Happy Monday, WG2E-Land!!!
(D. D. here…) Please help me welcome back to The WG2E, Guest Author Kenra Daniels, who’s sharing tips on how to keep blogs focused.
Take it away, Kenra…
Most authors are in search of ways to apply the elusive concept of branding to their work. We’re told it’s vital, but not often how to achieve it. Some of us nail it with our books, remaining consistent in certain qualities. Carrying it over into marketing efforts and our online presence can seem impossible, particularly when it comes to blogging.
Author blogs are as varied as authors and the books they write, but the vast majority of those I’ve seen fail to showcase the author’s brand effectively. We carefully choose a background to complement the cover of our most recent release, and tack all our covers and social media links into the side bar. Some of us add a short motto to the header – a little phrase we hope will describe all our works. Then we proceed to post willy-nilly on any subject that hits our fancy the day before the post is due to go live. As a result, readers are confused about who the blog belongs to.
This is as good a time of year as any to reassess our blog and determine if it’s serving our brand or selling our work as well as our business card does. If a reader can’t land on our blog and know within a few seconds who we are, what we do, how to reach us, and how to get our books, then it’s failing. We can use our blog’s layout to form the foundation of that job. Check to be sure readers can see each element at a glance when they first hit your blog.
But that’s only part of it, kind of like attaching your card to something and putting it out the window. The card might tell a bit about you, but whoever finds that item still doesn’t know anything but the basics. The rest of your blog needs to help your readers get to know you and become familiar with your work. Why else would they bother to visit?
What do your blog posts tell your readers about you? If, for the majority of your posts, the answer is “nothing”, then your blog probably isn’t serving you as well as it could. Blog hops, memes, and guest posts are great for getting new readers to stop by your blog, but if you want them to come back, to be regular readers, they need to get to know you while they’re there.
In general, they want to get a glimpse of the real you while they’re visiting. No, they don’t give a crap about your money issues, or whether the guy you went out with last night is a real jerk. They do want to know what makes you the creative person you are, what inspires your writing, what’s important to you deep down. If a fantastical dream led to your newest WIP, tell them. Even while you write content to entertain or inform, some aspect needs to show the reader you, as well.
For my own blog, I haven’t been at all consistent with this, and one of my goals for the New Year is to remedy that. If my readers look closely, they’d probably figure out that family and my few close friends are important to me, and a few might catch that my heritage inspires a good bit of my writing in a roundabout way. And that’s about it. The rest is all over the place, and it’s something I need to fix.
What do readers see about you in your blog’s content? How can you help them get to know you as a person better?
~~~ Kenra Daniels
ABOUT KENRA:
Kenra Daniels writes Paranormal Romance and Erotic Romance. She lives in rural northeastern Kentucky with her Romance Novel Hero/Husband of 26 yrs, and 3 little grandsons. She’s currently working on one Erotic Romance novella series, and a total of three Paranormal Romances series (one with a brand new creature) alone, and one with best friend/critique partner Azure Boone. With literally hundreds of ideas, characters and mini-plots in her Ideas file, time and energy to work are her only limiting factors.
Connect with Kenra here:
Blog and Website: http://kenradaniels.com
Amazon Author Page: http:// amazon.com/author/kenradaniels
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KenraDaniels.RomanceAuthor
Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/kenra_daniels
Pinterest: http://www. pinterest.com/KenraDaniels
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6534744.Kenra_Daniels
Kenra- thanks for the great advice:)
Thanks for stopping by, Lois!
Hi Kenra,
Thanks for the bonk on the head, er, I mean the truly wonderful point about making the most of our blogs in a concentrated way. It’s a lot of work to maintain a blog, so getting the best mileage out of the effort makes a lot of sense. It’s one of those….’why didn’t I think of that already’ moments. I’m going to get to work on it this week
Best of luck on great sales in 2013!
Alex Sheridan (pen)
Author of Treasure Life and other suspense novels
Hi Sheri,
Great point! If we’re going to do all that work to maintain a blog, we’d be foolish to waste that time griping about the neighbors’ kids, lol. Time is at such a premium for us that we need to squeeze every ounce of benefit out of every second.
Thanks
Kenra
Fab advice, Kenra. I’ve always tried to keep my blog and posts themes quite focused and recently updated the look and feel to match my website.
Also, I keep the same tagline across all my social media and web pages so readers know what to expect.
“Kiru Taye writes sensual, passionate, exotic stories. Read a different Africa. Love a vibrant Africa.”
Hi Kiru,
Great advice to keep the same tagline for everything! It’s also good branding to use the same profile pic or avatar for every platform – even on sites not related to writing when possible. Readers become accustomed to seeing that little image or that phrase, and recognize it and know who’s ‘speaking’.
Thanks,
Kenra
Excellent, wake-up article! Especially here at the first of the year! It’s a struggle for me to come up with fresh, interesting posts for my blog. I try different things to see what attracts attention and readers. Tough tough tough!
Hi Jamie,
Thanks! I have a horrible time coming up with content that’s fresh and relevant too! Occasionally, I’ll get an idea from another blog to put my own spin on. More often, I look to the social media accounts of other writers, lol. If a reader asks an NYT bestselling author why her heroes all wear the same kind of shoes, I might do one on why all my heroes drive classic cars, etc.
Memes where you share a few lines from your WIP are also relevant to readers and help build anticipation for a new release.
Thanks,
Kenra
Great article, Kenra! It may be true that on the first go-around, a new reader will read the book. After that, the reads will be the author. It’s best to present reasons to return.
Hi Dale,
Absolutely right! They might stop in from curiosity, but they’ll return if we give them good entertainment, information they want, or some other ‘reward’ for their ‘investment’ of time.
