Update: It’s been more than four years since the publication of my BizSugar review.
The site now has a forum as well as a sharing community.
In that time, BizSugar has resulted in my boosting my blog’s success:
- I have strengthened my friendships made at the site.
- I was interviewed on a podcast hosted by a site moderator.
- The powers-that-be share my posts on Twitter so my brand growths there.
- Other blogs link to BizSugar articles, so my SEO gets better. For instance, SmallBizTrends, a high authority blog, links to my BizSugar articles. Since BizSugar is a content curation site, I curate my content there. Then, the real benefits begin. SmallBizTrends link to my posts. Since SmallBizTrends is syndication world-wide, my SEO gets better due to the link. Also, my exposure gets better since SmallBizTrends is syndicated.
You can have all these benefits too. Are you ready?
Let’s dive in.
UPDATE:
In 2019, BizSugar split into two sites, one for training and one for social sharing.
Are you frustrated by your lack of traffic from traditional social media sites?
Have you heard great things about the ability of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest to bring traffic to your blogs only to be disappointed?
Why not try BizSugar.com as an alternative?
Since it’s not mainstream, you might find you stand out more than sites with millions of users.
Don’t be deterred by the name of the site either.
Although there are many business people who use the site, anyone can. Since there is no cost, you can use it for free. BizSugar is a free source of self-promotion for you.
I am not a business blogger. I use the site, I love the site, and best of all, I regularly receive traffic from it and so can you if you follow the tips in this post.
What is BizSugar?
BizSugar is a social site on the Internet where self-promotion of your articles is allowed.
While it is true that users share online marketing tips, they share posts about many topics that you might write about. For example, BizSugar contains articles and videos about trends, strategies, productivity, and social media just to name a few of the site’s many categories.
The important point is that although it is named BizSugar, it is not just for marketers or other business people.
Advantages of BizSugar
- You can make new contacts. David Leonhardt feels the contacts you can make on BizSugar are even more valuable than the traffic you receive: Over the years, I’ve used BizSugar as a blogging community. 59 pages of submissions are testimony that I am not a new member. I have found it to be the best of the niche social bookmarking websites. It’s not the traffic as much as the outreach. People have contacted me with, “I’ve seen you on BizSugar; let’s work together.” In other words, quality over quantity.
- You can strengthen your connections with bloggers you already know. You can send a message to your connections at BizSugar. It is a social media site, after all.
- There is less competition to try to stand out since it is not a mainstream social media site.
- Serious bloggers use the site, so you won’t have readers coming and going like a revolving door. Bloggers statistically abandon their blogs within nine months. Since BizSugar’s users are more experienced users, they won’t abandon their blogs and stop reading your articles. According to blogger Danny Wong, BizSugar is full of supportive users who will be excited to read your articles.
- A wealth of resources exists for you as a blogger. The articles are written by experienced bloggers. Also, the Best of BizSugar is a SocialHub at the site where you can get help.
- BizSugar is fun due to its sugar theme. Your default avatar is a sugar cube. There is a category called “Sweets”, and the votes are called “Sugars”.
- BizSugar is a potential source of traffic for your blog. Users have a choice to read a snippet of your article on the site, or they can click “View full story”. This will enable them to see the entire post on your blog, and your page views will increase. If users vote for your post, your article will get pushed to the top, and your visibility will rise. This will, in turn, lead to even more traffic for you.
Receiving traffic from BizSugar is easy. Just add your link to the appropriate topic.
For example, I added my Grammarly tutorial to the technology category. I have a large number of readers who blog about technology who can add their posts to this category as well.
I also have many readers who blog in the Personal Development niche. Self-development is one of the categories you can post your link in.
I have bloggers who write about saving money. One of the site’s categories is finances. With a little creative thinking, you can connect your content to their site.
Voting:
If you like an article, you can vote for it. I suppose this would be the equivalent of a thumbs up or clicking the Like button on other sites.
By looking at the screenshot, you can see three of my articles that received votes.
If you like an article so much that you would like to recommend it to others to read, you can make an article “hot”.
The top article, 19 Strange Ideas that Will Amplify Your Productivity, was recommended by another BizSugar user. For that reason, it has a caption under it that says who made it “hot”.
Voting and commenting will increase your “karma” score. It indicates your level of engagement at the site.
BizSugar Tutorial
Step 1: Go to BizSugar. com. To make an account, click “Register”. Put in your User Name, type the captcha, and activate the link in your Email. Go back to BizSugar and log in. You can also log in with Facebook.
Step 2: To submit a post link, click “Submit New.” Enter the URL and click “continue.” You can change your headline if desired. You can tag your post. Write a 2-3 sentence description. Check your spelling if desired.
Step 3: Submit a category. Click the drop-down to see the choices.
Step 4: Type a 1-2 sentence summary of your article. Check spelling if desired. Click “Preview and Submit.”
Step 5: You will get to see what your article will look like. If you are happy, click “Submit”, if you are not, click “Modify.”
Click Home, and then Recent. You should see your post on the “Recently Submitted” page.
Even if you can’t relate your content to the content posted at BizSugar, still a great source of resources and potential new contacts as you comment and vote on the articles there.
BizSugar Strategy
- Have a voting buddy. You upvote their links and they upvote yours. It makes it easier to get traffic.
- This is a social site. Be social. Share other people’s articles and not just your own.
- Only share your best work. Serious bloggers are at this site. Put your best foot forward!
- Make sure your content matches the category you choose. Although you may not be an entrepreneur, there are categories such as productivity, technology, and social media that may relate to your articles. I had trouble finding social media. It is listed under marketing.
- Don’t try to leave your links too often. In contrast to other social media sites, BizSugar has safeguards in place against spamming. You can only submit your links a limited amount of times at first. In order to ensure no one engages in too much link dropping, users have levels which increase with engagement.
- Put a badge on the blog post that you shared. When BizSugar users come to your site to read your article, if they see the BizSugar badge, they will be more compelled to vote for your story which will increase its visibility at BizSugar.
Click “Sweets” and then “Tools.”
This will bring you to a screen where you can choose your desired code to copy and then paste into your post.
- Take advantage of all that BizSugar has to offer. The Social Hub is an area similar to Twitter, and Best of BizSugar has valuable resources.
Are You Ready to Try BizSugar?
In conclusion, BizSugar provides a great opportunity for you to expand your blogging network in many different niches by increasing your blogging connections. You will be making new contact familiar with your blog and increasing traffic to your site. The whole time, you will have fun doing it.
Readers, please share, so other bloggers looking for new ways to promote their blogs learn about BizSugar.
Have you heard of it? Have you tried it? What have your experiences been? Do you think you might try BizSugar? I look forward to your views in the comments section.
Related Posts:
How to Be a Better Blogger with Quora
Here are the 29 Great Reasons You Should Use Medium to Blog Now
How to Get the Kind of Blog Traffic You Want with Reddit
Update
October 2020
When you use BizSugar, you become a family, not just a forum. Administrator Martin Lindeskog deserves a big shoutout.
He comments on all my submissions and other contributors’ submissions as well. He keeps the BizSugar community thriving.
One way he does this is through his podcast. He interviews BizSugar users.
Another shoutout goes to Anita Campbell, the CEO of BizSugar. You can read more about Anita on the BizSugar Forum Page.
