author blog – USA Today Bestselling Author DelSheree Gladden

My first piece of advice on blogging is…only set up a bog if you’re committed to blogging on a regular basis!

If you are committed to blogging regularly, keep reading for tips on getting started!

One of the main benefits of blogging is that it provide fresh content

Fresh content improves your Google ranking and draws more visitors to your website.

Before you get started, consider the purpose of your website and whether or not blogging fits in to that purpose.

Consider the amount of time you can commit to blogging and how consistently you can produce content.

Think about what type of content you are capable of providing and realistically assess your short form writing ability.

Lastly, evaluate your organization and scheduling ability. Keeping a regular schedule is important in keeping and gaining new followers.

Types of Blog Posts

One of the toughest parts of blogging is figuring out what to blog about. Here are a few suggestions to consider:

Informational or craft posts. What are you knowledgeable about in your field, or what do you most enjoy writing about? Share your expertise with your readers. You can even share things you research for a story to intrigue readers about a project.

Promotional posts. Keep these types of posts limited to about 1 in every 4 posts to avoid coming off as overly salesy. A blog should provide useful content, not just shout at readers to buy your book.

Excerpts. Share excerpts from upcoming projects and past books. You can even share random bits of writing that aren’t connected to a book or story. Keep your work fresh in reader’s minds.

Sneak peeks/announcements. Share important news with your readers, such as new releases, awards, milestones, and more. Do share sales or deals, but remember not to overdo it.

Character interviews. These can be a fun way for readers to get to know your characters and to include character sketch information that didn’t make it into the book. If you include a picture of your character, make sure it is not a celebrity but a photo you own the rights to.

Guest posts from other authors. Invite other authors to share a post about their work, writing journey, personal story, or information on a topic your readers might enjoy. This is a good way to give back to the author community and make connections.

Interview other authors. Chat with another author about a specific topic. This can be done in written form, audio, video, or all three! The more interactive content you have in a post, the more engaged readers will typically be.

Writing progress updates. Create short posts to let readers know where you’re at on a specific project, possibly even with a projected release date once you get closer to finishing. You can include a short excerpt, info about research, setting, character development, etc. as well.

Personal stories/updates. If you are comfortable talking about your own writing life, personal life, or just what you’ve been up to lately, readers love getting to know authors on a more personal level. Steer away from rants, attacks, or venting on non-book-related topics. Remember to always keep it professional.

Blogging Tips

Pick a realistic schedule and stick to it. If you only have time to blog once a month, only blog once a month. There is no set requirement for how often you have to blog, but traffic stays more consistent when readers know when to expect new posts.

Pick a style, tone, topics and stay consistent…for the most part. Don’t completely lock yourself down on what you can blog about, but try not to be too all over the place or readers won’t know what to expect and may lose interest if only a few posts are relevant to their interests.

Make your blogging life simple by choosing a blogging/website platform that will autoshare your posts to social media. This will save you a lot of time and prevent posts from being forgotten.

Make sure to use SEO (search engine optimization) techniques such a using keywords within the text of the post. It’s also important to utilize tags and categories to help readers quickly find what they’re looking for and to make sure search engines find your posts.

Lastly, don’t just use your post title when sharing on social media. Add strong copy to the preview or social media post to draw readers in. Tell them why they will find this post useful.

Marketing is one of the biggest chores for indie authors. There are so many avenues it can be overwhelming. Breaking it down to the basics can help you get started developing a plan and getting your book in front of readers!

Websites

Websites are important, even though readers often tell me the biggest reason to go to an author’s website is to find the order of books in a series.

Readers aren’t always your main target with a website, though. So who is? Media, agents, publishers, and other industry professionals. They go to websites to find a bunch of information all in one place.

Many website services are free or low-cost for a basic setup. Popular sites include WordPress, Wix, and Square Space. Yearly hosting fees for paid websites are usually in the $60-$500 range, depending on how intricate the website is and what special features you want.

Domain name registration is $10-$20 per year and well worth the cost! A .com site looks WAY more professional than a .wix.com or .wordpress.com site.

Custom designed sites are the most expensive options, for the design work and for hosting costs.

Blogs

Blogs can be a great way to drive traffic to your website on a regular basis, but only if you’re willing to put in the time to blog consistently. If you don’t have time for that, don’t start a blog.

Social Media

Social media account are vital in today’s marketing world. Not only are they great places to grow your fan base and develop relationships with your readers, an account is required on most platforms to be able to run ads.

This doesn’t mean you have to run out and join every social media site known to man. ONLY sign up for the ones you’re actually going to use consistently. The most popular and effective right now are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Amazon ads.

Most social media platforms are free to set up and running ads can be done even on a very small budget.

Book-Related Profiles

Sign up for author profiles and popular book related sites. Unlike social media, you don’t have to actively do anything on these sites. Having a profile allows you to add your books, run ads, and gain followers, though.

Popular book-related sites right now include BookBub, Goodreads (don’t read reviews!), and My Book Cave. Most of these types of sites are free to sign up, but may be a bit pricier to run ads or features on and you have to be approved for features.

Newsletter Features

There are a million book-related newsletters out there that accept free and paid feature spots. The biggest the list, the higher the price. However, many smaller ads (free or $5) can be very effective. Most writers have a hard time getting features on bigger lists without a lot of reviews.

Making a Plan

There’s a lot of trial and error involved with book marketing. Everyone’s book is different and will speak to readers in different ways.

Start small. Test out multiple avenues and keep track of what does and doesn’t work. As you evaluate the effectiveness of different tactics, you’ll be able to start making a solid plan.