by Anne R. Allen
So you have an author blog on your website, but you haven’t posted there for over a year, when your last book came out. Or maybe you started a blog a while ago, but nobody visited, so it’s just floating out there in cyberspace, collecting spam.
It can seem pointless to put energy into a blogpost when the response is always…crickets.
And isn’t blogging dead anyway?
Nope, Blogging is Not Dead.
The fad of blogging about products for money has faded since Instagram took over that area of online advertising, but other blogs are going strong, especially author blogs.
As Rachel Thompson of Bad Redhead Media says, from a marketing perspective, “blogging is pretty much a requirement for anyone wanting to establish an online presence.”
But blogging isn’t a case of “if you build it they will come.” You kind of have to give people a push.
Here are some easy fixes that can push more readers in your direction.
1) Visit and Comment on Other Blogs
This is the part of blogging that most authors skip. Thing is, nobody can follow you if they don’t know you’re there. You have to get out and meet the people who read blogs. Commenting on other, bigger blogs is the best way to that.
You also want to comment on small blogs like your own in order to network. The people you meet on your “way up” may be the most important people you meet in your writing career. I know people who met their agents, publishers and editors when they were all “baby bloggers” beginning their careers.
Don’t consider your blog socializing time to be “frittering” or time wasting. Your networking will bring big rewards. I suggest joining the Insecure Writers Support Group for blog hopping and other author blog sharing opportunities.
2) Make Sure You Have Working Share Buttons
Most blog traffic comes from social media, so your #1 way of getting traffic is share buttons. But half the blogs I visit I can’t share, because:
- There are no share buttons at all (those are the little squares that usually have an “F” for Facebook, blue bird for Twitter, etc.)
- The share button brings up nothing but the url of the post — no title or description. So I have to take the time to think one up. I usually don’t.
- The button brings up a message that says “My Site” or some other generic placeholder rather than the title of your blog.
Try clicking on your own share buttons to see what comes up. You may have to do something techy in the “backstage” of your blog. Each platform has its own rules, so you may have to Google to find out how to fix the problem.
3) Write Guest Blog Posts
Guest blogging is probably the most effective way to raise your Internet profile. Here’s a post on how to query bloggers with a guest post idea.
12 years ago, my baby author blog went from about 10 readers a week to 1000s with one guest post. If you can get accepted by a major blogger, this can be the single biggest break in your career.
But don’t limit your guest posts to major blogs, which are hard to break into. Guest posting for other authors in your genre can do a huge amount to bring interested readers to your blog (and sell books.)
4) Learn Do’s and Don’ts for an Author Blog
Yes, you can blog about almost anything, but there are some tricks to choosing and presenting your content. Unfortunately, nobody tells authors what they are. I learned by trial and error. Lots of error. Here’s some stuff I learned about author blogs:
- Do put your name in the header. An author blog is about name recognition, so your name needs to be there to be recognized. If you’ve got a cutesy title now, just add your name. Change “Scribblings and Mutterings” to “Wendy Writer’s Scribblings and Mutterings.” If you’ve used the title of a book, you can do the same thing. Change “Deep Dark Danger” to “Wendy Writer’s Deep Dark Danger.” Later, when you write your next book, you can change it to “Wendy Writer’s Deep Dark Danger Series.”
- Don’t use an author blog as a personal journal. An author blog should express your professional self, not your sweatpants-and-bunny-slippers self. Especially if you tend to get whiny or don’t have a gift for humor. Remember everything you say is “in public” and the Internet is forever.
- Do write stuff of that’s of interest to readers you want to attract. Check the “also boughts” for your books (or books like yours) and find hobbies or other things that might interest your readers. Writing about your setting, research, time period, genre, etc, are all good choices. (Tip: Interviewing other authors in your genre is a great way to reach your potential readers!)
- Don’t start one more “how to write” blog, because we’ve got gazillions of them, and they don’t attract non-writing readers. Yeah, do as I say, not as I do. ???? It’s okay to touch on the subject of writing. Just don’t make it your main focus.
