Category: Blogging Basics

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Blogging Basics

How to Choose a Website Template for Bloggers & Writers

For bloggers and writers who wish to create a credible online presence, selecting an appropriate website template is essential. For this reason, your equipment should include more than a pen and wild imagination. It is time to get a well-designed website to draw in more visitors and keep them interested. Let us find out how to choose the best ready-made solution and highlight your writing talent.

How to Create a Website Blog & Writer’s Site Using a Website Template?

Step 1: Establish Your Goals

It takes more than just having an excellent concept to make it happen. You must have a thorough knowledge of the subject matter and objectives. Additionally, think about issues that the site addresses for your prospective readers. The framework and essential components of the online project will be determined at this stage.

Consequently, you must define the following aspects:

  • Your line of work (showcasing your writing portfolio, attracting new readers, selling booking, providing valuable content, and so on);
  • The persona of your readers;
  • Project objectives;
  • Problems of the audience you can fix using an online project.

Step 2: Imagine Your Perfect Design

Creating a website with blog or writer’s site is not only about how they appear. Eye-catching sliders or an original homepage design will not always work. Convenience and functionality are key factors in web design.

For this reason, this stage presents some tricky scenarios. For instance, what definitely works for an ordinary business card is probably not the best option for our goals. While selecting a website template, take into account the following fundamental factors:

  • Format, layout, and design of the header and footer;
  • Logo placement;
  • Content width;
  • Navigation;
  • Color schemes;
  • Typography.

The majority of contemporary tools typically allow extensive customization. It means that any of the aforementioned points can be altered and modified.

You can always get inspired by other blog website ideas. Look through successful online projects of successful writers and bloggers and your niche. Then, it will take you nothing to take note of all elements, including layouts, fonts, and overall user experience.

Step 3: Pay Attention to Ease of Use

The process may be completely handled for you by modern web development technologies. However, with blog writing templates, you need to take care of the website’s content, media files, forms, and other components. Of course, it is possible to pay a freelancer to complete all the tasks, but that would incur additional costs.

So, choosing a website template with a basic content editing tool is a smart idea. The majority of platforms often have drag-and-drop editors. Using them, it is relatively easy to alter elements without specialized coding knowledge.

Step 4: Analyze the Features

For non-techies, ready-made solutions are undoubtedly a fantastic option. Users anticipate them to be adaptable with a range of options to allow for personalizing the site. For this reason, you can always opt for an excellent choice with all the necessary built-in widgets and add-ons. When it comes to writers and bloggers, these are:

  • About Section;
  • Blog posts;
  • Categories and topics;
  • Contact info;
  • Advanced search;
  • Social media integration and newsletter subscription;
  • Author bio and photos;
  • Testimonials.

Step 5: Choose a Trustworthy Website Template Provider

What to look for in a dependable provider of ready-made solutions?

  1. The number of templates. The better a provider is, the more templates they have.
  2. Reviews and comments from users. Individuals discuss their experiences and point out both positive and negative aspects of their purchase.
  3. The availability of customer support. It indicates that a supplier is prepared to address any problem.

A Few Words in Conclusion

A crucial step in developing your online profile as a blogger or writer is choosing appropriate blog website templates. Select an appropriate variant that complements your brand and effectively presents your work. Make sure to take into account factors like functionality, design, navigation, and customization capabilities. Remember that there are multiple premium and free blog templates WordPress to grab. Thanks for reading!

Nancy Howard

Nancy P. Howard has been working as a journalist at the online magazine in London for a year. She is also a professional writer in such topics as blogging, IT, and digital marketing. She loves travelling, photography and is always welcome to meet new people.

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Blogging Basics

How to Write Your 1st Blog Post

A welcome post is a pinned post on your blog that appears first in your entry feed. But let’s leave the technical side of the question for later, it’s the easiest one here. The most important and complex part is the ideological component because a welcome post is a blogger’s calling card.

How to make the most of the opportunity and simply and succinctly tell readers about yourself, your blog, and interest the reader? In this post, we look at how to write the perfect welcome post, based on analyzed publications from custom writing Write My Essays.

Show yourself as an author

An author’s personality is the most valuable thing in a blog. That’s why we start our welcome post by talking about ourselves.

Tell us about who you are in plain and simple language, as briefly as possible. What is your name, or who do you want people to call you? You are free to withhold your age and personal information. If you are a themed blogger or a profession-related blogger, include your education and what you do.

Write about your award-winning authorship or involvement in meaningful writing programs or courses. For example, provide links to your books if you are a published author. One more thing is if you’re not hiding from your readers – add your favorite photo in the welcome post.

Introduce your blog

The second important part of the welcome post is the presentation of the blog. Essentially, you need to answer two questions: what is your blog about, and what is its format?

Do this, literally, in one sentence – make it short and to the point. If you’re struggling to articulate your blog in one sentence, think about whether readers will be able to make sense of extensive content. That’s a reason to think about a serious overhaul of your blog and its concept.

Show the reader the most interesting things

Introduce the reader to the rubrics of your blog. It is the headings, not the thousand-and-one links to everything you think is most interesting. Describe each of them briefly, in one or two sentences. Do not put hundreds of links to individual entries, as just a few people will scroll through a long page – give a link to the tag, which will combine the posts in the headings. Put the title of the rubric in bold, and link it to the tag.

Options for contact

Describe the rules by which you can be contacted. For example: for cooperation questions, write to official emails; for other questions, write in person, and so on.

You may also give links to social networks and services, in which you as a user are presented. Do not give links to resources where you are not active.

Common mistakes when writing a welcome post

Sometimes a welcome post needs to get the desired response. One of these mistakes was made in the content writing.

  • Lots of facts in one post – the reader gets lost in the abundance of information and doesn’t remember anything. Decide what you are writing the post for. If you are telling a personal story – write about the fundamental facts in general terms, and vice versa – do not go into the biography when describing.
  • There are a lot of narrow professional terms in your post – these words are incomprehensible to ordinary users, so they will not read your post. There’s nothing wrong with terms, and sometimes you can’t do without them – let’s say when writing a post about medicine or law. Remember to explain difficult words simply and briefly and don’t make them the main focus of the publication.
  • Your publication has no structure – if you write about yourself first, don’t finish the thought and jump to services, then go back to the story, the reader will be confused by your thoughts and will probably leave the page. Decide what to write about at the beginning, what to write about in the middle, and how to end the post. Stick to that logic, and the text will be coherent and clear.

Final thoughts

            All in all, the welcome blog post is the fundamental part that defines further blog success. This is your chance to present your personality, your sphere of activity, and your offer as a blogger. A well-written welcome post tells your story in a way that is accessible and interesting to users and increases the credibility of the blog and the product you’re selling.

Nancy P. Howard has been working as a journalist at the online magazine in London for a year. She is also a professional writer in such topics as blogging, IT, and digital marketing. She loves travelling, photography and is always welcome to meet new people.

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Blogging Basics

A First Time Blogger’s Journey To Success

Evelyn Mann has been blogging for eight years, with over 1 million hits sharing her experience as a special needs mom of a miracle boy who was born with a rare form of dwarfism.

I started blogging after going to a writer’s conference. Encouraged by the feedback, I set out to follow the offered advice. Before searching out a web designer, I had to determine what I wanted to write. What was my passion? What would readers want to read and enjoy?

Your Blogging Topic

What is your passion? For me, it’s writing. Since I could remember, I wrote in a journal. I joined my high school newspaper and published three travel articles in the local newspaper. Now, fast forward several decades, my love for writing had turned into a first draft sharing the story of my son’s miraculous survival from a rare form of dwarfism.

After coming home from my second writer’s conference, I decided to create a blog about raising a miracle. Next step, find a web designer to take the technical work out of creating a home for my blog. After many suggestions and searching, I found a young and upcoming website designer who would hold my hand throughout the process.

Web Designer

We met on a sunny Florida day in my home office. With a pad of paper in his hand, Pavel asked me questions about my book, what I wanted to achieve and then turned to discussions of color and layout. With those questions answered, we talked about pricing and shook hands. That was the start of a beautiful business relationship, one that has served me well over the years.

In today’s tech-savvy world, you could design your website using Wix or a similar site, but choosing to DIY or delegate this rather daunting task, I leave the design (and the work) to the experts.

Do It Yourself

Check out this link for a list of Website Builders for 2020:

For website builders in your area, search Google for website designers in your area. Another resource is an app called Fiverr. This app pairs customers with sellers who work from all over the world. When selecting a seller, note the customer reviews, the location of the seller, seller level, and response time.

As of this writing, Fiverr’s suggested a Seller who is top-rated, six years’ experience, a fifteen day turnaround, has over 500 reviews at 4.9 out of 5, located in Pakistan. With prices ranging from $100 to under $400, you would receive a three to ten-page website depending on the package selected.

Pavel is also available to craft and create a tailor-made website. Click here: 

My First Blog

After my website went live, it was time to post my first blog; an introductory blog to share the reason for my passion. On May 23, 2012, I posted a blog titled Samuel’s Diagnosis. Being new to crafting words in blog form, I made many newbie mistakes.

  1. No pictures
  2. No Headings
  3. No Outbound/Inbound links
  4. No Call To Action
  5. My Category showed as Uncategorized

I did not know what I didn’t know. But, I accomplished the goal of getting my blog started. If you’re in the same spot right now, pat yourself on the back. You can always update an old blog to add the style points I missed above.

For more tips on updating an old blogs.

In my second blog, I added an outbound link. Success. But I still didn’t know that doing this would help with my Search Engine Optimization. Now that I’ve been blogging for several years, I look for a natural opportunity to add an outbound link which fits in with my topic.

Surprise, Your Photo’s Are Gone!

I added a plug-in which placed a watermark on all the photos of my blog. Since I share precious pictures of my son, Samuel, I thought this to be a great addition. That is until I woke up the morning before being interviewed on live television only to find all my blog pictures gone! In a panic, I called Pavel, and he pulled me out of the proverbial frying pan and fixed everything. Lesson learned.

Find tips about popular plugin’s and how to choose them here.

Another Blogging Hurdle

What else could go wrong? Some of my photos were posting sideways.

Has this happened to you?

Frustrated, I scoured the internet to find an answer to this hair pulling problem. I discovered if I uploaded the picture and edited it ever so slightly, and then re-submitted in WordPress, wah-la, all fixed.

The free resource I use to re-size my photo’s is: picresize.com/

If you’d like an easier solution, you can add a plugin called Fix Image Rotation in WordPress.org. This app fixes the mis-orientation images taken using mobile phones which is most of my images.

Marketing Tip

Once my blogs posted, I found a technique to share my heart felt, sweat of my brow words and passion. Posting on social media helped to spread the word and engage new readers. Want to learn how? Read about my secret sauce here.

Over the years I learned through trial and error. And I still have more to learn as the technical landscape continues to change. My blogging journey far from over as I continue to share my passion with others. How about you? Where are you on this journey? Share your thoughts below. I read each one.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

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Blogging Basics

Hone Your Craft With A Blogging Challenge

Have you ever participated in a writer’s challenge? Did you know there are writing challenges for bloggers? Here’s how I made this discovery.

I participated in the National Novel Writing Month 2019 (NaNoWriMo). This challenge is open to all writers and happens once a year in November. The premise is to write daily and produce a fifty-thousand-word novel in thirty days. It was a last-minute decision to participate, and I chose to utilize the challenge to write the first draft for my new book, The Handshake.

There are benefits of taking part in a challenge like this one.

