Have a Holly Jolly New Facebook Year

My friends at the BBT Cafe, the social site for Blog Book Tours alumnae, are seeing different things on my new Facebook timeline. Here's a snip of that new two-column set-up:

How do you like the look? How do you expect to use it to promote your books?

F is for Friends

F is also for Facebook and Followers on Twitter. At the BBT Cafe, which is the social site for graduates of the blog book tours classes, we are friends in the true sense of the word, and continue to support each other in book marketing endeavors long after the classes end. It wasn't by design - this just evolved over time. So here's what you can expect on the weekly collaborative promotion menu:

Monday: We support each other on Facebook by posting our link and reminder at the Cafe site. Then we go to each other's Facebook pages, click the Like button on a status update we really do like, leave a comment, and most importantly, click on the Share button so that the link publishes on our own Facebook pages, and increases the readership of that author's post. Needless to say, most of us create status updates that are informative and easy for our friends to share. Something relevant. Something other authors would find interesting. Something that won't embarrass the rest of us.

Wednesday: We visit each other blogs and leave comments so that Google will notice how Fantastic we are.

Friday: We leave #FF (Follow Friday) suggestions at the Cafe and link over to Twitter to post fellow tweeter @ links so others can follow them, too. We also let people know why they should do this. Here's an example:

Be sure to #FF @Blogbooktours for great posts about blogging and promoting books. #books

The # is called a "hashtag" and if you go to Twitter and search #FF, you'll get everyone who is playing the follow Friday game - and you'll likely find some good folks to add to your own Twitter list.

It all sounds confusing, but it only takes a few weeks to get the hang of all this social networking stuff. If you don't understand, you have friends who will help you.

Yep. You got to have friends. Sing it loud and strong!

E is for Elements of a Good Blog

Our class members spend a good deal of time adding elements to their blogs for reader convenience and to make the blog more "sticky" with search engines. Arrange your sidebar elements in an order that's most useful to the viewer. I promised yesterday I would bump this post up, so here's the information I use over and over.

Let's take a look at the sidebar on this blog.

1. We start with a short description of what this blog is about - it's a quick profile.

2. Because the blog is the public newsletter for our blog book tour classes, many of the posts are useful to others interested in our topic, and so we have a share/bookmark button right beneath the profile. This is so readers can click and easily send the information on this blog to their friends on Facebook or any of a number of other online communities they might participate in. Click on the button, and you'll see the drop-down menu. This is an AddThis button which happens to be the neatest and most effective. There's a reason it's rated #1.  A later addition is via Blogger at the bottom of each post.

3. Next we make sure it's easy for our readers to engage with us on Facebook and Twitter. Those are basic links to our sites there, but you can also find pretty third-party widgets which add sparkle to the blog. I just haven't decided which one I like best yet. Always have your assorted links and sites cross-referenced on all your sites. Everyone is trying to connect at many levels these days.

4. Then make sure you have a few "subscribe" links for readers who use aggregators to keep track of their favorite blog updates. See the ugly RSS feed buttons in the sidebar? I'm looking for a nicer one like this. This symbol is almost as recognizable as the golden arches.

5. Google Friend Connect essentially works in a similar albeit limited way (and also has a certain psychological pull when many people follow the blog). Networked Blogs is another way to get a notice when someone updates a blog - it feeds through to Facebook and Twitter automatically. 

Start with a few of these basics up high in the sidebar of your blog, and then add more as you see features you like on other blogs you visit.  Why up high? Sometimes your readers are in a hurry and will only read the first post, so make it easy for them to share or stay connected by putting the handiest tools at their disposal. Don't make them search all over your blog. They'll appreciate you for it, and come back for a visit.

Even if you're not really sure what all these widgets, gadgets, and buttons are about, place them on your blog anyway. Many of your readers know how to use them, and what we're talking about is service and convenience to them.

The rest of the way down the sidebar? Lots of blogrolls - clickable links to sites that you like and that support your blog focus.

You might have an archive link which you'll want to collapse into a neat and tidy button. Intersperse other information and links as you wish lower down the sidebar.

You can also add a gadget on Blogger that magically makes all your most popular blog posts appear. See it at right? I also have links to related information like the Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever.

The last item on your list should be a hit counter and I prefer being able to see the visitor count. There can be any number of other items, but these are the very essential ones in that order.

And don't forget a contact link - if you don't want your email address on the front page, then consider adding a contact page under your header that readers must open for additional  information about how to reach you. It can be most frustrating for a reader seeking more information about you and your books (or services or other products), to not find a way to reach you.

And remember that you have lots of options for additional information categorized under Pages underneath your header. I've even included the A-Z Challenger participants under their own tab!

This post was last published on July 17, 2010. I'm now going to change the date so it appears on April 6, 2011. Because I can, and so can you.

If These Walls Could Talk

When it comes to Facebook, your walls actually can talk, and that's why it's important to visit them on a regular basis. Here's a good example why:

The Heartless Contessa Refuses Make-a-Wish Request

I have no idea if this story is true, but when it comes to social networking, it doesn't matter. The Barefoot Contessa, a popular cooking icon, has a fan page that is littered with comment after comment condemning the woman for being the ogre in this story. She has over 50,000 fans and the story is going viral on Facebook. This is not a good thing.

Clearly, nobody is monitoring her Facebook wall, which brings me to the point of this post: go to your profile page daily and clean up house. I even remove posts that are no longer relevant within a week of posting and which have no comments.  Also, thank yous from people for friending them. This makes it easier for new friends to scroll through your first few pages to get a sense of what you're about reading posts of relevance.

I felt compelled to leave a positive comment for the Contessa, and left this message on her FB wall:

This is all over FB. You should perhaps do some damage control and start with an explanation, then monitor your FB comments. Social networking tools require daily upkeep.

