Keli Gwyn wrote such an extensive comment on my last post about blogging that I've gotten her permission to post it as a standalone. Here are here wise words for those of you dabbling in blogging:
Mary, Thanks for the sound advice on blogging. You are right on. I'm living proof.
Mary, Thanks for the sound advice on blogging. You are right on. I'm living proof.
When I received a call from Romance Writers of America® in March of this year telling me two of my manuscripts were finalists in the inspirational category of the Golden Heart®, I entered a whole new world. Before that I'd spent two years in isolation producing five historical Christian romances. All of a sudden I became visible.
Having heard that editors and agents prefer to take on new writers who are actively promoting themselves, I rushed into the Blogosphere. I had no idea what I was doing or why. Setting up that first blog was just something I thought I "should" do.
I soon became discouraged. Having only one or two visitors a day who happened to wander in to read my infrequent posts taught me that I was missing something. I sought to learn more about blogging.I asked God to show me what I had to offer, and I searched for highly successful blogs with relevant content, such as yours and Randy Ingermanson's (http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog) I saw what worked and what didn't. And I listened for direction from the Lord.The result was a second blog, Romance Writers on the Journey (http://keligwyn.wordpress.com/), where I interview as-yet-unpublished and debut romance writers. After just two months, the blog made the Growing Blogs list at Word Press (#78 out of 100 on July 18.)
What did I do differently this time around? Everything.
I took the focus off myself, found something no one else was doing, and embraced something I'm passionate about: offering encouragement and support to others en route to publication in the romance genre.I set up a schedule, posting interviews on Mondays and Thursdays, so readers know when to check back. For example, Carla Capshaw, last year's Golden Heart inspirational winner visited July 21. Janet Dean, two-time GH finalist, will visit after the RWA® national conference taking place July 30-August 2. She’ll talk about her journey to publication and her debut novel with Love Inspired Historicals, Courting Miss Adelaide, due out in September.
Blogging for me is now all about the talented, generous writers and authors who are my guests, and the wonderful women (and four brave men) who have come to visit.Thanks for your part in helping me on my journey to publication, Mary, and for welcoming me to Wanna Be Published.
Keli Gwyn
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10 comments:
GGGRREEEAAAAT POST! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for a timely post. My blog made its grand entrance into the blogosphere a couple of months ago. I've been wondering how I can get more traffic to my site. Your tips gave me much to chew on.
Blessings,
Susan :)
www.susanjreinhardt.blogspot.com
Elizabeth and Susan, thanks for stopping by. Mary really knows what she's talking about when it comes to blogging, Susan. She's also a wealth of information on writing. I visit her site regularly.
Hi Keli,
I love your attitude. I enjoyed spending time with you on your blog last week. So fun!! And now, thank you for introducing me to this one.
Mary, your blog looks great. I look forward to dropping by often.
Blessings to you both!
Thanks for you candid insight. I'm about to launch my web site and blog and struggle with where to start. Besides my mom, husband and a few close friends, who on earth will come to read what I have to say!
I love how you turn the focus to others. Great advice for me.
I wonder if you could talk about blog contests. I see several bloggers using this approach to generate readership. I think it might be a helpful to draw people to the blog, especially in the early stages. Have you held contests on your blog and if so, had any success with them?
I appreciate your insight!
Kristin
Thanks so much for posting her comments as a stand alone article. I have recently started growing my blog through leaving meaningul comments, but on days when I can't comment, I notice much lower numbers. It isn't realistic for me to spend hours commenting everday, so these tips are much appreciated!
I still don't understand how she got the masses to come to her blog. How did they know she was there to visit? I have about 40 hits a day...3-12 comments a day. My blog is devotional in nature, with a humorous edge.
So where do you go to "advertise" your blog to get people to visit?
Carla, I was honored to have you as my guest. I'm glad I helped you find Mary's wonderful blog. She's got a great heart and shares her helpful information so freely.
Kristin, each time I have a guest, I hold a drawing for those leaving comments for the guest blogger. I've had some guests offer prizes themselves, but they ask me to hold the drawing and forward the winner's contact info. I do my best to tie into something related to the guest or her post, but that's not always possible. If you scan through my past guests' posts, you'll see what items I've given away so far.
Audra, I think leaving comments means a great deal to those who've put up posts. I appreciate all those who do so. And sometimes when you least expect it, a comment can lead to something wonderful--like being invited to guest blog on Mary DeMuth's great site. :-)
Kelly, when I have a guest, I put promo spots on some of the loops I belong to. I also put a notice on my Facebook page announcing my guest and on the wall of any guest with a FB page inviting their visitors. In addition, my guests have been great about putting promo spots on their own blogs, websites, loops, publisher groups, etc.
Keli, excellent post on blogging! I look forward to being your guest close to the release of my debut novel Courting Miss Adelaide.
A suggestion I'd make for upping blog traffic is to link to everything you talk about in your post. In blogger there's a little icon above where you write new posts that you can click on to add the url for any book, author or organization you refer to. If you talk about Romance Writers of America, for example, and add the link, anyone googling RWA will be directed to your blog post--if you make RWA clickable by going out and capturing the link.
Mary, I love your books! Will you be at ACFW this year?
Janet
Janet, I'm eager to learn more about your journey to publication--and to read Courting Miss Adelaide and Courting the Doctor's Daughter. I love historicals set in your time period, so much so they're what I write, too. :-)
Great idea about linking to urls. I'll have to remember to do so more often.
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