- Do keep to one blog. One blog is plenty. It has lots of pages. Use one page for fiction and one for nonfiction and another for stories about your pet gerbil. If you start out with a fantasy blog and decide to write historical romance instead, you can change everything: header, theme, photos. Just keep the url. Google likes older urls. And multiple blogs just confuse the Google elves and leave your readers scratching their heads.
5) Learn to Write Web Content
Unfortunately most of the info you find on writing Web content comes from marketers and tech people, not creative writers, and their stuff can be so riddled with jargon it might as well be written in Klingon.
The important take-away is that the majority of people don’t read on the Internet; they skim.
So throw out the rules you learned in school and use:
- short paragraphs
- subheaders
- sentence fragments
- bulleted lists
- lots of white space
6) Post Regularly
When I started out, I’d only post when I thought of it. Or when I needed a break from my WIP. Sometimes I’d post two or three times in a week. Sometimes I’d skip a couple of weeks altogether.
Why did it matter? That cricket probably wasn’t watching the calendar all that closely, right?
Turns out it does matter. If people think, “It’s Sunday morning. I’ll go see if Anne and Ruth have a post up”–and we DO, they’ll start coming by every Sunday. If we don’t, they won’t.
This doesn’t mean you have to write them at the same time every week. Write when you feel inspired, then format them at your leisure and have them ready to go. You can program posts to go live whenever you tell them to.
7) Write Grabby Blog Headers Search Engines Can Understand
Robots do not understand subtlety, nuance, humor, or irony. Alas.
But if the search engine robots don’t understand our headers, nobody gets to read our posts.
In a post on blogging mistakes, Jane Friedman said, “Google and other search engines don’t understand metaphorical or clever headlines, so vague headlines can hurt the potential for your content in search.”
So we now have to write for robots, not people. Annoying, but true.
We also want headers that make clickable Tweets that will snag a reader in the endless stream of content they can choose from.
a) Be Specific.
“An Interview with Wendy Writer” isn’t going to grab people unless Wendy Writer just saved a baby from drowning or had an affair with Elon Musk.
So try something more like “Wendy Writer gives 10 Tips on [Hot Topic]” or “What Wendy Writer Can Tell New Writers about [Commonly Googled Writing Problem]
And don’t use one-word enigmatic headers. I remember reading an article called Ghosting —about ghostwriting for a celebrity. Fascinating subject for writers, but you wouldn’t know from the title. I figured everybody would think it was about dumping your boyfriend by not responding to texts, so I didn’t bother to retweet it.
b) An Author Blog Should be YOU oriented, not ME oriented
- ME oriented: “I’m Making a Living Writing Now” or “Another Sleepless Night in My Haunted Apartment.”
- YOU oriented: “How to Become a Ghostwriter” or “5 Simple Snacks to Serve at Your Next Exorcism,”
c) Use Keywords
What are keywords? They’re the words that most effectively let the public (and the search engines) know what your post is about. Like this one is about 1) blogging 2) Web content 3) authors
So let’s say you’re blogging about how you think your new apartment may be haunted by a 1920s flapper.
- “Millie Minniver Walks at Night,” appeals to your storyteller’s instinct, but doesn’t tell the robots what they need to know.
- “10 Signs Your House is Haunted: A Real-Life Encounter with a Ghost” will get Google’s attention
That’s because “haunted house” and “ghost” are your keywords.
In other words, tell us what it’s about. It’s amazing how often that’s the secret to all this SEO stuff. Say what you mean, mean what you say, and the robots will find you.
8) Pack Your First Words With Crucial Information
50-60 characters. That’s all Google shows in the search results, so make them work hard. Tell us what the post is about as succinctly as possible.
It’s also what will show in any preview that appears on Facebook, Google Plus or other social media, so you don’t want to save any “good stuff” for later.
So start with a bang: “Wendy Writer’s apartment is haunted by the ghost of Millie Minniver.” Just say it.
9) Yes, Even an Author Blog Needs Images: Choose them Wisely
When I started blogging in 2009, images weren’t as important as they are now. My old blog header photo that went out with all the posts was just fine.
Later, the “book of the week” became the featured image.
But that was in the days before Twitter images and the rise of image importance on other social media. These days a blogpost without a sizable, recognizable image is pretty much invisible.
