KOP: How Often Should You Blog?

Courtesy of Jaylopez at stock.xchng

So by now you have set up most of the basics to create your platform. All you need now is to put something out there and get people to read it! 

So today's blog post is on a rather controversial topic: how often should you post on your blog? 

(no, I didn't realise this was controversial either until quite recently.)

Method 1: The More The Better

When I first started blogging, I read that you need to post regularly, at least 4 times a week. The logic for this was pretty sound:

1. You want to build up a strong archive of good posts so that when people come to visit, they have something to actually read.

2. The more posts = the more ways people can find you through search engines.

3. If you don't keep updating your content, there is no reason for someone to keep visiting.

4. If someone subscribes, then the more often you post, the more often you will pop up in their inbox, and the more they will remember you.

For example, Susan Gunelius on About.com suggests the following frequencies:

• For maximum growth: post multiple times per day to drive the most traffic (3-5 times or more is considered best for power bloggers).
• For steady growth: post at least once per day.
• For slower growth: publish at least every 3 days or 2-3 times per week.
• For very slow growth: posting less frequently than 2-3 days per week is most appropriate for bloggers who maintain blogs as a hobby with no strategic plans for growth 

All of this sounded like very good advice. So for the first few months I tried to post 5 days a week, though generally managed 4. During this period my traffic slowly (painfully slowly) started to increase. Small miracles happened which would give me a sudden burst, and then it would settle down again. 

When I had to go back to full time work, my number of posts dropped off. I wanted to do 3 times a week, but sometimes struggled to even make 1. During these times, there was a direct correlation between the number of times I posted and the traffic for that week. Every day that I did write something, there was a spike in my stats. After that, it would slowly decrease over the next few days until I posted again. This reinforced to me my need to post as frequently as I could.

However, on my fitness blog, which is newer than 100FD, I found that even though I posted less often and had less content (though it was solid) I still had stronger stats that didn't dwindle based on posting frequency. The reason for this is because the majority of traffic is from Google to a small number of articles which rank really well. I had spent time promoting a few of my articles so they ranked well, which ended up paying a lot more dividends than writing more posts. (I mainly used article marketing to get backlinks and authority.) This is much more in the style of the second suggested method.

Method 2:  Less Writing, More Promotion

One advocate of this message is John Locke who wrote the book 'How I Sold A Million EBooks In 5 Months' (has some good tips here and there though a lot of his success I think is based on his personal circumstances and wouldn't work for everyone the same way. But since I paid $2.75 for the kindle version, I thought it was worth the investment.) He has a blog he posts on about once a month! I was completely shocked when I heard this. At the time of writing his book, he only had about 7 posts on the entire blog! So why does he do it this way? (And yes, it is a conscious decision, not just because he's lazy.)

The arguments in favour of this method include:

1. You only have top quality content on your site.

2. When you write a great piece, it doesn't immediately get buried but is available for people to read for a longer period.

3. If you haven't got much traffic, you should spend more time generate traffic than putting up content that no one is reading. 

4. Most of the reasons why you should post frequently don't apply as a new blogger: you aren't going to rank well on the search engines no matter what, and without readers or subscribers, no one is sharing your content or looking out for you. 

5. Instead, you want exposure: you want to spend your time appearing on every major blog in your areas so people actually know you.

However, the keys to this method, which a lot of people ignore, is a) making sure your content is even stronger and better researched than if you posted more frequently and b) still spending the same amount of time on the computer, but just using it differently. 

I have to say, this method has a lot going for it. With so many blogs out there, it is almost impossible to be found without a miracle if you aren't active in the community. Unless you already have a very strong readership who will come to you just because you are you, I think focusing on being known in the community is a much better use of your time.

In my own personal experience, I have to admit that the big jumps in traffic for me came from a) being linked to in Nathan Branford's post about Heifer International (which only happened because I was reading his blog and commented), b) being in ROW 80 and having my blog appear in a blog hop every week, then c) going to those other ROW 80 blogs and commenting and just being active in that community. 

