Online Life

Oh, the excuses keep coming in! Before you get upset, hear me out! The number one complaint I’ve heard over the past two weeks is that there’s just not time to do everything. Facebook is easy. (sorry, but given the number of complaints I hear about that site, I beg to differ) Today, I’m sharing another key to growing your blog.

Plan What You Want Your Site to Look Like

Sit down and think about what your readers would enjoy reading. What can you post that will bring them in, not only the first time, but keep them coming back for more? Next, think about how you can plan your blog posts to save time and get yourself on a schedule so readers know when you’ll be posting.

Get Organized

If you’re on self-hosted WordPress, this is super simple! The screenshot above is of a plug-in called WordPress Editorial Calendar. If you’re on a different platform, you can still do this with Google Calendar or even an old-fashioned paper calendar. I love this plugin because not only can I see all of my posts a glance, but I can drag them to a different day if I need to. If I mis-schedule something, WordPress will reschedule it when I drag it.

After sitting down and thinking about the direction I want this site to take, I put a plan in place. Every day that I post (and you don’t have to post every day of the week), there will be a theme of sorts. Some of them I’m not quite ready to reveal, but I can tell you that teasers and excerpts of my projects will be posted on Tuesday, blogging and social media tips will be Thursday, and spotlighting my fellow authors will be Fridays.

This helps because I don’t have to think about what I’m going to post in the morning and find time to do it. If I have an hour some afternoon, I can write blog posts and schedule them for the next day they need to go out. Typically, I spend one morning each week doing nothing but writing blog posts for at least the next week. This way, life can try to throw me for a loop, but my blog goes on.

Themes Will Help You!

Yes, I touched on this above, but try to find themes for your blog. Teaser Tuesday seems to be fairly universal, so why not ask an author if they have a teaser you could share? If you reviewed a book the previous week, this is a great opportunity to link back to that review and gain more visibility.

Throw Back Thursday is another popular social media hop right now. Why not dig back to find content that’s older but still relevant and post that out rather than digging for a picture from your junior year of high school? Seriously, how many of us want to relive the days of Aqua Net and the poofed bangs?? If you come up with something original, why not ask your friends to follow along and create your own hop? With a little time and dedication to doing it every week, you might have the next big hop on your hands!

Figure out what works for you and think about your blog more than one day at a time.

 

Last week, I wrote a post about growing your blog in a saturated niche. After the response to that post, I decided to follow up and dig a bit deeper. Now that you have unique content on your site, how can you spread the word about your awesome site?

Read Other Blogs

One of the best ways to gain readers is to be a reader. I’m not saying you should spend hours a day reading blog posts, but you should make time to visit other blogs each day. And the best part? They don’t have to be book blogs or authors’ blogs. If you are a mom, connect with other moms. Love to cook? Head over to Pinterest! Rather than simply repinning a great recipe, click on the pin to visit the original blog post.

How does this help? Well, if you read and then leave a thoughtful comment (seriously, don’t just say, “Hey, great post!”), others may read what you had to say and click on your information, which will eventually bring them to your site where they can look around. The author of the blog may reciprocate and visit your blog. And most importantly, when you’re interacting, you’re developing relationships online, and that’s key to the success of a blog.

Backlink Within Your Site

Okay, so you if you read the other post, you know I’m all about unique content… so, let’s say you took part in a blog tour months ago and you reviewed a book. You can re-purpose that content. Contact the author, ask them for something short, sweet, and specific to post on your blog, and then link back to your review.  The link in the first paragraph is an example of a backlink.

Find Blog Hops to Join

Wordless Wednesday is an example of a blog hop, and it’s probably the easiest one there is out there. You post a picture as your blog post. That’s it! Then you link up and visit some of the other hop participants. Can’t find a hop you want to participate in? Create your own and invite your friends to join in! There are sites out there that make it super simple to add a blog roll to your post, so all you have to do is the original post and spread the word. When other blogs join, they simply add their link. You can even do this with friends.