According to social media guru Frances Caballo, colored visuals increased people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80% and content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images.
Also it’s good to know that WordPress favors a horizontal image at least 675 wide and 375 high. Twitter also likes horizontal (landscape) images. Facebook and LinkedIn like square and Pinterest favors portrait.
But do make sure you use copyright-free images. Some bloggers do a quick Google search and use an image without making sure it’s free to use. Six months later they get a nasty surprise bill from the copyright holder.
Choose images from WikiCommons, Wikimedia, Pixabay , Unsplash, Morguefile or one of the other free photo sharing sites (or take your own.)
10) Use and Format Subheaders
Subheaders are essential for drawing traffic and keeping it. They have three jobs:
- Emphasize your important points.
- Draw the eye through the piece.
- Include keywords and signal your topics to search engines.
So if you’re writing about Millie Minniver, you want to use subheaders that contain words like “ghost,” “haunted,” and “poltergeist,” rather than “Flappers in the Night” or “23 Skidoo and Woo-woo Too.”
IMPORTANT: Be sure to use the “header” and “subheader” mode in your blog program, and not the “normal” or “paragraph” setting.
The best thing to do is check after you write your post to see if you have keywords in the following:
- Headline
- First paragraph
- Subheaders
- Anchor text for hyperlinks.
- Tags
And don’t worry a lot if you can’t cram them all in there. Treat the list as helpful guidelines, but don’t obsess, or your prose will sound stilted and boring.
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) August 7, 2022
***
What about you, scriveners? Do you have an author blog? Have you given up on a blog because of lack of traffic? Have you tried any of these tips?
BOOK OF THE WEEK
The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors
Named one of the “Best Blogging Books of All Time” in 2019, and “Best SEO Books of All Time” in 2021 by Book Authority, this is an easy-does-it guide to simple, low-tech blogging for authors who want to build a platform, but not let it take over their lives.
And the ebook is only $2.99
at Nook, Kobo, Apple, and Amazon.
Also available at Scribd, 24 Symbols
and it’s available in paperback for $9.99 at Amazon
***
FEATURED IMAGE: Wikicommons
Agree agree agree! I was fortunate that right after I began blogging, I took a Book Blogging online class and it helped me with building and etiquette. There are things I could do better though.
Thanks for the IWSG mention!!
Alex–You have one of the best examples of a great author blog. I didn’t know you took a course early on. That explains why you consistently comment on other blogs. Thanks!
I’ve had an author blog for a year and a half. I’ve tried most of the things you recommend, to (very) mixed success so far. I can definitely improve.
I’ve thought about changing genres. I have a finished manuscript but I haven’t published it (I think it’s what you call a “practice novel”), so right now my blog isn’t about any one thing.
Rich–That’s the beauty of an author blog. It doesn’t have to fit into a niche. You only have to blog about what your future readers might be interested in. Which is probably what you are interested in. Changing genres at this point in your career is great. It’s much easier to experiment and try new things before you’ve published and pigeon-holed yourself.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Again!!!
Judy–I’m glad this helps. You have a lovely blog with great posts about Central Coast Life. Share buttons would help spread the word!
Good morning, Anne & Ruth.
This post is spot-on, and I can say that from having ten years of continual blogging experience. Not to steal the show, but I’d like to expand on Point 5. I’ve written hundreds of commercial web content pages (which is what blog posts are), and I put together a lengthy piece titled How Writing Web Content Will Make You A Far Better Writer. Here’s the link if anyone wants a read: http://dyingwords.net/how-web-content-writing-will-make-you-a-far-better-writer/
And if I can add one extra point, blogging is simply a good practice/workout/exercise for a writer – no matter what stage they’re at. Enjoy your day!
Garry– I agree that learning to write Web content will make you a much more popular, readable writer whether you’re writing nonfiction or fiction. I address this at length in my book the Author Blog.
Another benefit to following and commenting on other people’s blogs is that it sparks ideas for my own work. I’m much more adventurous in my own fiction and poetry than before I started my author blog. I also enjoy exploring the actual relationship between text and image when crafting a blog post. Both of these benefits were completely unexpected!
