My Favorite Posts About Blogging

Note PaperI’ve been blogging about blogging for a while now, and, sadly, some of my favorite posts on the subject just don’t get viewed as often as they deserve. So I compiled the best of the best as a reminder – just in case you missed them, and just in case you need a refresher!

101 Fabulous Blog Topic Ideas
Anything a blogger thinks, feels, does, reads, observes, plans, learns, and participates in has the potential to be turned into a post. All we need to do is understand the interests of our target readers and spin the article accordingly, then base the theme on one or more of the four basic end-results of good content: To educate, entertain, invoke strong emotion, and/or inspire the reader. Here are six basic types of posts you can write, plus 101 blog post ideas and prompts.

Author Blog Pros And Cons
Not sold on blogging? I think you should be, but it’s your choice. As a marketing tool, blogging has proven effective for many businesses. According to online marketer HubSpot’s 2012 Marketing Benchmarks report, websites that post new blog content even once or twice a month get much more traffic than those that don’t blog at all. That’s right: Consistently adding good content via a well-written blog is one of the best ways to attract traffic. While on your site, visitors see who you are and that you have product for sale. That’s the point, along with encouraging visitors to subscribe to your email list so you have the chance to notify them – without being aggressive – when you launch new book titles. And stuff like that.

Comment Etiquette: Are You A Blog Hog?
Guidelines that govern appropriate behavior exist for just about everything we do, from table manners to writing thank-you notes, and guess what? Written replies, a.k.a “comments,” left for the authors of articles published in the blogosphere, are no exception. I’ve shared a few industry-standard guidelines below, but first, let’s review why commenting is a good thing.

5 Simple Steps To A Super Blogatude
I published my first blog post on a brand new, free WordPress site early in 2011, and although I moved to a self-hosted site a year later, I’ve published new content consistently since that first post. Does it get old? Oh, yeah. Blogging requires a time commitment. Did I get discouraged early on? YES! When I first started I had huge anxiety around what to write about. Did I do it anyway? Absolutely. I eventually got more organized, I created a strategy, I focused my posts, and it paid off. Here’s the process I use to run my blog. Consider this my “model for success.” If this approach helps you look at your blog in a new way, my work is done!

My Ten Biggest Blog Blunders EVER
Blog Blunder #1: No call to action! I was a shy blogger when I first started and I cringed at the thought of asking people to subscribe. I thought if they wanted to read what I had to say every week they would figure it out themselves. But then I realized that potential subscribers often don’t consider “going steady” until you ask them to take the next step, and it doesn’t have to be aggressive. So in the fall of 2012, I finally gained enough confidence to add a sentence to the bottom of every post that simply says, “If you like this article subscribe to my blog.” Subscriber stats increased immediately. A couple months later I activated the plugin “Notification Bar,” which adds the invitation to subscribe across the top of my website, and subscribers doubled in just a few months.

Ten Tips To Increase Blog Traffic And Gain Subscribers
Confession: I’ve worked really hard to build my blog since March 2011, and now I’m sharing numbers. After three years of consistently publishing a new post weekly, my blog now averages 1000 – 1200 total page views on Tuesdays, the day after I post. My all-time high to date: 1700 total page views in a single day. The rest of the week, total website page views average 700-900+. It varies, but right now I have 1350 email blog subscribers.

How to Blog: Here’s the Plan
I had no idea how to blog when I started. Why did I go to the trouble? Because I read blogging was something authors should do. Just so you know, I’m a dedicated pantser. My MO is to jump off the cliff and figure it out on the way down. On the other hand, when I started I had a full time day job, and had to keep the blog from overwhelming my life. So I committed to publishing a new post once a week and decided I’d just have to figure out what to write as I went along. After a year of hard work, I was able to share my thoughts on how to blog … and get results!

Blog Image Sources That Won’t Get You Sued!
All original works have a copyright the minute an individual creates the work, and this ownership does not require an official registration to be recognized. Copyright applies to all mediums, including print and digital, and protects the interests of the originator by preventing others from using their work without permission. Material posted on the Internet is equally covered by copyright, and therefore can’t be used without the creator’s permission.

Note from Molly: Check out my novels on Amazon, join my Reader’s Club for freebies and book news, and follow me on Twitter. This original content is copyright protected. Thank you so much. Mwah!

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