4 Ways Self Published Authors Can Improve Their Blogs

September 17, 2012

Wendy Stetina Blogging Tips for Authors, Uncategorized, Wendy Speaks , , , 1 Comment

One of the best ways to market yourself and your book is blogging. In fact, authors are now expected to have an online presence. Both readers and industry experts, such as agents and publishers, want to see that authors are building a platform online.

For some people, the idea of creating and maintaining a blog seems time-consuming and confusing. Afterall, a blog is only useful if it actually attracts readers and develops relationships. Here are four ways to improve your own blog.

1.) It is a two-way street. Links on other blogs and comments on your posts are two great ways to increase traffic, but you can’t just expect people to share your posts and comment on your page. One of the best ways to encourage interaction is to link to and comment on other bloggers’ posts. This will encourage the blog owner and their readers to check out your page, and they may decide to return the favor. However, make sure you aren’t spamming other bloggers. Only comment if you have something useful and honest to say. Never leave a comment just to include a link to your personal page.

2.) Be efficient. One of the keys to improving traffic is regularly updating content. However, most people don’t have time to update their blogs daily. You can save time and work more efficiently if you schedule your blogs. This way, you can write several posts at one time, but they will each publish on a separate day. Most blogging websites have this feature.

3.) Be professional. Always, always, always proofread your posts. If you aren’t good at grammar, pay someone else to proofread your posts. Readers want to read blogs by professionals not amateurs.

4.) Be patient. Great blogs don’t happen over night. It takes time to attract followers, build relationships, and figure out your personal style and voice. As long as you keep trying, you will continue to see your blog grow.

I’d love to know, what is your secret to creating a great blog?

ABOUT WENDY STETINA: Wendy Stetina is a sales and marketing professional with over 30 years experience in the printing and publishing industry. Wendy works as the Director of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable customer service reps and publishing consultants; and together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process in order to help them publish the book of their dreams. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction, or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Wendy Stetina can put you on the right path.

8 Ways for Authors to “Be” More Successful Bloggers

October 7, 2011

Elise L. Connors Blogging Tips for Authors, Elise Speaks , , , Leave a comment

Many book marketing experts are advocates for blogging. I personally believe that having your own blog allows you to connect with your audience in ways that authors never experienced in the past. It is entirely possible to blog your way to more book sales. Quite a few authors, however, start blogging but give up early on. Why do they do this? More often than not – they are seeking instant gratification of some sort. While a blog has the potential to be a very effective book marketing tool, it can only be as successful as its writer.

So, how can writers market themselves using this sometimes inconspicuous tool?

  1. Be consistent. Many author blogs fail because the author never returns to update them (or does so on a very inconsistent schedule). You must choose a blogging schedule that works for you and stick with it. Even if you are only blogging once per week, stick to that and your visitors will know when to come back for more content.
  2. Be factual. Many times it’s necessary to conduct a bit of research to ensure the information you are posting to your blog is correct. Bloggers are not exempt from the rules of plagiarism, so you if are using someone else’s work, be sure to cite your sources.
  3. Be epic. You should begin every blog post with the goal of writing something that people will love. It should be something they want to share with their family and friends. To determine whether your content is “epic”, use the “Did you see that?” test. Summarize your blog post and try asking yourself (aloud): “Did you see that post about ____ (insert your summary here)?” If it doesn’t sound interesting to you, it’s not worthy of posting to your blog.
  4. Be interactive. When people comment on your blog, reply to them. You should aim to answer every blog comment. As your blog grows, this may not be feasible, but you should stay focused on doing this in the beginning.
  5. Be patient. This is perhaps the most important tip of all of these because the most successful bloggers (authors or otherwise), have to have a great deal of patience. Many times bloggers “talk to themselves” for months before they get even one comment on their blog. This is the time period that most blogs fail. In order to see any success from your blog, you must be able to stick with it.
  6. Be diligent. Make sure to proofread your posts before you publish them. Blatant grammatical/spelling errors can turn readers off of your blog. Keep the readers that take the time to visit your site by double checking your work for mistakes.
  7. Be savvy. Schedule your blog posts. If you know you won’t be available when you normally publish content, use the scheduling feature (if available) of your blogging platform to write the post in advance while sticking to your original schedule.
  8. Be friendly. Two ways you can increase your blog’s traffic are: linking to another blogger’s post within your content (they will likely get notification of this and visit your blog in return) and commenting on other blogger’s blog posts.

What other ways should you “be” to have a more successful blog?

Elise Connors ABOUT ELISE L. CONNORS:
Elise works as the Manager of Author Support of Outskirts Press.  She also contributes to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com. Elise and a group of talented book marketing experts assist not only published Outskirts Press authors, but also all authors and professionals who are interested in getting the best possible exposure for their book.

10 Tips for Implementing Blog Commenting As a Part of Your Book Promotion Strategy

March 14, 2011

Elise L. Connors Blogging Tips for Authors, Book Promotion Strategy, Uncategorized , , 1 Comment

Looking for a fresh spin on your book promotion strategy?

Many book marketing experts generally discuss “big ticket” marketing activities  like starting your own blog, social networking, article marketing, book tours, etc. Those are all great ways to market your self-published book. Once you’ve gone through that list and are looking for fresh ideas, you may consider blog commenting. Commenting on others’ blogs can yield many positive results. For example, you can get backlinks to your site (which can improve your search engine ranking) and connect with even more readers who may be interested in your book.

A blog comment is (in the simplest terms) a reply you post to someone else’s blog post. For example, you can leave a comment on this post by entering your feedback into the box under the “Leave a Reply” heading. Of course, there is an art to being successful at implementing this strategy. However, it’s not very difficult to learn how to effectively comment on others’ blogs.

