03/12/11
My Top Ten Marketing Tips for Bloggers
Posted In: Uncategorized
One of the things that I get asked the most, when it comes to questions about blogging (well the second most asked thing after, how do I get arcs?) is “how do you get visitors?”
In my one of my Book Blog Tips, I talk about networking. And networking is a great way to get some traffic to your blog, but there is more to it than that. I was doing something that I didn’t even realize at the time. I was marketing my blog.
Marketing? Me? I had no prior knowledge, I’m not even sure I qualify to give advice about it now. I don’t have any formal training or a degree in this area. Along the way though, I’ve learned a few lessons about marketing…. and I’m sure I’ll learn a few more. I’m not going to mention any one specific thing that I think you should do because really at the end of the day, there is no one best thing. There isn’t one magical marketing tool that works for everyone. So i’m going going to touch on some concepts that have worked out well for me. Here are some of my lessons learned so far… or my top ten marketing tips for bloggers:
1. Marketing is everything.
Your logo, your social media accounts, your looks, the colors of your blog, your blog name – all of these create an imagine…. and impression. Every little aspect of what we do on our blogs on our social media accounts relates to marketing. This is why it’s a good idea to plan all these aspects.
I for one know first hand how Twitter can be a valuable marketing tool and a marketing downfall. I know I’ve lost readers because of some of the things I’ve said. I often suffer from verbal diarrhea and things spew uncontrollably from my mouth, especially when I’m in an emotional state. It would probably be a good idea for me to have a plan before I tweet. Like for instance, when I’m in an emotional state… turn off the computer. Confide in a fellow blogger or friend. Write a letter get it out, crumple it up and throw it away.
2. Learn from other blogs that aren’t related to literature.
It’s easy to find inspiration within the blogging community, why not try stepping out of the box and see what is happening elsewhere? Use that inspiration to spice up your own blog! Scrapbooking blogs, food blogs, travel blogs…. the possibilities are endless.
3. Get advice from an “expert”.
Don’t be afraid to seek out information. ProBlogger is a great resource to use. It’s not specifically aimed at book bloggers but some of their advice can be easily manipulated to work for a book blog. Ask your fellow bloggers and learn from them!
4. Be aware of what bloggers around you are doing, but don’t worry about it. Instead worry about what you do.
5. Build a honest relationship with your readership.
You blog readers should be able to trust you. They come to you because they value your opinion, and you owe them that much.
6. Your marketing should reflect you and what you’re about!
If you hate recording videos… don’t sign up for a YouTube page!
7. Step away from being a blogger and look through the eyes of a blog reader.
While you should blog the way that you find works best for you, don’t forget your readers. Try to give them something that they might want every once in a while, instead of always doing what you want.
8. Don’e be afraid to be different.
Celebrate your differences! They are what sets you apart from everyone else, embrace that!
9. Make sure you dedicate time to marketing if you want it to work.
Don’t expect things to happen overnight, because they rarely do.
10. Remember that for you to succeed, others don’t have to fail.
Blogging IS NOT a competition.
Related posts:
- YA Book Bloggers, Lend Your Voice!
- International Bloggers….
- International Book Bloggers!
- My Top Read Authors
- In My Mailbox: Week Ten
39 Comments
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Great tips there that I completely agree with
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Awesome, Kristi! Very concise & applicable!
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Awesome post, Kristi! I agree with everything!
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Thanks for the tips.
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The questions addressed in your great post are mostly those I've been asking myself.
Thank you! -
Great post Kristi!! Thanks for the advice It's true you don't build up a readership over night. Thanks Kristi
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Awesome tips!
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Thank you for posting these great tips. You gave me a few things to think about.
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Love the tips! I especially like the last one
With Twitter, I always sometimes forget too that there is a little search button & I've complained/said something negative about things before and had the person/company tweet me back. *cringes*
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Excellent tips! Thank you for writing this up. ProBlogger is an excellent resource for sure. Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing number ten! The success of other bloggers isn't something to be jealous about, it's something to celebrate.
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Great tips!
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Thank you so much for this post! It's very helpful to me especially, since my blog is relatively new. Thanks Again!
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Excellent advice, Kristi, especially the last point. As an early follower of your blog, I’m not at all surprised that your readership has grown. Your blog name caught my attention and your succinct, prolific and professional review style kept me coming back for more. Your industry reports and tips help even veterans like me. You’ve become a hub of the YA book blogging world, and the honor is well deserved.
As for marketing, I do like how you updated your blog’s appearance with the catchy fishtail logo and waves. It matches the maturity of your young adult readership better than a cutesy mermaid, although the background is a bit too grey now. I also miss your numerical ratings. Those are minor criticisms. I appreciate how you embraced debuts and have worked to step beyond your comfort zone into POC and gay literature. Keep up the good work!
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Great list! I love it when you do things like this; it's so much fun to read!
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Thanks for the great advice! I love your blog! I just read Fallen, and saw that they published your comments in the "Praise for Fallen" page of the book. I thought "Hey, I read her blog!".
Somer @ A Bird's Eye Review
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Excellent tips Kristi, thanks for those!
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I would add a few things to help you grow "followership".
1. Actively post on other bloggers blogs. Try to develop friendships.
2. Interact with commentors on your own blog. Especially the ones who stopped by and took the time to make a meaningful comment. Also, answer any questions promptly.
3. Participate in a few weekly memes, but don't over do it. Believe it or not, the days I seem to pick up the most new followers are the days I'm running a meme. My favs are: Cover Crazy, IMM and Waiting on Wendnesday.
