You know that a blog could be a great way to get traffic to your website and to promote your book and/or services. But rather than plunging into blogging without any planning, take some time to answer these questions. A blogging strategy could pay off in better traffic and greater visibility for you and your book.
1. What do I want to get out of a blog? Is it traffic to my website, to sell books? Do I want to make money off the blog so I can eventually sell it?
2. What is it about? If your book is nonfiction, the topic should obviously be the same as your book or a complementary topic. For example, if your book is about relationships, perhaps you choose to blog about bad dates. If the book is fiction, then you’ve got to be a bit more creative. Do you write about writing fiction? Your characters or setting? Do you continue their adventures via blog? Could this be the start of a new published book?
3. What other blogs are out there on your topic? Can you find a niche within the topic that isn’t being addressed in the other blogs?
4. Research your topic. Go to Technorati.com and search on some of your keywords to find other blogs on your topic. Also go to Google and search there, too. Read some of them for a few days. What do you like and don’t like? How can you be different?
5. Can you sustain the topic over a period of time? Will you want to sustain the topic over a period of time? This is a personal choice. Consider keeping an ongoing list of possible blog topics and commit to writing a certain number of posts every week.
6. Most importantly, have some fun with it! Blogging should not be a chore that you equate with cleaning out your office files or doing your taxes.
It’s an opportunity to voice your opinions and connect with like-minded readers. And, with a little advance planning, blogging could be one of the highlights of your week!
