Blogopoly

Here is a summary of the steps I go through to promote my blogs. Most of this information is already in the blog, but this is a step by step guide to help you make sense of it all.

1) Make your Site Visible to Search Engines

- Work out what the most relevant keywords are for your site. Use these keywords to create meta tags and your page titles.
- Submit your site to as many search engines or directories as possible.

2) Exchange Links with Other Bloggers

3) Create an RSS Feed

- Submit your RSS Feed URL to RSS Directories.

4) Promote your Blog amongst your own Friends and Contacts

5) Join a Webring and/or text ad network

6) Guest Blogging

- Ask other bloggers if they will publish your articles.

7) Get your Users to talk to each other and you by enabling Comments

8) Check your Visitor log to find other Bloggers to exchange Links or Guest Blogging requests with

9) Find out who is linking to other similar Blogs to yours to find more sites to exchange Links or Guest Blogging requests with

10) Use Trackback and enable on your Blog if Possible

Steps 2, 6, 8, and 9 should be repeated as often as possible as you will always find new sites to link to. You should also submit your blog to any new directories you come across and tweak your keywords if you find that users have other more popular keywords to find your site. If Yahoo! or DMOZ did not accept your site in the early stages then try submitting again when you have more content.
The tips given above are all free of any overhead costs. If you want to start buying advertising to promote your blog, here is an article to help you start planning your campaign.
The best tip of all, of course, is to keep reading this blog to learn about new ways to promote your blog.