4. Run frequent contests and giveaways! Advertise them via facebook and twitter.
5. Lastly, sponser a challenge where people post the reviews each month to a linky. If possible have a prize giveaway each month for those who posted a review. I believe a lot of Kristi's followers came from the DAC.
Anyways, just my two cents! Hope it was helpful!
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@ Gina those are great tips! Like I said in the post, I didn't want to mention specific things to do, just overall things that i've picked up on. I actually mention a lot of what you suggest in the Blog Tips post that I linked above.
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Great advice Kristi! There are so many blogs out there. Marketing, networking and being social are really the only ways to be found unless you just know thousands of people who will immediately sign up and spread the word for you!
Regarding your tweets – you may have lost some followers, but others may like you for your honest "outbursts" you just never know!
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Great advice! Once again! Thanks, I'm still a baby blogger, so your advice really helps!! I'm not going to lie, I read all of your posts on this stuff
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Thanks for taking the time out to write all of that! I think as a reader, I agree with all of it. I like my blogs to be honest and have a look that defines them. I think that's why I really love your blog!
As a new book blogger, your advice is so helpful! Thanks again!
Jennifer
http://littleshelf.blogspot.com/ -
Thanks for the great advice. It's so timely for me because as of last week I am Casey McCormick's blog partner at Literary Rambles. I'll be blogging on Mondays starting 3/21 and will be doing a lot of author interviews, especially debut authors, with book giveaways. Here's the link if you're interested: http://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/
Also, I hope you'll post more details of the June 11th book tour in Ann Arbor if you hear for them in advance and e-mail me. I live in Ann Arbor and am planning on going. I'd love to meet you.
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I love all these ideas – especially looking at other kids of blogs for ideas and being different.
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I LOVE your last tip. It's always great to be reminded that this isn't a contest. We should be blogging for fun.
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Great tips! They're very helpful
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Excellent tips.
I'd like to see some tips of advertising your blog outside cyberspace. -
This is all great advice!
Along the lines of number 7- make sure to spellcheck and proofread your posts before you put them up! Sure, everyone makes mistakes, but it's nice to catch that kind of stuff before it goes live. Then you also have a chance to see if there are any goofy formatting issues to take care of before others see your post. Put your best foot forward!
I also think number 10 needs to be written in the sky for all to see.
Great post!
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Thank you so much for this post. I'm new to the blogging world and was looking everywhere for some good tips. Great post
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Blogging is NOT a competition! AMEN! Great tips! I agree with all of it! I also agree that people have to watch what they say on twitter.
Recently an author was saying some things that really made me dislike her and I actually found myself not so excited to read her book anymore… So people do need to be careful. I LOVE twitter for marketing though! And the interaction, of course. I really feel like I get to know other bloggers much better because of twitter. -
I find that if I dedicate an hour every two days to blogging, I can usually keep up on my comments and visit blogs.
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Great tips! I have another suggestion, for those who include kids books in their blogging–there's a group called the kidlitosphere (http://www.kidlitosphere.org/) that has a yahoo discussion group. It is a great place to go for technical advice, as well as emotional support! And there's a lovely kidlitosphere conference every year.
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Amen on 7 & 8.
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Kristi-
As a relatively new blogger, this information is very encouraging. I'm asking a lot of other bloggers for advice and am pretty surprised at their willingness to help!I love reading ProBlogger also and am trying to follow his great ideas. Thanks for a great post!
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Great post! I kind of jumped into this blog thing for no real reason, and have been surprised at some of the responses. I find I have a *lot* of book review requests, since I focus on Indie books, and my readership is slowly growing. I have some ideas about marketing and, when I have time, I try to do some networking, but that's not really my strength. In all actuality, I barely have time to keep up with just the reading and reviewing
I'm consistent with who I am, and I'm always true that that, but it takes so much time and energy to keep up. I'm not sure how people do it! Anyway, always enjoy your posts- thanks for another great one!
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Great post, Kristi! Commenters, great info from you too. Tried explaining this kind of stuff to people who were not book bloggers (who were trying to make money off blogging, or seek some kind of revenge o_O don't ask, I don't even want to think about that one) You have to let networking happen naturally and learn as you go–people can tell when you're trying too hard and it's a big turn-off for a reader. I wish someone would tell that to the 100+ authors of books of the type I would never ever read who try to friend me on Goodreads. :/
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+JMJ+
#7 is something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. Since I have an eclectic blog, I have a very diverse set of readers and I can't always know what "they" want. So I usually think that the best thing to do is to be as random as I usually am. But that doesn't really work, does it? =P
I think I'll do a survey of long-time readers, to ask what it is that attracted them to my blog in the first place and why they decided to stay.
Thanks for the list, Story Siren! =)
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Very good tips, the one that stands out for me at the moment is watching stats. I find that when I don't watch my stats or worry about them then my traffic increases even if comments don't.
Having lots of good quality content is also very good, as well as commenting features that allow anyone to comment (not just people with certain accounts etc). Some don't do this which is a pity because the owners often write brilliant posts.
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Thanks so much for all these tips! You're a doll!
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What wonderful tips you have here. And I love the one especially about your blog taking time to grow because it won’t just happen overnight. It’ll take a while to gain popularity. And I completely agree about branding yourself with your web site. Keeping it consistent will make people value you and your opinion. Also SEO for bloggers is a key tip that hey should utilize. I highly suggest googling more about that.
Giselle recently posted..In My Mailbox #6
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