Book Review: Blogging Made Simple: Powerful Strategies for Blogging Success

Many writers blog. Many writers don't. The decision about whether or not to blog is a complicated one. Maintaining an active blog can help authors establish their platform. But some professionals question whether it's always necessary. Like agent Rachelle Gardner, who asks Should All Authors Blog?

If you do have a blog, you want it to be the best it can be. That means learning your way around the blogging platform you choose, creating great titles and content, and maximizing your search engine visibility. (Thanks to my friend Scoti Domeij for letting me know this book is free right now.)

Blogging Made Simple: Powerful Strategies for Blogging Success is a book that can answer those questions in a concise way. Authors Michael Fleischner and Justin Fried, both well-versed in marketing and social media take a step-by-step approach to help readers make effective use of their blogs.

Chapter one helps potential bloggers with the decision of whether to blog and what to blog about. Topics addressed include: blogging for fun or business, what you should know about blogging, and setting goals.

Chapter two describes three main blogging platforms, and how to choose between them.

Chapter three gives specifics on how to set up your blog on each of the platforms. Choosing a theme, layout, and ways of content management are included.

Chapter four goes into managing your blog. This section covers making strong headlines, creating dynamic posts, using images and videos, and even the consideration of monetizing your blog, among many other topics.

Even though I'm not a new blogger, I definitely learned a few things about the Blogger platform, and some of the ins and outs of search engines that I wasn't clear on before. It's a quick read, but worthwhile.

What's your favorite tip for improving your blog? Mine is remembering the best way to tag photos so they show up on search engines. How about you?

 Update: here's a bonus I just found: a double-sided printable blog post planner. It's a free download.

Keep from getting sued for the photos on your blog

I read agent Kristin Nelson's post on Friday, where one of her clients shared how she was sued for posting a photo on her blog. The story is a cautionary one for all of us who use photos to make our blog posts more interesting.

Roni Loren, author of Crash Into You, became embroiled in a lawsuit after posting a photo on her blog. The photographer (within his rights) asked her to take it down, but subsequently sued Loren for damages. Read the whole story in Loren's blog post. The comments are worth reading, too.

Loren admits she was in error, though she had no idea that being ignorant of the law is not an excuse. She shares tips with bloggers to prevent them from finding themselves in the same situation she encountered. Loren gives links to sites where bloggers can find photos that are truly free to use, and also shares more information from her friend Meghan Ward.

It's important for those of us who blog to read this information carefully, and use it to help decide what we share on our blogs. But not only there, because the rules of copyright also apply to Facebook, Pinterest, and Tumblr, among many others.

As writers, we'd hate for someone to share our words without attribution, permission, or compensation. Photographers endure this all the time. For myself, I use either my own photos, or those from Stock.xchng, a free site with a huge number of images.

How do you handle images on your blog? Do you stay away from them completely? Only use your own? Or pay for the ones you use?

Where do your blog readers come from?

Just a quick post today. I'm off to spend an unknown number of hours at the Department of Motor Vehicles, since my sister-in-law lost her license.

I had to chuckle today, though. As a writer, storyworld is a huge part of a novel. And three of my blog readers came from towns famous for the stories that took place there. Can you guess which towns they are? The answers are at the bottom of the post.

Photo Credit: Stock.XCHNG

Photo Credit: WackyStuff on Flickr

Photo Credit: Stock.XCHNG

The towns are Bethlehem, Bremen (Germany), and Nottingham, England. Did you guess all three? If you have a blog or website, what are some of the unusual locations of your readers? I've discovered readers in Iceland, and tiny islands I've never heard of before.

How a Blog Establishes a Fiction Writer's Platform

Let's face it. Non-fiction writers have it easy. They can slap up a blog on the topic they write about, they can solicit speaking gigs and radio interviews, and suddenly they're an expert. Publishers love this stuff. So many opportunities to sell books.

But what about the poor fiction writer? How can a novelist spin a blog into something readers will want to check out? Here are a few ideas:

1. Decide where you're different. Do you have a theme that runs through your novels? Maybe your main character is always a single parent. Or there's recurring story threads that have to do with human trafficking. Maybe all your novels take place on the coast of New England. If you can find something your novels have in common, you've found a great blog topic.

2. Generate genre ideas. If you write mysteries, pull together posts that would interest your readers. Like interviews with law enforcement, or medical personnel. An analysis of blood spatters or fingerprints. Whatever genre you write, both writers and readers want to know more. And you've probably already done most of the research. This is also a great way to do a group blog. Find a few writers in your genre and take turns posting what you've learned.


3. Rein in the resources. In your travels through the world wide web, you've come across websites that others probably won't bump into in their lifetime. Set your blog up to share those, and the nice byproduct is you'll have all your favorites collected in one place. This is one of my ulterior motives!

Try to title or subtitle your blog with the focus you've decided on. That way, when a reader is scanning Google results, they'll know what your blog is about.

If you're still having trouble coming up with a direction for your blog, check out these great posts:

Author Jody Hedlund on The Purpose of Blogging for Fiction Writers

Michael Hyatt on 13 Blog Post Ideas for Novelists

Does your blog have a focus? What inspires your posts?