The big thing about hops is that you need to remember to visit other sites, not just drop your link and run. Typically, I will add my link, click on the five above me, and visit them. Then, if I have time later in the day, I’ll go back and visit some more. And again, when you visit, make sure you interact with your fellow bloggers.

These are just a few ways you can work to grow your blog without using Facebook. I don’t think the powers that be are ever going to make it easier for bloggers to gain traction on their platform, so it’s imperative to find other ways to succeed.

How do you promote your blog without using social media?

Many people don’t know this, but prior to writing my first novel, I was a blogger. Every day, I’d sit down with my morning coffee and write posts that needed to go out, read my friends’ blogs, try to learn more about how to truly succeed as a blogger. And then, I stopped. My days became so consumed with writing that I no longer had the time to focus on something I truly loved.

Now, I spend most of the time I’m on the computer and not working on my next project (okay, and if I’m being honest, more time than I should when I am working on my next project) on social media. One of the most common complaints I hear from book bloggers is that they aren’t getting page views. It’s easy to blame Facebook’s ever-changing algorithms for the stagnant stats, but I think there’s another huge culprit.

When you look at your blog, what is on the page to entice a reader to click on your page rather than another blogger’s link?

If your page is filled with the same cover reveals as fifty or sixty other blogs, you’re relying on someone seeing your post first, because there’s no reason for a reader to click on sixty links leading to the exact same information.

If you take part in a promotional tour, what goes along with that promo post to tease the reader so they have to click? A lot of bloggers will probably say it’s their review. Unfortunately, those aren’t likely to get you page views if someone isn’t actively seeking opinions on that book or if they’ve already read a few reviews. Most readers won’t click on forty reviews before deciding whether or not to buy a book. Personally, I think the most I’ve sought out is three when the first two bloggers didn’t have the same experience. Beyond that, I’ll go to the site where I’m going to buy, skim some of the reviews there, and then decide whether or not to click.

How can you make your blog more appealing to readers?

In order to grab a reader’s attention, you need to offer them something they can’t get everywhere else. One blog does a weekly roundup of new releases. As a reader, that’s awesome because I don’t have time to know every book that’s been released. Another blog loves posting their dream casts for the books they read. I go there after reading a book to see how their vision compares to my own.

Think outside the box! Did you read a book about a sexy bartender? Find a great cocktail to try out and post it on your blog, and tell readers you were inspired by that book. When you do things like this, make sure you take a picture and watermark it with your blog name so people can share it, pin it, tweet it, or whatever else. Having your blog name on there puts your blog name into the minds of others who come across the recipe on social media.

When you sign up for a tour, look at what the author is offering. If you can only choose one option and you really want to review the book, email the author to ask if you could review and something else. You’re not helping grow your blog when you post the same information as everyone else.

For example, with my upcoming tour, only about 8% of bloggers asked for exclusive content. When I asked, in general, why bloggers don’t ask for other content, many said it comes down to time. I understand that. I’ll admit that when I put a variety of content offerings on the sign up form, I get a bit anxious that a ton of people will want something and I’ll be pulling an all-nighter to get that to them. That’s why I have options that put the burden on me, the author, because I don’t want anyone to feel they have to spend hours putting together an interview for my characters or me. Many authors offer playlists, their own dream casting, bonus scenes, etc to go along with their tours. Take advantage of that!

When you read a book on your own and you’re going to review it, drop the author a line and ask them for something specific. I will fully admit that if you email me and say, “Do you have something extra I could post with this?” my mind will draw a blank. On the other hand, if you email me and say, “Hey, I loved this book and I was wondering if you could write a short guest post about how you came up with the idea?” I will find a way to write that post while I’m watching TV at night.

There are new blogs popping up every single day. It’s not going to get any easier to connect with readers, but it can be done.

What advice do you have for other bloggers to help them grow? Even better, what advice do you have for authors to make it easier for you to help spread the word about our books?