by Malle Vallik
Blogging is a very effective and important social media tool for authors because blogs bring your personality into play for your readers. Blogs increase visibility, and are an easy, economical and FAST way to reach readers. My thoughts are below, but I also like this post from Chris Brogan 40 Ways to Deliver Killer Blogger Content. You may also notice that I also write a lot of lists at my blog; there’s a reason!
Why Blog?
My digital team usually suggests that blogging is the 1st or popular tool in social media toolkit for these reasons:
– Best use of your most valuable resource – time
– Uses your strengths as an author
• Telling stories (engagement)
• Building relationships (engagement)
• Making connections (engagement)
• Build your brand/promote yourself
• Drive traffic to your website /sales
Best Practices:
• Brand/Identity/Voice
This is what will set you apart. If you are curious about author branding I wrote a post at my blog and there were some excellent follow up comments as well.
• Integration
This means you need to connect all your social media properties. You need a little box or badge or something like that into which you list all your web places (Myspace, Shelfari, blog, website, author bio at publisher, etc) and you embed it in all your web places.
• RSS
Stands for really simple syndication. It’s the orange RSS badge you see on many sites. It makes subscribing to your blog easy for your reader.
• SEO (search engine optimization)
You need to use strong discovery key words in the title and repeat in the first few lines of your blog so that search engines will find your blog and rank it high. Do a search on SEO and delve in!
• Link Love
Web 2.0 is all about sharing. In each post you should link to at least two outside sources.
• Widgets, Affiliate program and other Publisher tools
Your publisher may have some very cool tools that you should use to make your blog richer. At Harlequin we have the Browse the Book widget, the Harlequin Insider and our affiliate program. Talk to someone on the digital team to make sure you are fully in the know.
• Engagement
Comment on other people’s blogs. This shouldn’t be a one-way conversation.
• Measurement
Your blogging platform will have some kind of traffic measurements. Do look at your traffic, unique visitors, return visitors, and what posts drive the most traffic. Keep doing what is working and stop what isn’t.
What to blog about:
• Book News
• Ideas, trends or thoughts
• Entertainment
• Publish a list of links
• Comment on other blog articles
• Take a recent experience and share it
• Answer questions you received recently
• Turn a press release into a blog article
• Memes
In conclusion:
• Be creative:
– Blog tours
– Blog as a character
– Original stories
• Learn
• Evolve
• Don’t spend too much time, eg overthink . Set yourself a time limit (maybe ½ hour?) and if you find it is taking you too much time, then this may not be the right social media tool for you.
What do you like or dislike about blogging?
Related posts:
Terrific post, Malle. You hit a couple of things I hadn’t picked up on yet, so I have some work to do. Thank you!
Hope your Digital Initiative workshop at RWA National goes brilliantly and is SRO.
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/rwa-updates-new-stuff/
Enjoyed your post, Malle. Lots of helpful ideas and suggestions. When I started a blog, a fellow author suggested I make it easy for readers to subscribe to posts by email (and she recommended using FeedBlitz). It was easy to install, and from the # of subscriptions, readers seem to like the ease of opting in to read posts via email.
What I like about blogging is simple… I like to talk a about what interests me, and I don’t know anyone who will listen. I can get it out there, at least, even if it bores the pants off people. LOL.
What I don’t like about blogging is I’m just not sure how helpful it is to me in establishing my brand. I don’t get a lot of visits every day – maybe 10 or 12 – and I feel like I’m wasting time when I do write a blog. If I do it quickly, I feel like I’m cheating people out of a truly thoughtful post, and if I take my time, I feel like I’m cheating my career from the writing time I need.
Dang!
One question that came to my mind today, and I just don’t know the answer… are writers in other genres (other than romance) being pressured to engage in social networking and blogging etc., as much as romance authors? Does anyone here know?
Great tips!
Here’s a couple more-
1) Don’t do it if you don’t enjoy it. It will show and drive away readers.
2) Building a readership takes time. Give yourself at least six months before you give up. The Blogosphere is not Burger King. You can’t have it your way right away.
I’m working on establishing my platform via my blog. I’m currently unpublished but having now landed an agent, I’m working on building my brand as someone who’s currently in Iraq and also happens to be a writer.
I tend not to over think my blogs but I always take a step back when I’m tempted to vent publicly. These things will turn up again someday, so I work hard at keeping my blog professional.
Plus, I don’t let my blog take up too much time. I’m a fire and forget blogger. One, the internet in Iraq is such that I get to post but can’t sit around and wait for comments and two, i simply don’t have time for that.
But using social media to reach people you might not have reached before is always a good thing.
Blog away!
http://www.jessicascott.net/blog
This very topic has been on my mind lately. I’ve recently started a blog and I’m still a beginner with alot to learn. You’ve listed some very helpful suggestions.
I was a blogger long before I was a publisher (or even aspiring) writer. It takes about two years to build any sort of traffic at all so hosting your own blog is definitely a long term strategy.
Guest blogging, however, can pay off right away, and even if it doesn’t, it is cumulative. I get traffic from guest blogs I did four years ago.
I like blogging because I can write posts ahead of time (I travel a lot so this is extremely helpful). If I have a book launching next year, I can write 30 or 40 guest posts today when I’m not as busy (laughing hysterically).
One thing about blogging as an author – think of what YOUR readers want to read. I put short stories and contests on my blog.
Also I don’t have a separate site. My blog IS my site. I can easily keep it updated that way.
Whoops, I mean published author. Definitely not a publisher.
Great tips!
I enjoy my mornings hopping around the blogs, seeing what’s going on.
I used to write my own posts in the morning, kind of a “prime the writing pump” exercise, but now the routine seems to be that I’ll get them done the day before, so they’ll be ready (not that I delude myself into thinking people actually come by first thing in the morning looking to see what I have to say — but I can dream).
I love sharing craft tips I’ve picked up. This week, I shared my workshop notes on Conflict from a workshop given by Betina Krahn.
I invite guests, and have a very popular Friday series of stories from a local homicide detective.
I agree with Kimber about the time it takes to build an audience. I’m a solo blotter, and not a ‘big name’ author, but I’ve watched my stats climb over time.
(I have a couple of guest slots in September, BTW – anyone interested, email me)
Terry, if you (or anyone else) ever need a guest blogger, I’m SO there. As I wrote on Leah’s blog today
http://leahbraemel.blogspot.com/
I love to party crash.
Guest blogging is a form of that!
(grinning)
Kimber: Email me!