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Starting a Blog...
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rachel, x
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Jan 04, 2014 09:13PM
Hey guys. I know quite a lot of you have blogs and I have been simply dying to get one for myself. Just wondering how to do it?? I am not the most techno girl and I don't have a job yet so I cannot spend too much money on it. (I would love to if I could!) so was wondering how I would go about starting my own blogs?? Any tips?? Anything would be appreciated.
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I created my first blog about 7 months ago, I think. I have to ask a lot of questions to Jona since her blog is also on WordPress. I still have a lot of questions, though. It's kind of trial and error for me. I don't think this is helpful for you :D Let's hear from another member who are more expert and experience in blogland.
Blogging may be overwhelming, exciting, and confusing at first, but it's a looot of fun! The most popular platforms out there is blogger and wordpress. I say go for wordpress.com because for me, it's easier to use. It's also free and there are templates made that you can just tweak up (say, change the header, colors, etc). Also, the best thing to do I think is to go blog hopping. I've been blogging for over a year, and when I started, I knew nothing and had to figure all of the stuff on my own. What I did is I went to different blogs and see how they ran their own blogs so that way I can visualize in my head of how I want my blog to run and look like.
To know other bloggers, I say start a twitter account and follow a lot of bloggers, authors, and publishers. They are all so super nice!!! A lot of bloggers r willing to give advice.
If u have more q's just ask! There are also book tours and u can request review copies on Netgalley.com and Edelweiss.abovetheteeeline.com.
@Leigh I know it all seems a little overwhelming at the moment. Wordpress, ah? I go a give it a look then. :))Yeah, that has been what I have doing this year (my first year on GR) and I am so inspired by all the Gr firends' blogs. What is your called and I'll check it out??
I might get a twitter account then. I just got Tumblr because I heard that good too.
I tried to get an Netgalley account but you have to own a blog... but I have been able to read some ARRs from authors here on Goodreads. Thanks for your help Leigh. I will definitely check out wordpress then. Thanks again! :))
My blog's called http://littlebookstar.wordpress.com :) and yeah I love wordpress! Here r some other blogs u might wanna check out. They're amazing! Some of them offers tutorials and tips for new bloggers:
booknerd.ca
nosegraze.com
novelbliss.com
ohchrys.net
gypsyreviews.com
Mod
I personally use blogger rather than WordPress because blogger allows you to use html, which can make things so much easier. I know some people prefer WordPress, but you'll find its 50:50, most people I know use blogger.
@Leigh Okay I'll check them out.@Sarah Yeah, I know and I do have a Netgalley account but I haven't had ANY success with getting books yet. Oh well I try and find some of them now.
I have heard much more about Blogger than Wordpress so I might check that out instead. Thanks for the advice! :))
Rachel, can I use this this thread to ask Leigh and Sarah for my own sake? :D
Mod
To get more approvals on netgalley have you linked your goodreads+facebook profiles? Have you reviewed some 'read now' books? Have you told them how many friends/followers you have on goodreads+facebook?
You will get more approvals the more followers you have, but she should be able to get some without a blog, it just depends on what your requesting and who from. Some publishers are tough. I never, ever get approved by penguin, and several US publishers only approve US reviewers - scholastic, bloomsbury, penguin USA all only have rights to give galleys within the US. Your best bet is to try requesting from australian publishers - https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/lis...
https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/lis...
@Rachmi Of course!@Sarah Yeah, I really have no idea what to do so I thought I would ask some advice. I am not doing anything tomorrow so looks like I'll be exploring and hopefully getting myself a blog started!
I don't have a Facebook for my reviews. I do have my Goodreads and Tmublr up though I haven't included my followers which I don't think would be much more than 120. Oh okay. Tomorrow I'll check that all out. Thanks for all this help. It really is invaluable. I post back tomorrow and let you know my success.. or not!
@Sarah, can you take a look of my blog and what do you think? it's http://notalostwanderer.wordpress.com/ I feel it lack of something but I can't figure it out what it is. Most of my friends' blog are on Blogspot I followed them but they don't appear on my home page. Do you know why?@Leigh, I guess I can ask the same question above to you too.
