Blogging Tip #31

So what's in store for November? We'll be talking a bit about Twitter and Facebook and the importance of connecting there. Then we'll take a look at blog book tours from the host perspective because often host bloggers have never participated in a blog book tour and don't know quite what to do. No worries. We'll help you out. This will be good for authors, too, because you'll want to be a host to other authors on occasion to reciprocate, if not tit-for-tat, then in the spirit of literary support. Being on the host side of a blog book tour is a little different. So stay tuned and stop by later in the week.

Oh, and since it's Thanksgiving month in America - thank you for reading and commenting on this blog!

Blogging Tip #30

Blogs are becoming more and more like websites, and authors can use this to good advantage. Here's a great example of a multi-page set-up that's attractive and easy to maneuver. http://bethsorensen.com/ Unless you're selling your books straight off your website, what would be the reason for having one?

And we're getting very close to the end of the blog-a-day challenge. Tomorrow, I'll give a preview of what I'll be covering in November.

Blogging Tip #29

So the month is almost over and it's time to start planning your blog posts for the next month. Oh, no! Does it never end? What to do, what to do? It's time to start brainstorming and the best tool I have for get my thoughts in a row is to create a mind map. I have a bunch going this week:

• One for NaNoWriMo
• One for Little Pickle Press and their next blog book tour
• One for all my blogs and their monthly theme posts
• One for all my holiday preparations

I've written a short post about mind maps over at the Blood-Red Pencil and added links for more information. Go take a look. How about you? Do you have any great tips to keep a spinning brain in its orbit?

Blogging Tip #28

Don't forget to use your blog as a message board when it's important! 

My message for the day: Don't forget to vote next week! If you're a woman, remember that we've only enjoyed the privilege in America since 1920, and in many countries around the world, much later than that. Click here for a real eye-opener.

Blogging Tip #27

Save your blog posts in a Word file. When you have an older blog, you can lose a lot of writing simply by accident. There are other ways to back-up your blog, but we'll cover those later. That gets complicated. Another way might be the Blog2Print option I just noticed on my Blogger dashboard. I have no idea if this works well. Has anyone tried it?

Blogging Tip #26

An important part of blog success goes beyond daily blogging. Someone has to visit your blog and read your posts. Even better, they should comment. The search engines love that. So how do you encourage commenting, beyond asking a question at the end of your post? There are four ways that pop to mind:

• Add a status update to your Facebook page with a link and share button to your blog
• Go to Twitter several times during the day and leave a teaser with a clickable link
• Notify friends in online groups and leave a clickable link and ask them to comment
• Email people on your whitelist who might relate to the post especially if you are writing about them in that post, and then ask them to share with their friends

You could also call in a few markers, but I wouldn't recommend that. Save those for something bigger. ;)

Blogging Tip #25

Today I have a post up at Little Pickle Press about Green Halloween, a program of the EcoMom Alliance. I really wanted to promote this post because the issues therein are important to me. So I first placed a status on my Facebook wall. Then I went to the Green Halloween Facebook page and told them I'd written about them and left a link that they and their friends could read. (They've already commented.) Then I went to Twitter and left a short, pithy comment and a bit.ly permalink to the Little Pickle Press blog post. Later I'll post again to @GreenHalloween so they pick up the tweet direct. If I had a contact name for EcoMom Alliance I'd also email them.  More on that promotion technique tomorrow!

How much do you promote your blog posts? Do you think it makes a difference?

Blogging Tip #24

It's Sunday, and that means I'm writing blog posts. I'll add them to various blogs and pre-schedule them to publish throughout the week. This seems to work well for me, as I sometimes tend to write longer posts that ought to be split into shorter linked posts to form a little series. How about you? When do you write your blog posts? On the same day or in advance so you know it's done and you won't have to scramble... or worse yet, forget.

Blogging Tip #23

Three weeks into this blog-a-day challenge, my visitor traffic has doubled, and on some days, I get three times the daily average. This from very short blogging tips that really take little time. Do you see how consistent blogging can boost your blog popularity? How many of you in this challenge are noticing similar results? Please leave a comment and feel free to cite some statistics.