Thanks,
Kenra
What is the saying? “You only have 15 seconds to make a good first impression.” You hit the nail on the head with your post. If one will look at the clicks on each title, the posts dealing with your book matter will be the highest, even though you just know everyone will love the wedding photos, funny sayings, and hot news topics!
Thanks, Kenra – I needed tweeking!
Hi Nancy,
So true! People have their own wedding pics, lame humor, and news channels
They come to authors’ blogs for the books!
Thanks
Kenra
Great post, Kenra. I had an epiphany recently that helped me hone in on what I wanted my blog to be about. I’ve decided to keep social media for promoting my work, and my blog for my fans (which, of course, also promotes in its own way). I also think it’s important to use the blog to get fans to sign up for a mailing list so we can notify them as soon as the next book is out. That way we don’t have to find those readers twice!
Thanks for the an informative and helpful post!
Hi Riley,
Wonderful point! We need that mailing list sign-up where the readers can’t miss it. I like your idea to use the different marketing platforms for different purposes. That way we aren’t duplicating effort, or putting irrelevant info in front of people.
Thanks,
Kenra
This is where I struggle too. I want to be reader centric, so I don’t post about writing. I don’t talk about income / expenses and book covers as readers don’t care about that. I agree they want to get to know me. That’s where I’m stuck. Kristen Lamb says to stay on topic, but I don’t know what my topic is.
Hi Christina,
That’s the hard part! You might find ideas by checking out the blogs of successful authors in your genre – see what they’re doing right with their blogs, or even what they might be doing wrong. Also, examine your books for topics that might work. If you write historical romance, then a series (not an everyday thing,
of posts about the day to day life of real women in that time period might be popular – and don’t forget to include your opinions.
Hope that helps a little!
Thanks,
Kenra
Very good advice, Kenra! Thank you. And timely, too, since I just started blogging at the end of December.
Hi DV, Thanks, and best of luck with your blog!
Kenra
This is good advice. I try to keep my blog focused on my brand. Last year I began to blog about living with Asperger’s Syndrome as that is part of me, and that has got lots of comments. I see that now as part of my brand so will expand on that as well as my writing and my passions, all to do with who I am.
Hi Julie, You raise a great point! We need to remember as authors that we’re more than just the part of us that creates wonderful stories. We have diseases, passions, disasters.
While we avoid griping about the neighbors’ kids, when something directly impacts our writing, or who we are as a person, such as your Asperger’s Syndrome, it can bring us closer to our readers. They see us as whole people, and they may have it, or know someone who does, giving them a personal link with us.
If I know an author is raising her young grandchildren, or has a chronic pain disorder, I’ll specifically look for her books, because it’s a personal connection.
Good luck!
Kenra
Thanks for this reminder. So many author blogs are a waste of time. And I’m always appalled by the number of writers who don’t put their name on the blog or even have an “about me” page. These people might as well not blog at all. It makes no sense. If you want to be anonymous, take up another profession. Your name is your brand: scream it from the rooftops. Also, make sure you have “share” buttons so people can tweet and share your posts. (And turn off the “word verification”! It doesn’t protect you from most spam (your spamblocker does that) and it keeps out 90% of potential commenters. I just tried five times to leave a comment on an author’s blog. I won’t ever comment there again.
Hi Anne THIS! A hundred times over! The reader should be able to tell whose blog it is by the title, the header – the author must be ALL over it!
Also, when choosing our domains, I see tons of authors using things other than their name as their domain name! Presumably, we intend to write more than one book, so why use the book title as a domain name? There’s nothing wrong with making your author name your primary one, and also buying domains for book titles or series – just use those to direct readers to your primary domain, where your website/blog are.
There are a couple of things that absolutely SCREAM amateur blogger to me. “Word verification” or captcha, and “comments must be approved” by the blogger before they appear. WordPress has Akisment for both free and self hosted sites, to block spam and it’s incredibly effective. I’m not sure what Blogger or other platforms have, but I’m sure they have something just as effective. And if a spam comment or something undesirable does get posted, it can always be deleted.
Thanks for bringing up great points, Anne!
Kenra
Hi everyone,
Sorry I’m so late checking in! I’m sitting in the waiting room of the Same Day Surgery Center, waiting to go back for injections into my spine. I hate the wait and the procedure, but it’s sooo worth it!
I’ll get to as many comments as I can before I’m called back, and reply to the rest later
Thank you all for stopping by and commenting!
Kenra
Best advice ever! Thank you, Kenra, for taking a concept I’ve never been able to wrap my mind around, and making it perfectly clear.
As a self-publishing ‘newbie’ looking to steer potential readers my way (I’ve sold over 100 article and essays, and several short fantasy stories, but have decided to continue my writing career as a self-published author), you’ve outlined a way we can all make our blogs more purposeful.
Thank you so much!
Michele
Hi Michele, Glad it helped!
Good luck on the self-publishing road – this site is a great place to get info.
Thanks
Kenra
I try to keep my blog focused so the reader can know me. I’ve recently (again — last year, too) had some major upheavals in my life, so the reader knows about my family and friends. Great article!
Hi Nancy, Yes, when we have something big going on in our lives, I think that’s worth sharing with readers. It makes us more human. On the other hand, trivial gossipy things that you’re essentially just griping about aren’t effective material. It just makes us look someone airing dirty laundry on Facebook.
Thanks,
Kenra
Good advice, Kenra! I’ve been casting about for a way to make my blog better, and I think you’ve hit on the thing I’ve been missing.
Hi Dana,
Glad to help, LOL! You’re probably like me, and were taught that blowing your own horn wasn’t polite. As a result, we overlook that fairly obvious function of our blogs/social media, and many of us miss out on the opportunity to make our blog work harder.
Thanks,
Kenra