I heard another point in favour of infrequent posting on The Self-Publishing Podcast (this is a great podcast, though does have a lot of swearing and could easily be cut in half they spend so much time laughing at their own jokes. However, they do give some great tips in amongst that). Their advice was particularly focused on writers trying to become visible as an author (rather than just trying to get people to your blog to sell them things there). They suggested that if you have the material for a great post, instead of putting it on your blog, you should think about turning it into a free ebook to download through Amazon KDP Select. One of the hosts did this in reverse, taking a popular blog post and turning it into an ebook which is now free, and it gets downloaded roughly 90 times per day. That's a lot of people seeing you on Amazon where your other books will be.

Further, they argued that if you don't have a great idea for a post that day, spend the time on actually writing your novels! Don't blog at the expense of actually getting your writing out there because you can't count on becoming well-known based on even a handful of books. You need to be prolific (with quality) if you want to be discovered as an author. 

This is good to remember, that your promotion should not be at the expensive of your writing. However, I also strongly believe that as a writer you need to practice as much as you can. What better way to practice and train as a writer than to spend 30 minutes a day or a few times a week writing and then getting feedback on that writing? The discipline itself is a great reason to blog more often. Further, for me, a lot of my blog posts help create my 'Five Day Writer' series, so the more I post, the more of my books I get written. 

So, in summary, it's not as simple as blog more/ blog less.

Key Points To Remember:

- For either method, you are still spending the same time online (not writing novels/living/etc), just one is focused on producing more content, and the other is focused on getting more exposure for less content. 

- I believe you still need an archive of posts before you start promoting yourself.

- If you want to build up your platform super-fast, then you need to spend more time overall both producing more content and getting more exposure. 

- Every new blogger needs to introduce themselves to the community somehow. Just writing content and hoping that someone will read it is a very, very slow way to go. 

- You are a writer! Writing blog posts is all part of your training. So don't be afraid of it. 

- Make sure you are in a niche that excites you enough that you can write lots of content.

Final point which I think is sound: whichever you decide to do, let your reader know. If they know how often and when you are going to post (every Monday, or every first Monday of the month) they will be more likely to remember to come back on check on you. 

Otherwise, they might keep coming back for a week and since nothing new is there give up. On the other hand, they might subscribe, but once they realise you post everyday, they might just start deleting you from their inbox. 

Talking about subscribing... have you subscribed to 100 first drafts yet? Sign up to receive posts via email, or become a follower. 

(I'm trying to post 1-3 times per week at the moment, just in case you were wondering :D).

KOP: Guest Post - Blog Optimisation: Get Noticed

Today I've got a guest poster to give you some great tips for getting your blog noticed. 

I actually met Sean at the Word Writer's Getaway back in October 2012. His mother was just launching her first book, Motive Games (great read for young adults, and some not so young adults :D It won the 2011 Caleb award, the prize I'm trying to win this year). Sean and I got talking about blogs and he offered to help me out as I was building up 100 FD. So I can highly recommend him if anyone else is interested in fixing up their sites. 

Hope you enjoy this insider post:

Hey, my name is Sean and I'm a young Canadian living in New Zealand helping people get their projects the attention they deserve. I've never gone to school for graphics or web programming but have 3 years experience with new media and graphic design. I helped 100 First Drafts with some small little adjustments in November. I made some small adjustments that while subtle, make a difference.

Sharing and the desire to share is something that makes us human. Blogging is a very popular method of sharing. Search engine optimisation and web design are skills I use to help people share more effectively with their audience.

If you have a blog and want to share with people, here are three simple tips.

(More information can be found at MozBlog on increasing blog traffic and I recommend SEObook's blogger's guide for detailed SEO tips.) 

