Promoting Your Blog

by Lou Belcher

If you write for your eyes only, you don’t need to worry about promotion. But if you write for a living, the promotion or marketing part of it can make or break you.

Before the marketing, your first order of business is to make sure your blog entry is worth reading. Do everything you can to ensure that it is interesting and valuable to your readers. Beyond that, you might shoot for it to be entertaining as well. That can’t hurt.

When preparing your work, pushing the snooze button on your ego will help immensely. Too many times we get in our own way. We think that what we have written is so wonderful that we can’t hear constructive criticism. Take the risk. Have others look at your work and give you ideas for improvement.

That doesn’t mean that you need to implement everything that your readers say. Instead, it means that you would be wise to give some honest thought to how your writing is perceived by others.

Once you post an entry to your blog, no one will read it if you don’t do some promotion. Develop a routine system of promoting each entry that you post. For example, you can establish a Twitter account, a page on Facebook, or join a social media network, or all three. When you post an entry, put a notice on each of your announcement sites that new work is posted.

Another way to promote your blog is to establish an email distribution list of those interested in your writing. Every time you post a blog entry, put out an email to your list (even if it only consists of one or two people at first). Be sure to add the addresses of those who express interest in your blog with care. Don’t try to remember later who they are and where you put their email address.

In your email to your distribution list, invite them to comment and get a discussion going about the topic. Also, invite them to forward the notice to someone they think will enjoy your column. And, don’t leave everything to chance. Give your readers some added reasons to visit your blog. For example, hold surveys of interest, run contests, and hold giveaway opportunities occasionally so they will want to check back from time to time to see what’s going on.

Please leave a comment and tell us ways you promote your blog...

Cross the Atlantic for Wounded Warriors

No, Cross the Atlantic for Wounded Warriors is not a book title... It's real life. Fellow author Bob Brown and his brother, Ralph Brown, are embarking on another daring adventure. They are launching their flat boat for another big voyage.

Last time, 2007, they made it into the Guinness Book of World Records with their trip from the coast of North Carolina to Bermuda and back. This time they are crossing the Atlantic. Bob wrote about their first adventure in his book pictured here. (The photo on the cover will give you an idea of the size of the boat they use for these challenges.)

Go to http://crosstheatlantic.com to see for yourself.

Usually we think as writers that the written world is pretty special, but this time pictures really bring home what they will be doing. Watch the videos on the site and see what they have challenged themselves to do. In addition to their sailing goal, they they have set another monumental goal: to raise $3,000,000 for scholarships for the children of fallen soldiers and for their families.

There is information on the site for potential sponsors, too. Most writers and artists can't help that way, but you can buy a t-shirt and do a little bit. I bought one, but I'm not here to push that. I'm just so interested in their project that I assume that other local artists and writers will be, too. So please indulge me while I keep you up to date on their progress from time to time.

Go look at the short video... at http://crosstheatlantic.com and I'm sure you'll be coming back to see how they are doing. Thanks.