Liz–Great point! I get a lot of my ideas for blogposts from the comments on other people’s blogs. And commenting helps you connect with like-minded folks–people who might read your blog–and your books! Text and image juxtaposition is fascinating, isn’t it. One of the aspects of providing web content is learning to use images. That took me some time.
Excellent points, Anne. A couple really spoke to me.
Learning how to fine-tune settings is sometimes a hurdle but worth the effort.
Your “baby author blog” is no longer in its infancy.
Re the first point — anyone who wants to increase the visibility of their blog is welcome to do so by adding a link to my Blog-ebration (featured on my home page for the next few weeks).
Kathy–I didn’t mean to imply this is still a baby blog! I’ve been at this for 13 years now, and we get over 100K visitors a month, and before its recent demise, Alexa rated us one of the top 100K websites in the world. I was talking about my own experiences starting this blog way back when dinosaurs roamed the Interwebz. 🙂 Thanks for your blog-sharing Blog-ebration!
So many useful tips. Luck also helps. Nobody read my blog until The Heinlein Society liked and retweeted one of my posts.
One thing I noticed is that my posts get views and shares months after they were first published. So, don’t give up if “nobody is reading”.
However, my blog started growing organically when I started giving it a point of view and introducing takeaways.
By the way, although I agree with Anne headlines matters a lot, I would stay away from click bait headlines. Readers resent them with a passion.
In the end, consistency matters. The more you post, the more chances one post will go viral and bring attention to it. Hence, don’t give up; keep blogging.
Great advise as usual, Anne. Thank you.
Ingmar–All it takes is one big share to give you a boost into the next level, doesn’t it? For me, it was being featured on Nathan Bransford’s blog ten years ago. It brought a huge amount of traffic. I think people misunderstand about “clickbait” headers. It’s only “clickbait” if it doesn’t deliver. But an enticing header is not a bad thing! If you have a post about house painting and headline it “Elon Musk Stole My Underwear” people get mad. But if Elon Musk really did steal your underwear, and you’re telling the tale, that header is appropriate.
Anne, you are so funny.
If Elon Musk steals my underwear I am sending him back to Africa. But he is always welcome to send me into space.
Ingmar–We’ll have to ask Ruth if she got to go to space with him!
Just the pants-kick I need, Anne. I’m lumbering off to do one post now after, I dunno, maybe dinosaurs, and I have one more lined up after that. It won’t be frequent anymore, but I do need to try for regular.
Will–Frequency used to be a big thing with blogs. People were urged to post several times a day. But Google likes it better if you get a lot of traffic on one longer post. So you’re doing it right, according to the Google elves. (And the elves always know best. 🙂 )
Jeez, Anne, you mean no one’s interested in my affair with Elon Musk? Wish I had known that before I wasted my time, cuz, well, he’s more boring in bed than out. 🙁
Ruth–Au contraire! We want every salacious detail. Hahahaha 🙂
Thanks once again, Anne,
I’ve now got a list of assignments to tackle.
CS–I hope your “backstage elves” can help. Each platform has its own quirks. It’s taken me years to learn the ins and outs of WordPress.
Great article. Thank you. I try to do those things, although I will sometimes get inconsistent when I’m learning a new social media platform. Do you think book reviews on TikTok and IG have replaced book reviews on websites?
Swiveltam–BookTok is definitely a thing, but I think it’s mostly important for marketing YA. But you have to consider the demographics. TikTok is not where you’re going to find the empty-nest mom, or the retiree with lots of reading time. TikTok and IG are both more image-oriented than text oriented. People who are voracious consumers of text (books) are less likely to be spending a lot of time on youth-oriented distractions.
Very helpful, as usual.
Got the missing media links, here, for those who want:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
and
https://www.wikimedia.org/
Very much appreciated! Best to you both!
Sally
Sally–Thanks! They’re not really missing. I kind of thought people could find the Wiki stuff on their own, but of course that does help.
Great post, Anne! Finding a place in the blogging universe can be hard.
