1 – Success – Learning to Blog Better
When I began blogging, I really had little direction and certainly no plan. I was a new author, less than six months in the business, and reading everything I could get my hands on about being an author, being self-published and being an entrepreneur. Of course, the advice was to blog, so I blogged. I wrote about whatever caught my eye each week. With no clear purpose, it was obvious that I needed to blog better.
Fast forward two years and I now blog four days each week. I write for romance authors on Monday, for romance readers Tuesday through Thursday. I know my audience, I poll them annually to assure that I am writing what they want to read, and I know my purpose in blogging. To connect. I must be doing better because my audience is growing steadily.
I have succeeded in becoming a better blogger, a blogger with purpose. It amazes me that I manage my time in a way that allows me to blog and to write novels. I expose my readers to new authors and new authors to my readers. By promoting my upcoming books, and offering my readers deals – whether it’s my weekly contest or giveaways and book tour offers, I share with my readers something they want – their next read – while getting better acquainted. I love the relationships I build, turning strangers into fans, and friends.
For authors, I share tips and resources to help all of us do our job better, to serve our readers effectively and creatively. I point you toward people and products that make our jobs easier, allow us to work smarter. By doing so, we all do better for our readers, and I build better relationships with other authors.
I get asked frequently how I manage to do all this, how I determined my purpose and how I make the time to create the content. In short, how I learned to blog better. Here are my answers.
2 – Tips – Content and Traffic
1-I learned to blog with a purpose from a blogging genius, Sarah Morgan. Her Dare to Blog course was a godsend for me, just when I needed it. She taught me to focus on my audience and find my purpose. Then recently, I discovered Women Winning Online and joined a network of bloggers who help me hone my craft. Together they pointed me in the right direction on a straight path, not the wobbly road I was taking before them.
Once I knew my audience, I had my purpose and my support system, I had to write posts. The question I get asked most is where I get ideas, for my books and for my blog posts.
I start with my audience and what they want. Readers peruse my blog in exchange for my offering them interesting, informative or entertaining content. Content is king. Or I guess if you write romance, content might be queen, or princess or governess turned duchess.
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One of my absolute favorite articles on finding content for a blog is “Plan a Full Year of Content with All The Blog Post Ideas You Ever Need”.This lengthy post contains research data on the posts that attain the most traffic and how to use that data to determine your own best content. There are also plenty of lists posts with dozens – or even hundreds – of content ideas. I particularly like checking out these types of Problogger posts, the blogs of my friends and fellow authors, but Hubspot has great posts including “The Ultimate List of Free Content Creation Tools & Resources”. Don’t forget you can repurpose your blogs. Read “40 Ways to Repurpose Your Blog Content (and why You Should)” for more on that.
2 -What about driving traffic? I am still discovering answers to this one. People also ask who reads my blog. The answer is that not enough people read my blog for my satisfaction, but the ones who do are loyal. They are readers who have become followers, fans, colleagues, friends.
Driving traffic is a challenge. Some resources include SEO genius Neil Patel or Chris Syme, who is helpful on using Social Media. Meera Kothand’s post “How to Get Bucket Loads of Traffic to Your Brand New Blog – 13 Failproof Ideas” and Women Winning Online also provides great resources for creating content. Check out posts like “4 Mistakes New bloggers Make to Drive Traffic” and while you’re there make sure you download the freebie, “How to Get Tons of Traffic from Social Media”. Both are great resources for attracting new readers.
Don’t overlook the opportunity to guest blog and invite others to guest on your blog. Want to be a guest on my blog, sign up here or contact me if you are running a special promotion or tour. Don’t overlook the value of your bio either, it can help attract readers as they get to know you through your guest post. Here is a great article from BookBaby about writing a terrific bio that will help you connect with your readers.
3- Resources
1 – For me finding time to blog was critical to being able to expand the number of days I blog. Time management expert Emily McGee and her MyAdaptableCareer.com provided me with great training and resources. I have relied on her Planning for Success Life & Business Planner, and her Workflows for Bloggers, which helped me with everything from laying out blog posts to writing emails campaigns to managing my files, email, and social media marketing. Her worksheets are useful even if you aren’t a blogger.
2 – For tech help, I have become dependent on “Blog-cabulary Plus”, by Nataly Llanes. This 200 plus page tome has become my bible on all things blog. Besides the invaluable screenshots that got me through setting up my sitemap (who even knew it mattered?) and Pinterest Rich Pins, Nataly’s resource list may be the most comprehensive I have ever seen. I would have done things differently – smarter – if I had Blog-cabulary when I was getting started. Instead, I am doing web-redesigns and changes that are costing me dearly. I made mistakes I didn’t even know I was making, paid for plug-ins that were useless when there were free alternatives to do the same function. Sigh…live and learn.
3 – Only now am I starting to understand that bloggers can make money. I started blogging to connect with my readers and, hopefully, sell my novels, That remains my primary goal. But, now I understand that my readers want to know about, and maybe want to purchase, products and services that I can help them learn about, access and buy. Bloggers can run an ad on a sidebar, recommend an affiliate product and receive a small fee.
For me, making money must always be secondary to retaining the trust of readers. The important thing is to work with reputable companies and only promote what I know and love. One example is “Blog-cabulary Plus”. I get a small fee if you buy it on my recommendation, but I am fine with that. I love the book. People I have recommended it to also love it. I feel good about sharing my ‘blogging bible’ with my fellow authors and bloggers. I feel certain they will benefit from it, and so I promote it.
It is critical that customers know that you sell affiliate products, no hoodwinking anyone. I clearly outline this in my legal disclaimers, but who reads those? Right. So I also have a disclaimer on every page of my redesigned website (Watch for the new website in June).
Writers have two things to offer – their writing and their reputation. Deliver great content, deliver it consistently, find the time management system that allows you to do this, the technical and blogging resources you need to get the job done. And share yourself – honestly – let people see you, as a person, as a blogger, as a writer.
After all, ultimately your purpose in blogging is probably the same as mine. Building a relationship with your fans.
GEM OF THE WEEK
For those of us who hate marketing – and who among us doesn’t? – I offer this Gem from Joanne Penn. Her focus on mindset and just four tips, means that these are changes you can make TODAY! So check out her post “Hate Book Marketing? 4 Tips To Help You Change Your Mindset and Sell More Books,” or her book “The Successful Author Mindset” if you want even more ways to change your mindset.