  • Developing A Daily Writing Habit

Committing to writing every day helps you carve out time to hone your craft. For my first NaNoWriMo, I opened my laptop after my husband and son were fast asleep. There were a few nights; I was so tired, I typed with my eyes closed and then reviewed what I wrote. It went surprisingly well. During that first challenge, I created my soon to be released devotional called Triumphing Through Your Trials: Devotions of Miracles, Faith & Prayer.

  • Meeting Other Participating Writers

Writing is such a solitary craft. It’s you, your computer, and a cup of your favorite beverage. Your pet may stroll in while you’re creating that perfect sentence, but otherwise, you are alone. In most writing challenges you have the opportunity to meet other writers, often through a Facebook group. You can post questions, celebrate word count successes, and exchange writing tips.

  • Working With A Deadline

Knowing other participants are writing during the same time is motivating. A little voice will say, “Get your words in today.” Like a magnet, I’m drawn to my computer to meet the challenge knowing my fellow writers are also honing their craft during this limited time.

Working with a deadline encourages you to get words on the page. Editing can come later, but there is no editing if there are no words.

At first, I wanted to use NaNoWriMo to write one blog a day. This would create a series of blogs I could use for future posting. No more last minute, what am I going to post writing frenzies. However, with the novel-writing challenge, I could not be sure to find other bloggers like myself. Thus began the search for a blogging challenge.

  • Jeff Goins Blog Challenge

Jeff Goins is the author of Real Artists Don’t Starve, and You Are A Writer. Time Magazine voted his blog as one of the top 50 of 2008. While this free challenge doesn’t have a deadline like NaNoWriMo does, Jeff Goins offers the opportunity to learn the craft of blogging and connect you with other bloggers through a Facebook page.

  • The Ultimate Blog Challenge

Paul Taubman is an international Speaker, Presenter, and Trainer focusing on website strategy and marketing online. His blog challenge is offered once a quarter. For 30 days, he will email a daily topic to use as inspiration for your blog. Then you will post your created blog in the Facebook group and tweet it using #blogboost. The website shares the next challenge will be January 2020.

  • The 21-Day Blog Writing Challenge 2020

This new 21-day blog challenge is designed to help practice the craft of blogging by focusing on content and creating a treasure trove of future blog posts. A daily blog tip will be posted in a dedicated Facebook group, as well as sharing excerpts of your blog on Twitter with the following hashtag: #bloggerchallenge. The Facebook group is free and open to join now. The 21-day blog challenge will be hosted by yours truly and starts on January 1st, 2020.

If you have taken part in a blogging challenge, comment below. If you would like to try it out, join one of the challenges above, and watch your creativity soar and hone your craft.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

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Blogging Basics

Three Things To Do BEFORE You Start Your Blog

Starting my blog, I had no one to hold my hand. No one to tell me what to do. No guidelines. Fueled by advice I’d received at a writer’s conference, I started my blog to promote my memoir.

On May 23, 2012, I posted my first blog called Samuel’s Diagnosis. It was a 1,111-word document with no pictures, headlines, or photo keywords. I didn’t even add spacing between paragraphs. This first post clearly showed I was a newbie to the blogging world.

Over the years, I have gained experience through continued posting and gaining an audience for my miraclemann.com blog. I even created a training class for first-time bloggers covering topics ranging from technical aspects to social media sharing strategies.

Several of my writer and networking colleagues reach out and wanting to know “How To Blog.” I typically find they focus on the technical side of blogging rather than the creative end. However, just like writing a book, a blog needs a direction. A table of contents, if you will.

Step One

Hash out the theme and direction of your blog. What message do you want to share? Who is your audience? Who is your ideal reader?

A fellow writer colleague, Odell Sauls, asked for assistance in starting her blog. She is crafting a historical fiction book set in 1950’s New Orleans. The tentative title is St. Philips Street. Before creating her blog online, I asked her to send me her first blog as a Word document.

Her response: “Not sure what to say.” As a writer interested in blogging, have you ever felt this way? I shared that a blog needs structure. It requires a theme — a reason for a reader to read your words. Since her book is historical fiction, the blog could be about historical New Orleans. She could pull stories from her book as well as stories from other historical sights and craft her blogs around those topics.

She can then create an Instagram page with pictures from various historical locations around New Orleans with a link back to her blog.

Step Two

Write a Table of Contents, of sorts. Jot down 6–12 titles for your future blogs. In a recent job interview, the prospective employer asked me to share blog titles that I would like to create. Here they are:

  1. How To Connect With Other Solitary Writers

               Headline Analyzer score of 71.

               Audience: Writers

  • How To Create A Tribe To Share Your Blog

                Headline Analyzer score of 73.

                Audience: Bloggers

  • 3 Ways To Reach Out To A Special Needs Mom

                Headline Analyzer score of 75.

                Audience: Moms & Social Media

  • How To Avoid Medical Advice From Dr. Google

                Headline Analyzer score of 76.

Audience: Moms

How To Market Your Book Without Being Pushy

Headline Analyzer score of 75.

                Audience: Authors

Note how I clarified the intended reader or audience for each blog. In creating your titles, the audience should be the same in keeping with the theme of your blog. Another added detail is the Headline Analyzer score. Strive to achieve a score of 70 or above. Click on Coschedule.com/headline-analyzer to craft your blog title and discover your score.

Creating sample titles, takes the sting out of the question, “What am I going to write about?” Having a plan is half the battle. If you write monthly, plan out your first 12 titles. You can always change or move titles around later.

When crafting your blog titles for the year, remember to add in themes for the holiday season. For example, Odell could write a blog about Christmas In New Orleans featuring several historical sights and post the blog in late November or early December.

Step Three

Write three sample blogs in a Word Document. This will help you not only envision the direction of your blog but, you will be able to answer these questions.

  1. Do I have enough content to write blogs for the long-term?
  2. Do I need to change the direction of my blog to produce more posts?

Focusing on content before technicality will help you craft your blog and set you up for success.

First Blog

As you write your first blog, create a document between 500 to 1000 words. If it takes 1200 words to share your topic, check to see if you could split the blog into a two-part series. Or, keep it “as is” if the blog holds your reader’s attention. Have a friend read it for flow. Then ask them the following:

  1. Did they want to stop reading at any point?
  2. Would they prefer reading your topic as two blogs?
  3. Would they want to share your content?

If they say, “Yes,” to number 3, you have a winner.

For more tips on crafting your blog, check out this previous post on blogging.

Do you want to create a blog? What is your motivation? Share what you know and then follow the steps above. If you have questions, share them below. I read each one.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

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Blogging Basics

How To Keep Your Blog Alive

Give yourself permission to not blog. Yes, I said it. Going through different seasons in life does correlate to your blogging life. In winter, plants lay cold and dormant waiting for a spring sun to wake them up. But, they do wake up.

Are you feeling guilty because circumstances beyond your control have kept you in a winter holding pattern? Does that still small voice keep telling you, “Your blog is due. Get with it.” And at the end of the day, or a month, there are no words on the page to be published for the world to see. You are not alone.

Spring Time is Coming

As a full-time special-needs mom, blogger, and author, the minutes of my day are consumed with fulfilling my roles. However, in this season, my special needs mom hat has taken on new meaning. My sweet son has iron deficiency anemia and a bad bout of eczema. One of these diagnoses alone is enough to deal with, but both?

Therefore, everything else takes a back seat. My focus is on helping our little guy get well. That voice still calls me to type on the page, and I answer, “Not, now.” What is currently on your plate taking priority over your blogging life? How are you handing your wintertime as the life of a blogger?

Helpful Ways To Keep Your Blog Alive

Finding creative ways to blog or not to blog is possible. Here are few ideas:

  1. Write A Short Blog–Crafting a post of 300 words or more could be the answer to keeping your audience informed and engaged without losing them. My blogs are between 400–600 words. Give yourself permission to write less to keep your blog alive during your winter. Add a few pictures for visual appeal and click publish.
  2. Short Title – A sample title could be: 3 Reasons To _____ or 3 Ways To _____. This type of title helps to keep the post short and yet still deliver valuable content. Check the coschedule.com headline analyzer to keep your title score above 70%.
  3. Offer opportunities to Guest Blog–Send out a call on your social media sites for guest blog submissions. Craft your own submission guidelines to hone in and allow writers to know what blogs you will accept. Don’t know how to craft your own submission guidelines? Read the guidelines of your favorite blogger to get a baseline for your blog. Or click here: Also, offer a deadline to receive the submission. (To become a guest blogger, check out this resource: )
  4. Winter Time Post–Let your readers know of your hiatus and, if you feel comfortable sharing, why. Your readers will appreciate the update and be happy to see your posts again when you start back up. A great title could be: 3 Reasons I Quit Blogging (Temporarily).
  5. Hire Help–Another way to keep your blog alive is to hire help. Many books are created by utilizing a ghostwriter to share your story. Did you know you can also hire a blog writer? You may say, “But I have no money to hire help.” And for the most part, I agree. After looking at the website, www.fivrr.com, you might be pleasantly surprised. For this blog post, I searched for “write blog post.” I found a Canadian writer who has 1154 reviews with an average score of 4.9 out of 5 stars. For $10, they will write a 1000-word blog in a 2-day time-frame. With such high quality reviews and a low cost, this might be just what you need to keep content flowing on your blog.

What do you do when life interferes with your blogging journey? Share your tips below. It could help keep a blog alive.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

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Blogging Basics

Mid-Year Roundup of Blogging Advice

Welcome to the Mid-Year Roundup of 2019. Here you will find popular topics from The Blogger’s Guide to include reasons an author should start a blog, tips on content ideas and increasing your visibility for 2019. Enjoy the roundup and be sure to share your best blogging tips in the comments below.

For all of The Blogging Guide posts, click the Craft tab and select Blogging Basics.

6 Reasons An Author Should Consider Blogging

  • Potential agent/publisher. From reading your blog, an agent or publisher can discover everything from your writing style to your dedication and commitment to diligently produce a body of work. These traits show you have the fortitude and follow through to produce a completed book. The blog also shows you can complete self-imposed deadlines. Think of a blog as a part of your writing resume.
  • Building a platform. When submitting your work for publication, agents and publishers want to know you already have readers in place willing to buy your book. But, what if you don’t have a completed book yet? Start a blog. Get a following. If you haven’t heard the word “Platform” yet, I highly recommend a book of the same name by Michael Hyatt. He shares many ways to build a platform.
  • Create content for your readers, even before you publish. What do you write? How do you draw your readers to, well, read? Look at the themes or topics your book shares with your readers. Then write about those themes. If you write romance, share how your grandparents met. If you write about mystery, tell your potential reader about your favorite Agatha Christie novel or how Perry Mason captivated you and why. Creating this content will not only allow your readers to get to know you, but they will get used to your writing style and hopefully want to read more. 
  • Sales funnel. Once your book is published, you can broadcast your first novel on your blog. Provide a sales page to purchase your book or add your Amazon link in a blog post. Your blog/website can also share your availability to speak, providing yet another revenue stream.
  • Posting a blog on social media lends credibility. When you post your blog on Facebook, the box surrounding the blog title and featured image appears. This not only looks professional but newsworthy. You are not a news outlet but may look like one. This lends credibility to your blog rather than just typing a post with text only. See the example below:
  • You can get discovered. In late 2016, I received an email asking about my son’s lethal form of dwarfism. The email was from the producers at The Learning Channel. They wanted to feature my son on one of their programs. When I asked how they heard about my son, the TLC representative said she found me via my blog. The producers, located in England, searched on the internet, and found my blog. The SEO, the blog writing, and my website combined to peak the interest of TLC. Now my son’s story has been broadcasted in the U.S. and worldwide. All from someone finding my blog.

