One of the most distressing things about blogging is finding regular readers. If you’re angling for instant gratification look somewhere else. Blogging isn’t what you want. It will take months or even years to put cultivate a real following, even if you do everything right. I’m not going to talk about content. You’ve already read a thousand good articles about content and I’ll just advise you to keep the content interesting and fresh. Being likable and informative is useless, however, if you don’t also promote your blog.

Here are eight time-tested strategies that will help entice guests into your accounting blog:

1. Use your blog to communicate with employees and clients.

It’s easy to get your employees to read and comment on your blog, especially if it’s really informative, but your clients can make an excellent audience, too. Use your blog to keep them informed of breaking news that affects them. With hundreds of tax law changes every year your clients need you to sort though them and let them know what matters to them. Don’t be shy. If you have a client that can benefit from your post send them an email and ask them to leave you a comment.

2. Make your blog easy to find on your website.

Don’t make visitors search for your blog. Display the link prominently on your accounting website. Put it on the navigation menu where it can be seen without making them open or roll over anything. Add a nice banner link to your home page.

Try to make the blog a page on your domain rather than using a URL on wordpress, blogspot or some similar service. In the long run it will give you an advantage in the search engines.

3. Display your website address everywhere!

The more places you post your web address the easier it will be for potential readers to find your blog. Make sure the address is on your business card, in the signature of your email, and on any forums you may frequent. Avoid the temptation to point all your links to your website home page. In some cases it’s much more appropriate to map the link straight to the blog. Visitors looking for your blog won’t want to navigate through your home page.

4. Share and share alike.

Bloggers are a tight-knit, cooperative community. If you help them out, they’ll help you out. Theres no better way to put yourself out there. In fact, it’s really the ONLY way get your name on other industry blogs and get some established exposure to your content. Backlinks to your blog will usually be provided as payment for your contribution, helping you with search engine authority.

Conversely, you can return the favor by inviting guest bloggers of your own. Help others help you!

5. Use your networking skills.

Make some friends!

Putting yourself out there in online communities is a must. Sites like LinkedIn and Facebook are a good place to start. Find and engage groups that are related to your target audience. Instead of simply promoting your blog in these venues, however, put your link in your profile and be as active as you can to draw potential readers.

6. Mention your influences.

Use online social communities to talk up your clients, prospects, and contacts; especially other bloggers.

Large media and content providers set up vanity tracking so they know when their name is mentioned. This will get you noticed. If you help them get noticed it’s much more likely they’ll take the time to get you noticed.

7. Hold a contest.

It’s a fact – people love to win things. The prize doesn’t need to be exrtraordinary; it can be as simple as sharing your blog link or posting the most comments. Just make sure the reward for winning is appealing enough that it gets your readers engaged!

Contests are also a great way to bring attention to your off season services and lure readers from a select clientele. Offering a free compilation and review for a local business owner, for example, can kill two birds with one stone. It will often bring that client into the monthly fold, and it can be used to create a new blog post that highlights the value added by exploiting financial statements.

8. Keep it lively.

Eventually every blogger gets stuck in a rut. Once you succumb to a formula it can be hard to get past it. Don’t succumb to the doldrums! By the time you feel yourself starting to drift into limbo it’s a pretty safe bet it’s already happened. Mix it up. Keep your content fresh by doing something different. One nice addition to your repertoire is video, and when you upload the finished piece to YouTube you draw in additional readers who might not have found you otherwise.

If you employ these tactics you’ll have a much better chance of cultivating a real following. Remember to the basics, keep your content novel and keep reaching out. Stay engaged. If you’re engaged with your readers, you’re readers will be engaged with you!