#1 Purple Cow

In Seth Godin's book Purple Cow he presents the idea that nobody notices a brown cow in a field but EVERYONE notices a purple one. Use your blog to do extreme, exaggerated or just plain whacky things. Why do political extremists have a larger following than those who are open to compromise and cooperation? It's because the extremists are more entertaining. Even if you do nothing to make your website more easily found by search engines, if your content stands out, your blog will stand out. Whether you're writing 100 first drafts in a set time frame or making a blog for your pet emu, remember the purple cow principle.

#2 Know your audience

If you are chasing the dream of going viral, or just want to quickly grow your subscriber base, the easiest way to do this is to share with people who also like to share. Sometimes changing up the medium is a great way to accomplish this. Do a video, or info graphic instead of just a bunch of text as these are easier to share.

Image from seomoz.org

#3 Participate with your readers

Find where else your readers like to spend time on the web. They probably don't just read your blog but dozens of others. Try subscribing to other blogs and participating in online communities. If you don't know where your readers like to hang out, you can use a web-based tool like Google's DoubleClick Ad Planner to help. Once you know where your readers are, go and join them. Standard social etiquette applies of course. People hate and resent someone pushy with an agenda. A good rule is to contribute when it makes sense and build a reputation in the community as someone trustworthy and only recommend your blog at appropriate moments. If you annoy people here you can seriously hurt your reputation as a blogger.

If anyone is wanting some consulting or work done on their website or blog you can reach me at sean@maplekiwi.com.

Thanks Sean! Now I'm going to find me some cows to paint :D

  

KOP: Understanding How It All Works.

So, last week I introduced my new series with an Overview of How To Build A Killer Online Platform (known as KOP from now on.) I outlined 22 steps to make yourself super famous online and because of that have agents and publishers lining up around the corner, or failing that allowing you to self-publish to your millions of adoring fans. 

And then I left you hanging for a week while I finished my draft and tried to work on my own online platform. Sorry about that.

But now I'm back, and ready to give you the first piece of the puzzle.

Now, the first step on the list was actually 'Identify Your Niche Area', and so last night I dutifully started writing a post, that turned into about three posts. Not quite sure why it wasn't working, I took a break and thought about it today. Just after dinner, I realisd my problem. Before jumping straight into building the KOP, I really need to start with the basics and show you all the different elements that are going to make up your KOP, and how they all work together. 

Now, I'm sending out a big thanks to Pat Flynn over at the Smart Passive Income for explaining the process so well in his series on his 'Niche Site Duel'. 

Basically a friend challenged Pat to a duel to find a brand new area that he knew little about, start a website in that field and make it to number 1 in Google for a particular keyword. Both of them blogged about the challenge as they went.

Instead of just building one website and trying to write lots and lots of posts for it, Pat developed two separate levels of sites all linking and directing traffic from a wide range of areas towards his central website. 

Basically, that's what you want to do for your platform. You want to have lots of different landing points to catch traffic and guide them through to your central page which is all about you.

I hope Pat doesn't mind (and in repayment, go check him out, he has awesome free content, and a great free e-book on how to create your own ebook), but I'm going to let him describe the strategy in his own words, and then I'll discuss how it applies to writing (and some of the necessary changes). 

The clip goes for 11 minutes, but is totally worth it:

Remember that his major aim is to get his Niche Site to No. 1 in Google, and therefore he is only interested in 'back links' (links in other pages that point to your website and therefore give it more authority and love from Google). We are interested in back links, but also flow through traffic, and therefore care a lot more what is presented in all these other layers because it is going to be YOU presented on these blogs, and in the article directories, etc.

So, how does it work for writing? Well, Pat's Method looks like this:

Pat Flynn's Backlinking Strategy

So, your niche site: this is your branded page where you are selling YOU. This is not a blog about what you did today, it is a professional webpage that is basically an interactive resume and pitch for your work. It is the way people can hire you for speaking engagements, contact you for publishing deals, or buy your books that are already published. This is the core of your platform, everything should point and direct people here.

