There are a gazillion writers blogs out there.

The pool is deep with them.

Does that mean you should start one?

That all depends on you.

Should writers blog?

If the answer is, “Meh,” then, don’t blog.

If the answer is, “But my agent/friend/mom/publisher says I need to,” then, don’t blog.

If the answer is, “Yes, but I don’t know what to say,” then, maybe you should blog.

If the answer is, “Yes, and I have something to say,” then, clearly you need to blog. 

I’m a firm believer that if you are passionate about something, it will come through in the writing.

If you are not interested in what you are doing or what you are writing about, then that will also come through in the writing.

So if you want to have a blog because you like to write and you feel you might be passionate about something, then you should definitely have a blog.

If you are doing it because it’s the soup de jour for all authors, well, I say that’s about 5 years old and don’t bother because the novelty has worn off.

People are now going to blogs because they present good information, not because they are looking for a marketing tool.

But is blogging worth it now?

There are over a billion blogs on the internet, but consider this:

• 61% of consumers say they’ve bought something after reading about it on a blog.
• Small businesses with blogs see 55% more page views
• Blogs are read by 77% of internet users

And this: One of my favorite marketers, Neil Patel says yes!

 

Get started with your writers blog

#1 Find a niche, post consistently, use SEO and have fun!

That’s it.

The hardest part of that is the niche. If you start a new blog, it can’t be about helping other writers learn to write.

While that is professionally helpful, you are trying to build a readership.

Your niche is your author brand.

What messages, worlds and stories are you creating for your reader?

And what makes that different from others?

That’s how you define your niche.

#2 Once that’s done, writers blog a lot of fun content

• Character Interviews
• Character histories or bios
• Setting sketches
• The writers life (how you find your ideas; where you are when you write; how you research)

#3 Use a platform that Google recognizes.

Whether we like it or not, Google is the Grand Poobah of search engines.

You’re gonna have to bow down.

Blogger and WordPress pop up in Google searches because the algorithm is designed to pick them up.

But Wix, Squarespace and Weebly are catching up and easier to use.

Definitely consider them as well.

#4 Use an editorial calendar.

Yes I know this sounds like homework.

But if you run out of things to blog about and are stuck, the calendar will give you an idea.

I’ve provided a link at the bottom to give you more ideas.

#5 Post consistently.

If that’s once a month for you, then make it the same day of the month every month.

Don’t overextend yourself when starting out.

Once a month is fine. When you are more comfortable, punch it up a bit.

Right now, weekly content is considered industry standard.

Regardless of how often you post, just make sure to post at relatively the same time every month/week.

#6 Broadcast to all your outlets.

Use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram…whatever.

But use them to help push out your posts. Do you need to use them all? No.

Pick one you love and do it very well.

Also use email newsletters (yes, people still sign up for them and actually read them, and the click rate is greater in the months that aren’t summer).

#7 Make sure you use analytics.

It’s important to know how many people are coming to your blog, how often and from where.

This lets you know if your methods are working and where you need to tweak them.

Google analytics are good for this.

Facebook Pixels are good as well when you start targeting for ads.

If your blog is hosted on WordPress, the JetPack plug-in tells you what you’ll need to know.

It analyzes most-viewed posts and how long the bounce rate is from the main page.

#8 Make sure you format. 

Attention spans run about 8 seconds when a user is online.

Yep, 8 seconds.

So, in our 8-second-280-character-video-pictures-and-games world, you must format your blog for easy reading.

White space is your friend.

Use pictures, lists, bullets, and video to help break up the text and make it more readable.

For the blog’s website itself, three clicks or less is the golden rule.

Don’t make people look around and go through a whole bunch of other sites to get to the post.

Make it easy.

#9 Give yourself a break.

Use the scheduling feature to front load posts.

Then you aren’t scrambling to produce content when you don’t have time to post.

This goes along with using an editorial calendar.

Spend a couple hours on a Sunday planning and writing, and save yourself tons of time later.

#9 Long form rules.

You read that correctly.

These days long form, 800-1500 words is the go-to.

It gives Google a whole lot to look at when its algorithm is scanning the internet to find the best result for a search.

#10 Use headers and lists.

Listicals have become something of a meme.

But the reality is that more than a third of readers admit to liking the list.

40% of blog readers admit to skimming.

The more you can break up the content, the more likely they’ll read more of it.

#11 Repackage everything.

There is no new thing under the sun, right?

That is starting to be true on the internet as well.

So one way to help your posts gain traction is to repackage them as video, audio, and graphics.

I heard the best advice the other day and I really wish I could remember where I heard it.

• But basically, this marketer said to post a quick video at the end of each blog post that basically recaps the post.
• Then repurpose that for YouTube.
• Take the audio for a podcast.
• Create a graphic to depict the info and post to Pinterest.
• Four pieces of content from one post.

Re-purposing content is so great for book marketing and keeping your content fresh.

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For more writers blog post ideas, check out these from Devin Joubert. 

For some great training and insight into blogging, check out Ryan Robinson’s fantastic tips.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”80px”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][templatera id=”3487″][/vc_column][/vc_row]