Pages

November 1, 2019

To Blog or Not…That is the Question



By Pamela S Thibodeaux


When I first contracted with The Wild Rose Press in 2006 I was told to create a blog and to post regularly. Now, I’m old school, didn’t get a computer until 2000 because…well all I do is write. 

Therefore, I had no idea what I was doing. My only experience in blogging was for another person and I did a monthly column called Pamela’s Ponderings. I can’t even remember who that was it was so long ago, but my column has migrated to TWJ Magazine. But I created a blog: http://pamswildroseblog.blogspot.com Yeah, it’s even named a ‘wild rose blog’ because I did not know this would be my personal blog, not necessarily one for TWRP alone.

See how naive I was?

Anyway, I’ve kept my blog active over the years and gone from blogging regularly to Saturday’s only (during a really dark time in my life) to three days (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) to now, two days (Wednesdays and Saturdays).

My blog averages 17,000 hits a month. Some months as low as 5K some nearly 20K but that’s not what this particular post is about.

The importance of blogging has fluctuated along with everything else in the publishing industry. In the beginning maintaining a blog was absolute then they were replaced by FaceBook or Good Reads and other platforms. Ask a dozen authors and you’ll get a dozen different responses on if they have a blog, why, why not, etc.

But one thing I’ve found is if you maintain a blog consistently, you will gain recognition.

How do I know this?

I have had publicity personnel from publishing companies as well as professional marketing companies approach me and ask to have their authors featured on my blog. Places like, Personalized Marketing Inc., Prime Star Publicity, Tyndale Publishing have sought me to help promote their authors! These are not the only ones, but those who contact me most often.

PMInc’s contact person told me that she found my blog while searching “Author Blog Hops” and that my blog showed up at the TOP of her search!

I belong to several author promo groups and it humbles me when the same people visit over and over to support me and/or my guests. At the same time, the fact that so many others never leave a comment grieves my spirit.

Some authors may not realize how important this is!

It is the number of hits to your blog and the number of comments that cause it to rise in search engine (Google) rankings. Yes keywords count, but not as much as hits and comments.

This doesn’t have to take long either (1-2 minutes at most) Visit the blog, leave a brief comment, click on the share buttons if they are available. Even if you can’t do this the day of the post, make a point to visit anyway. Your visit counts!

For new or seasoned authors out there who think blogging is not important and that some other platform is, consider this…platforms such as Face Book are always changing their rules and guidelines.

Your blog is YOURS and unless you’re posting something that might flag authorities somewhere LOL! it will only change as you want it to. Blogging is also a way to connect with your readers (check out this post by Patty Smith Hall), share industry news (Jacqueline Seewald is always posting interesting interviews) and share ‘how to’ tips with others (I learned about audio books by visiting Nancy Cohen’s blog!)

To blog or not?  I’d say absolutely yes!
__________________________________________________________
Award-winning author, Pamela S. Thibodeaux is the Co-Founder and a lifetime member of Bayou Writers Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Multi-published in romantic fiction as well as creative non-fiction, her writing has been tagged as, “Inspirational with an Edge!” ™ and reviewed as “steamier and grittier than the typical Christian novel without decreasing the message.” Sign up to receive Pam’s newsletter and get a FREE short story! Links: Website address: http://www.pamelathibodeaux.com Blog: http://pamswildroseblog.blogspot.com Face Book: http://facebook.com/pamelasthibodeaux https://www.facebook.com/pamelasthibodeauxauthor   TwitterPinterest: Amazon Author Page,  Instagram

No comments:

Post a Comment