Content Ideas

Using Your Book As Inspiration

If you are an author, write down the themes in your book. For my memoir, Miracle In My Living Room, a few themes are hope, problem pregnancy, and surviving a dire diagnosis. Each of these themes can be shared as a blog post.

Write Ideas Down Write (Right) Away

My ideas for blogging come from everyday life. When a thought comes to mind, I jot it down quickly to remember the details. I use iPhone notes to keep track of ideas. I also use an old-fashioned pen and paper; however, it is too easy to lose a piece of paper. Using the recorder on my iPhone is another way to help remember blog ideas.

Free Write

What content to create is a conundrum we all face as authors. Pick a day and a time to write free from distractions.  Many times, you face a blank page as a cricket chirps in the background. Just start typing. Free write whatever comes to mind. Often times, I will end up writing 2–3 topics in one sitting. I flush out the most developed topic and save the other topics for another blog.

How To Find Topics

Use a calendar of Events and Holidays as great idea starters for your blog.

For example, April 12th is D.E.A.R–Drop Everything And Read Day. Share an excerpt of your book in a blog post.

Buddy Up

Find another blogger in your same genre and buddy up to brainstorm content ideas. Once written, you can promote each other’s blog on your social media platforms. This is a great way to build a friendship and also share each other’s audience.

Ask Your Audience

Asking your audience is a great way to not only engage with your readers but allows them into your process.  What content would they want to read?

Jessica Osborn-Houser of JJburry.com offered her readers an opportunity to choose which blog they wanted to read. The choices offered were:

  1. Using Sentence Variation
  2. Adding details with phrases
  3. How to write book reviews

Her readers voted to learn how to write books reviews by 63%. She posted her poll on Twitter, but you can use Facebook to post a poll. Once the voted on blog posts, you have an instant audience interested in reading it.

How To Poll Your Audience

You can find the option to poll in a group only. Facebook removed the option to poll in your own personal Facebook feed. Here’s how to post in a group.

Increase Your Blog Visibility

You pour out your heart and passion out on the page crafting your blog for the world to see. Satisfied with your words, you publish and wait. Days later, you view your blogs statistics to find few readers. How do you gain readers and raise visibility?

The following tips suggest ways to help you share your passion to a wider audience:

Do your Facebook family and friends know you have a blog? Tell them. It can be as simple as, “Hey, did you know I have a blog? Check it out here.” And then add your link. Don’t just share your blog post, tell the reader why they would want to read your blog. Many people won’t stop scrolling to read your blog unless you give them a reason to click on your link. Give the reader the hook of your post right up front.

Definition: Hook–this is a literary technique that grabs the reader’s attention within the first few sentences.

Carol Graham posted her blog in the Facebook group Blogging Lounge with this hook: Could you live off the grid for a year with little human contact–if offered $100,000? She then posted her blog titled: What Would You Sacrifice for a Huge Reward? Did Carol’s hook get your attention? Check out her blog here:

Posting in Facebook Groups

Are you posting your blog in appropriate groups? Is your blog themed toward mothers? Find a moms group in Facebook like Coffee & Motherhood with 51K+ members. Do you have a travel blog? Find a travel group like the Facebook group, Travel Bloggers with 4.5K members. Does your blog offer writing tips for authors? Try posting your tips in the Authors group with almost 40K members. Find your niche in Facebook groups is a key to finding your audience.

  • 200 million people are members of meaningful Facebook groups.**

When you post in a group, be sure to hook your reader. Posting the link with the title only may not be enough to encourage your audience to click to your blog. Also, interact with other bloggers to build your tribe.        

Sharing In Group Discussions

Do you share your blog topics in group discussions? Have you ever been in a group discussion and thought, “I wrote about this issue in my blog.” As long as the group allows it, post your blog in the discussion feed. Use your blog post to share your passion and build your audience. The sales opportunity will hopefully come after you build relationships.

Note: Be sensitive to group rules if your blog post is sales focused or offers affiliate links.            

Click here for more blogging tips.

What are your favorite blogging tips? Share in the comments below!

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

What is Your Blogging Style?

Do you post pictures in your blog or only use text? Are you using embedded video? Can your reader retweet a Twitter quote? All these things and more should be considered when crafting your blog. What style do you want to present to your readers? This post will review three popular authors to discover their individual blog style.

6 Style Points to Consider

  1. Title–The blog title can vary in word length. Use a Headline Analyzer to craft a title with a score of 70 or above. https://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer
  2. Picture–Pictures break up the bulk of a text post and helps the reader with ease of reading. Using a heading for each topic in your blog also helps to break up the text and increases your readability score in WordPress.
  3. Embedded Video–Embedding video in your blog helps to emphasize the message of your blog post. The reader does not have to click on a link which takes them to a separate website; instead, they can watch the video without being directed away from your blog. Here’s how to embed video in WordPress: https://youtu.be/Ir7J0eEuWgk
  4. Outbound Links & Internal Links–Outbound link: Referencing another external website link helps your page rank with Google. Use reputable website links with a good Google ranking. Use links sparingly and naturally. Internal Links: Using internal links within your blog/website also helps increase your Google Ranking. Example: If you have a book in a series you are promoting, you can link to an earlier blog post about book #1 while promoting book #2. The longer your user is enjoying your content, the better it helps your ranking.
  5. Link to Book–Adding a link to your book page gives your reader a natural opportunity to purchase your book. They don’t have to search within your website to find out where to purchase.
  6. Twitter Quote–Adding a tweetable twitter quote provides an opportunity for your reader to share your amazing blog content. Add the Twitter plugin called Better Click To Tweet to your WordPress account to take advantage of this feature.

Style Point Examples

How many style points listed will our 3 popular authors use on their blogs? Let’s see….

Eric Metaxas

Eric Metaxas is the New York Times #1 bestselling author of Martin Luther, If You Can Keep It, Bonhoeffer, Miracles, Seven Women, Seven Men, and Amazing Grace. He has written over thirty children’s books, including the bestsellers Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving and It’s Time to Sleep, My Love, illustrated by Nancy Tillman.

http://ericmetaxas.com/blog/these-kids-made-my-day/

In reviewing Eric Metaxas’s blog, I found the following style points:

5 word title–These Kids Made My Day–Coschedule Headline Score: 68

Picture at Top–The picture helps grab the reader’s attention and is visually appealing. The second picture in this blog helps break up the text.

Embedded video– Eric shares an embedded video of children who memorized the poem, Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The children entered a contest Eric hosted.

Outbound link: Eric adds a link for readers to view the individual contest entries. The link redirects the reader to YouTube.

Link To Book/Internal Link– Eric directs readers to his book page with the following encouragement: For more on Paul Revere’s Ride, see chapter four of my book, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT!

Ann Voskamp

Ann Voskamp is the wife of one good farmer, the home-educating mama to a seven exuberant kids, and author of the four New York Times Bestsellers, The Broken Way, The Greatest Gift, Unwrapping The Greatest Gift, and One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, a New York Times 60 week bestseller which has sold over one million copies, the royalties of which the Voskamp family has given all away, the joy always in giving the gift back. Her blog, one of the Top 10 Christian blogs on the web, has become a daily well for the weary and soul-thirsty.

https://annvoskamp.com/2019/06/the-secret-to-doing-it-all-how-we-can-not-judge-each-other/

In reviewing Ann Voskamp’s blog, I found the following style points:

13 Word Title – The Secret To Doing It All How We Can Not Judge Each Another – Coschedule Headline Score: 59

Featured Photo behind the blog title–Great picture to grab the reader’s attention. Ann uses 12 beautiful visuals to illustrate her topic in this blog post. How Ann uses pictures to visually captivate her readers while honing in on her blog topic is impressive.

Bold Font–Use of bold words vs. standard typeface help to draw the reader’s eye. This also helps the reader to scan the bold words and still grasp the concept of the blog.

Outbound link: Ann posts an interview with the CEO of Pepsi featured on The Atlantic. The Atlantic reached new audience highs in May of 2017, drawing 42.3 million monthly unique visitors making this a credible source to share with your audience.

Twitter Quote– “If you aren’t encouraging women to live out their particular calling, you may just be idolizing a particular idealized form of yourself.” If the reader clicks on the gray bird, it will redirect them to share this quote as a tweet on their twitter account.

Link to Book–Ann provides an opportunity for her readers to easily locate her book by providing her Amazon link at the end of her blog post.

Liz Curtis Higgs

Liz Curtis Higgs is an award-winning speaker and best-selling author of 37 books, with 4.6 million copies in print. She’s spoken at conferences across the United States and in 15 foreign countries. You may be familiar with Liz’s Bad Girls of the Bible with over one million copies sold.

His Wonderful Plan

In reviewing Liz Curtis Higg’s blog, I found the following style points:

Three Word title–His Wonderful Plan – Coschedule Headline Score: 45

Picture at Top–Lovely Picture of Hydrangea helps to grab the reader’s attention.

Personal Story– Liz shares her personal story about her cancer journey. Heartfelt stories draws the reader into the author’s world and is very effective in holding the reader’s attention.

Bold Font–Use of bold words vs. standard typeface makes for an easy read.  

Outbound Links–Scripture verses are red and underlined. Once selected, it directs the reader to Bible Gateway’s website to read the verse.

Pictures–5 pictures of flowers are shared to help break up the text. And one personal photo of Liz and her husband lends to the personal nature of this particular blog. The final picture is of a pair of earrings she is offering for a giveaway.

Book Link–In her P.S.S., Liz shares a link to her book, The Women of Easter, Special Edition for purchase at Christianbook.com and gives an outbound link to both her book and the website link for Christianbook.com.

How many style points do you use in your blog? Post your blog below to show off your own dynamic design style.

Categories
Blogging Basics

How To Be Consistent In Posting Your Blog Content

What motivates you to produce consistent content time after time? Is it your passion to share your heart with readers? Or to share a message of hope with others? Or to build an audience of like-minded individuals? These questions set the tone to help you maintain a blog that stands the test of time.

Counting The Cost

Teaching others the technical aspect of blogging is easy. However, being consistent and faithful to produce content over time, is something I cannot teach. It must be practiced. This is why I ask new bloggers to create 4–8 blogs in Word before even posting their first blog. What will your content be? Is there enough content to produce a consistent blog over months or years? Will your passion keep its intensity so you will continually post content?

Tip For Consistency

  • Share your blog on a set schedule. As your blog ages, the recurrent posting of your passion builds a mountain of content which, overtime, gets noticed. The more content you produce, the more Google and others will notice. https://www.quicksprout.com/ranking-factors/

Which Method Best Describes You?

An author can be a pantser or a planner. The planner creates an outline and then writes to the outline or table of contents. The planner will know they have enough content to fill the book. The pantser hopes they have enough content but only when the author finishes writing, will they know. I am not a planner. The first draft of my memoir contained 80,000 words which after edits came to around 40,000 words. I had enough content; however, had I been a planner, I may have been able to save myself 40,000 words of writing.

In blogging, you can have a blend of both being a pantser and a planner. I have a Word Document with each month of the year listed. Next to each month, I write what topic I want to cover. When it is time to write my monthly blog, I open the word document to find out what topic I planned to share. Sometimes I write on the planned topic or I will pick a new topic based on the time of year. For December, I wrote on planning apps for blogs. http://www.almostanauthor.com/quick-easy-blog-posting-for-the-holidays/

Tip For Consistency

  • Create a Word Document with a topic for each blog post on your schedule, either bi-weekly, weekly, or monthly. Note: You don’t have to create the blog in advance, just the plan the idea/topic.

