BLOGGING Day Two With Tiffany Colter

Blogging: Part Two

Welcome back. If you missed yesterday’s post about who should blog and the basics, just scroll down and read what my guest Tiffany Colter, Writing Career Coach, had to say. Today, she will answer a few more questions.

You mentioned yesterday that you post blogs of note on Friday. What are the essential ingredients for writing a blog of note? One that draws readers?

Easy-offer useful content. I always ask myself the question “Would I be happy after reading this post?” I want to have a blog that someone like me would find useful. My goal is to be THE place on the internet for aspiring writers to go to learn how to fulfill their dream of publication.

Not only that, but I want established writers to be able to come to my blog and find valuable content that helps move their writing to the next level.

I offer products to help even more but when I started out as a writer I couldn’t afford ANYTHING for my writing. Finances were very tight. That’s why I strive to have a blog that will give substantial useful content for free. Money, or lack of money, should never block a person’s dreams.

A concern many people have is the amount of time it takes to write blog posts and visit other people’s blogs. What can a writer do to streamline this process so that it doesn’t dip into our real writing time?

This is a legitimate concern and one that blocked me from blogging for eight months. First, writers need to see this as a part of their marketing, not an interruption. Second, writers need to find a way to quickly do this.

I write all my blogs on one day, usually Monday or Saturdays. I save them in a file “This weeks blogs” or I date it “Blog for week of 12/23”. Then I type Monday, Tuesday’s blogs, I have my daughter write her blog for Wednesday, then I copy and paste the file for Thursday [or write Thursday’s]. The blogs of note are in a separate file that I add to when someone tells me of a great blog or I find one myself. This takes me about 30-60 minutes to do once a week. Then I copy and paste on my blog [which takes about 2 minutes] each day and spend 10-20 minutes visiting other blogs. That comes out of the hour I spend each day marketing my writing and business.

If someone is REALLY pressed for time and can only post to their blog [which I was when I started this blog], then you can write the blogs for the week on Saturday and post them during the week. That’s less than 1 hour a week. Not a huge sacrifice.

How can bloggers get more people to visit their blogs? Are contests beneficial to getting visitors?

I have not had luck with contests. They can be good but unless you’re a book reviewer who posts the review and then gives away that book I don’t think you’re getting meaningful visitors. I covered some ways to drive traffic to your blog a month ago. I’ve posted the link here: http://writingcareercoach.blogspot.com/2007/11/reaching-more-people-with-your-blog.html

In addition to that, make sure you’re giving valuable information and let friends know about it. Word of mouth is by far the best advertising.

Once an author is published, should he have a blog for published works or something that is genre specific for what he writes? Ex: suspense only, YA, romance.

That depends on how much time someone wants to commit to blogging. For the time being I’m only writing the one blog. If I find my readers want more, I’ll consider doing a second blog only if it won’t take too much time from writing.

As a Writing Career Coach, what other blogging advice could you give that we haven’t talked about?

The best advice I can give is to come to my blog. :-)

In addition to that, find 5 or 6 blogs that give good content that you trust. Visit subscribe to them and visit them when they post new content. This can be some of the most useful time you spend learning. Make sure these blogs offer content and not chatter. This is marketing and research time. The few minutes you spend each day visiting those blogs will pay big dividends when you’re marketing your book.

And don’t forget to make comments on those blogs. Blogs are a conversation, that’s what makes them so popular. Learn what you can from them.

I hope to see lots of you on my subscriber list. www.WritingCareerCoach.blogspot.com

Thank you so much, Tiffany, for your time and insights.

I hope all of you will follow Tiffany’s advice and leave a comment here. Questions? Please ask, and we’ll see if we can get Tiffany to answer. Starting a blog can be intimidating. Having a blog is not. Once you’re up and going, I’ve found that it’s a great way to meet people and share what’s going on in my writer’s head as well as sharing great news about books and the craft of writing. You never know until you try :-)

EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT BLOGGING

Blogging: Part One

The holidays are coming at us fast and furious, but I know many of you have been toying with the idea of starting a blog in the new year. Others may be wanting to make their blogs more relevant and or less time-consuming. I’ve asked Tiffany Colter, Writing Career Coach, to answer a few questions for all of us.

Thank you, Tiffany, for being my guest today. I’m fairly new to blogging myself and know that it scares many people. How important is it for a writer to become one of millions who blog?

That really depends on what your goals are as a writer and who your target audience is. If you write books targeted to the over 50 group there may be less of a need than if you write chick-lit.

I have to admit, I really wasn’t big in to blogging. I started a blog a year ago and really didn’t do much with it. I’m a writing career coach, and as such, I spend a great deal of time researching marketing principles that help writers build their business. As I did this I kept coming back to needs that could be met by blogging.

Let me say, if you HATE to blog and you hate the idea of coming up with something relevant to say then you’ll do yourself more harm by having a blog that is never updated. But, if you’re committed to spending 15 minutes a few times a week to make it work-it’s worth your time.

I’ve heard that focus on a particular area is the primary thing to consider when starting a blog. Is it better for an unpublished author to have a general focus or concentrate on one or two areas? (ex: book reviews and author interviews or the craft of writing and professional tips or areas of expertise and your preferred genre).

Hmmm, another good question. If anyone’s been to my blog they know I don’t focus on one area exclusively. Monday I post marketing tips, on Tuesdays we apply what we’ve learned by taking a book idea and saying “How would you market this?” On Wednesdays my daughter does book reviews of kids books [she’s a 9 year old who is a voracious reader….proud mommy moment here.] Thursday I’ll either have people in the industry [Writers, Editors, Agents, Publishers] post or we cover more on marketing. Friday I post blogs of note. This is a list of blogs that I’ve read or my readers have read that have valuable content.

While this covers one basic topic-books-my blogs have shown up in blog carnivals that cover business, marketing, family, women in business and a host of different areas. So I’d say that you don’t need to cover only one or two areas but be consistent so your readers know what to expect.

What blog providers do you recommend for the faint at heart or those who are just starting out? Which ones seem more user friendly?

Wow, I wish I could help more on this. I use shoutlife and blogger and am happy with both of them. I try to only speak from experience so that’s the best I can answer for you there.

Can a blog take the place of a website? Why or why not?

Wow, tough question. I actually have both for my Writing Career Coach products. www.WritingCareerCoach.blogspot.com and www.WritingCareerCoach.com I suggest authors get their domain name so they can use it if they need to.

I will say this. It’s better to have a blog that you post to even 3 times a week rather than an outdated website that sits there and does nothing.

Thanks, this is all great advice.

I hope you’ll drop by the Café again tomorrow to find out what you can do to increase traffic to your blog and streamline the writing for more efficient use of your time. In the meantime, take a break from the holiday madness, have a cup of your favorite brew, and reflect on the joy of the season. Until then . . .