Important Reasons Authors Need to Think About Blogging by guest @kikimojo

I’m sure I’m SUPPOSED to blog, but how do I justify using my limited writing time on NOT working on my novel? That’s been my biggest barrier to launching my blog :/

I wish your Great Dane did wear shoes! Congrats on your success. I love having a blog and website. I’m always tweaking it. Thanks for reminding me that I gotta do Pinterest..

Thanks for posting! I’ve been blogging 1-2x week, on average, since 2015. That is where most of my website traffic comes from. I probably only hit 22K pages views after about 30 months though. I do pin all my blogs post on Pinterest, but I’m intrigued by how you use it. And this: “I looked for what people were searching for on a topic I was blogging about anyway.” Not sure how to go about that. Lots of ideas to consider though!

Biggest problem for me these days is that all blog ideas seem stale and some seem done to death. A lot of posts also appear to be “me, me, me” histrionics. Or, buy my book. I don’t know how not to come up with these types of blog entries.

It could be a lack of self-confidence. Like, who am I to have anything to contribute anything of value to any given topic. This despite thoughts that readers may be interested in my perspectives anyway.

So, I’m stuck with a great resistance to post. What’s fresh? Where is anything new? I know it’s an old problem that faces us all but it really blocks me. Sigh…

However, this too shall pass. Thanks for your article.

I’ve been blogging since 2002. My son suggested it when some mean girls on a fan site disliked my writing comments or they just disliked me. Not sure. But I told my son about the flame war and he said “You should start a blog.” I said “Isn’t blogging over?” In 2002. LOL. I’m still blogging and like you I love it!

Great Post! Started blogging because it was on my list of things to do as a writer. I was on again off again with posting as I couldn’t get the content right. After finishing my first book and beginning my second, it suddenly clicked. Rebuilding my WorkPress site now (wish there was a post and info on that!!), and hoping to launch before the end of the month. The site won’t be perfect but it will be a beginning.

I understand the concept of SEO and gathering emails, but don’t really know hw to do that. Kirsten’s book sounds like it would help.

Keep up the great posts, Bad Redhead, they are appreciated.

Zoe

I see huge benefits from blogging, but when I try to encourage newer authors to blog, many of them scoff. I wish they would give it a try. It is a low cost, small effort, big impact way to show off your writing skills!

Most of my blogging is sharing OTHER authors’ books. But, like my newsletter, I post about my own books when I have new releases or news to share.
I might should look harder at keywords. I try to include everything relevant that I think of but I find myself using the same ones over and over.

Blogging really does seem like a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t you?
Encouraged by the post you spent a few minutes doing keyword research. It’s reassuring to know that getting traffic to your blog isn’t impossible.
Great info – thanks for posting!

I would like to begin by thanking you, Rachel for all of the incredibly helpful information you have provided the author/writer community on a daily basis for this month. Although I am not yet a published author, discounting a newspaper column I had in Hawaii for two years and three monthly newsletters I created and was the senior editor of, I am working on a manuscript, actually one of three, and I have been reading and learning something new every day. Okay, so I am also keeping each post for future reference.

Today’s post spoke to me. No, it screamed at me. I started my blog a few years ago, but it was slow going, partly due to the uncertainty of what or where I wanted to take my blog, and partly due to two surgeries (2016, 2017) but I’ve returned with a drive I’ve never had. I’ve been going the autodidact route with my blog, as well as my other social media sites. Recently, I decided, for now, to utilize my blog for my book reviews. And yet, while my postings have picked-up, I am not satisfied. I am well aware that I need to redesign my blog and break it into sections, and I will do this, as time permits, but I also need more, and I know I need more. Can you see why this #NaNoProMo post screamed at me, maybe even swore at me?

What a tremendous eye-opening post. Thank you!

Donna

Yes, I also had the same question as Carolyn. How did you exactly do that keyword search on searched for topics? On Google or? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for the post. I’ve had a blog for awhile but have ignored it to write and publish fiction. Now, thanks to Rachel, I’ve realized how powerful SEO is and have gotten my act together! More hits are already coming.

Thanks again,

Karen

Thank you for this, Kiki. Needed to hear it!

Thanks, Rachel and Kirsten, for this post. I’m creating an author website at present and wrestling with the question of whether to include a blog. You touched on some of my issues-it’s far more difficult for a fiction writer to tie blog posts to books. I’ve blogged in the past and would like to continue, but only if I can find a subject that will engage readers on a continuing basis. Today’s post will help me in that process.

I am a very small time blogger. Back when I started, I noticed something.
the blogs I read were great and inspiring. Then I learned something. If they started to write a book, the blogging disappeared. I am grateful for those who continue, even if it’s only occasionally.

It’s funny, I wrote a blog post about this topic. I blog as a way to improve my writing and to give a little background about why I write. So far, no one is really reading it, but that’s OK. I do it for myself.

Great post. I started blogging years ago as a sort of writing discipline or homework for myself rather than to gain any website traffic or traction. I enjoy it, but I feel like I’m leaving a lot on the table by not optimizing SEO. It’s like the difference between dribbling a soccer ball all the way down the field by myself versus passing the ball to a teammate who’s open in front of the goal – much more efficient! I can do the ‘ten extra minutes’ to research some keywords, but it will take a little longer than that for me to sort through all the details on how best to add meta tags and so forth for my WordPress site. Still, adding keywords to text and titles when appropriate is more than I’m doing now. Small steps.

I love blogging! I was told at the beginning that I HAD to blog to sell any books, but now I blog because I love blogging. I’m working on making money with it, though. 🙂 Affiliate marketing is a great thing.

I enjoy blogging. I think about what I could blog about while walking the dog, or riding the horse. Sometimes I write blog posts when I really should be working on the WIP–an issue when I have so little time to write in the first place. But the truth of the matter is my life is fairly boring and I don’t have a lot of interesting things to talk about. (I also want to avoid sharing too much of my personal life online) When I do write a blog post that hits it out of the park, I worry how I’ll follow it up.

I’m making a point of doing Monday Blogs each week, and inviting guests to post to the site, but I’m not getting a lot of hits on the site. I’m going to have to figure out how to make Pinterest work in that respect. I confess, I spend little time there and don’t really understand the value of it for authors.

Wow! Just reading this blog post gave me an idea. Taking the theme of your novel (or novels) and writing a post centering around it is genius!

I did something similar during my first book signing! It got people talking for sure.

Thank you for sharing the importance of blogging. I definitely need to step up my game.

KT

Great article. I keep on saying I’m going to blog but haven’t other than a couple of guest spots. My problem is that the things I have an opinion on don’t really relate to my fiction writing. Sounds like I need to take another look at that!

I agree with this post and I find it difficult sometimes differentiating from a writer to a blogger. Trying to write and blog is an interesting clash for me at times. x

Thanks for your words of wisdom. You have convinced me to work harder on my blog. Now I need lessons on organizing all my notes, memos to myself, and bits of writing all over the house, including my computer!

[…] readers more curious about your book. If you need any more reasons to start blogging, check out this guest post from Kirsten Oliphant on BadRedheadMedia‘s […]