For most writers, it’s helpful to keep honing their crafts with constant practice. A great way to do so is by maintaining an active blog. Not only can it be fun, but it also encourages the writer to find their niche and make it their own.

But once the fulfillment of writing a post evaporates, a common question rears its head: what else can I do to get myself out there?

For a blog to be successful, aside from being written well, it needs to be exposed to as many viewers as possible. If you’re not super familiar with social media marketing or search engine optimization, it can be a challenge, whether enjoyable or agonizing, to get your posts out to a larger audience.

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If you’re just starting out, here are eight unexpected places you can market your blog:

Pinterest

Marketing through social media is a no-brainer to get more exposure, so why what sets Pinterest apart? Because it’s vastly different from it’s competitors Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Pinterest is more about branding and organization. Food, beauty, and retail companies excel here because they can link back to their websites on each pin. In the same way, you can use the platform to brand yourself and link back to your blog posts.

Coffee shops

Have you ever noticed the community bulletin board in your local coffee shop? It’s an underutilized place most people might not think to put a flier about their blog. It’s worth the extra step to design a logo and flier for your blog, and Microsoft Word has everything you need to make a solid, quality flier. Just make sure to check with the shop manager or barista about their policy or how long they keep fliers posted.

Gym

Just like coffee shops, your local gym may also have a bulletin board where patrons can post items of interest. This suits you well, especially if you write an exercise or health-centric blog. Again, just make sure you check with the staff on their policy.

Newsletter Service

Most businesses rely on a newsletter service to let clients know about business developments or new products that benefit them. Writers also use them to write on different topics for their followers. Services like MailChimp and Constant Contact can be great tools to market directly to your loyal readers.

Trade Shows

Is your blog tailored to food readers or potential brides? Look for trade shows in your area. Not only is this a great way to network, but you might also find new followers who would be interested in your brand. Plus, the memories you make won’t hurt either.

Car advertising

If you have the ability to put money toward advertising, one surefire way to make a statement in your community is to invest in-car advertising. Companies like Custom-Car-Wraps.com can create custom a mockup for a car wrap that you and a professional can work with to create the advertising that’s right for your needs. Any time you run errands or brave the road for your work commute, you’ll be putting your name out in the community for very minimal effort.

Dating apps

Have you ever been on dating websites or apps and come across users who write, “I’m not here for dating – just for business”? It might be a small annoyance, but it’s yet another method of exposing more readers to your blog. Especially if you write on relationship-oriented topics, you could be developing more of your target audience.

Networking mixers

Networking is important for anyone, no matter what industry you work in. The key here is to make a good impression and to know yourself and your brand better than anyone else. The thing to keep in mind here is this: you may not find a great ratio of people who would benefit from your blog. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have people in their networks who would.