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 12^th 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.