@Rachel, I don't have many follower on both GR and blog, either. That's why I didn't mention it on NetGalley account. I think it's one of reasons they decline me a lot, lol
I'll follow this thread closely! I've started a blog two months ago, but still don't know what I'm doing!
I want to start a blog but I don't know of any free blogging sites
Heather, there's quite a few out there. The two biggest free blogging platforms are wordpress and blogspot. There's also Livejournal, but never mind that one.
Mod
@Sarah Yeah, I really have no idea what to do so I thought I would ask some advice. I am not doing anything tomorrow so looks like I'll be exploring and hopefully getting myself..."
120 followers is a good start. some indie authors would be really appreciative of that!
@Tatiana, I think I already followed your blog, it's on WordPress, right? I remember your reviews appear on my home page last December.
How do I know how many followers I have on Goodreads?
Rachmi wrote: "@Tatiana, I think I already followed your blog, it's on WordPress, right? I remember your reviews appear on my home page last December."Yes, you did! Thanks!
@Tatiana, you go to your account page (just click your profile picture), it's on your right side, below people whom you are following.
Mod
It looks okay to me. I'd say that you need to post a lot more frequently if you want to get more approvals though. Publishers like blogs that are updated daily, as it means that people can visit daily and find new content. A lot of people fill the days in with things like stacking the shelves, waiting on wednesday and stuff like that. things that are fairly easy to sort out, and keep the content new.
Another way to improve your number of followers is to comment on other blogs, and have people come back and follow you. Hosting book blitzs and stuff is another good one because you get visitors to your site, and often get giveaways that cost you nothing and attract more people. I use http://xpressobooktours.com/ for book blitzes. I'm kinda lost when it comes to wordpress though!
@Sarah, I only have 28 followers on GR and I think less than 50 blogger on my blog :)
I was planning to design anyone's blogs for free on April-May 2014, as my practice training for Web Design. I major in computers and I'd want to specialize it in the future. I'm very knowledgeable about HTML, CSS, and Blogger so if you have any questions about codes I'm glad to help you out, Rachel. I'll find time as much as possible. I'd really like to help you out. :) [Wow this sounded like a job interview, haha!]As for tips, I'd say be very active. Have a Bloglovin' account and follow other book bloggers, so they can follow you back, too. It'd also be effective to 'advertise' your blog if you comment on their posts frequently and just talk about books, show you're interested, talkative amd willing to discuss.
Aside from Book Reviews, bloggers or readers might get interested if you also post other stuff related with books. You can do memes — Waiting on Wednesday, or whatever's popular in the book bloggers today. Join challenges and book tours. If lucky, do a Q&A with an author. Feature your reading habits, favorite heroines, upcoming sequels or new releases, recommendations, etc. Basically, keep it stuffed. I don't know what you prefer but if you ever want a blogging partner that'd be good too, as you could exchange ideas on how to improve your site.
It also helps if you grab their blog buttons and help advertise their blog and they'll do the same with you, too. Like affiliates.
I never owned a book blog, I'll be partnering with Martha in the future and wait 'til we're both free to set everything up but I used to own a personal blog, like a diary, and these are what I did and learned from other bloggers and I'd say it's very effective.
Hope this helps! Sorry if it's long, though. Haha!
Mod
I need to do a proper blog too, but i'm useless, haha. I have 347 followers on my tumblr blog, but there's no button on show for other people to see how many i have.
So i really need a proper one.
Either I don't have any followers on GR or I'm looking in the worng place
There's a widget to show how many followers you have but it's been almost a year since I logged in to Tumblr so I may have forgotten the codes. Let me check my bookmarks...
Tatiana - I'm on mobile so I can't see your full profile but it's in the right sidebar, below the little thumbnails of those YOU follow, it says *number* people follow you. It's just a text.
