Amplifying the Reach of Your Blog: a to do List

I learned a lot about blogging at the Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop last weekend. It wasn't a blogging conference, per se, but a writer's conference, which I think, is part of why I enjoyed it so much. But there was ample information about blogging. Since we all must blog. It has been commanded.

When I was there, I thought of all my readers who are bloggers, which is a good-sized chunk of you and almost all of those who comment. (Apparently, non-bloggers don't comment on blogs. It's a thing I have not yet fully understood. Perhaps they are simply less compelled to be verbal all the time? You guys tell me.) Anyway, this post is written particularly for those of you who blog. I want to share what I can with you of what I learned there.

At the conference, I attended a session with Nettie Reynolds, who is so demonstrably awesome that she had actually re-written "I Got You, Babe" to be pertinent to our blogging concerns and sat, quite naturally and elegantly, with a ukulele perched on her lap while she spoke with authority on social media and blogging. Famous people people pay her to tell them how to do this (use social media, not play ukulele). I will be merely piece-mealing for you bits of what she said, sifted through the wrinkled cheesecloth of my exhausted brain. In essence, her presentation was better. I will not, for instance, do Sonny and Cher for you.

I also attended a session with Debba Haupert, who is the creator of Girlfriendology–a wildly successful online resource for women–and a master of the use of social media. Both of these successful women had a wealth of information on how to get people to read your blog. Assuming you want people to read it. Blogging can really be a good way to create a springboard from which to launch a credible career as an author, and I think a lot of us have that in mind. I certainly do. Whether we naturally love social media or not, this is how it gets done. Unless you are "discovered," which I can't help you with. I learned just enough about writing a book proposal to decide never to do that, so I can't help you there either.

Additionally, I have to credit Nicole Amsler with some of these great suggestions, which she bestowed upon me along with a pen (lost mine–shocker!) and multiple enthusiastic introductions to other attendees. Nicole is also an authority on social media. I am reminded vaguely of Yoda, except she is much better looking.

I already knew to cross-post on platforms like Blog Her, to tweet (more than once a day–people don't see your stuff unless it happens to pop into their stream), to have a Facebook fan page for your blog and post to that, and to visit and comment on other blogs. However, I learned quite a number of things that were unexpected.

1. Your blog roll is really important. It needs to be vibrant and stay updated. (Mea culpa.) One third of the items on it need to be major media sources. This seemed counter-intuitive to me, since I am not a topical writer but a more of a idea writer. However, Nettie says it can really help you to meet your goals. It seems linking to some sources that share the kind of content you are interested in–the kind of places that you want to know about you–is a very good idea. 


2. Guest post. You knew this, right? But not just for your best blogging pals. Shop for places where you can post and get your writing in front of other people, then send in your best quality, 100% proofread work, with images attached in an email. Be aware of the style of the blog you are posting for and work with that style. 


3. Define and create new terms on your blog. Find a new way to talk about the same old thing, and then tag using that term. Nettie has helped clients invent terms that went viral, and when that topic was discussed, her client was called to talk about it.


4. Create an editorial calendar. You don't have to be chained to the calendar, but it helps to create a rough one to work with. Here's what should go on it: Features. What are the features your readers count on you for? These are the areas you post on again and again, the larger categories. Work these into a calendar and then, when you have a great idea about a post on your chickens' mating rituals, pencil it in the right spot for the next time you are scheduled to write about pygmy hens. 


5. Develop a blog mission statement that you can tell people. This was a huge blunder for me. 200 times over the weekend I was asked "What is your blog ABOUT?"  and I found myself muttering that it isn't really about anything...it's just my writing. Wrong answer. Actually, it occurs to me, my blog is "ruminations on life, spirituality, pet hoarding, and parenting from the standpoint that the worst enemy of freedom is certainty." I finally started telling people this. By the way, the speech needs to fit in a tweet. 140 characters or less. (Also, have a damn card to hand people when you go to a conference. Fail #2.)


