So what is this "blog factor"? Well, what a few thought was a
novel idea some years ago has now morphed into something no one
expected. There are currently nine million blogs out there with
40,000 new ones being added everyday. Some are informative and
some are just downright a waste of your time. And while we hear
a lot about blogging these days, what is blogging *really*?
Blogging in its simplest term is like an online journal but
much, much more powerful. Blogs (short for Web log) is a place
where surfers can get up to the minute information on a topic or
voyeur into someone's life. Some blogs are nothing more than a
daily glimpse into someone's life, while others are so
sophisticated, it's hard to tell them apart from an online news
service.
Why Blogs Matter
Google, the #1 search engine on the net, loves blogs. So much so
that if you do it right Google will spider the heck out of your
site. What does it mean to "spider"? Well spidering is when
Google, or the like, searches your site's content to establish
ranking, and the more content you have (i.e. fresh content) the
more Google will do its magic and push your site up the search
engine. Another reason blogs matter is that they are interactive
and, if you blog on your book's topic, it will help to further
your expert status on a particular issue. When we plan "Virtual
Tours" for our authors, we include as many blogs as we can into
a tour. Why? Because if you can get into a good blog that's
seeing a lot of traffic, you can really start to gain some
exposure for your book.
What Would You Talk About?
This is the question we get asked most often. "If I start a
blog, what on earth would I talk about?" Well if your book is
non-fiction it's pretty easy to figure out what your topic would
be, but if your book is fiction it could get a bit tricky - but
not impossible. An author I work with has a series of books
starring one character - a private detective. I recommended that
he "blog" this character, meaning that the character (not the
author) would have the blog. It could be the character's diary
or adventures and stories - a glimpse into the life of a private
detective. This would give the reader (and fans of this
character) a reason to return to the blog for an update on this
ongoing adventure or story.
In another instance, I work with an author who wrote a fiction
book about right and wrong with a new age/spirituality spin. I
advised him to blog on issues related to that - right and wrong
in our society and his own personal "spin" on these issues. Some
of his blogs might be controversial but that's okay, you want to
create your own "voice," your own take on a certain issue and if
that opinion is controversial, all the better for exposure and
for getting people to interact on your blog. Getting readers to
respond to your posts is a great way to gain interest and
momentum for your blog and (more importantly) getting people to
talk about it will grow your blog like nothing else!
How to Start a Blog
Starting a blog is super easy. All you have to do is register at
a blog site (like
http://www.blogger.com/ ) and get started. It's
that easy. The blog service will link to your site; you'll need
to ask your Webmaster to add a button to your home page so
people can find your blog.
How to Blog Effectively
The best bloggers know that the more you add to your blog, the
more traffic you'll drive there. Some bloggers I know post
daily, sometimes even multiple times a day while others post
weekly. How much you post will probably depend on how much time
you have to dedicate to this. The challenge will be that if you
want to keep driving people to your blog, you'll want fresh
content. This doesn't mean you have to create this all yourself,
in fact you can invite people onto your blog and interview them,
or you can just post a one paragraph "thought" on your topic. It
doesn't have to be complicated or long, it just has to be fresh.
Also be innovative, as we discussed earlier, be different with
your blog, have fun with it. It might seem complicated at first
but once you get the hang of it, you'll quickly become a blog
expert!
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