In the anchor level Pat talks about four aspects:

1. article directories such as ezine.com, where you can post articles with a link that basically says "like this and want to know more about my writing, then check me out at.... (core webpage)". These are direct links to your core page and should get traffic already interested in your work to come through (Targeted Traffic).

2. your blog. I highly recommend separating out your blog and your core webpage because it will widen the net you throw. Also, as I'm going to discuss in a later topic, your blog really needs to be keyword relevant in a specific area and be focused not on promoting your work, but helping people and giving them information that is of such high value they can't wait to go to your website and buy your other books, get you as a speaker. 

You might end up having a number of blogs, for example one on how to be a great romance writer, another on simple details to make historical fiction more realistic, and another on how to keep the romance alive in your everyday life. A reader from any of these blogs could then be interested in going to your core site and buying your steamy, accurate and well written historical romances.

3. Web 2.0: he mentions HubPages, which I've talked about before (and found out about through this video) and Squidoo which is similar. These allow you to build a mini platform within their platform. They do all the traffic getting and point it towards you, you just have to publish top articles which will rank higher in Google because of the authority of the site. You get to set up a profile, collect followers, and in your 'about' page you can list your core site so people who like your HubPages articles will follow through. But you aren't allowed to directly push people from your article to your site as you can with article submissions. (You can also earn money just off these, which is nifty for the starving writer).

4. He mentions BlogBlueprint which in an update he mentions has changed and he doesn't recommend, so we'll not be looking at it.

So we are first going to be focusing on: building your core, setting up your blog/s, direct article submissions and Web 2.0 profiles.

After that his second layer is where you use mass-article submissions to drive traffic and back links to your anchor level (such as your blogs, or HubPages). Using Unique Article Wizard (the software that I started using after Pat recommended it, note that this is an affiliate link) it is possible to get hundreds of backlinks per article that you write. 

The software is actually reasonably expensive, it's about $67 per month on-going subscription. However, I have bought it and am trialing it, and even though I've only sent out about 5 articles, I can already see increased traffic directly from some of these to my fitness blog. If you are organised enough to publish an article every few days, then with the program you would see increased traffic.

Now, it is possible to do this all by hand, but it means re-writing your article just a bit each time, signing up for the article directories, and individually submitting. Doing some is definitely better than doing none, but you won't get the hundreds of back-links you can with the program, which sends out your article to 25 article directories a day, continuously, until it has sent it out to all the directories related to your keywords. My articles have all been sent to around 130 directories each, though not all of these will accept the article. However, even if only half are picked up, for one article, that's 50 new back links pointing to your anchor layer. And with the article directories, people are allowed to copy your articles onto their own blogs, as long as they keep your resource box (which is where your link is) so it can spread out even further. Most of my traffic has come from just one or two websites that have published my article (under my name, cool, huh) as an expert on that topic!

So, if you have money to invest in building your platform, and you can be strict with yourself and actually get articles out there, then I highly recommend Unique Article Wizard. Out of all the bits of software that I've bought and used, it and another one I'll talk about soon, Market Samurai, have actually shown almost instant results when used. 

When I do the post on creating backlinks, I'll show you more about how to use it, though they have pretty good tutorials on the actual site, if you can't wait that long. But I recommend having a few articles written and ready to go, so you make the most of every month. 

In this outer layer we also have all our social media, and important aspects like your Twitter account, Facebook Fan Page, YouTube account (why not?) etc. 

Then all you have to do is find the keywords your audience is looking for, get articles out which feature your keyword, send people to your blog or HubPages, and then on through to your core site, liking and sharing as they go along, so that you soon have thousands of followers on your core webpage's email subscription. Next time a new book comes out, you send out a simple email to all these followers saying you are having a launch party, and bam, you're done. 

How hard can that be? 

(There is laughter there, as this is going to take months, and along with writing your novel you need to be writing posts for the blogs, articles for HubPages (which can't be duplicates), turning your blog posts into articles for E-zine etc and then creating the variations on articles for automatic article submissions every few days. But hey, it all adds towards your 10,000 hours of writing practice to become an expert!)

