The awesome co-hosts for the December 3 posting of the IWSG will be T. Drecker from Kidbits, Eva E. Solar at Lilicasplace, and Patsy Collins!
"To Blog or Not to Blog...Is Anyone Reading?"
by Donna McDine
With another year coming to a rapid end and reflecting on 2014 and that I've been blogging since 2007, it's mind-boggling to me seven years have flown by since my first blog post and three months since I've joined #IWSG. Yikes, where has the time gone!
From early on in my writing career I have read about the importance of building one's platform through various methods with blogging being an essential part of those efforts. The central focus of my blog is the children's publishing world, whether it be about my journey or that of my colleagues.
Overall, I am Snoopy dance pleased with my traffic stats...averaging 475-625
visitors per day, but I'm always disappointed on the lack of comments.
I am in awe of fellow bloggers who achieve high comment numbers and often wonder how they do it.
I know one of the key parts is commenting on other blogs, which I need to get back into the groove of doing. As of late, I've been focusing more on my W-I-P than surfing blogs and commenting. It's definitely a balance I'm striving for, but without finishing my W-I-P what's the point of blogging in the first place?
If you visited and read this far, I'd like your advice on how to engage and promote one's blog.
Be sure to leave your blog URL so I can visit and comment at your blog.
Thanks a bunch for visiting and hopefully commenting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Best wishes,Donna M. McDineMulti Award-winning Children's Author Ignite curiosity in your child through reading! Connect with Donna McDine on Google+
A Sandy Grave ~ January 2014 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2014 Purple Dragonfly 1st Place Picture Books 6+, Story Monster Approved, Beach Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014, Reader's Favorite Five Star ReviewPowder Monkey ~ May 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star ReviewHockey Agony ~ January 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ Story Monster Approved and Reader's Farvorite Five Star ReviewThe Golden Pathway ~ August 2010 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ Literary Classics Silver Award and Seal of Approval, Readers Favorite 2012 International Book Awards Honorable Mention and Dan Poynter's Global e-Book Awards Finalist
Guest Expert: Penny C. Sansevieri
With all the Tweeting, Facebook Liking, and LinkedIn connecting going on, it’s easy to forget about blogging and finding the time to do so. Blogging, however, can be extremely useful for more reasons than just populating your website with content (although that’s important too). Let’s look at some reasons why you must blog and why it should matter to you!
Blogging gives “voice” to a website: In an age where there are millions of websites and millions more coming online each month, how can you stand apart from the crowd? One way is to get a great-looking site, but as we all know, sometimes budgets allow just the basics. A blog can then step in and (through your voice) give content and character to any website, regardless of how fancy or plain it might be. In fact, some of the best blogs have carried the success of many a less-than-spectacular website.
Content marketing: We all know that we need to create content and lots of it, but who has the time? Well, now you can use your blog as a content creating machine. You can develop original content there and push it out to different areas. For example, I will sometimes use my blog posts for Twitter updates, Facebook updates, and article syndication.
Search engine candy: Blogs are great optimization tools. Search engines (especially Google) love sites that are updated frequently. One easy and quick way to do that is via a blog. Each time you update your blog it pings the search engines and tells them the content on your site has been updated.
Social media must: If you’re going to tweet, or want to be liked on Facebook, there’s no two ways about it, you must have a blog. That’s the site you send them to for your complete content, where they can comment, become a follower and help you grow your tribe.
Blogger friendly: If you’re going to pitch bloggers, you must first have a blog. Love bloggers? Be a blogger first. Similar to the step above, you can become active on other blogs, commenting and sharing ideas, and attract them back to yours where they can return the favor. By the time you pitch them, you’re not just another email in an inbox, you’re someone they know and like.
Be an industry leader: It’s hard to be a leader in the industry if you don’t have a voice. A blog can give you a voice. Also, by blogging on your market, you can stay in touch with your market and hot topics much easier. Stay dialed in, stay current: a blog can help you do that.
Media, speaking: I’ve gotten media interviews and speaking gigs from my blog. If you blog enough and on interesting, relevant issues, you can gain some serious momentum for not only your website, but your career as well.
The competitive edge: No matter what category you publish under, there is always a lot of competition. Yes, you can compete with a better cover, a better book, but on your website a blog will help define you as the author in a unique way that a book category can’t. When you’re in a cluttered market, like dating, dieting, or finance, a blog can really help to define and refine your message.
Credibility: Blogs are great
