring DA’s content at the feed level.

Or, you might invite me to be an affiliate, which allows me to earn a little something for the referral.

You can find out more about advertising here.

Write A Guest Post

If you have an idea for a guest article, please review the guest post guidelines and contact me. Example guest posts can be found here.

Ask me to Review Your Website/Service/Book/Music/Product on the blog.

I will review that which I feel is directly relevant to my readers. I charge no fee for reviews. If you do not want an honest opinion, please don’t ask me to review your product! Click here to download my Review/Giveaway Policy (pdf). To suggest your product for review, contact me and place REVIEW in the subject line to ensure I receive your request.

Pitch a story or interview.

A good pitch offers one or two angles on a story that would provide particularly relevant content and value for those on my blog. If I need the story, I provide the angle. If you need the story then you provide the angle!

What makes a story valuable?

Sometimes value to the reader is about learning, but more often than not it is about action. Dance Advantage readers want content that provides them with immediate tools for improving or advancing their current situation whether they are students wanting to better their skills, teachers looking for methods to apply in the classroom, parents hoping to help their child succeed, or studio owners wanting to grow their business. If your story can provide actionable tasks and strategies, it gives value to the reader and adds value to this blog.

If you hope to benefit from exposure on this blog (without paying advertising fees), you must offer my readers something of value even if those readers cannot or will never do business with you. I understand that this may be more work than you are willing to put in and that’s perfectly fine, however that is the standard that I wish to uphold on this blog. A useful and enriching guest post or article can be a Win/Win/Win situation. Find out how here: How To Pitch Bloggers

How To Promote An Event

Except in terms of global or online events, Dance Advantage is not primarily a news source. I get many requests for event promotion. However, in order to maintain the blog’s focus on dance education and subjects relevant to the majority of my readers, I must unfortunately say no to direct promotion of localized events. There are some indirect ways of mentioning (and getting links) to your event, and you’ll notice they are quite similar to those promoting a product…

Consider submitting a guest post if you are in the position to author such an article. Articles on this blog exist to serve value to the reader, your contribution has the added benefit of mentioning and linking to your event in the bio.
Propose that I interview someone involved in the event. Please understand that while I would love to support all dance companies and artists, I simply cannot entertain all such requests.

Please note: If you use Twitter, make friends with me there. I often and willingly Retweet interesting dance events.

How To Establish A Relationship

Interact with me on other Social Networks

Find, follow, and befriend me on Twitter, Facebook, and other social or dance-related networks. I often pass along, “retweet,” and feature posts, news articles, and other dance-related items at these locations. I am much more likely to feature and promote on this blog people/organizations with whom I interact. Don’t underestimate the power of these social networking tools. If you do not yet have an account on some of the above sites, I highly recommend considering their use for marketing and promotion.

Become a Subscriber

Reading, commenting, and participating on this blog is another great way to show that you are engaged and interested in being part of the community I have established here. I interact directly with many subscribers and partnerships have formed as a result. Find out more about the ways to subscribe.