Blogging Tip #31

So what's in store for November? We'll be talking a bit about Twitter and Facebook and the importance of connecting there. Then we'll take a look at blog book tours from the host perspective because often host bloggers have never participated in a blog book tour and don't know quite what to do. No worries. We'll help you out. This will be good for authors, too, because you'll want to be a host to other authors on occasion to reciprocate, if not tit-for-tat, then in the spirit of literary support. Being on the host side of a blog book tour is a little different. So stay tuned and stop by later in the week.

Oh, and since it's Thanksgiving month in America - thank you for reading and commenting on this blog!

Blogging Tip #30

Blogs are becoming more and more like websites, and authors can use this to good advantage. Here's a great example of a multi-page set-up that's attractive and easy to maneuver. http://bethsorensen.com/ Unless you're selling your books straight off your website, what would be the reason for having one?

And we're getting very close to the end of the blog-a-day challenge. Tomorrow, I'll give a preview of what I'll be covering in November.

Blogging Tip #29

So the month is almost over and it's time to start planning your blog posts for the next month. Oh, no! Does it never end? What to do, what to do? It's time to start brainstorming and the best tool I have for get my thoughts in a row is to create a mind map. I have a bunch going this week:

• One for NaNoWriMo
• One for Little Pickle Press and their next blog book tour
• One for all my blogs and their monthly theme posts
• One for all my holiday preparations

I've written a short post about mind maps over at the Blood-Red Pencil and added links for more information. Go take a look. How about you? Do you have any great tips to keep a spinning brain in its orbit?

Blogging Tip #28

Don't forget to use your blog as a message board when it's important! 

My message for the day: Don't forget to vote next week! If you're a woman, remember that we've only enjoyed the privilege in America since 1920, and in many countries around the world, much later than that. Click here for a real eye-opener.

Blogging Tip #27

Save your blog posts in a Word file. When you have an older blog, you can lose a lot of writing simply by accident. There are other ways to back-up your blog, but we'll cover those later. That gets complicated. Another way might be the Blog2Print option I just noticed on my Blogger dashboard. I have no idea if this works well. Has anyone tried it?

Blogging Tip #26

An important part of blog success goes beyond daily blogging. Someone has to visit your blog and read your posts. Even better, they should comment. The search engines love that. So how do you encourage commenting, beyond asking a question at the end of your post? There are four ways that pop to mind:

• Add a status update to your Facebook page with a link and share button to your blog
• Go to Twitter several times during the day and leave a teaser with a clickable link
• Notify friends in online groups and leave a clickable link and ask them to comment
• Email people on your whitelist who might relate to the post especially if you are writing about them in that post, and then ask them to share with their friends

You could also call in a few markers, but I wouldn't recommend that. Save those for something bigger. ;)

Blogging Tip #25

Today I have a post up at Little Pickle Press about Green Halloween, a program of the EcoMom Alliance. I really wanted to promote this post because the issues therein are important to me. So I first placed a status on my Facebook wall. Then I went to the Green Halloween Facebook page and told them I'd written about them and left a link that they and their friends could read. (They've already commented.) Then I went to Twitter and left a short, pithy comment and a bit.ly permalink to the Little Pickle Press blog post. Later I'll post again to @GreenHalloween so they pick up the tweet direct. If I had a contact name for EcoMom Alliance I'd also email them.  More on that promotion technique tomorrow!

How much do you promote your blog posts? Do you think it makes a difference?