Posting Past The Busyness of Life

What happens when your consistency wanes? For whatever reason, life gets in the way.  Before too long, it’s been months since you posted to your blog and starting over seems overwhelming. It is so easy let your passion be consumed by the busyness of life.

I want to encourage you not to let the guilt of stopping prevent you from moving forward.

What will help you pick up your pen or open your laptop and get started again? Here are a few ideas. Have a planning session with yourself or another blogger to pick a start date and plan out the next twelve topics of content. Ask a blogging buddy to keep you accountable. Have a write in with other bloggers either in person or online to create as many blogs as you can in 2 hours.

If you need a blogging buddy, want to have a planning session or write in, comment below.

Tips For Consistency

  • Ask a blogging buddy to keep you accountable.
  • Organize a planning session or a write in.
  • Create your own deadline.

My monthly deadline is the last day of every month. I have posted as late as 3 minutes to midnight to get a blog up on time. This is a self-imposed deadline. I want my archive to show I posted a blog every month and not miss a month. Even though I can delete the archive from displaying on my website, I appreciate the accountability to hold me to this schedule.

Archives from www.miraclemann.com.

Bloggers Testimony:

Tracy Yeager Cleland shares her tip to keep consistent on her blog, www.Cleleandclan.com. In her words: “Goal-setting helped. I started my blog in April 2017 and wrote exactly three posts before getting sidetracked by life. The following February, I remembered that I’d paid for hosting for a year and decided to start writing again. That summer I set blogging goals – – so many posts, so many views, etc. – – and enrolled in a few online challenges and courses. My views went from 211 in 2017 to 13,539 in 2018 to 15,648 so far in 2019. I have a full-time teaching job and work on my blog in my spare time, so I’m happy with these numbers.”

Whether you are just starting out as a new blogger or you have let life waylay your progress, be encouraged. Your words count. Your words matter. You are uniquely you, and the world needs to hear your heart, your passion, and your perspective. You never know who you will touch and help by sharing the wisdom of your words with the world.

What helps you stay consistent as a blogger? Post your comment below. Your tip may just be what another blogger needs to hear.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Popular Plug-ins And Problems You Can Avoid

When I created my blog in May 2012, I signed up for WordPress.org. One of the unique features of WordPress.com versus WordPress.org is the ability to select from 54,545 plug-ins tailored to suit your needs.

Note: WordPress.com does not offer the ability to select your own plug-ins.

The Free Dictionary defines a plug-in as an accessory software program that extends the capabilities of an existing application. Here, we will cover accessory software you can add to your WordPress.org account. 

My Favorite Plug-ins

Akismet Anti-spam

When I first started WordPress, I received lots of comments. Scrolling through the messages, I tried to decipher if the comments were from genuine readers of my blog. Many spam comments were easy to spot since they were selling a product. Or the comments were vague like:

“I bet.”

“This is moving.”

 “I agree.”

It can be difficult to determine if these comments are from a real person. And once you post a spammer comment, they will send you more… much more.

I also checked if the comment came from a Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail account. Though not fail-safe, I found the comments coming from these accounts to be genuine.

I spent hours reading and deleting questionable comments. When I mentioned this to my web developer, he recommended Akismet. After installing this plug-in on my WordPress.org account, all the spam stopped. Now, I only receive genuine comments from people who have read my blog — what a difference.

Since adding this plug-in in May 2017, Akismet blocked 18,743 spam requests. I saved countless hours and no more problems.

Better Click To Tweet

Another favorite plug-in is Better Click To Tweet which allows readers to share a captivating quote from your blog to Twitter.

The Click To Tweet box looks like this:

I combined the Click to Tweet box with a picture to grab the readers attention. See the blog here:

This helps to get your blog seen on the Twitter platform by readers who share your quote with their Twitter followers. Consider adding this plug-in to your blog to reach across platforms.

Yoest SEO

Optimizing your blog to be found by search engines helps to broaden your audience. Yoest SEO prompts you to attain a good SEO rating using a stop light system of red, yellow, green. When the stop light is green, your blog is ready to publish. Two criteria are reviewed: Readability and SEO. 

This popular plug-in has over 1 million downloads.

Readability

I have discovered my readability score turns green by adding sub headings throughout the blog. The software program recommends placing a sub heading every 300 words. This breaks up the blog visually which allows the reader to view your content and select which sections they want to read.

Readability also checks for paragraph/sentence length and overuse of passive voice. You can find suggestions for changes in the Analysis section which we will touch on in a moment. 

SEO

The SEO criteria is determined by various factors from your selected keywords to your meta-description to name a few. A breakdown of what determines good SEO can be found here.

The SEO criteria checks for word length, focus keyword, meta-description and external and internal links among other things.

You can craft your own meta description in Yoast SEO.

Analysis Section

Example 1: Analysis Section

Recommended suggestions are given in the Analysis section in three categories: Good Results, Improvements, and Problems. One recent blog post for miraclemann.com showed the following suggestions:

Example 2: Analysis Section

Good Results:

  • The text contains 618 words. This is more than or equal to the recommended minimum of 300 words.
  • The focus keyword appears in 1 (out of 3) subheadings in your copy.
  • The meta description contains the focus keyword.
  • You’ve never used this focus keyword before, very good.

Improvements

  • The meta description is over 156 characters. Reducing the length will ensure the entire description will be visible.
  • The focus keyword does not appear in the URL for this page.

Problems

  • The focus keyword doesn’t appear in the first paragraph of the copy. Make sure the topic is clear immediately.

These prompts help you to make the recommended changes to improve your SEO.

Plug-in Problems You Can Avoid

Using a plug-in can pose a problem for your blog. I once added a plug-in designed to add a watermark to all the photos posted on my blog. The next time I checked my site, all the photographs had vanished. My son’s story was due to be featured on local television the next day. Imagine my panic. I called my web guy who fixed the problem which took hours to correct. Lesson learned: be careful which plug-in you add.

Help Reduce Plug-in Problems

  • Select plug-ins with a user base of over 10K. Generally, popular plug-ins will be updated quickly if an issue arises.
  • Keep plug-in use to a minimum — the fewer plug-ins you use leads to fewer problems. (I have 22 plug-ins.)
  • Update plug-ins individually. If you update all plug-ins at once and an issue arises, you won’t know which plug-in caused the problem.

What is your favorite plug-in and why? Have you ever had a problem with a plug-in? Post your comments below.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Increase Your Blog Visibility

You pour out your heart and passion out on the page crafting your blog for the world to see. Satisfied with your words, you publish and wait. Days later, you view your blogs statistics to find few readers. How do you gain readers and raise visibility?

The following tips suggest ways to help you share your passion to a wider audience.

Do your Facebook family and friends know you have a blog? Tell them. It can be as simple as, “Hey, did you know I have a blog? Check it out here.” And then add your link. Note: You can share your blog on your Facebook feed if it is not sales oriented. If you want to sell your book or product within Facebook, use your separate author page or your business page.

You can also share a specific blog post on your Facebook feed and author/business pages. Don’t just share your blog post, tell the reader why they would want to read your blog. Many people won’t stop scrolling to read your blog unless you give them a reason to click on your link. Give the reader the hook of your post right up front.

Definition: Hook–this is a literary technique that grabs the reader’s attention within the first few sentences.

Carol Graham posted her blog in the Facebook group Blogging Lounge with this hook: Could you live off the grid for a year with little human contact–if offered $100,000? She then posted her blog titled: What Would You Sacrifice for a Huge Reward? Did Carol’s hook get your attention? Check out her blog here:

Are you posting your blog in appropriate groups? Is your blog themed toward mothers? Find a moms group in Facebook like Coffee & Motherhood with 51K+ members. Do you have a travel blog? Find a travel group like the Facebook group, Travel Bloggers with 4.5K members. Does your blog offer writing tips for authors? Try posting your tips in the Authors group with almost 40K members. Find your niche in Facebook groups to find your audience.

  • 200 million people are members of meaningful Facebook groups.**

Many Facebook groups only allow you to post your blog on certain days only. And other groups allow for free posting without having a set time to post within the group. Here are a few examples.

Specific Post Days:

BTR–Blogger’s + Instagram Community:

Christian Moms Who Write (Share Wednesday):

Free Post:

Blogging Lounge: 

Christian Bloggers café:

When you post in a group, be sure to hook your reader. Posting the link with the title only may not be enough to encourage your audience to click to your blog. Also, interact with other bloggers to build your tribe.        

Do you share your blog topics in group discussions? Have you ever been in a group discussion and thought, “I wrote about this issue in my blog.” As long as the group allows it, post your blog in the discussion feed. Use your blog post to share your passion and build your audience. The sales opportunity will hopefully come after you build relationships.

Note: Be sensitive to group rules if your blog post is sales focused or offers affiliate links.

Social Media Visibility

Being visible on your social media channels helps to fuel followers to your blog. Getting others to know you and your passion can naturally lead to an opportunity to share your writing. Here are some tips to encourage exposure.

  1. Be consistent–Post on a schedule that works for you.
  2. Engage with your followers as well as family & friends.
  3. Use Video & Live Video.

Be consistent in how often you post content. Look at your schedule and dedicate pockets of time where you are able to post. Perhaps, the best days for you are Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Whatever schedule you choose, keep at it. This should keep your followers engaged.

“If you make a habit of posting several times a day and then transition to only a few times a week, you will start to lose followers and generate less engagement per post. This means that the best posting frequency for Instagram is the posting frequency that you can consistently maintain for the rest of your natural life.” states Social media pro, Neil Patel. *

This post suggests the following posting frequency:

Instagram: Once a day.*

Facebook: Once a day or less.*

Twitter: 10 or more times. Lifetime of a tweet is 18 minutes.*

LinkedIn: 3 times a week.*

Engage with others by commenting on their posts to increase your visibility on Facebook. This engagement lets the Facebook algorithm know you are interacting. And when others respond, your posts will be boosted to your friends which increases your visibility.

Be sure to ask questions to draw others in to engage. Ask “What was the highlight of your day today?” And then add a picture of your pet for a visual. Or ask for a favorite family recipe and post a picture of your best dish. Ask “how to” questions like, “How do I get this stain out of my favorite shirt?” Your audience answering these questions equals engagement which helps to boost your visibility. 

Use Live Video to gain exposure. 71% of people have increased their online video viewing.** With this increased viewership, your authentic and original content is more likely to be seen.

Go live to read an excerpt from your blog. Be sure to ask questions at the end to encourage engagement and start a conversation. For those not able to watch you live, label your video with an attention grabbing title and then offer your hook. Use a title generator to title your blog video.

To learn engagement techniques for your video’s, sign up for a live video boot camp.

**https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-statistics/

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

How To Polish Your Blog With A Little Help

When meeting first time bloggers, I am often asked about hosting, web pages, and behind the scenes technical issues. Focusing on the technical side of blogging often overwhelms first time bloggers stifling creativity where it is needed most; in writing the blog itself. To conquer this problem, I suggest a homework assignment. Write three to six blogs in Word.

Two reasons I suggest this assignment. One, it helps with concept and organization. If I write six blogs, what will I write? What concepts do I want to share? Do I have enough content to maintain a weekly or a monthly blog? Two, having six created blogs ready to go, helps you then focus on the technical and marketing side of blogging when you are ready to go live. I offer to read their first two blogs checking for content, flow, and overall readability.

Last year I discovered an amazing resource to help with the heart of your blog: the actual writing and editing of blogging. I edited my second book using ProWritingAid. The following are my favorite features of this writing software program.

The Summary Report

My blog writing process starts with free writing. Without self-editing, I let my words flow on the page, mistakes and all. Without words on the page, you have nothing to edit. Then I self-edit without opening an editing software program. Once I am satisfied with flow and content, then I open ProWritingAid in Word.

