To blog or not to blog
Life has kept me busy over the past few months. My stress level has been at an all-time high. The things I had mapped out for myself, goals I had set, had been placed on the back burner while I struggled to adjust. My grasp isn't as strong as I would like for it to be but...I am not longer teetering on the edge.
One task that I had hoped to have a handle on was this thing called 'blogging'. Today, I as tackle back-office work, I thought I'd share this brief article my dear friend wrote regarding blogs. If you struggle with this, as I do, maybe you will find it helpful! I know I did...
Enjoy! Much love as always~~~Heather
Author Marketing Tip - Have a Blog written by Rebecca Graf
Most websites have blogs. Even authors should have one that helps keep the readers connected and opens the door for so many opportunities. Purpose of Blog Blogs began as online journals or diaries. Now they have morphed into articles and announcements. Blogs are the means to communicate with readers on a continual basis. What to Post Originally, blogs were meant for journaling your thoughts. They are still used for that but in a more defined way. For authors, it could be the thoughts on how frustrating ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ are in writing. So many people would be able to connect to that. It is a post about your personal thoughts and is informative if you include cited rules and examples. Others use blogs to write articles on various topics from how to do something to evaluating a product or process. Think of your blog as a mini magazine of your very own making. Use the blog to explore different topics that relate to writing or topics that can be found in your books. Maybe you have a story set on a Native American reservation. So many articles could be written about the setting including histories and culture. How Often to Post This is a highly debatable topic by many people. Some claim you only need to post once a week. Others say three to five times a week. There is no correct answer, but there are some very incorrect ones. You should never let posts go for more than a week at a time. I have and found it hurt my traffic tremendously which in turn hurts the marketing of my books. Post at least once a week. If you can, post a total of two to three times a week. That means whenever I visit your site, I’m always reading a fresh piece that has been posted in the last few days. As a reader, I enjoy that and will return. Length of Posts This is another debated topics by ‘experts’. Some say that articles should be around 400 words and others say 750 to be picked up by the various search engines. I’ll give you my opinion as a reader. 400 words should be the bare minimum, but 750 and up is much better as you can’t get much information from just 400 words. Strive for 750 to 1200 words. A little less is fine. A little more is fine. If you find yourself going too far over, split it into two posts.
To read more from Rebecca Graf, you can find her on Facebook or visit her website at http://www.argiletumtransitorium.com/
