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!
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