Without words on the page, you have nothing to edit.

My Blog Writing Process

  1. Free Write
  2. Self-Edit
  3. Edit Using ProWritingAid

The Summary Report

This report offers an overall score for grammar, spelling, and style. I open this report first to get a sense of how much I need to edit the document. The goal is to have each category report a 100% score. If any score is lower than 100%, I select the individual report for review.

Grammar

Grammar suggestions appear in the right-hand column of your Word Document. Select the down arrow to read offered suggestions.

Examples:

  1. Sentence: A score of 100 for overall score. The report suggests: A score of 100 for an overall score. Action: Add an to the sentence.
  2. Sentence: An illness or disease like cancer. The report notes: Possible missing determiner. Change to: An illness or a disease like cancer. Action: Add a to the sentence.
  3. En-dashes: _ to –  . The report advises: En-dashes should never have a space on either side. Action: By selecting the suggested change, it automatically makes the update in Word.

Example #1:

Note: I also use Grammarly to check grammar as it also offers suggestions.  See free version at the end of the blog.

Spelling

The spelling check is found in the Grammar report and is straight forward. In this blog, I used the words Free Write. The spelling feature of ProWritingAid suggested I change my words to Fred Waite instead. In this case, I would select the green eye icon to override and hide this suggestion.

Style

This report checks for use of passive and hidden verbs. The report highlights areas for review and correction. Here is an example of a passive verb and a hidden verb discovered in the initial writing of this blog.

Passive Verb Example: Many people are overwhelmed

The report suggests: it overwhelms many people.

My corrected sentence: The technical side of blogging often overwhelms first time bloggers.

Hidden Verb Example: in the writing of the blog

The report suggests: No suggestions

My corrected sentence: in writing the blog itself.

Repeated Sentence Starts:

Another great feature of the style report is catching repeated sentence starts.

Example: I jumped in the pool. I shivered because the water chilled me to the core. I had to get out fast.

Change to: After diving into the pool, I shivered as the water chilled me to the core. In less than a minute, I swam to the side and leaped out.

Note: You can still obtain a 100% score by keeping two of your personal style preferences in the document. In editing my devotional, the program made a recommendation to correct a bible verse. I left the bible quotation “as is” leaving the integrity of the words in place and still received a score of 100 in the Style Report.

Readability

The readability report uses the Flesch Reading Ease, The Coleman -Liau Formula and The Automated Readability Index to return an overall score for this report. If your document is easy to read this report congratulates you. Otherwise, it highlights sentences you may want to re-write for easy reading for your audience.

In my initial writing of this blog, I wrote these two sentences:

Sample Sentences: This report offers a unique feature giving Estimated Reading Time. Great resource to offer your readers with limited time to read your blog.

But, the report flagged these sentences for readability by highlighting them in yellow as seen above. To change the sentence for a wider audience of readers, I made this adjustment:

Corrected Sentences: The readability report has a feature called, Estimated Reading Time. Using this resource will let your readers know how long it will take to read your blog.

Sticky

Another report to check for wordiness is the Sticky Report. The software checks your document for “Glue Words.” ProWritingAid shares “Glue words are the empty space that readers need to get through before they can get to your ideas. Generally, your sentences should contain less than 45% glue words. If they contain more, they should probably be re-written to increase clarity.”

They offer the following example:

  • ORIGINAL: Dave walked over into the back yard of the school in order to see if there was a new bicycle that he could use in his class. Glue index: 60.7% – Sentence length 27 words
  • REDRAFT: Dave checked the school’s back yard for a new bicycle to use in Glue index: 42.8% – Sentence length 14 words

Examples of Glue Words include in, on, the, was, for, that, will, and just.

All Repeats

This is my all-time favorite report of ProWritingAid. I attend a local critique group once a month where fellow writers read up to 1500 words of a work in progress. This group has helped me to grow as a writer over the years. They have helped me to avoid glue words and to catch duplicate words in my writing among other things. I recommend joining Word Weavers, not only for the critiques offered but the comradery.

Word Weavers Link: https://word-weavers.com

I use ProWritingAid to catch duplicate words before presenting my work to the critique group. This helps polish my document so my fellow writers can focus on the content presented.

This rainbow-colored report takes some getting used to at first, but it helps to identify changes to make your work shine. The following paragraph is from my October 2018 blog:

I remember the first time I saw a little person. I was about 8 years old. My mom brought me to the grocery store, and as we were leaving, I saw an adult dwarf. He had the short stature of child, but the facial features clearly showed he was an adult. Little did I know then, I would one day become the mother of a little person.

Each color highlights repeat words to review. Notice “an adult” is shown in orange because it appears twice in this paragraph. See the suggested change below.

The report suggests “a man” as an alternative. I could change the third sentence to read “a male dwarf” or “a middle-aged man who had dwarfism.”

You can also check for synonyms in the Thesaurus also included in the software.

In my opinion, this report alone is well worth the cost of ProWritingAid. If you feel this software would benefit your writing, see below.

Writing Software Costs:

In this blog, I’ve suggested ProWritingAid as a writing software option. Below are a few other programs for comparison.

Grammarly

Free Program: Critical grammar and spelling checks.

Premium: $139.95 a year, $59.95 quarterly or $29.95 a month. (Includes checks for punctuation, grammar, context, and sentence structure, and more.)

Purchase here:

Hemingway Editor

Addresses lengthy/structurally complex sentences, meandering sentences, hard to read sentences, weak sentences, and passive voice.

Online version: Free

Hemingway Editor 3 – One-time payment: $19.99. (Publish directly to WordPress or Medium with one-click.)

Purchase here:

ProWritingAid

Offers a free trial.

Cost: 1 year for $60, 2 years $90, 3 years $120 and Lifetime $210.

Purchase here:(This is an affiliate link: As a ProWritingAid affiliate, at no additional cost to you, I earn compensation if you click through and make a purchase using this link.)

What editing software program do you use? Comment below and share your favorite feature.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

7 Ways To Make Your Blog Shine

The saying, “You only have one chance to make a good first impression” holds true in the blogging world. When someone visits your blog, you have between 0-30 seconds to grab your reader’s attention and keep them there.

What are some ways to make your blog shine and hold your audience’s interest?

These are the top seven elements I look for in a blog.

Title

A good title, like a good book, needs to give the reader a reason to read. Your hook or the why of your blog should be reflected in the title. List titles are especially good at getting your reader’s interest. Example, 3 Ways To ______, Top Ten _______, or How To _______, are catchy titles. Remember to use emotional words to encourage your audience to read on. Examples: Better, Fascinating, Free, Hurry, Special. You can view a list of 500+ emotional words here.

Try: coschedule.com headline analyzer to check your title before posting. A score of 70 or above is ideal.

Get To The Point

In the lightning fast pace of social media, your audience needs to be captivated by your blog within the first few lines. You may be tempted to diverge and slowly get into your topic, but I encourage you to resist the urge.

Tips:

  1. Yoest SEO (SEO: Search Engine Optimization) suggests your keyword be written in your first paragraph. This also helps your SEO. (Your keyword should also be found in your title.) Find other SEO tips here.
  2. The first paragraph should be the start of delivering what you promised in your title.
  3. Telling a story related to your topic in the first paragraph also helps captivate attention.

Readability

Have you ever published the first draft of your blog? Chances are you read, re-read and edited several times before posting. Could a sentence be read easier by changing a few words? Would a paragraph be better placed near the end of the blog instead of the middle? Are there too many topics discussed with in one blog? Asking these questions and making changes helps with the readability of your blog.

Tip: If there are too many topics in one blog, cut and paste the extra topics into a Word Document. I call this document my Cut Page. The next time I’m searching for content to post, I read my Cut Page to find content.

Likability

Does the cadence and tone of the author come across as likable and friendly? Would I want to enjoy a cup of tea with the author? Likability, to some extent, is needed for most blogs, especially personal blogs. Technical or medical blogs can be more straightforward.

I remember finishing a memoir, and I couldn’t wait to find out if the author had a blog. I wanted to know more of the story and get to know her better. A blog is a perfect way for an author to give their audience a glimpse of themselves through authentic, likable content. One author who offers this likability factor is Debora Coty. She uses humor in an engaging and likable way to share her content.

Read Debora Coty’s blog here:

Flow

Have you ever watched a video on YouTube and lost interest quickly? Chances are the video didn’t flow seamlessly enough to hold your attention. One topic didn’t fit with the next topic. Or, worse yet, they went off on a tangent while you were still waiting for the content of the video. While you want a friendly and likable blog, staying on track by avoiding extra topics or tangents will help your blog not only flow but be shareable.

Note: Flow is subjective and not always definable. After editing my blog, I let it marinate for a day. The next time I review it, I find it easier to catch flow issues.

Grammar/Spelling

Have you ever read a blog and found grammar and spelling errors? Even the most seasoned blogger will occasionally miss an error. Hopefully, a kind reader will send a personal message to fix it pronto. It’s like having lettuce in your teeth; you hope someone mentions it.

To avoid these annoying mistakes, you can hire an editor. Or ask a friend to read your blog before posting. Or choose from the many grammar apps available.

Grammar Apps:

Grammarly offers a free and paid version.  Monthly $29.95, Quarterly $19.98, Annual $139.95.

ProWritingAid – Prices start at $50/year.

Photos

How many photos should you add to your blog? Some bloggers only post a featured image. Others post a photo every 300 words. While this may be a question of preference, remember photos added in your blog using a keyword helps with your SEO.

It also helps with flow and readability. Since my blog is a parenting blog for special needs families, adding 2 – 3 pictures per blog is a natural fit.

Tip: I use my own photo’s for blogging. If you want to use stock photos, check out Pixabay offering royalty free stock photos.

Find other photo websites on this post.

What do you look for when you read a blog? What do you find holds your attention and makes you want to share with your family, friends and work colleagues? Share those elements below.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Quick & Easy Blog Posting For The Holidays

Do you have a posting strategy for the holidays?

I read a post from a fellow author stating she will be off line for the rest of the year. She has already scheduled out all her content for the next six weeks. My first thought: I’m impressed. I am not a planner. I post manually and normally do not schedule. But after reading my friends post, I thought, how hard can it be?

Work Your Plan

Do you post your blog bi-weekly, weekly or monthy? Depending on your posting schedule, this will determine how many blogs you need to create to schedule for the rest of 2018.

  1. Schedule a time to brainstorm topics you want to post. For this column, I have a list of topics to cover into 2019.
  2. Set aside time to create your blogs with the topics you selected. This may be a block of several hours, or you may choose to write a blog a day for several days.
  3. If you are crunched for time or having writers block, considered updating an old post by adding new content. Or review an old blog and consider writing a Part 2 on the same subject.

You can find more content creation ideas here.

Posting Software

Once you have created your blogs, schedule your post manually or use scheduling software. Here are a few to choose from:

Buffer: Free Account – 3 social accounts, 10 scheduled posts per profile, Twitter, FB, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram

Paid Account: Pro – $15/mo – 8 social accounts, 100 scheduled post per profile, Twitter, FB, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram

HootSuite: Free Account – 3 social profiles, 30 scheduled messages

Paid Account: $29/mo – 10 social profiles, Unlimited scheduling

Later – Free Account – 1 social profile per account, 30 Instagram posts, 50 Twitter Posts, 30 Facebook posts, 30 Pinterest posts.

Paid Account: Plus – $9/mo – 1 social profile per account, 100 Instagram posts, Unlimited Twitter Posts, 100 Facebook posts, 100 Pinterest posts.

