5 Places to Promote Your Blog

If you're blogging on the Internet chances are, you're hoping to make some money from your efforts. But to do that, you're going to have to generate some considerable traffic to that fantastic blog and the only way to do that is a little blog promotion.

But in the wake of Web 2.0, who knows where to start? There are so many bookmarking and networking sites, how can you choose which ones are best?

Here's 5 "must-use" places to start promoting your blog:

1. Hub Pages - Yep, Hub Pages can generate a ton of traffic to your other sites. Granted, its not a bookmarking network - you actually have to post something here to get readers to see your stuff "there", but the traffic is definitely worth it.
2. Furl - I've had a ton of traffic by posting to Furl and its really easy to use. A simple bookmarking site but the posts apparently get noticed.
3. Technorati - Now I know what you're thinking... nobody sees me on Technorati. I'm just one in 54 million and unless you've got a top 10 blog, its not worth my time. Au contraire...the key to moving up in the Technorati ranks is to go out and favorite other blogs. That then prompts them to check you out and hopefully, return the favor. The more your blog is "favorited" by others, the higher your ranking and the more traffic you'll see.
4. StumbleUpon - I actually "stumbled upon" this one while I was checking to see who was linking to me. Some nice blogger had posted my site in his Stumble Upon account, so I joined and returned the favor. The rest is web traffic history.
5. DropJack - DropJack is a new site but one that's gaining steam. Definitely worth a look.

Are there others? Absolutely! If you're going to go to the efforts of promoting your blog, you should certainly hit the big guys such as del.icio.us and Digg as well as Reddit, Myjeeves, Spurl and Propeller. But don't pass on some of the smaller or lesser-known sites just because of their size. Remember, if there's less competition, you have a much better chance of getting your posts noticed.