These six key take-aways for successful blogging came out of a Jane Friedman webinar I attended. I thought it would be a good discipline to do a review almost a year later and see how I’ve been going.
This was October 2020, updated mid 2021. It’s now January 2022. Over the past year I’ve focused on my newsletter over blogging, which I’ve found satisfying both in terms of doing it and in building a list of interested readers. I do still blog occasionally and for those of you who are keen bloggers, these tips might help the process.
PS You can check out my newsletter here
1. Know your target audience
Research the needs and interests of the people likely to be also interested in your book and blog about those things. Sounds obvious but how often do we blog about what’s of interest to us, ie ourselves, rather than what our readers might like to hear about. Here’s an example of research I did for Keepers, which was of interest to those with an historical bent. I included it in my newsletter so that might count, but this is always an area for ongoing improvement.
2. It’s a long term and full-on investment
Jane says blog every day … wow! Still wow!
3. Own your own voice and have an opinion!
No problem there.
4. Variety
Interviews, Q&As, challenges, your reading list, how you research etc … I’ve enjoyed posting various such things to my website. My guest authors tell their stories, and here are the books I read.
5. Layout is key to retain interest – lots of white space … done!
6. Use visuals
Here’s one for you!
Done! Every blog post and newsletter item contains an image to liven things up. I’ve found Pixabay a wonderful source of free images, and I make sure to acknowledge the artist, as per below.
How does your blogging rate? What other tips have you got to add to my six key takeaways for successful blogging?