The same advice applies to us all.

The Blog Book Tour Daily Routine

This morning the blog book tour for Your Fantastic Elastic Brain kicked off - beautifully, seamlessly - thanks to the first host at Walking Nature Home. So my job as tour chaperone is to first leave a comment on her lovely blog. Then I test the links on her post, which takes me over to the publisher's blog.

Little Pickle Press has a corresponding blog post that directs people back to the host blog. It also has it's own grand prize drawing and readers have to leave a comment to be eligible. I'll leave a comment, as will other members of the LPP team, as this makes the blog and post more sticky to search engines.

With both of these blogs, I'll go to bit.ly and create shortened URLs that I can use on other social networks.

Next I go to Facebook and post a blurb and link to send my friends to the host blog.

Then I go to Twitter and do the same.

I also share on the Yahoo!Groups I belong to if it's allowed.

I now have the basic social networking for this tour stop in place. I'll promote the above links throughout the day, especially on Facebook and Twitter.

Also important is to ask your friends to promote. The easiest way to do this is have them Like and Share your status on Facebook, and to retweet on Twitter. If you don't know what any of that means, you don't have to do it. :) If you do, try it out by going to my Facebook page and my Twitter account. See how easy and painless that was? If only ten people do this, you have incrementally increased your book and blog exposure by thousands of readers.

You can help all your friends promote their books with this simple and easy method! It takes only a couple of minutes once the routine becomes habit.

December mini-course for novices

I've gotten requests to do a short training for novices about how to comment on blogs, as well as work Facebook and Twitter for promotion purposes. So I have a three-day course at the classroom later this month. Specifics:

Dec. 28 - Commenting and promoting blogs (this is not about setting up a new blog)
Dec. 29 - Using Facebook
Dec. 30 - Using Twitter

This is very rudimentary, but feel free to share with your aunties who are probably your biggest fans and would help promote you if they knew how!

It's free and sign-up is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours

Happy holidays!

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?

Promotion Strength

When you're promoting your new book online, you must gauge the strength of your promotions in a realistic way. Hoping that readers will notice you is not enough.

I may be repeating myself, but it bears repeating. You must have a good blog of your own on which you post relevant articles 2-3 times a week. You must then make noise about your new blog posts at social sites like Twitter and Facebook so you drive traffic to your blog. Your blog is then a good platform for launching a blog book tour or other online promotion. Check your statistics regularly - anything over 100 hits per day is okay. More is better.

I can hear you grumbling now. Stop that and just do the work.

Next, pick blog hosts for reviews or tour stops that mimic all that I've mentioned above. Even if a blog doesn't have a hit counter that you can see, there are clues to the popularity of the blog. Does the host post 2-3 times a week? How long has the blog been in existence? Is the host getting comments on a regular basis? Do they have Twitter and Facebook links, and when you go there, can you see they are promoting their own posts and driving traffic to the potential review of your book?

Finally, do all the blogs we're talking about have clear links and instructions to a sales point? It's astounding to me how many promotions don't have a buy button or a suggestion to the customer to purchase the title in review.

Next we'll talk about Twitter and Facebook and how to build your viewership at those sites. You need a serious fan club to sell your books, and you can't just sit around waiting for people to discover you. Following and (be)friending in a regular though non-aggressive way is the method you need to develop.

Royalty Statement Realities

Just picked up on Facebook and you'll likely see this post again. The author had the courage to talk real numbers about her NYTimes bestselling books. You can see the royalty statements and get a sense of the timeline in getting paid for book sales. It takes a long time for an author to get paid for sales, especially when there is little or no advance. I fully understand why authors have to write three books a year to make any kind of a living at writing. You'll also see why gauging the results of a blog book tour to actual sales is virtually impossible. Click here to read the article.

Bookmark the Genreality blog - there is lots of good writing information there. Today's post talks about the daily routine of writing.

The Daily Facebook

I asked our current blog book tours class just how they handle their time commitments over at Facebook, and Joan De La Haye left this helpful comment:

My daily routine on Facebook is this.

I first check my Friend requests (I usually have about 2 to 3 a day) after I've accepted them as friends, I leave a thanks for the request message on their walls.

Then I ignore all the annoying application invites.

Then I check to see who's birthday is on that day and leave a Happy Birthday message on their walls.

Then I check my messages - reply to any questions, etc.

Then I respond to the people who accepted my Friend requests and leave thank you messages on their walls.

And then I go trawling through my groups - which I've specifically chosen for the fact that they have to do with the genre I write in. So in my case I belong to a lot of horror groups.

I send about 5 or 6 Friend requests a day.

So that's my morning Facebook routine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks, Joan. We're all looking for good methods to minimize our non-writing chores, and this is enormously useful. You can visit Joan for more information here:

Website
Blog

Connections

Our Blog Book Tours yahoogroup is now fully in session, and the current group of challengers is working hard at the post-a-day Blog Challenge. They are doing a marvelous job, and you can visit their sites via the blog links at right. Go help them out by leaving a comment!

The challengers are also tweaking their blogs with improvements like bookmarking, even more good links for you to explore, follow me options, and other add-ons to make your visit exceptional. How often have you visited a blog that didn't have an RSS feed, or a connection to the related website, or a way to follow on Twitter, or even an email link to contact the blogger?

So challengers, if you're on Facebook, or Twitter, or any of a number of other sites, make sure each location in inter-connected to the others. Make it easy for your fans. Sometimes this means you must simply type an email address like this:

Me at internethost dot com

This prevents robots from harvesting your address when typed in the usual manner.

So take a look at your blog and make sure that all your connections flow to locations that support and enhance your purpose.

How do you ensure your fans will come back to visit your blog?