So, sorry if that was either too basic and you know all that stuff already, or a bit too full on. Let me know if you want more details, or want me to explain anything better.

Next week I'll start looking at setting up your core webpage. 

(and remember, the Goal Journal competition is still open! Just comment on the Giveaway Post why you want it.)

An Overview of How To Build A Killer Online Platform

 

This is the first in a series on how to build an online platform, particularly aimed at writers/authors but also useful for anyone else out there. (There are people who aren't trying to be writers? Seriously?)

The aim of building a platform is to get your writing out into the big, bad world, get as many people as possible to see it and hopefully like it and/or follow you. You might or might not also want to generate income from the platform through advertising, affiliate links etc. (on top of getting book deals). That's up to you. But either way, you need to be prepared to promote yourself, in the nicest possible way.

Since you want to get as much possible traffic you can't just go in there with a happy-go-lucky attitude hoping you will magically be discovered. You need to be canny and purposeful in your positioning and targeting. 

The Internet is just like real-estate, it's all about location, location, location. And in Internet terms, that means having a site that is easily found by the search engines.

Sound all too commercial and selling out your art form? Well, just depends, do you want to change 5 peoples' lives, or 5 million peoples? With the right position and promotion you can reach almost imaginable numbers of people. And if you love your writing, really think it is of value to people, have put months and years into writing it, why not spend an extra year maximise it's potential reach? You do not have to monetize the actual platform if that makes you feel better.

I personally intend to, because I think I offer great value on my platform as well as in my books, and everything I offer through affiliate links will be helpful and won't cost my readers anything extra. So, I don't feel bad to have people pay nothing extra and bless me with a small side income that will allow me to keep writing in between the book deals (when the book deals come). But I understand that some bloggers do push it and make their readers uncomfortable, please let me know if I ever do that!

So, regardless of whether it is for the money, or for the exposure, let's start looking at how to build a successful online platform!

Today, I'm just going to lay out all the steps, so if you are super excited and know what you are doing you can jump straight in.

Over the next few weeks, I'll go through each of the steps and outline them in detail, and probably add more steps and then link back to this as I go, so don't be surprised if this page changes. (Will make this it's own page tab as I start working through the steps and linking to them).

The following is based on a collection of the steps in Gary Vaynerchuk's 'Crush It!', as well as advice from Pat Flynn over at the Smart Passive Income blog, Bob Lovich at Christian Personal Finance, and a good dose of Buffy mixed in there (and maybe a few other things I've read places and now claim as my own because I can't remember where they are from).

1. Identify your niche area.

Every author wants a blog about themselves. But until you are already famous, that might not be the best approach. If you market your blog towards particular area, people will be more willing to read it. For example, would you read a blog about Mary Jane doing her house work? Or Mary Jane's tips on how to become a top selling young adult author?

2. Make sure you can think of at least fifty awesome blog topics on that area.

Having a stock pile of posts ready to go, or even just a list of topics you want to work through (like a contents page of a book) makes a big difference. It also ensures you have enough to write about in your niche. If you can't think of 50 posts, find another niche.

3. Name your personal brand.

Two things to keep in mind here: it needs to be catchy and concise, and it needs to pick up on keywords people search for to maximise your chance of being found. Ideally it would be a short statement that summed you and your approach up neatly. Gary uses the example 'The cool guide to young adult books boys will love to read'. Pretty clear and targeted.

4. Build your Home Base!

If you are spending money: buy a domain name as close to your brand name as possible. Exact match domains are great. Then get it hosted and start building the site. 

If you want to do it for free: start up a Wordpress, Tumblr, or Blogger account with as close a match as possible. (Will discuss the pros and cons of these two options).

5. Choose your medium.

We are all writers, so we naturally think in terms of a written blog. But you can also make an audio podcast about writing which people can listen to as they go to work, or a video blog where you can be much more interactive with your audience. Of course, you can include elements of all three as Pat Flynn does on his site. (am going to start adding video blogs soon, just because I want to experiment, so watch out for those, and if you don't see them soon, call me up on it!)