Postcron: Free Account: None

Paid Account: $14.99/mo – 8 social media accounts (including FB, Twitter, Google+,Pinterest & LinkedIn) 2 Instagram Accounts, 100 pending posts

Whether you decide to post manually or use one of the above schedulers, have a plan to share your content over the holidays. Being consistent year around and continuing to build your blog content helps increase your visibility and helps with being discovered by search engines.

Do you post manually? What scheduling software do you use and like? What is your favorite feature? Comment below and share the goodness.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Make Your Blog Mighty: Attention To The Details

Do details matter? In the world of blogging, I would say, “Yes.” You labor over a beautifully crafted blog spending time, effort and energy to share your heart with your audience only to hear crickets. Has this happened to you? The following two tips could help make your blog hum with activity by paying attention to the details.

SEO Your Headings

I recently saw a lengthy news article online. After the title and under the featured image, the writer listed bullet points sharing the most important topics shared in the article. This helped me to decide if I wanted to read the article in its entirety.

Headings in a blog are similar to the points noted in the article. Using the Headings Feature in WordPress will help your blog to be easily read. This allows the reader to scan the blog and know, at a glance, if they would like to read it.

Another reason to craft Headings is for SEO. As stated in a Yoast article,

“Although not a major ranking factor, headings do affect SEO. That’s because headings are important to help users understand the subject of an article. And if readers use headings to figure out what an article is about, Google will too.”

Crafting headings helps visually set a block of text apart and aids with the readability score in WordPress.  Yoast SEO recommends you offer a heading for every 300 words. To add headings, you type the heading, highlight it, and then select the dropdown box that says Paragraph.

Heading 1 – 6 are available options to select from. I usually use Heading 2 throughout my blog. You can choose Heading 1 as your first heading and use Heading 2 in the remainder of your blog.  For this blog post, I used Heading 2 only.

The Mighty Meta-Description

The purpose of creating a meta description is to have a reader choose your blog to read. Similar to the description on a book jacket, the meta description helps draw them in. State why they should read your blog. Using 150 characters, craft enticing phrases like, Learn More, Get It Now and Try It For Free. This needs to mirror/match your content or Google may penalize your site.  The meta-description should have your selected keyword shared at least once for SEO purposes.

For my blog titled, Why Being A Mother Has Great Value, I wrote the following meta description:

Is there value in the mundane daily chores of being a mother? This article says, “Yes.” Read why being a mother has great value.

My selected focus keyword is: a mother has great value. These words are also contained in my title. Using the focus keywords in my meta description, and title helped to give my Yoast SEO score a green light.

Another example of a meta description used by Barnes & Noble for the memoir, I Can Only Imagine By Bart Millard is the following:

I Can Only Imagine is an amazing book. I was humbled just reading it, Mr. Millard’s story is fantastic to read. To know all that he is gone through in his life and how GOD fit exclusively into it.

In this meta description, Barnes & Noble chose to use a book review to entice the reader. However you choose to craft your meta description, remember to make it do the heavy lifting to gain attention. In other words, make it mighty.

Why do these details matter? Meta descriptions help to entice your reader. Headers help your readers decide if they want to continue to read. There are many aspects to writing, designing and marketing your blog. These two details are two of the ingredients to make your blog mighty. For more tips, read Sure Fire Ways To Gain An Audience .

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

24 Facebook Groups For Bloggers

As a blogger, you want to share your creative content and continue to learn and grow. One way to achieve both is to join blogging groups on Facebook. Some groups share content to help bloggers learn the craft of blogging. Other groups offer an opportunity to share your blogs to the members of their audience.

Joining a mix of both types of groups is a great combination for your blogging platform. Here is a list of blogging groups for you to choose from.

Definitions:

  1. For purposes of this article, a Group Facebook Thread is when a group administrator (admin) opens an opportunity for group members to post their blog. You cannot post outside these given opportunities.
  2. Free post – A group member can post anytime. No need to wait for the group admin to post an opportunity.

Learn The Craft of Blogging:

BE Blog Elevated Conference & Community, 1.7K members

BTR – Blogger’s + Instagram Community, 8K members (Blogging Tips & Thread Opportunities.)

Blogging For New Bloggers, 14.5K members (Blogging Tips & Thread Opportunities.)

Brilliant Content Creators, 2.7K members

IBA Open Group, 1.5K members (IBA =International Bloggers Association)

Inspired Bloggers Network, 12.1K members

 Post Content for Writers:

Are you an author and a blogger? Check out these groups:

Authors, Bloggers, Writers, Readers and Books, 16K

Books, Blogs, Readers & Writers, 63.6K members

Christian Bloggers/Writers Network, 2.8K members

Christian Blogger Café, 193 members

Christian Non-Fiction Writers, Bloggers, and Authors, 550 members

Christian Writers & Bloggers, 3.5K members

Other Groups

These are not book related groups, but you can free post your blogs and post by thread here:

Awesome Bloggers, 7.1K members

Blog + Biz Babes, 3.4K members

Blog Big, 946 members

Bloggers Supporting Bloggers, 31K members

Blogging Boost, 25K members

Blogging Lounge, 161 members

BlogHer, 1.7 K members

IBA Share Group, 1.5K members (IBA =International Bloggers Association)

Make Your Blog Beautiful, 3.6K members

Extra

Share Your Blog*, 8.8K members

Share Your Blog Post*, 13.5K members

*Posting in these groups can give you an international audience.

These are some of the groups you can join. In choosing a Facebook group, I use the following check list:

Activity – Are the group members actively posting? I have seen some groups without any activity for a month or more. Groups with more members have a higher likelihood of more frequent posts. Weekly or daily activity is preferred to receive consistent content and posting opportunities (threads).

Can Members Post – Does the group restrict members from posting? Some groups only allow the admins to post. In this case, decide the benefit of joining this group. If only for the educational benefit, it may be worth joining.

Check What Group Guidelines Allow – Can you promote your blog? Many groups allow posting on open threads only. Others allow for free posting of your blog. Be sure to check group guidelines before posting in any new group.

Is there a Facebook group you are a member of not on the list above? Share below. Let’s grow together.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Guest Blogging: Sharing Your Content To Get Noticed

Want to expand your audience? One popular way is to be a guest blogger on a well-known blog. As a new blogger, this will give you exposure beyond family and friends. And that’s what you want. To find your tribe, your audience, and your followers for life.

My First Guest Blog

In the summer of 2012, I reached out to a blogger I followed and respected. She had several books published and at the time, I was unpublished. When I reached out to Mary DeMuth, Author of Thin Places, A Memoir, to my surprise and delight, she contacted me back. Her guidelines for accepting guest blog submissions required a blogger have a strong social media presence. I had some following on Facebook, but no other platform to speak of. Just based on this requirement, I did not make the cut.

BUT, Mary liked my authentic, heartfelt blog submission and agreed to post it. So, my encouragement is to reach out and ask. You never know, you may get a “Yes.” (The article I wrote for Mary DeMuth is archived, but you can find her blog here: marydemuth.com/blog/)

My Second Guest Blog

As my presence on social media grew, so did the opportunity for other bloggers to find my content. In 2015, Corrinne Rodriguez reached out to me and asked me to guest blog for her website, Everyday Gyaan. She lives in Secunderabad, India. Her blog is about keeping life simple, authentic and holistic. Corrinne thought her audience would appreciate a story about gratitude in the midst of unthinkable circumstances. I wrote a previously unpublished blog and sent it to her. The blog posted and a whole new audience halfway across the world learned about our story.

The guest blog posted in November of 2015. I recently checked my website statistics and got a surprise. I still have traffic coming to my website from this guest post. You can read the blog post here: everydaygyaan.com/a-grateful-journey

How To Find A Guest Blog Opportunity

Twitter has a search feature where you search for hashtags, but you can also search phrases. Type in the phrase, Submit Guest Post. A list of recent posts with this phrase will appear. I like this feature because you see the most recent posts first and it is not months old.

You can also do a search on Google with the following search criteria:

  • Blogs accepting guest posts
  • Writing blogs accepting guest posts
  • List of Blogs accepting guest posts 2018
  • Guest Blog for authors

Once you decide where you want to submit your blog post; read several blogs on the site. This will help you get a feel for what blog posts are accepted and see if your topic is a good fit for their audience. Then locate their submission guidelines. Find out whether they accept published or unpublished blogs (most require unpublished), how many words are required, or if you can republish the post elsewhere.

Other requirements may include certain image sizes for pictures and graphics, avoiding use of affiliate links, and promotional free submissions (with the exception of a link in your bio.) Whatever the requirements listed, be sure to follow each one for a better chance at having your creative work accepted.

Other Writing Opportunities

Being a regular contributor for a website is another way to create a writing portfolio which shows consistent dedication and helps a whole new audience find you. A local website called Tampa Bay Mom’s Blog, not only accepts guest posts on their website but a few times a year, they open an opportunity to become a monthly contributor to their site. That is how I became a contributor. If this is your niche, check if your city has local a Mom’s Blog.

I am also a monthly contributor to this column, The Blogging Guide for Almost An Author. This opportunity came by personal invitation.

The Mighty is another online website where I have been published. The Mighty is a digital health community created to empower and connect people facing health challenges and disabilities. They have over 1 million registered users. Go here to submit your story. https://themighty.com/submit-a-story/

At a BlogHer Conference I attended, I was invited to contribute to Red Tricycle. They publish family friendly articles sharing topics ranging from parenting to food & travel. Check out their editorial policy here: https://redtri.com/editorial-policy/

Seek out opportunities to guest blog. Find potential columns or contributor opportunities. Have you written a guest blog or are you a regular contributor for a website? Do they accept submissions? Post those opportunities below to help your fellow writers find a home for their writing.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Microblogging For Authors And Writers

A traditional blog gives your readers a place to find you and your writing. A place where you share with your audience stories about your writing, your book, and upcoming projects. It’s a fan page of sorts. A home for your blogs all in one place.

Microblogging is a form of traditional blogging; however, it is not found on your website. Of course, you could add your microblogs on your website as well, but traditionally microblogging is found in a social format via social media sites.

If you don’t have a traditional blog, microblogging is a great way to get up and running without the investment of creating a traditional blog. I believe authors should have a traditional blog. Click here for my reasons why.

In Edie Melson’s Social Media class, she defines a microblog as a post with 100 – 150 words. (Edie authors the popular blog, The Write Conversation. When sharing your microblog, add a meme which is a picture with text on it.  Describe your meme or your purpose in sharing the meme.

I use Canva to create my memes. It is a free app you can use on your laptop, iPhone or android. For ease of use, I would use your laptop to create designs. I have created memes on my iPhone, but have found it a challenge to design without the use of a mouse. Canva saves all your designs in the app. You can sign up for Canva here.

Once you create your design, share the inspiration behind the photo. You can post something inspirational, either a famous quote or one you created. Or a captivating paragraph from your book or work in progress. Even a picture of your work space can be used to microblog. Share what inspires you to write.

Be sure to add a call to action. A Call to Action is what you want your audience or your reader to do with the information you shared. It could be signing up for your newsletter, getting a free infographic (create your own infographic here) or by directing them to purchase your book.

On Instagram, you are not able to add links in your microblog.  Direct your audience to click on the link in your bio. The link in my bio connects them to my book store page on my website. You can choose to use your Amazon link as well.

Below are two examples of Instagram posts which are microblogs.

Microblog 1: (Used with permission of Becky Kopitzke)

Have you ever scolded your kids just moments before walking into church – where you then flash a sudden smile for all the holy people {as if you hadn’t just squawked at your child like a mad chicken}?