6. Link to outside sources. A lot. And name the source. Choose people who you want to call you and ask you to appear on their show, write for their publication, or date their cute cousin. (The cousin thing is my added suggestion. It's good, huh?) But do this authentically. Don't do it if you actually don't mean it, only if you actually admire and want to reference their work. (At this rate, I am a total shoe-in to have Tangled Lou introduce me to all her hot relatives, by the way. This plan was unintentional, but I am thrilled.) These people, it turns out, have Google Alerts set on their names. They notice when you name them. And major media sources are required to reference online sources in their work. Maybe they will want to contact you for your views on duck euthanasia. 


7. Be on LinkedIn. It is a huge source of writing work. Yay! Another thing to join. I can hardly wait.


8. Build your own list. This suggestion comes from Debba Haupert. Facebook, Twitter and wherever else you belong–they all own their own lists and they change the rules constantly. You should have your own list of readers so that you can contact them directly and send out a weekly newsletter. For instance, you can email all the people in Houston, when you are in Houston, and demand that they meet you for coffee, and pay as well. I am still wrapping my head around how to do this list thing.


9. Adjust the schedule of your content to fit when people view. To know this, you can survey your readers. Using your list. Woo hoo! When the Hey do you guys read me??? Consider yourselves surveyed.


10. Use Pinterest. It is driving an exponential amount of traffic to blogs. If you are stumped for an image to pin, you can use a simple background (use an image you have the rights to), work it up in Picasa,  PicMonkey or another similar service, with a quote from your blog post and then watermark it with your URL. Pin this. It will drive traffic back to your blog. You can post videos to Pinterest as well. 


11. Try to link when you tweet. You can link to old posts on topic with what you are tweeting about. On Earth Day, when wishing everyone well, why not link to your post on making your own toilet paper?  


12. Use only 30-50% of your social media time to promote yourself. Use the rest to promote others and to engage with people. Make it a conversation, not a door to door sales pitch. You're not as cute as a girl scout. Yes, you can spend your whole life doing this social media schtick. Nettie suggests using an egg timer to set limits on your social media time. Start with 30 minutes three times a week. 


13. Choose ten pillar posts (your best ones) on your blog and optimize these with SEO. Click the link for a tutorial, complete with obnoxious voice tones, on what this means. Also optimize all your static pages (the ones that stay on your blog like Home, About, Contact etc.). Don't worry about doing this for the rest.


14. Switch to Word Press with a straight URL. Meaning faithinambiguity.com (which I actually already own but haven't moved to yet) not faithinambiguity.blogspot.com. Why? Blogger/Blogspot blogs don't search as well. Simply switching the same content over to Wordpress unchanged can improve your search results. Also, apparently, Blogger is not thriving and, if Google packs in this offering, your front door just disappeared. If you own your URL, no matter what, your front door stays open. Additionally, Word Press is the standard in blogs. It is considered to be more versatile and have better plug-in capabilities. 


15. Be clear why you are doing this. Who do you want to reach? What do you have to say to the world? What would you like your results to be? Do you want to have a certain number of followers, a certain amount of attention? Do you want a book deal? Do you want to self-publish and have a market for people to purchase your work? Do you want your blog to be a portfolio for you of the kind of writing you can do? Take some time to think about why you are doing this and how much is for personal fulfillment as opposed to meeting certain goals. 

I don't know about you, but I have a lot of work to do, apparently. I want to look at how many times a week I can write well and if I can leave myself time to work on other writing projects. I want to get ahead of just thinking of whatever is on my mind and posting that, and start adding a bit more intention so that this blog reflects more of my best ability. I need to clean up the design of my blog and transfer platforms. And I need to join LinkedIn. Damn it.

It is a bit overwhelming, but I am taking it bit by bit and doing a lot of soul searching about what I want from my writing. I don't want to compromise my voice. I am not a tip writer (except today, I guess.) I am not interested in trying to win a social media Homecoming Queen contest. However, I would very much like more people to read my work. So, if I can do that in smart ways, with total integrity, then I am in. 

How about you? What do you think for yourselves when you receive this kind of advice on your blogging?

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