Blogging Tip #22

Everyone loves quotations so here's my favorite for today:

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” — Mary Lou Cook

What's your favorite quotation? Do you regularly use them in your blogging?

Blogging Tip #21

Today's tip is much less controversial than it was a few years ago: should you edit blog posts that have already been published? It used to be akin to cheating. I always corrected though. I'm a writer and an editor, and when I see a typo or mistake in grammar after-the-fact, I change it. Why? Because the public judges you by your work - in this case, the written word. If you have the opportnity opportunity to correct a mistake, why not take it? You don't even have to be this obvious about it. I figure Blogger included an editing feature for us to use, otherwise they wouldn't have added the feature to begin with.

 Who makes up these rules anyway?

Blogging Tip #20

You've missed a day in your daily blogging and don't want to post two times in one day. What to do, what to do? Click down to Post Options in this blogging platform (I'm sure they all have this option) and change today's date to yesterday. Is that cheating? Not in my rule book. Who would really care by this time next month? If you want to call this my cheater-dawg tip for the month, that's okay by me!

Blogging Tip #19

So at this point of a blog-a-day challenge, you might be running out of ideas. What are you going to blog about next? When I hit a wall like this, I go to Google and do a search for "what to blog about". How many hits do you think I got for those keywords? Here's the first return with twelve suggestions:



http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2009/02/04/starting-a-blog-12-ideas-for-blog-posts/

Just the first of 1.7 billion other hits! That should keep you busy for a while. ;)

Blogging Tip #18

Since I've been blogging, I've paid close attention to what pro-bloggers recommend on their blogs. Even though I don't "monetize" my blogs, there is still plenty of useful information to build a better blog. One of my favorite online writers and advisors is Tiffany Dow. Tiff is a ghost writer, an ebook author, and gives reams of free advice to help other writers improve their online popularity. What I like best about her writing is the casual, chatty tone that makes a post from her sound like a little sit-down and chat with a friend. Get a taste of it at her blog and be sure to sign up for her electronic newsletter. Lots to learn there!

BloggingTip #17

This is a cool promotional idea. Have you had a blog book tour? How about a clever promo handout like this one by Little Pickle Press with your book(s) on one side, and blog book tour stops on the other side, complete with blog testimonials from your hosts. Excellent! I've never seen this done before, but think it's a swell concept.

Blogging Tip #16

It's good to get comments on your blog posts, but getting them is sometimes a challenge. One of the best ways is to end your post with a question. Here's an example:

Once there was a little girl named Bruschetta. She and her best friend, Ravioli and his pet dog, Pesto, lived in a town called Minestrone. What do you think was their favorite meal? Leave your answer in the comments!

Blogging Tip #15

How do you promote your daily blog posts to drive readers over to your blog? I usually use Networked blogs and Twitter and also promote on groups that allow it. But always be sure it's okay with the forum administrators and be sure you balance your blog promoting with regular conversation. Do not email notices about your new blog post unless readers have opted in - that's too intrusive. Many people get hundreds of emails daily and they don't need a notification of everyone's blog updates added to that load!

Blogging Tip #14

Another good way to stick with blogging is to employ theme days. If you've decided to post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you can create a daily format that makes it easy to narrow your focus. It's also a way to create reader expectation and with a theme, you'll find your readers return time and again to read the latest on that topic. For example, you might have a book review on Monday, an update of your own writing for your book fans on Wednesday, and the publishing news of the week on Friday.

Blogging Tip #13

Now let's talk about the most important part of good blogging: relevant and readable blog posts. If you're blog posts don't offer something the reader wants to read, you may as well give up. This can become difficult over time, especially during a blog-a-day challenge. You've just experienced one of the best reasons to blog right here: offering tips that help your reader. You can also see that short posts can be a very good thing. Do this every couple of posts and it will make your blogging life much easier.

Blogging Tip #12

Be sure to do regular housekeeping on your blog. Every few months, check all your sidebar links and make sure they still work, or that they lead to blogs and websites that are being updated. I have to remind myself about this, too, because time does get away from us, doesn't it?