Before starting on your blog commenting journey, it is important to make sure you have correctly set up your online platform. You should have your own website or blog (with your own domain name). Ideally, you should have also set up social networking accounts and have them “open for business”. Once you have this all set up, you’re ready to find blogs and start leaving your feedback for the owner and other readers.

Here are some tips to use as you get started:

  1. Make sure you find a relevant blog to comment on. For example, if you’ve written a book about changing tires on a car, you want to find a blog post that discusses something about tires and/or changing them. You can use Google Blog Search to quickly and easily locate a blog in your niche.
  2. Read the post in its entirety before you comment. This is also about relevancy. If you haven’t read the blog, you aren’t prepared to contribute to the discussion.
  3. Position yourself as an expert but don’t come off as a wise guy (or girl). You want to give people reason to take an interest in your comment. However, you don’t want to appear as if you know everything — even if you do.
  4. Maintain a professional appearance at all times. This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect, but you should be respectful if you have to disagree and respect other readers and their right to express their opinions.
  5. Make sure that your comment is adding value to the discussion. While you may find value in the blog post, comments such as “Thank you” are better left unsaid — unless you can add more to it and thus add more value to the conversation.
  6. Be brief. Now is not the time to be long-winded. Keep your comments brief and to the point.
  7. Make sure to link back to your website/blog when you comment. If you forget this, you will have wasted your time. Sure, you have added information to the blogosphere, but what have you truly gained if people who read your feedback and found it useful have no way to contact you?
  8. Make sure to fill out the fields appropriately (refer to #7 above). Each blog will most likely have an area where you can enter your name, email (most likely not published), URL, text of your comment, etc. Don’t change up the order on this. For instance, you shouldn’t add your website address to the comment box; it should only be placed in the URL field.
  9. Mention someone else’s book/blog/website where appropriate. All of your comments should not be “pushing” your book. Vary your comments. Others will have more respect for you and know that when you mention your book or website, you are making an appropriate reference.
  10. Don’t SPAM any blog. Ever. Write your own comments, keep them relevant, and stay away from any questionable “blog commenting” services. A good rule of thumb is — if you would be ashamed to call the blog owner and let them know what you’ve done, you shouldn’t do it.

 

DISCUSSION: Have you used blog commenting as part of your book promotion strategy in the past? What tips and tricks can you add to this list?

Top 5 Tips for Blogging Success and Why Blogging and Self-Publishing Go Hand in Hand

February 4, 2011

Elise L. Connors Blogging Tips for Authors, Book Promotion, Social Media Marketing, Uncategorized , , , 4 Comments

Imagine being looked to as an expert in your field. Everyone will want a copy of your book when it’s published, right? If only it were that easy…well, now it can be! As a blogger, you can potentially gain an unbelievable online following of folks in your target market who will likely be interested in buying your book. Blogging is a no-brainer when it comes to marketing your self-published book. But way more than a handful of authors are missing the boat on this highly successful tactic.

Why? Many self-publishing authors are afraid of blogging. As a matter of fact, many don’t know what a blog is. However, if you intend to be successful at the whole “book publishing thing”, you have to learn this trick to gaining exposure — especially since blogging has been called “the most important thing an author should do to promote a book“.

Think of a blog as an online journal. In it, you can share your own thoughts while getting only as personal as you feel comfortable. As an author, though, you are able to write about topics related to your book. If you are a fiction author, a blog related to fiction books is a great idea. If you have written your own self-help book, share your expertise in mini-digests on your blog. Either way, be sure to post something interesting to get readers involved.

But, won’t I feel like I’m talking to myself? That is precisely how you will feel in the beginning. Many times it can takes months (or maybe even years) for your blog to be found and gain a steady readership. This won’t last forever. The best way to approach it is to think of when you’re planning on self-publishing a book. Are you 100% sure that people will read it? Of course not, but you keep writing because you have faith in your own success. Why should your blog be any different?

Wait a minute…so how do I even sign up for a blog? That’s a great question, and it’s one that someone else answers much more easily and efficiently than I do. So, here’s a video to help you learn more:

The above video walks you through the steps of signing up for a Blogger blog. There are several other platforms, but this is the least expensive and you can even completely personalize it by purchasing your own domain for it, which I highly recommend.

Once a self-publishing author gets started blogging, there are a few rules of thumb that must be following in order to be successful (skipping either of these is NOT recommended). I’ve listed the basics out for you below, but you may learn even more on a site like Blogging Tips:

  1. Define your niche early on and stick to it. The key here is to define yourself as an expert. That cannot be done if you’re talking about everything in your life all at once. Stay focused, and you will be surprised at the results.
  2. Come up with a posting schedule early on and stick to it. Post consistently, even if you’re only posting once per week. Try to schedule all of your posts around the same time.
  3. Use the “schedule post” feature that is available in your blogging software. You may not always be available at 8:15 am, but you want to remain consistent. So, instead of publishing your post right away, schedule it for sometime it for 8:15 am the next day so that you can be sure to have content up when your reader is looking for it.
  4. Purchase your own domain for the blog. This is SUPER important (I’m having a feeling of déjà vu here — didn’t I already say this?) You have to craft your own identity online if you want to be seen as an expert. The #1 ingredient for that identity is branding (aka – your own domain name).
  5. Participate in discussions on your blog. Make sure you post follow up comments to users who comment on your blog posts. This is crucial to networking and building strong relationships with your readers.

The above advice is just the tip of the iceberg. There is quite a bit to learn about successful blogging. However, you shouldn’t feel overwhelmed because you can learn as you go. There are so many resources out there to help you, so get to blogging!

DISCUSSION: Are you an author with a blog? How has this help you build your brand and sell more books?

 

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