Hi There!
I have a few word of advice for you that can help you with your blog promotion. SEO is great, but it can be very time consuming.
As far as article directories (I think that's what your talking about) they are not as effective as they once was.
I'm not saying that you can't get traffic from them, but it should be on the bottom of your traffic list.
I would suggest you to focus on guest posting, video marketing, forums, and blog communities (like this one). Also let me add content syndication is great too.
Now here is why I made those suggestions.
***Guest Posting***
Guest posting is kind of like knocking 2 birds out with 1 stone. Because you can get traffic back to your side with a backlink. You are able to send the traffic to any page you'd like, such as a squeeze page to collect emails for future contacts or a product sales funnel.
***Video Promotion***
Now, using video to drive traffic back to your site is a must! Well not really : ) but it's wise to make use of it, you know. It's 2013!
Who do you know that does not watch youtube and vimeo videos? lol...
If your not shy, talk in front of your cam to have eye contact with your viewers.
It converts better because your viewers are able to see you face to face. Instead of using text, speak about your topics and end it with a strong call to action.
How about recording reviews of products, comparing products, stirring up some controversy by sharing why product "A" is better than product "B", create slideshows of your products, giving advice on the best type of fabric to wear during specific seasons (Hope that last one makes sense. I'm not a fashion expert like yourself lol)
***Forum Promotion***
Ok, since your in the fashion market where the majority of fashion experts are women, position yourself where you audience is at. You can do a Google search for fashion forums. For example this is what I did:
1. Go to Google.com
2. type in search bar: "fashion+forum" (without quotes)
3. I found this one for you: http://ultrastyle.com/forum/ (I'm not affiliate nor do I know the owner of this forum)
4. When searching for forums check to make sure it's active with users by looking for the latest post dates for relevancy.
***Blog Communities***
Well your already using this platform, but there are others out there for you to connect with also. For instance:
1. Blog Engage.com
2. Blogorama.com
3. Justretweet.com
4. Blokube.com
To name a few...
***Content Syndication***
Since you spend you free time writing content, you should know this one out the park.
When you write an article, what you should do is convert it to other document. Then load them to it respect site. Ok, example:
After writing your article and uploading it to your website, convert it to a pdf file. Then you will need to submit the PDF article to the top document sharing sites. Like docstoc.com, 4shared.com, and scribd.com.
Ok now, convert the same article into a powerpoint presentation by copy and pasting the text to powerpoint. Make it look all fashionable and stuff! Ok now, upload it to slidesharing sites like: slideshare.net, slideserve.com, and slideboom.com
Now as you can see I got a little over excite about the topic lol
Overall I hope this helps you and sparks some ideas.
Remember to take action or else you will not see results. Be consistent and overtime you will notice your traffic increasing bit by bit. I know this is kind of a lot. Do not try and do this all at once, but instead focus (keyword) on one strategy at a time.
Now get busy : )
Marc Bell