Maybe you’ve snapped your husband’s head off for asking an innocent question like, ‘What’s for dinner, hon?’

Yeah, I have, too. And I know I’m not alone.

Lots of us fall short of loving our loved one well. And not just our loved ones, but people outside our bubble, too –  like the new woman at Bible study who feels vulnerable and lonely because the rest of us greet each other with hugs and chatter while she sits alone, unnoticed. Or what about that mom at school who is grumpy to everybody all the time. She’s easy to ignore, or worse- to complain about with the other moms.

Have you ever wondered what God thinks of all that? Have you ever dared to be different? Well, now you can.

Microblog 2

In this microblog, I share the impact my son Samuel had on a stranger:

“I saw everything that was important in his eyes when he first looked at me and I have never experienced anything like that in 48 years. I was supposed to meet Samuel and when he left, I had something from him….courage. I have been afraid of making changes, taking initiatives, loving, and the list goes on.

I was up all night thinking about what you said to me and reflecting on the look I received from Samuel. It may sound nutty, but he is the angel I desperately need to meet.”  See more about this encounter here.

Do you microblog? Share your most highly commented microblog in the comments. And inspire others to start their microblog journey.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Content Creation Ideas For Your Blog

Ideas on How to Blog

How Often You Post

Blogging takes consistent commitment. Whether you decide to blog once a month, once a week or more; a consistent posting of your content sets an expectation with your audience. If you post every Wednesday, your audience will come to look forward to reading your content mid-week. Consistent posting will also help search engines find your blog.

Blogging once a week or more can help you gain an audience. I post once a month, but when I started my blog, I posted once a week. If you want to gain an audience more rapidly, post twice a week to boost your exposure. Look at your schedule and decide which posting schedule works best for you.

If you have not started a blog, create between 8 – 10 blogs in a Word document. This will give you 4 – 5 weeks of blog content to post. Having content ready to go can relieve the stress of creating quality content and help you get started with being consistent.

Write Ideas Down Write (Right) Away

My ideas for blogging come from everyday life. When a thought comes to mind, I write it down quickly to remember the details. I use iPhone notes to keep track of ideas. I also use an old-fashioned pen and paper; however, it is too easy to lose a piece of paper. Using the recorder on my iPhone is another way to help corral blog ideas.

Free Write

What content to create is a conundrum we all face as authors. Pick a day and a time to write free from distractions.  Many times, you will face a blank page as crickets twerp in the background. Just start typing. Free write whatever comes to mind. Often times, I will end up writing 2 – 3 topics in one sitting. I flush out the most developed topic and save the other topics for another blog.

Ideas on How to Find Topics

Use a calendar of Events and Holidays as great idea starters for your blog.

Apples4theteacher.com/holidays has a list of events and holidays to choose from.  January 8th is National Clean Off Your Desk Day. Write a blog about how you keep organized as an author. Post a picture of your organized desk.  You could also engage your readers by asking them to share their tips.

April 10th is National Library Day. Blog about your local library. Contact them and offer to do a book signing to promote National Library Day.

April 12th is D.E.A.R – Drop Everything And Read Day. Share an excerpt of your book in a blog post.

April 14th is International Day of Laughter Day. Share humorous excerpts from your book.

April 28 is Sense of Smell Day. Share excerpts from your book which describe a sense of smell. Offer tips on how to write a scene using the five senses. Engage your readers to submit a short story highlighting a sense of smell and award the winner a copy of your book.

Buddy Up

Find another blogger in your same genre and buddy up to brainstorm content ideas. Once written, you can promote each other’s blog on your social media platforms. This is a great way to build a friendship and also share each other’s audience.

Ask Your Audience

Asking your audience is a great way to not only engage with your readers but allows them into your process.  What content would they want to read?

Jessica Osborn-Houser of JJburry.com offered her readers an opportunity to chose which blog they wanted to read. The choices offered were:

  1.       Using Sentence Variation
  2.       Adding details with phrases
  3.       How to write book reviews

Her readers voted to learn how to write books reviews by 63%. She posted her poll on Twitter, but you can use Facebook to post a poll as well. Once the voted blog is posted, you have an instant audience interested in reading it.

How do you decide what to write about on your blog? What topic received the most engagement on your blog? What content tips do you use to create content?

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Why Should An Author Start A Blog? by Evelyn Mann

Reasons Why Writers/Authors Don’t Start A Blog

Perhaps a friend has suggested you should start a blog, and you reply:

  • I don’t have time.
  • The time I do have, I want to be writing my work in progress.
  • I wouldn’t know what to write.
  • I don’t know how.

Should an Author Blog6 Reasons An Author Should Consider Blogging

These are valid reasons. But, perhaps the better question is why should you, as an author, consider blogging?

  • Potential agent/publisher. From reading your blog, an agent or publisher can discover everything from your writing style to your dedication and commitment to diligently produce a body of work. These traits show you have the fortitude and follow through to produce a completed book. The blog also shows you are able to complete self-imposed deadlines. Think of a blog as a part of your writing resume.
  • Building a platform. When submitting your work for publication, agents and publishers want to know you already have readers in place willing to buy your book. But, what if you don’t have a completed book yet? Start a blog. Get a following. If you haven’t heard the word “Platform” yet, I highly recommend a book of the same name by Michael Hyatt. He shares many ways to build a platform.
  • Create content for your readers, even before you publish. What do you write? How do you draw your readers to, well, read? Look at the themes or topics your book shares with your readers. Then write about those themes. If you write romance, share how your grandparents met. If you write about mystery, tell your potential reader about your favorite Agatha Christie novel or how Perry Mason captivated you and why. Creating this content will not only allow your readers to get to know you, but they will get used to your writing style and hopefully want to read more.
  • Sales funnel. Once your book is published, you can broadcast your first novel on your blog. Provide a sales page to purchase your novel or add your Amazon link in a blog post. Your blog/website can also share your availability to speak, providing yet another revenue stream.
  • Posting a blog on social media lends credibility. When you post your blog on Facebook, the box surrounding the blog title and featured image appears. This not only looks professional but news worthy. You are not a news outlet, but may look like one. This lends credibility to your blog rather than just typing a post with text only.
  • You can get discovered. In late 2016, I received an email asking about my son’s lethal form of dwarfism. The email was from the producers at The Learning Channel. They wanted to feature my son on one of their programs. When I asked how they heard about my son, I was told they found me via my blog. The producers, located in England, searched on the internet and found my blog. The SEO, the blog writing and my website combined to peak the interest of TLC. Now my son’s story is broadcast in the U.S. and worldwide. All from someone seeing my blog.

Many authors recommend a blog as a means to gain an audience and future readers of your book.

“…I think blogging is an author’s best marketing tool.” Anne R. Allen, Author of eight comic mysteries.

“The more time you spend blogging, the more value you build for your readers over time and the more they find you. Your efforts snowball.” Jane Friedman, columnist for Publishers Weekly and author of The Business of Being a Writer.

Molly Wizenburg’s popular food blog, Orangette, was a platform that helped her sell her first book, A Homemade Life, to a publisher because she had a large readership.

Are you convinced to start blogging and add this medium to your author platform? If you were like me, you don’t know where to start or what to do after you created compelling and exciting content to share with the world. I had no one to show me the how to master the art of being a blogger.

I remember thinking, “I wish I had someone to take my hand and show me how to blog.” (Twitter Quote)

That is the heart of this column. To take your hand, month by month, and give you tips and tools you can use. If today’s column has inspired you to start your author blogging journey, post your comment below. I read each one.

 

Evelyn Mann is the author of Miracle In My Living Room: The Story of a Little Mann and the popular blog, www.miraclemann.com/blog. Her son’s story of survival from a lethal form of dwarfism has been featured on The Learning Channel, Christian Television Network, WFLA Channel 8, and has been seen 2.5M times on Special Books by Special Kids. She enjoys giving her son lots of hugs, a hot cup of organic tea, and shrimp sushi.

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Blogging Basics

Five Key Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging

5 Key Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging

Beginning bloggers face a steep learning curve that can seem overwhelming. Because there’s so much to learn, it’s easy to begin blogging without a clear plan and purpose. Really, it’s enough to make your head spin: SEO, format, technical, style, social media, length, graphics, and more. The list seems endless.

When I started blogging, I didn’t have a clear vision of I wanted to accomplish. I had a general topic, but lacked a well-developed focus. Over time, I’ve learned through mistakes, training, and example. Start out strong with five key things I wish I knew when I started blogging.

[bctt tweet=”Five Key Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging”]

  1. Give yourself permission to grow over time.
  • Fight the temptation to be overwhelmed with all the details.
  • Let go of perfectionism and remember everyone walks one step at a time.
  • Refuse to negatively compare your blog or traffic with others.
  • Subscribe to writing blogs for practical tips and tutorials for ongoing development.

 

  1. Know your why. Take time to think through the reasons you’re blogging. Examine your motivation with prayer. You need a stronger why than building a platform and generating high traffic. Platform and traffic are good goals, but writing for the numbers can be discouraging.  Consider these questions:
  • How does God want to use your writing?
  • What is your purpose for blogging?
  • What do you hope to do?
  • Why is this important to you?
  • How do your experiences, knowledge, and passions fit with your calling to write?

 

  1. Focus your blog.  A well-focused blog makes it easy readers to know your passion at a glance. The average reader decides within 30 seconds if content is relevant to their interests. Use these tips to focus your blog.
  • Craft a strong mission or brand statement you can work with long term.
  • Choose 3-6 main topics that relate to your purpose.
  • Brainstorm ideas that fall under each topic.
  • Keep your mission statement in mind when you write.
  • Make your focus clear at first glance with structure and graphics that present your topic.

 

  1. Understand the difference between a category and a tag. Categories and tags can sort content by subject rather than chronological order. Categories are broad topics supporting your why, or your mission statement. “Your blog’s categories are like its elevator speech. Make it happen without excess,” explains Julie R. Neidlinger.  Tags are more specific than categories and relate to specific details of your post.
  • Be strategic in choosing your categories.
  • Use categories and tags to make it easy for the reader to find content.
  • The use of tags is optional and not limited in number.
  • Don’t overuse tags; WordPress recommends less than 15 in a post. 

 

  1. Aim for brand consistency.  Refer to your brand statement in most of your posts for a cohesive, focused site. Brand statement, categories, and blog content should all work together.
  • Place your mission statement in a visible spot to remind you to tie your post to your brand.
  • Keep a list of words, phrases, and concepts that support each category. Use these consistently in your posts whenever possible.
  • Before publishing, double check each post for a clear connection to your why or your mission statement.

[bctt tweet=”Refer to your brand statement in most blog posts for a cohesive, focused website.”]

These tips will help you quickly overcome many of the content and organizational challenges new bloggers face. Stay focused on the purpose of your blog, the why that motivates and energizes you. Share your passion with the world with an organized and clearly structured site. Be patient, aim for steady growth and celebrate each new skill mastered. Understanding how to write a clear mission statement and organize your blog will but you ahead of many beginning bloggers.

 

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Blogging Basics

Three Problems With Comparison for New Bloggers

Particularly for new writers beginning the blogging journey, comparison can kill confidence and create problems.

New bloggers often struggle with comparison, much like my youngest child who said, “I’m a slow runner. I don’t want to play soccer.” When I asked her why she thought she was a slow runner, she mentioned how much faster her older brother and sister ran. She struggled with confidence, not realizing she was unfairly comparing herself to her older siblings. She couldn’t see this was not a realistic comparison. Bloggers often struggle with comparison creating problems with confidence and negative thinking.

