Blogging for an author, is another way of sharing your passion, your voice and most of all a great way to help and inspire others.

It’s one of many ways you can add value to others through free content marketing. This attracts people to your website(and eventually your books) because they are being helped, inspired or entertained in some way by the words you write.

Many new bloggers make mistakes starting out, simply because blogging is a whole new skillset for them. 

I was a new blogger four years ago and made all of these mistakes and many more. That’s why I’m passionate about doing what I can to help you grow your readers with your author blog.

So I hope you find this blog post helpful as you continue to grow your audience and readers for your books.

*Photo created with Canva

10 Ways to Make Your Author Blog Amazing

Many times as new authors or bloggers, we end jumping into blogging without learning what will make your blog the most effective for your readers.

Since blogging is more like copywriting than writing a book, and most readers skim blog content, it’s a big plus if you can understand and take action on ideas that will attract readers to your content.

Many of the blogging tips I learned that have benefited me the most, I learned from Jonathan Milligan at Blogging Your Passion.

So if you’ve been blogging for awhile or even if you’re new to blogging, here are some of helpful ideas on how you can make your author blog even better.

1.Decide Why You Are Blogging. As authors we are busy getting our word count in on our books(hopefully) so our time is limited. You need to pick how much time/and words you are using on your blog. Only you can decide if the time you have would be better spent writing your book.

For myself, I love writing books as well as blogging. I do have a long term strategy. I have chosen to create a business around my writing(books, online courses, etc.),  and blogging is a great way to get to that end goal.

All the little pieces of content you create(blogging, podcasting or video), think about your reason for it and how it fits into the big picture. Ask yourself how is this helping me reach my goal? Some questions to ask yourself: Will this blog post help build your authority in your chosen niche? Will what you’re creating inspire people to read your books? Will readers want to sign up to your email newsletter after reading your article?

When you ask yourself strategic questions about how you define success as an author, you’ll have a better idea how blogging(and the other content you create) fits into your goals.

2.Write in Your Own Voice. Your blog comes from your ideas, thoughts, opinions and should represent you. Your writing voice. Your creativity and originality. That’s how your blog becomes memorable and that’s how you attract readers who resonate with your voice.

The best blog posts is from content that will last for the long haul – focused around your niche. For example, the blog posts I’ve written on how do you start writing your book or 7 useful self-publishing tools for writers, would be foundational content for my niche.

3.Focus on How You Can Add Value to Your Readers. When blogging first started, it was sort of like an online journal where people would write about their life. Nothing wrong with writing about your life – people want to know about your life and who you are. They will connect in a greater way with your voice and your personality when they know more about you.

But, it’s important to think about and focus on the value people are hoping to receive when they read your blog posts. If you write a blog that is centered around a nonfiction topic – like this one focuses on helping you create a better story – then it’s good to understand and write about what your reader(and customer) needs.

4.Be okay with Imperfect. Your blog post – after you create a simple outline, write the post and edit it – still won’t be perfect. Ever. This is one of my biggest hangups. I always think I can do it better – with everything(including writing books). But I’ve come to realize there will always be one more thing to fix.

But I’ve come to realize there will always be more things you can do to make your blog posts better. Better word choices. Funnier jokes. More pictures.

The truth is, once you’ve written and edited your post, it’s time to hit publish. 

So even though you don’t want to write a blog post that has inaccurate facts or a bunch of grammar mistakes, it’s not the end of the world if there are a few typos.

And the great thing about blogging, is that if you or your readers find a mistake all you need to do is update the blog post. Simple.

5.Format Your Blog Post for Skimmers. Everyone only has a limited amount of time. And most people nowadays, when they find a good blog post, they skim over the highlights.

You’ll have more people reading your article if you design your post for people to skim through it.

Double check that you are formatting your blog post so it includes; subheadings, words in italics and bold lettering, a few photos and use a lot of white space so that it catches readers eyes as they read through.

6.Narrow the Topic & Focus of Each Blog Post. Many times when people start blogging, they want to write on big topics like:

• “How to Do Social Media Marketing”
• “How to Make Money Online”

It’s hard to write a blog post on these topics and do a good job answering questions that the reader is likely to have.

Instead, narrow your focus on the topic:

• “How to Do Social Media for Self-Published Authors”
• “How to Make Money on Your Author Blog”

When you pick specific headlines and topics, you narrow your focus and it helps you to write your blog post in a much simpler and more effective way.

Here’s the other thing to remember: Your working title doesn’t need to be final – you can always change it after you’ve written your post

7.Add Inviting Photos or Graphics to Your Blog Posts. When you read through your Social Media sites, what catches your eye more text or graphics? For many people it’s the images they see on Twitter or Facebook that catch their eye first.

When you write your blog post, readers are attracted to images that you add to your post and many times if they like what they see, it’s an invitation to read further down.

You can find great images on many websites:

1. You can use your own photos or graphics. Sometimes I post pictures I’ve taken with my Smartphone. That works well, because you are bringing more of your personality to your post and your own pictures are sure to be unique.
2. You can find some free images on Canva or when you go to Creative Commons. On Canva you can choose the size of your photo, add the text and download it to your computer. With Creative Commons, the images are free, but you need to check what type of Creative Commons license goes with the photo and then give credit to the photographer in your blog post.
3. You can buy images from royalty-free sites like dreamstime.com, bigstockphoto.com or fotolia.com(and many others). I often use Canva and get images for $1 per photo when I’m looking for something specific.

Much like creating a great book cover for your book, so it is with your blog post. You need an image that invites the reader to read what you have to say.

8.Write Clear and Compelling Headlines. Since readers who read blog posts online go quickly through content, it means your headline(title) of your post needs to catch their eye.

Your headline needs to be clear and the reader needs to quickly understand what benefit they will get when they read your post.

One way to rethink your headline is to consider what words will catch your reader’s eye on social media or what would they search for on Google. When you get ready to self-publish your book you search for keywords for your specific book on Amazon, so just take this one more step, and think about keywords for your specific blog post.

9.Make Your Website/Blog Optimized for Smartphone Users. More and more people are accessing the internet through their smartphones or other mobile devices.

Not long ago, Google decided to penalize websites that aren’t optimized for mobile users. As a blogger, it’s important to double-check that you are using a blog theme for your website that is mobile responsive. This means that your theme will change to the correct size, depending on the device your reader uses to access your website.

For this website, I use StudioPress Themes for WordPress which I love. But there are many other responsive themes you can find.

10.Understand the Power of Blogging Long Term. I believe the best blogs are built over months and years, rather than days and weeks. Many bloggers underestimate the power of creating value over the long term.

Remember, you build a great building one brick or piece of wood at a time. It’s similar to building your website and blog. Each new blog post, email subscriber, blog comment and social media follower is like laying down a new brick on your website.

As you continue to create new content and add value to your readers – and listen to what they need – you will start to gain their trust.

Remember, when you add value you gain reader’s trust. You need trust before you gain their attention. Once you gain reader’s trust and attention, you have their permission. From permission comes profit.

I hope this post helps you as a blogger to grow your website and add value to many more readers who want to hear what you have to say.

What have you found that has helped make your blog better? I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments. Let’s learn from each other 🙂

 

*Photo created with Canva

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