For my own blog at kaydibianca.com, I do a monthly interview with a successful author where they talk about their books, their process, their journey on the writing adventure, and some of their personal stuff. I absolutely love posting these interviews. You’ve given me a lot to think about in terms of advertising the interviews.
I also write a bi-weekly post for the Kill Zone at killzoneblog.com. That’s a wonderful exercise in coming up with new and creative ideas while on a deadline. I also like writing the short pieces every couple of weeks.
Kay, you’re so right about deadlines. Nothing works better to kick-start creativity than a ticking clock.
Anne, “boring” IS the salacious detail. Plain vanilla, no sprinkles, plus he NEVER shuts up. LOL
Hahaha! “My Affair with Elon Musk was Soooo Boring” just might bring in readers. Even without the sprinkles. 🙂 Now we have to see if Google picks up that phrase, as Bill Peschel suggests below. Too funny.
They’d be interested if your SEO puts “My affair with Elon Musk” on the front page of Google!
Bill–That would be hilarious!
Let me add something that works for me. I use the Yoast free plugin for search engine optimization. They score any post I write for SEO optimization and readability, and show you exactly how to improve it. Teresa is writing reviews of Agatha Christie movies that will be published as a book, so when I put up each review, I use a keyword phrase like “reviews ‘Cards on the Table’ (2006)”. So if someone googles something close to that phrase, her review pops on the front page. From 2020 to today, we went from averaging 22 visits a day to 102. But this was a very focused effort on a narrow segment of our books, but you can see how to attract visitors using SEO.
Bill–I love Yoast’s SEO elves, even though they can drive me batty. I didn’t suggest Yoast here because it’s not available for all blogging platforms. But here at WordPress, it’s free and so helpful! For people who don’t use Yoast, here’s some of their secrets to better SEO. https://selfpublishingsites.com/2020/07/yoast-seo-secrets/
Great blog, Anne! I remember those early days 🙂 And I think – as a college teacher – I can say that this line of yours is the one I am standing on my desk screaming: The important take-away is that the majority of people don’t read on the Internet; they skim. Thanks for this!
Melodie–People skim on the Internet. Pretty much everybody. Even me. I approach text in a book, even an ebook, differently from the way I approach a news article or other text on the Internet.
So helpful, Anne. I knew some of these tips, thanks to you. Others, like key words and using headers and subheaders, I need to work on. I have a bad habit of simply enlarging and bolding the font to draw attention to key points and emphasis. Apparently the robots don’t pay attention to that. They’re so picky!
Debbie–Once you get in the habit, it’s easy to format those subheaders so the robots aren’t offended. 🙂
Thank you for these tips, Anne. I credit my longevity and my love of blogging to bloggers like you who freely share your knowledge. Happy blogging!
Leanne–You’re one of the long-time bloggers I’ve known from the beginning. It’s wonderful to be part of a community!
You hit all the nails on the head here Anne. I’m far from perfect, but am doing all these things – except my weakspots sometimes 8 and 10. So much! 🙂 🙂
Debby–Formatting stuff doesn’t really take that much time, and it pleases the elves so much. 🙂
Just what I need, Anne! Next month marks my 10th year of blogging, and I want to shake things up. I used to blog weekly but couldn’t keep up that pace so changed to monthly. I’m also in a mastermind blogging group…couldn’t manage without these supportive bloggers. Thanks for the reminder about Insecure Writers’ blog hops. They’ve been on my to-do list forever,.
Cat–Congratulations on 10 years of blogging! Yeah, we have to mix things up every so often to bring in new readers. The IWSG is a great place to network with (nice) fellow bloggers.
Thank you, Anne! When it came to text and image juxtaposition, I had to overcome my own bias first.
Thanks for the great tips. I’ve been working on using more subheadings for a while and changing the titles of my posts. I’m constantly trying to find other bloggers to follow to draw more traffic to my blog.
Natialie–Your blog Literary Rambles has a pretty high profile now. It’s an excellent resource for writers. Subheaders are easy to add. Titles are more problematic. I’m always toying with titles up to the moment I hit “publish”.
Excellent points, Anne!
And totally agree on the importance of images. I always include 3-5 in every post with special attention on the “lead” (featured) image. That’s the one that really counts and goes out to the world in social media, etc.
