Blogging Tips from My Marketing Perspective

by Sandy Penny

(30 years of corporate marketing with a specialty in company communications/newsletters/blogs.)

This is for business blogs:

1. Don’t beat around the bush and write a long intro to your post. Your readers came based on the title subject, get right to the heart of that information. Engage the reader immediately or they’re likely to close the window. Short attention spans and time crunches rule. If you tell a short life story, make sure it directly applies to the subject. Save those cute personal items for your personal blog.

2. Use the fewest words to say the most. Long, meandering sentences won’t hold the multi-tasking minds of today’s business reader.

3. Choose subjects that are important to you so that your passion and knowledge will shine through and set you apart from the competition.

4. Do use interesting visuals, photos, drawings, etc. Unless your blog is about pets, don’t post your pet’s pics. Unless your blog is about fashion, don’t post over-the-top photos of yourself. Keep it businesslike, in keeping with your particular business.

5. Always respond to those who comment on your blog, unless they are spammers, then just delete them and block them. Responding may open a dialogue with a new client, and it shows you care about your readers’ opinions.

6. Check your grammar and spelling and your facts. You readers will respect you more and come to rely on your correctness.

That’s it for now . short, sweet and to the point.

Click the book cover below to go to the Amazon info and book buying page.
Social Media Fundamentals

Yola offers automatic translation for mobile devices and great easy to use sitebuilder tools:

Create a Great Blog

Create a Great Blog . by Sandy Penny and others

I saw this great blog post today by Rachelle Gardener, 13 Simple Tips for a Better Blog

Focus first on improving the content of your blog rather than any fancy strategies for increasing traffic. The better your content, the more your blog readership will naturally grow.
Make sure every post contains a single main idea. It can be supported by related ideas, but do not ramble. One idea.
Keep your posts brief. As little as 300 words can make a good blog post. Try not to go over 500 words, occasionally 600 but don’t do longer posts too often.

Those were Rachelle's first 3 tips. For more, go to her blog, but first, read on for my 8 top tips to create a great blog. 
 
Decide why you're writing the blog first.
Are you just sharing? Do you want to monetize it and make some money?
Are you trying to get out important information?
Are you building your name and reputation in the marketplace?
The answers to these questions will change the approach to the content and change the layout you choose for your blog. 

Target your audience carefully. If you write for too broad an audience, it will water down your appeal and do little to establish you as an expert.

Only choose a subject you will want to continue to write about for a long time. If your subject is too narrow, broaden it a bit to allow you to explore more facets. 

Write several posts at one time and divide them into small chunks you can publish as a series. A series will bring readers back to the blog more often if it's a popular subject. And you get to write when you're feeling it, and if you're not, just grab something you wrote previously and post it to keep the flow going. 

When possible, tie your subject to a current event that people are searching already. Just be sure that the content is relevant to the current event, or it will just make the reader frustrated. 

Monetize your site for your own benefit. Become an Amazon (or other site) affiliate and post links to products that you truly like and recommend and share them with your community of readers who are likely to enjoy some of the same things and will appreciate your recommendations. If readers can rely on you to only share good products and services, they will look to you for future advice. Build that trust. Don't waste this opportunity for semi-passive income.  

Share your blog on Facebook and link it to your Twitter account, so every time you post on your FB account, it auto posts to Twitter. You get double the publicity for half the effort.  

Make sure your blog is smart phone friendly. This is the wave of the future, and now is the right time to ride that wave. Blogger offers a variety of templates that are flexible for the user, depending on how they're looking at the site. Websites need to consider this now as well.


... To be continued another day. Thanks for reading. Later, my friends.

Visit my other sites:

http://simplewebclasses.com
http://writingmuse.com
http://sandypenny.com

Sandy Penny is a senior marketing writer with more than 30 years experience in Fortune 500 companies. She now devotes her time to helping small heart-centered businesses launch online and market their products and services on the web. She teaches Yola sitebuilder to non-techie business owners.



 

6 Great Indie Book Marketing Tips

Indie Book Marketing Tips

by Sandy Penny, writer, editor, intuitive marketing consultant

As I've been working with a self-published book author to market her book, I've been learning a lot about indie marketing.

1. You may be snubbed by the bookstores who only want name brand authors/publishers.

If this happens, you'll have to get creative and find other places to start your book signing tour. Is there something in your book that relates to a product, a location or a shop or restaurant? If so, contact that establishment and schedule a book signing event that will help their business as well as yours.

With Dawn Ireland's mystery novel, Hot Chocolate, I started with chocolate shops in the area where the book takes place. And, I contact the event's managers for the bookstores in the neighborhood where the story takes place. In every instance, I looked for why someone would be interested in the book and approached from that direction.

2. While looking around on the Internet for mystery book sites and membership groups, I found that many of them were excluding self-published authors as well. What's up with that? Don't they know the wave of the future is self-publishing? Don't they see the opportunity to affiliate with online marketers and get paid for the book sales?

When I recognized that a void existed in indie mystery book marketing sites, I created one. I built a site, monetized it with Amazon links, and enlisted authors, readers and bloggers from linked-in, Twitter and Facebook to provide me with recommendations for books they love, books they've written and mystery blogs they write. This cut down the time it would take me to find them all. It also allowed me to fulfill one of my missions, to help other authors get published while building a platform for my future work. It also gave me new resources with whom to share Dawn's book. You should at least have a blog for your book that shares insider info on the book, or just snippets from the book and links back to the sales page. People love the backstory.

3. Set up talks at local venues. Again, find organizations that might have something to do with something in your book. If your hero belongs to the country club, schedule a talk/book signing at the country club. If your hero is a teacher, speak at the local teacher's organization. Step back from your book and look at it from a marketing viewpoint. Who would be interested in the subject you've written about? Then, go in that direction. It does not have to be a traditional book signing. Go for something interesting that will draw more people. In the instance of Hot Chocolate, what could be more fun than an evening of chocolate and murder?

4. Find festivals and seminars that are good companions for your book's subject matter. Get a booth, or volunteer as a speaker on a subject related to the book or the research you did or something that fits their criteria. Then, you can sell/sign books after the talk while you discuss subjects you're already interested in.

5. Make up beautiful bookmarks with your book buying link or book blog link and distribute them to local bookstores, especially those that are heavily selling your genre. Even if your book is not in their store, they won't be able to resist a beautiful bookmark. Instruct them to give one to every purchaser. That way, those who already bought your genre books will see your book link. You can buy cheap ones through Vistaprint online. Or print and cut your own if you're so inclined. There are so many beautiful royalty free images online these days.

6. For digital readers: if you have people who do most of their reading on a digital devices, offer to send them a signed card that is imprinted with the book cover and personally signed by you when they download the book. This sets up a more personal connection with your readers and increases the chance of their purchasing your subsequent work. Everybody likes to feel like they know a celebrity.

OK, that's enough for now. Keep writing, keep publishing and keep sending me your new mystery book links, your favorite mystery recommendations, and your favorite mystery blogs:

http://sweetmysterybooks.blogspot.com

Click the book cover to get your FREE copy from Amazon. 

It's a big help to those who want to self-publish.