Blogging is truly the ultimate in self-publishing opportunity.
You are free to say (almost) whatever you want, no one is sitting over you to
make unasked for edits, and it provides nearly instant publication. Almost
everybody is doing it!
What do you need to know about blogging BEFORE you start your
own blog? You need to know what you want to accomplish with the blog – any answer
is the right one if it is an honest answer. Some bloggers want to advertise a
business, some want to promote their writing ability, some want a forum where
they can express their opinions and some see it as an opportunity to make
money. There are advertisers who are willing to pay for “click-throughs” and
several bloggers have been successful earning added income. Knowing the reason
behind your blog can help you decide whether monetizing is practical for you or
not.
Whatever your motivation is, some tips are applicable to all
weblogs: Be active and provide fresh content regularly; engage your readers,
don’t just tell them what YOU think, make them think on their own; provide an
opportunity for readers to interact (leave comments) and be sure to respond to
those comments; structure your blog around a theme; edit your work; and very
importantly, the blog is a representation of you and you should be careful with
the impression you make. You can help generate traffic to your blog through
social media and building relationships with other bloggers. Your posts should
be attractive, easy to read (watch out for those background colors!) and a
comfortable length – too many words on a page (without visuals to break it up)
can be a deterrent to readers.
I manage several blogs, each with a different theme. My Author Blog [http://chellecordero.blogspot.com/]represents
me as a romantic suspense author, provides links to other sites, shows off my
writing abilities, and allows for interaction with my readers. The Potpourri Parlor [https://ccepotourri.wordpress.com/]
is a promotional blog featuring mainly book promos, reviews and other articles
FOR and ABOUT other authors or businesses. The front page of my Author Website [http://chellecordero.com/]
promotes my books and writing accomplishments. I also manage a family business blog [http://bylines333.com/]
and website which focuses on business accomplishments and articles of interest
for other independent entrepreneurs. My most active blogs are my Author Blog and
Potpourri with approximately three posts per week. None of my blogs are
monetized simply because I want my readers to focus on the content which does
not lend itself to advertising. I also do my own blog maintenance with
user-friendly blog hosts instead of waiting for an uninterested third party to
add content that I want to represent me.
If you develop a blog to promote yourself and/or your writing,
items you should avoid heavy-handed sales pitches such as telling them
continuously “Buy my Book”, instead post snippets of your work, post items
about trending topics which are relevant to the content of your books/articles,
and always provide buy links for books in a NO-pressure way; if your content
engages them sufficiently you stand a good chance of interesting them enough to
click on those buy links and want to buy your book. Refrain from being
antagonistic with readers and always respect their right to an opinion even if
you don’t agree, this is especially important in responding to comments. If you’ve
decided you want a forum to express your own personal opinions, present them
with facts, rationale explanations, and encourage interaction through comments
and thought-provoking content.
Give your readers the expectation of purpose in revisiting
your blog site repeatedly – keep the content fresh, clear, and engaging. Visit
other blogs and make comments (not argumentative, please), use social media
(Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads, etc) in order to increase reader
traffic to your blog.
Writing Exercise:
Search for online blogs that promote topics similar to your interests
(for a blog); visit each blog and make a written list what you find appealing
AND what you object to in each post. (The objection is not necessarily agreement,
but rather the manner of speech, the layout/format, ease of searching, etc.
Does the blog title and individual post headings offer you insight into what
the blog is about? What “techniques” does this blogger use that you believe helps
to attract readers? How long is the average post?Try to revisit these blogs
several times and make a list each time. When you set up your blog try to
incorporate some of the positive features you found on popular bloggers sites.
Writing Prompt:
Make a list of five-to-ten themes to base your blog on.
Challenge Assignment: Using your newfound knowledge about blogging,
write TEN sample blog posts on a theme you decide would be appropriate for a blog.
