Blog Changes ...or...Making My Blog Work For Me
The Marketing Director of one of my amazing publishers recently posted on our internal blog the importance of making your blog work for you. She mentioned she had seen some author blogs, and some were fantastic and some, well, not so much. I wondered which category I fell into, so I moseyed on over to mine.
I was happy when I opened it and saw my colorful covers, a list of my followers and the coolest gadget ever, a tally of every visit to my blog since inception. Over 6400! I felt quite proud and sure I was not one of those bloggers mentioned that crashed and burned in the image department.
Until I read her whole post.
I found there were more than a few things my blog didn't do. Or have. They seem so elemental, I was aghast I didn't think of them sooner. I'm listing them here. Don't be offended if you have had them on your blog a million years. I assure you, there are plenty of us who didn't.
A Home page where the blog actually appearsA Bookshelf where you have buy links for where people can purchase your work. (Totally freaked me out I didn't have this!) I included my publisher's site first, and then Amazon. I may add Barnes & Nobles later, it's up to you who you include, but make sure they are LINKS where the reader can just click. We readers are a lazy bunch, so don't make it hard for them to find you.Cover Art. Duh! Had that one! (smiles smugly)Your Bio. (didn't have that one. Slinks away quietly) I used the one I have on my Amazon Author Page because I quite like it (Also if you don't have an Author Page on Amazon and Goodreads, another forty lashes for you....MUST HAVES like a good leather purse and, this year anyway, a supercute shoe bootie)Reviews! (this was such a foreign concept to me. Oh, I'm supposed to TELL people that other people enjoyed my book? Oh, I get it now!)A WIP page. Apparently fans want to know what I am working on. Really? (Seriously, I had no idea)So, I have worked on the blessed thing for the past couple of hours. I still have to tweak it some more, but now I am elated at the way it looks! I'd love you to check out the new tabs at the top of the blog and let me know if they are a hit or a miss. Thanks! And happy blogging!
I was happy when I opened it and saw my colorful covers, a list of my followers and the coolest gadget ever, a tally of every visit to my blog since inception. Over 6400! I felt quite proud and sure I was not one of those bloggers mentioned that crashed and burned in the image department.
Until I read her whole post.
I found there were more than a few things my blog didn't do. Or have. They seem so elemental, I was aghast I didn't think of them sooner. I'm listing them here. Don't be offended if you have had them on your blog a million years. I assure you, there are plenty of us who didn't.
A Home page where the blog actually appearsA Bookshelf where you have buy links for where people can purchase your work. (Totally freaked me out I didn't have this!) I included my publisher's site first, and then Amazon. I may add Barnes & Nobles later, it's up to you who you include, but make sure they are LINKS where the reader can just click. We readers are a lazy bunch, so don't make it hard for them to find you.Cover Art. Duh! Had that one! (smiles smugly)Your Bio. (didn't have that one. Slinks away quietly) I used the one I have on my Amazon Author Page because I quite like it (Also if you don't have an Author Page on Amazon and Goodreads, another forty lashes for you....MUST HAVES like a good leather purse and, this year anyway, a supercute shoe bootie)Reviews! (this was such a foreign concept to me. Oh, I'm supposed to TELL people that other people enjoyed my book? Oh, I get it now!)A WIP page. Apparently fans want to know what I am working on. Really? (Seriously, I had no idea)So, I have worked on the blessed thing for the past couple of hours. I still have to tweak it some more, but now I am elated at the way it looks! I'd love you to check out the new tabs at the top of the blog and let me know if they are a hit or a miss. Thanks! And happy blogging!
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