Mod
Tatiana wrote: "Either I don't have any followers on GR or I'm looking in the worng place"It's under your friends list:
Mei wrote: "There's a widget to show how many followers you have but it's been almost a year since I logged in to Tumblr so I may have forgotten the codes. Let me check my bookmarks..."Ooh! Thanks! :)
@Sarah, I think that's my main problem. I don't post regularly. If I'm lazy, I won't post anything for months, lol and I'm not active either. I've join blog tour and blog blitz, though. But didn't affect me much. The host only stop by on my blog one time after I posted and she didn't keep up on me or reply my message. I feel like I was there just to fill the spot.
Mod
To be honest, I've started the blog to keep my reviews in one place without taking space in my hard drive LOL
Mod
Doesn't work for me. And I have to confess I like the layout of a blog, if that makes any sense.
I really like all of your advices!! I'll add more to it:Based on my experience from blogging over a year....
Remember
-blogging isn't all about free books & followers. If that's what it's mainly about for you, blogging would feel like a chore.
-try to not request books on Netgalley and Edelweiss. Only the ones that u really want to read.
-don't sign up on a lot of book tours because it feels like a burden if u have all these schedules.
After creating a blog, then what?
-create your own email for your blog.
-have some sort of schedule on when you'll be posting on your blog (I post 3 times a day every other day)
-use a calendar to jot down your posts so u wont forget. (I use yahoo's calendar)
-try to get ahead and schedule posts
-COMMENT, comment, comment
-if people left comments, comment them back if possible bc then they'll more likely to visit your blog back
-participate in 1 or 2 memes. I don't bc I don't enjoy composing a post on memes, but other people do. Too much memes (posting memes like 3x in a row) = a lot of bloggers doesnt like that
-don't just post reviews, also post a discussion, book haul, wrap up posts, etc.
-quality over quantity. Don't BS your posts
-be yourself
Blog LayoutHow your blog looks like also affects if people will follow u or not.
DONT HAVE A ...
-cluttered sidebar
-tiny or too big fonts
-lots of pics on sidebar bc it will slow down your site = bloggers will get tired of waiting and will X out your blog
DO HAVE A
-color palette/scheme
-readable font
-nice & simple blog design
-I also like how some blogs has a "welcome to my blog" sign on their sidebar and explaining their blog and who they/he/she are/is
I started my blog today so message me if you want the link I need feedback
Oh wow, wow, wow guys! Thanks so much for all the feedback. I so should have done this before. @Mei Yes, oh my good! I would absolutely LOVE your help. I have no idea about anything computer but I just managed to set up a Blooger blog.
What do you guys think of this: http://rachelsreadingcorner11.blogspo...
And @Rachmi and @Sarah and @everyone whose posted here thanks so much for all that advice. I took it all under wing. Pls check out my blog and let me know feedback. I am going to get some reviews up there soon. :))
@Rachmi Really?? Is it okay?? And how do you get tabs across the top? Like a link to your reviews list, a contact page, etc.?? :))
Yes, nice choice. But sorry I can't answer your questions, I'm not familiar with Blogspot, I'm on WordPress :)
@Rachmi Oh good. I am glad you like! :)) That's okay, thanks anyway.
So does anyone know how to get those tabs across the top of your blog to drop down?? :))
Mod
If you go into the working area bit of your blog (i don't know what it's called, but I get there by clicking the little 'design' bit on the blog home page at the top)
Down the left side, under 'posts' you will see 'pages'
go to 'pages'and there shouls be two little grey boxes for 'new page' and also another for 'show pages as'.
If you click 'show pages as' to 'top tabs' pages will appear along the top in tabs.
to make pages click 'new page' and chose 'blank page' you can then fill in the title and what you want to be on that page ☺
Mod
I find it really useful and still use it now and then tweak it a bit ☺
@Sarah Okay, wow, lots to process thanks. I will check that all out tomorrow or the next day. I am going to bed now. :))Oh, second paragraph response: Oh wow, that sounds really easy. I'll definitely try that out. :))
Oh and @Sarah and @Rachmi can you pls check out my latest post. You'll see why. :))Here's the link: http://rachelsreadingcorner11.blogspo...
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