WordPress
says 100,000 new blogs are created daily.
It already has 65,000,000 blogs.
Tumblr has over 102 million blogs.
LiveJournal has 63 million blogs.
Weebly has 12,000,000. That’s a
lot of blogs! How will you use a blog to
promote your book, market your brand, and have your voice heard in a cluttered
field of competing yellers?
Certainly,
if you don’t blog, start now. Authors
need to blog. It’s free, easy to do, and
something you are bound to find rewarding.
Once you
have a blog, establish early on the following:
·
Frequency
of posting
·
Overall
themes for the blog
·
Plan
ahead on the content for specific posts
·
Determine
if you will allow comments, fi you’ll respond, and what is worthy of being
removed
·
Figure
out the personality or the voice of the blog
·
Decide
if you’ll have guest-bloggers, and if so, by whom, on what, and how often
·
Designate
a plan to distribute your blog posts – will you use Twitter, Facebook, and
other platforms to share links?
How will
you make your blog better, different, or unique? How will you get it to stick out and to be a
destination for others? What will
inspire others to share it or talk about it?
Ask
yourself
·
Will
your blog quote other blogs and sources?
·
Will
you interview people for your blog?
·
Will
you have links to videos, podcasts, and other blogs?
·
Will
you use a certain font type or design element?
·
Will
you share photographs, graphics, or illustrations?
To craft
a great blog, look at other ones. Search
for ones in your genre. Look at the
high-traffic ones for clues on anything worth copying or expanding upon.
Determine
if you will give out free content, including books, lists, and resources.
Basically,
you want to have the very best elements from most blogs but at the same time
you want to create or own something that you feel no one else does or can
do. You should create a blog that has
your DNA and fingerprints all over it.
You should be able to distinguish your blog from a screen of 50
others. If you can’t easily recognize
what you produced or believe it's only just as good as others, push the envelope
and make it better.
What
will clearly define your blog? Will it
be an oddity, such as how you always write in a certain style, the way Stephen
Colbert took on a whole other persona for his TV show? Will it be the physical look of the blog that
makes it memorable? Will it be the
catchy headlines you use? Will it be the
quality of ideas shared, the type of vocabulary employed, or the level of
opinions offered? Readers must feel they
identify with you, that they like you, that they trust you – otherwise you have
no brand, no credibility, no nothing.
Play up
the vantage point from which you write.
For instance, if you have been a teacher for 30 years you are certainly
viewed as qualified to write on related issues, such as raising kids, education
them, or inspiring others. Now, take it
a step further. Quantify things. You
not only taught for 30 years but you also schooled over 1,000 young men and
women, some of whom hold important jobs today.
Maybe you taught the one who became CEO of Nike or a star athlete. Now your claim to fame takes on a certain
persona. Your blog has merit not just
because of what you say or how you say it but because of whom is saying it.
So, when
you craft your posts, don’t shy away from highlighting, where you are coming
from. Remind us who you are and why we
should listen to you.
Be a
humble blogger, even when being outrageous.
Be ethical, respectful of others, and always remember the blog is for
the reader to learn, laugh, and feel inspired.
The blog may seem like it’s all about you, but it’s for your
reader. You serve their needs. They will come back for more when they
believe you feel for their plight.
What
could make it into your blog?
·
Personal
stories based on real events
·
The
experiences of things you witnessed
·
Fantasies
or dreams
·
Questions
raised
·
Opinions
on a topic or issue
·
Factoids
and statistics
·
Survey
and poll results
·
Conduct
your own survey or questionnaire
·
A
checklist of how-to-do something
·
Excerpts
from books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and other content sources
·
A
list of resources
·
A
book review
·
A
Q&A
·
Guest
post
·
News
editorial
·
Make
a controversial statement
·
Offer
a solution to a problem
·
Complaints
and criticisms
·
Jokes
and funny tales
·
Imaginary
dialogue or debate
·
A tribute
or a roasting
·
An
apology
·
A
confession
·
A
demand
·
A
poem
Essentially,
anything can be in a blog post. The post
can be quite short or quite long – or something in between. Usually there is a consistency to a blog, but
you can be consistently inconsistent.
Whatever
you do with your blog, it should be fun and rewarding. The payoff comes in many forms, possibly including book sales, ad revenue, increased branding, or knowing you helped another
with your empowering message.
If you
are in doubt on what to post, write about me.
Share this blog post and recruit more fans for me!
DON’T MISS: ALL NEW RESOURCE OF THE YEAR
2015 Book PR & Marketing Toolkit: All New
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog
are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest
book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him
at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the
third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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