6. Design your webpage.

Gary suggests hiring a web designer, and if you are not really good with technology this could be money well spent. However, it is easy to learn if you are patient and ready to ask for help.And it's not necessarily all or nothing, you can do most of it yourself and just pay for help with the harder bits.

7. Create a Facebook fan page. 

I've just done this! (like, literally, yesterday). I haven't added much content yet, but join my page! 

Just to note, this is not your ordinary FB profile, this is a special page separate to that.

8. Start posting content! 

Yah! You need to get some solid content up before you really start driving people to your site.

9. Sign up for apps to distribute your content across various social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter.

10. Start creating a community.

Leave comments on other people's blogs and forums and reply to comments on your own. (Events like ROW80 is a great way to meet people in your area, just saying... :D)

 

11. Start creating back links to your website.

There are a couple of ways to do this, but basically you want to your content and name to appear in as many places as possible, all pointing back to your home base site. There are two levels at which you can do this, and I'll discuss both. Some of you reading this will have come through articles and Hubpages that I've put up around the place, so you know it works!

12. Use Twitter Search.

This allows you to find as many people as possible talking about your topic and communicate with them.

Okay, for the sake of full disclosure, I'm not yet on Twitter, and so will be learning how to do this as I'm telling you.

13. Similarly, use blogsearch.google.com to find more blogs that are relevant to your subject. Then become a regular, with such great, insightful comments people just have to know more about you!

14. Keep posting content! 

You need to be consistent, and posting about 3 times a week. I post a bit more here because I want to build up a good stock of content and practice my writing.

15. Join as many active Facebook fan pages and groups relating to your blog topic as possible.

16. Guest Post!

Write epic content and see if you can get other, more established blogs to feature it, driving their readers towards you as they will be blown away by how awesome you are.

17. Bribe people!

Run a giveaway or a contest which encourages people to interact with your content.

18. Set up a email subscriber list. 

As they say in the online business: the money is in the list. You don't have to directly sell anything through your list, but you could use it as your invite list to your first book launch, or to ask for reviews on Amazon, or even just to show an agent and say 'hey, I've got 500 people signed up to my list who already like my writing.' (would be better if it were 50,000 but we are still only up to step 18, not 992!)

19. Produce an ebook. 

While you are waiting for a publisher to snap up your first great novel, how about writing another one that will be fun and entertaining, which you can offer to your readers either as a free gift for signing up to your email list, or to buy for the price of a cup of coffee. (Yes, you will be seeing me doing both of these things in the coming months, so enjoy!)

20. Show me the money!

After about 6 months, you can start thinking about monetizing your platform if you want to.

I agree with Pat and the others when they say not to jump in too fast to monetizing, as the aim is to build up a really good community first. Once people trust you and love your content, then they won't mind you have a few ads here or there, and a few affiliate links.

21. Keep learning!

There is so much to know about Search Engine Optimization, new media, things that are trending etc., and if you want to stay on top of it all you need to dedicate time on a regular basis to learning. I've been listening to the Smart Passive Income podcast, which is completely free and I don't get any money for referring you to it, I've just learned so much from Pat that I want to point other people his way. I'm also investing in books such as Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion (that is an affiliate link through to Amazon, just to be open. The book was useful, and good for the very beginner, but after 52 episodes of Pat, I knew quite a bit of it already, just to let you know).

22. Finally, keep posting epic content. 

Did I mention you should be posting great value content? 

No? Well, you should always post high quality content and get a reputation for giving great stuff away for free.

And that's pretty much it. Not that hard, really. Right? 

Don't worry if some of that sounds unfamiliar or overwhelming, because you know me - I'm definitely going to take you step by step (it's the teacher/lecturer/preacher in me, I just can't help it!)

So, get excited, because you are going to be huge!

Good night for now,

Buffy.