Comparison Creates Competition

Resist the scarcity lie that the success of others crowds out your own opportunity.

Comparison can cause significant set-backs when it comes to writing. All too easily, it can create competition when we allow the success of another to diminish our writing or sabotage our confidence. Choose to celebrate the achievements of others. Learn from their skill and experience.

New bloggers, blogging, writing, comparison, problems of comparison

Comparison Breeds Negative Thinking

Comparison opens the door to the problem of negative thinking. Comparative thinking leads to other forms of negativity—pride, envy, jealousy, resentment, discouragement, and criticism.  What can begin as comparison and negative feelings can quickly ignite destructive thoughts and actions.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. James 3:16

Comparison Demotivates Passion

Comparison can stifle passion to fulfill the writing desires God places in our hearts.

Have you ever compared yourself with a more experienced writer and thought, “Why bother…I’ll never be as good as ________.” The power to demotivate passion is one of the greatest problems of comparison.

Resist the temptation to measure the gap between where you are and where someone else is. We often see this gap as a diminishing, devaluing thing rather than embracing the growth process of our own writing.

Problems of comparison, blogging, writing, new bloggers

I have hung over the edge of motivation, wanting to quit because the journey to “success” is steep and difficult. Maybe you have too. Comparison saps passion and energy when we forget that God is with us in the process.

[bctt tweet=”Distracting us from God’s call and purpose, comparison makes the process about personal success rather than obedience to God’s call to write.”]

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. Galatians 6:4-5 MSG

Choose to celebrate and learn from successful and experience writers, rather than give into comparison. Give yourself permission to grow through the process and develop skill at the pace that is right for you. 

Don’t let comparison rob you of confidence and joy in writing. [bctt tweet=”Comparison is a choice you don’t have to make. “]

At the end of it all, comparison asks the wrong question.

The right question is this: what does God want to do through my writing?

Categories
Blogging Basics

Three Ways Comparison Can Kill Your Blogging Confidence

Blogging requires a balanced combination of vision, passion, craft, and energy. Comparison can quickly squelch your energy and derail your passion for writing. Whether you are new to blogging or a seasoned pro, comparison can kill your blogging confidence.

One of the great temptations for writers and bloggers involves the trap of comparison. We constantly see the success of other writers through social media, conferences, and networks. Traffic stats and social media engagement are inescapable even when you try to ignore them. Comparison can creep into your thoughts in many different forms.

For me, one of the greatest challenges in blogging has been learning craft and building a following without falling into the pit of comparison. When I read a great post and see high stats of likes and shares, I often compare my writing and engagement. I can leave the website feeling discouraged rather than benefitting from the great content I’ve just read. When this happens, my thoughts are about me rather than appreciating the gifts and skills of the other person.

Have you struggled with the problem of comparison in your writing?

Three Ways Comparison can kill your blogging confidence:

Comparison Drowns Creativity

Creativity thrives on being different and original. When we compare our content to other writers, it can be easy to try to emulate what works for someone else.

The blogging world is enamored with How-to content and numbered lists. Most of this is aimed at increasing reach, but it can also kill creativity. One look at Pinterest demonstrates this point. Most pins of blog posts now use successful formulas for titles. Success is great, but now too many blog posts look and sound the same. I’ve followed the formulas and written much of this kind of content. This post is a numbered list because it was a clear way to communicate my message.

The artist in me rebels as creativity bows to comparison and the desire to be as successful as others. The key here is balance. Don’t disdain formats that work, but be creative and personable with in the template. Also, write a variety of content that doesn’t adhere to formulaic structure.

[bctt tweet=”Is copying the new creativity?”]

Comparison Fuels Discouragement

Comparison fuels discouragement much like throwing gasoline on a fire. It can ignite quickly and be very destructive.

Recently I was thrilled to have a post featured on the popular devotional site, (in)courage. Like it or not, the social media stats are prominently displayed. You can’t not look at them.

My joy deflated as I realized the stats were not anywhere close to the regular bloggers on the site. It was hard not to receive that as a message that my writing wasn’t as good as others. For a short time, I let comparison steal the delight of success in posting on an well-known website. Rather than growing in confidence, I struggled with discouragement because my post didn’t draw the same amount of engagement as others.

Believe me, comparison is a nasty friend.

Comparison Feeds Pride

Comparison is also a fickle friend. When we are on the short end of comparison, we can wallow in “Not Good Enough” thinking. However, if we rate our work or performance higher than others, we can teeter into the “Better Than” territory of pride. Pride can create divisions and puff up egos, as well as spark criticism. Pride can kill confidence from the other direction, prideful thinking is just as destructive to confidence in that it warps a realistic perception of ourselves.

This verse from the message motivates me to avoid comparison:

That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original. Galatians 5:26 MSG

Particularly for new writers beginning the blogging journey, comparison can kill confidence. Choose to celebrate and learn from successful and experience writers, rather than give into comparison. Give yourself permission to grow through the process and develop skill at the pace that is right for you.

Categories
Blogging Basics

How to Supercharge Your Blog with a Portfolio of Post Types

 

Med How to Supercharge Your Blog with a Portfolio of Post Types

You sit down at your computer to write a new blog post. A blank screen is all you can see. Drumming your fingers on the desk, you wrack your brain for something to write about.

Sound familiar?

Author Lori Roeleveld teaches that blogs are hungry beasts that need constant care and feeding. In blogging, we regularly need to write new content, which can be challenging. There are days it can make you want to run screaming into next week!

[bctt tweet=”Incorporating a variety of shareable content and blog styles will supercharge your writing. #blogging #poststyles”] Successful bloggers generate new content by incorporating a variety of post formats. When it comes to formulas for blog posts, there are many to choose from, but not all will be a good fit for your style and focus. Experimenting with a variety of post types, I have found a selection that fits my inspirational niche. Consider a few of my favorite styles of posts, and try a few to invigorate your blogging to add to your portfolio.

The Tell-a-Story Post

Everyone has a story to tell, and story brings your reader directly into the experience. We all love a good tale that engages heart and imagination.  From big moments to the small, mundane details, life is filled with meaningful stories to share.

How can story can make your message come alive with the authenticity of personal experience? Engaging anecdotes can stand alone—the joy of simply telling a story. They can also introduce concepts, engage readers, inspire action, or teach lessons—to name just a few ways story can add impact to writing.

Try opening your post with a story or use a short tale to illustrate a point.

The Inspirational Post

Inspirational bloggers have a wealth of content available in the pages of the Bible. Compelling  devotional content shares truth and impacts readers. Choose one short passage or topic so you have a clear purpose. Be sure to consider the context when writing about Scripture, and don’t take verses out of context simply to illustrate a point. Combining story and inspiration can take a Biblical post from didactic to relational with a few words.

The How-To or Tutorial Post

How-to posts are both popular and shareable content. Simply take a look at Pinterest and survey the titles of posts. Instructional posts provide information on topics of interest to readers, increasing interest and engagement. Knowing the needs and interests of your audience will increase your ability to create meaningful how-to articles.

Areas of expertise and experience provide additional ideas for tutorial content. How-to posts that teach, train, or guide establish authority and credibility in your subject matter.

Try brainstorming a list of how-to posts that relate to your blog focus.

The List Post

List posts can cover a variety of topics and are highly shareable content. Lists posts can teach, inspire, motivate, encourage. They can curate content and share resources as well. Content that reveals secrets (5 Secrets of ___), inspires action (3 Reasons You Should…), solves problems draw readers searching for specific topics or content.

Use this list to brainstorm ideas for list posts.

Number + Noun + Topic

10 formulas for effective list blog posts

Save this list for added inspiration.

The Solve-a-Problem Post

Choose content that provides a solution to a common need of your audience. Addressing needs with practical solutions, helpful advice, or relevant resources creates value and influence with your readers. Solving a problem can also be presented as a story or experience. Encourage your readers by sharing how you have overcome odds, beat challenges, or achieved success.

What is one experience that solved a problem in your life? Write about it!

The Provide-a-Bonus Post

[bctt tweet=”Mixing media and providing value keeps things fresh on your blog. #blogging “]Incorporate visuals, printable graphics, video, links, or audio to create a strong impact. Try building a list of ideas you can use to create a benefit or takeaway for your audience. Begin adding variety over time, paying attention reader response. Short eBooks, printable lists, resource lists, pdf documents, or contest giveaways are additional ways to add extra value for your audience.

Which bonus could you most easily accomplish this week? Go ahead and try it.

Which types of post do you normally write? Which type of post will you try this week? Leave a comment and let me know.

 

Categories
Blogging Basics

What’s Your Blogging Personality?

Develop a consistent blogging personality

Remember the insecure days of adolescence? We changed looks, styles, and personalities as we tried to figure out this important question: Who am I?

Back in the day my hair styles vacillated from straight to curly and from Farrah-Fawcett wings to teased up bangs. Some days I was the outgoing cheerleader and other days the quiet bookworm.

When it comes to blogging, it is important to choose a personality that fits you. Your topics may vary, but readers depend on your persona to remain consistent.

[bctt tweet=”A well-developed blogging personality fosters loyalty from your readers.”]

What’s Your Blogging Personality?

Which one of these personalities best fits your purpose and writing voice?

The Expert

Is your blog tied to expertise you have in a subject? Are you an authority with experience and knowledge to share? Are most of your posts informational? Are people coming to your for answers and information?

The Reporter

The reporter conveys facts and information in a journalistic style. Do you comment on current events? Is your focus to share information about what’s happening?

The Friend

The friend comes along side with a conversational tone. Friendly and empathetic, do you share confidences and build relationships?

The Storyteller

The storyteller master’s the art of story. Posts have a narrative influence and pull the reader into the midst of something happening. Stories are an effective way to entertain, to evoke emotion, illustrate points, teach lessons, inspire changes, and even to sell ideas or products.

The Helper

The helper shares a wealth of practical information and how-to details. Filled with ideas and tips, the helper becomes a go-to source for projects and advice. Generally, the Helper has a friendly, you-can-do-this tone.

The Motivator

The Motivator has the ability to move people to action and change. Motivators build energy and create movement in readers. Flavored with positivism and inspiration, these personalities are popular with blog readers.

The Cheerleader

Cheerleader’s create enthusiasm and build confidence in readers. We’re in this together and You can do it are trademarks of the cheerleader’s influence. Similar to motivators, cheerleaders help readers achieve success and reap practical benefit.

The Marketer

Presenting information and benefits, marketer’s engage audiences with the aim to sell a product or  build an organization. Today’s marketing bloggers cultivate relationships, offer free incentives, and build loyalty in order to effectively convert traffic into sales.

The Analyzer

Similar to the Reporter and the Expert, Analyzers fall more into the informational vein of blogging. Opinions, surveys, reviews, and research are a few of the tools preferred in this style of blogging.

Not sure what your blogging personality is?

New bloggers often try out different personalities and styles before settling into a consistent voice. This is a natural part of the development of a writer. Give yourself time to discover your blogging personality. If you aren’t sure about your blogging persona, ask for feedback from people you trust to give an honest opinion.

Another helpful tip is to evaluate the personality and style of your favorite bloggers. Can you pinpoint a consistent personality? How do they convey personality–through attitude, tone, language, topic, emotion, information? As you learn how other writers show personality, you will learn new ways of sharing your unique voice.

Effective bloggers develop their personality, voice, and style with consistency. A well-developed blogging voice builds trust with readers who have chosen to follow your blog. [bctt tweet=”People read blogs for a variety of reasons, but a strong, consistent personality keeps them coming back.”]

 

What’s your blogging personality? What blogging personalities do you enjoy reading?