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 So what is this "blog
factor"? Well, what a few thought was a novel
idea some years ago has now morphed into something
no one expected. There are currently nine million
blogs out there with 40,000 new ones being added
everyday. Some are informative and some are just
downright a waste of your time. And while we hear a
lot about blogging these days, what is blogging
*really*? Blogging in its simplest term is like an
online journal but much, much more powerful. Blogs
(short for Web log) is a place where surfers can get
up to the minute information on a topic or voyeur
into someone's life. Some blogs are nothing more
than a daily glimpse into someone's life, while
others are so sophisticated, it's hard to tell them
apart from an online news service.
Why Blogs Matter
Google, the #1 search engine on the net, loves blogs.
So much so that if you do it right Google will
spider the heck out of your site. What does it mean
to "spider"? Well spidering is when Google,
or the like, searches your site's content to
establish ranking, and the more content you have
(i.e. fresh content) the more Google will do its
magic and push your site up the search engine.
Another reason blogs matter is that they are
interactive and, if you blog on your book's topic,
it will help to further your expert status on a
particular issue. When we plan "Virtual
Tours" for our authors, we include as many
blogs as we can into a tour. Why? Because if you can
get into a good blog that's seeing a lot of traffic,
you can really start to gain some exposure for your
book.
What Would You Talk About?
This is the question we get asked most often.
"If I start a blog, what on earth would I talk
about?" Well if your book is non-fiction it's
pretty easy to figure out what your topic would be,
but if your book is fiction it could get a bit
tricky - but not impossible. An author I work with
has a series of books starring one character - a
private detective. I recommended that he "blog"
this character, meaning that the character (not the
author) would have the blog. It could be the
character's diary or adventures and stories - a
glimpse into the life of a private detective. This
would give the reader (and fans of this character) a
reason to return to the blog for an update on this
ongoing adventure or story.
In another instance, I work with an author who wrote
a fiction book about right and wrong with a new
age/spirituality spin. I advised him to blog on
issues related to that - right and wrong in our
society and his own personal "spin" on
these issues. Some of his blogs might be
controversial but that's okay, you want to create
your own "voice," your own take on a
certain issue and if that opinion is controversial,
all the better for exposure and for getting people
to interact on your blog. Getting readers to respond
to your posts is a great way to gain interest and
momentum for your blog and (more importantly)
getting people to talk about it will grow your blog
like nothing else!
How to Start a Blog
Starting a blog is super easy. All you have to do is
register at a blog site (like http://www.blogger.com)
and get started. It's that easy. The blog service
will link to your site; you'll need to ask your
Webmaster to add a button to your home page so
people can find your blog.
 How to Blog Effectively
The best bloggers know that the more you add to your
blog, the more traffic you'll drive there. Some
bloggers I know post daily, sometimes even multiple
times a day while others post weekly. How much you
post will probably depend on how much time you have
to dedicate to this. The challenge will be that if
you want to keep driving people to your blog, you'll
want fresh content. This doesn't mean you have to
create this all yourself, in fact you can invite
people onto your blog and interview them, or you can
just post a one paragraph "thought" on
your topic. It doesn't have to be complicated or
long, it just has to be fresh. Also be innovative,
as we discussed earlier, be different with your blog,
have fun with it. It might seem complicated at first
but once you get the hang of it, you'll quickly
become a blog expert!
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