Harald–I’ve found that the “featured image” is the only one Google pays attention to, so we tend only to use that plus the images in our Book of the Week section.
Well, I’ve made mistake #4 with my “Writing tips and writerly musings” blog.
*Facepalm* It’s hard to find a consistent niche of things readers would be interested in, and if I go with what I’m interested in, it turns into a personal blog, instead of a professional blog.
I’ve definitely been following you and your advice for ages. I’ve branched into author interviews and over half of my content comes from notes at Conventions, I think my ‘brand’ helps make those cons more accessible for those who can’t attend. But most of my followers are definitely writers — not necessarily readers. I always think that my content will shift once I’m published, but… we’ll see.
It’s hard!
Morgan–Don’t worry. If you’re pre-published, you want to network with other writers and publishing professionals, so you’re doing it right, especially with those interviews. Once you have a book to promote, you’ll want to blog more for your book readers. But you can still have regular writing posts for your loyal followers. You can change your blog header to “Morgan Hazelwood’s Writerly Musings” and use the same url.
But there’s always the exception that proves the rule, no? Like today’s blog, Anne. I did NOT skim. In fact I read this blog very carefully. Actually, I read it twice and I took notes.
Joanna–That’s very flattering! You broke the skimming rule for me! Hahaha. 🙂
These are wonderfully useful tips. Thank you so much!!
Joan–I’m glad you find them useful!
Thanks for the reply and the encouragement!
Such a great reminder list. Thank you for this post. I know of most of these, implement some and have forgotten about others.
Squarespace in its infinite wisdom has stopped allowing social shares for posts in its latest version. I’ve only just found this out ????. I will now have to find a fix. So annoying.
Something I never do is comment. I love reading comment threads on anything I read so it’s a bit strange I never think to comment myself. Anyway. Here I am commenting and making a mental reminder to do this more often.
Tanya–Squarespace, too? I’ve heard from readers who’ve had the same problem in Weebly and Blogger. Share buttons simply disappeared. There’s a way to get the html code to paste back into the blog, but that’s too techy for me. I think if you Google it, something helpful will come up. I cannot imagine how these platforms benefit from less traffic, but I guess that’s what they like. 🙁 Great that you’ve been moved to comment. It’s fun. You won’t get cooties. 🙂
I know! Such a strange decision to make. These platforms they mess with what works and leave what doesn’t…however, I have found a fix – https://sharethis.com – you have to sign up for a free account and then choose your share buttons. You’ll get a small piece of code to add to your website, here are the instructions to add for a Squarespace website https://sharethis.com/support/installation/how-to-install-share-buttons-squarespace/. There are other instructions for about five other platforms. It all works and I now have share buttons. Phew.
Well. I didn’t want you to be right, but I know you are. lol Actually one of your blog posts was what got me started blogging, and I figured getting my foot in the door was better than perfecting drafts that never get posted for half a year or more. So my blog is up and I’ll self correct as I go. (How is this comment all about me and not about you? oh dear, I have some work to do.) But honestly, this advice is helpful. As Emily Ford encourages us, just work on getting 1% better as you go, and I already have some of the points down, so that’s a good start.
Kaylee–I’m so glad I inspired you to start blogging. It’s true you don’t have to agonize over your prose the way you may do with fiction. Just talk to people. Lots of advice on how to do that in my book (only $4) 🙂
Great advice. Thanks!
Just discovered this website two days ago and am enjoying reading many of the articles and comments; thanks for your generosity. I have a question about blogs: you mention above that we should stick to one blog. But the blog I have maintained for several years is about my late son (and my grief and healing journey), so his name is in the url, not mine. As I would like to publish my memoir at some point, would it be best for me to start an author blog with my name in the url?
Lori–You’re more likely to retain your readership by continuing with the same blog. It takes Google about 6 months to recognize a new blog, and you have to establish it all over again. At Writer Beware, Victoria Strauss carried on Ann Crispin’s work for many years after Ann’s death, still using the url for Ann Crispin’s blog. It sounds as if your grief blog was a kind of memoir, so there wouldn’t be a huge change in content.