When I finally came to my senses and ditched my first blog put together for me by my first publisher in one of the non-cheap “promotional packages,” I searched for ways to improve my new blog, put together myself on Blogger. While I’m still learning, I can say that I’ve come a long way in five or six months.
What went through my mind: OK, I have a blog. Uh, hey everybody. Uh, check out my books. Uh, here’s a fun video. (I still like the one about making the little green lizard warriors). Uh…hey, my next book’s “about to about to” come out. Uh…well, you get the point. Seeing my blog was almost as painful as the Seinfeld episode when they lost the car in the mall parking lot.
Somehow, during my cyberspace voyage, I ran into “The Blog Farm.” I joined, liked the blogs presented, and threw my hat into the ring. Syndication has a donation fee, and compared to self-publishing (what I did for “Act of Redemption”) it’s a Diet Coke.
A few weeks in I got an email from the administrator offering to return my donation because of my useless blog posts. What? Refund money? Who does that?
Reality finally hit that links and videos don’t make much of a blog. People go to blogs looking for content. So, I began creating content. As time went on, The Blog Farm helped me with the graphics to optimize it visually while keeping my preference to keep it simple. Since then, my blog hits are over 7K visits. I don’t have hundreds of followers. I don’t get dozens of comments. Is that bad? Well, I don’t usually comment on blogs either. (Those security-code thingys weird me out, OK, stupid, I know). Does it help sell books? I don’t know and I don’t post ads.
Some publicists tell me a simple Blogger site isn’t really catchy, and they favor more comprehensive websites. I understand that, but I’ve been there, done that, and so far prefer to have simplicity and user-friendly control of the content. For a new author of two novellas and articles, it’s plenty for me at this point of my writing journey.
I’m not going to say, “Join The Blog Farm” or be a loser. There’s hardly a shortage of sites/articles to help you blog. For a new author, I suggest taking a look at it, maybe try having them syndicate your blog for a few months, and see if it works for you. I know it’s helped me. And I’m still learning.
If it works, then it works. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting. I've never heard of it. Need to check that out. Thanks!
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