Is anyone getting traction from an effective blog?

[The Bass Bagwhan]

I keep neglecting my blog, even though I'm quite good at it. Opinions suggest that blogs aren't worth the time and effort anymore ... although I'm not sure why. Has anyone here got an effective blog? Are you seeing any downturn in interest? Does it create web traffic?

Thanks!

[CoraBuhlert]

Blogs certainly generate web traffic and while I got more hits a few years ago, my blog still gets plenty of hits.

In my experience, blogs are excellent passive marketing. If you regularly post content of interest to readers of your genre - reviews of books, films and TV shows, essays on the genre or a part thereof, etc... - those posts will eventually attract attention and help to establish you as a trusted voice in your genre. This is particularly important if you don't write to the KU market and/or write in a niche whose readers are slow to trust indie books. Blogs are also good for collecting mailing list sign-ups.

Blogging is also good for making connections that lead to opportunities. I've gotten interview and guest blog invitations, a spot on the staff of a well regarded fan blog in my genre and was even interviewed on Canadian radio - all because of my blog. And yes, sometimes people will buy your books because they like your blog.

Of course, if you only post about your own writing (unless you are writing non-fiction and advice for writers) or if you only post links to this or that promo or sale, interest will be much lower. Plus, blogging takes time and you shouldn't do it, if you don't enjoy it.

[Tiffmeister]

Okay. I am finally proud that I've been getting some traction for my blog. Mostly it is from following topics authors want to know about like the fall of All Romance Ebooks and c*ckygate. If you blog about subjects that matter to Indies, I've noticed it will bring in traffic.

Plus, I've been doing gigs on Fiverr that basically is an interview for an author and a blurb about their book. Fiverr won't let reviews happen anymore, but they do let you do blurbs and other promotional things as a social influencer. So, it's been kind of cool interviewing other authors and giving a mention about their books. I've got the normal Fiverr pricing with basic at $5, and goes up from there to two more tiers.

If you want to take a look at them, here is the link to my gigs:
Children's Blog Author Interview gig: https://www.fiverr.com/tiffmeister/do-an-author-interview-and-post-about-your-childrens-book
Romance Blog Author Interview gig: https://www.fiverr.com/tiffmeister/do-an-author-interview-and-post-about-your-romance-book

Great thing is, the more content you put on your blog, the more traffic it gets. I noticed with the more interviews, it pops up under new content visibility on different search engines and on Wordpress. SO, it's a win-win for the authors and me. It gives some income for my writing. Like for instance, I just bought a new cover for an upcoming novelette using money I made on Fiverr. So, it's a great way to help finance some of the costs of being an Indie while helping other Indies. ;-) To note, it did take me about a year to get to Level 1 seller level. You have got to keep at it, but it is a way to help with your Indie career, finance your costs, and get traffic moving to your blog.

-Tiffmeister

[The Bass Bagwhan]

Thanks Tiffmeister and Cora, that's encouraging. I have been doing tongue-in-cheek blog reviews of movies, books, TV shows ... plus I'm mostly writing horror so I can look at unexplained phenomenon, UFO's ... the usual suspects. Yes, it's all about name-dropping keywords and being entertaining, and at the end I reference (if I can) one of my books that might be about something similar.

Getting people to actually Like and Share the blog is the challenge, but it's good to know that an entertaining or informative blog an still attract traffic. So I'd better put "Blog" in my revamped business plan/model.

Cheers!

[CoraBuhlert]

If you publish a new blog post, link it in the "What did you blog about today?" thread here. I always follow that thread and usually click through, unless it's a topic I know I'm not interested in. If it fits, I often also include those posts in my weekly link round-ups at the Indie Crime Scene and Speculative Fiction Showcase.

Also share your blogposts on your social media accounts or have it set up to be shared automatically. That should get you more traffic, views and engagement.

[Tiffmeister]

Thanks Tiffmeister and Cora, that's encouraging. I have been doing tongue-in-cheek blog reviews of movies, books, TV shows ... plus I'm mostly writing horror so I can look at unexplained phenomenon, UFO's ... the usual suspects. Yes, it's all about name-dropping keywords and being entertaining, and at the end I reference (if I can) one of my books that might be about something similar.

Getting people to actually Like and Share the blog is the challenge, but it's good to know that an entertaining or informative blog an still attract traffic. So I'd better put "Blog" in my revamped business plan/model.

Cheers!

My blogs also double as websites. I guess it could be a Wordpress thing, but it's easier to keep it all together. It's nice having it as a website too so you can give people a place to find info about you and your books. ;-)

[Bill Hiatt]

Thanks Tiffmeister and Cora, that's encouraging. I have been doing tongue-in-cheek blog reviews of movies, books, TV shows ... plus I'm mostly writing horror so I can look at unexplained phenomenon, UFO's ... the usual suspects. Yes, it's all about name-dropping keywords and being entertaining, and at the end I reference (if I can) one of my books that might be about something similar.

Getting people to actually Like and Share the blog is the challenge, but it's good to know that an entertaining or informative blog an still attract traffic. So I'd better put "Blog" in my revamped business plan/model.

Cheers!

My blogs also double as websites. I guess it could be a Wordpress thing, but it's easier to keep it all together. It's nice having it as a website too so you can give people a place to find info about you and your books. ;-)

Yes, Wordpress makes it easy to combine the functions, and since a Wordpress site includes a blog but can also include pretty much anything else an author would need, it seems silly to maintain a blog separate from a website.

[The Bass Bagwhan]

[/quote]
Yes, Wordpress makes it easy to combine the functions, and since a Wordpress site includes a blog but can also include pretty much anything else an author would need, it seems silly to maintain a blog separate from a website.
[/quote]

Thanks for this, although I was scratching my head for a while. My blog is part of my website and can't imagine doing it any differently, but I suppose some blogs might be part of some larger, blog platform...

[Rosie Scott]

I'd like to add my voice to the list of authors who use a blog as a website. I have all sorts of extra content on my website that readers love to dig into (lore, excerpts, timelines, scenes inspired by particular video games, etc.). I see a lot of traffic on my website. Many times I have readers find it through a Google search for more of my books and go on to click through to my Amazon store page to buy a book or even click on my mailing list sign-up. You'd think readers would just go to the store to find books, but so many of them come to the website first. Even more than that click through from Amazon's blog feeder to the website to read updates/take reader polls/check out released official art.

I'm continually surprised at how effective keeping a nice website is for marketing and reader loyalty, particularly because I use the blog format. Very few people "follow" the blog via Wordpress account or email compared to when I started the site in 2012, but interest has sky-rocketed. If I didn't put as much time into it as I do I doubt it would be as effective. As Cora said, blogs are excellent passive marketing--for both your books and your brand. Thankfully, keeping up with the website is fun for me so it's a form of marketing I can always rely on.

[Vijaya]

Although blogging isn't for everyone, if you enjoy it, why not? It's a great place to interact with readers. I've made many wonderful friends via blogging. I'm not popular by any standard definition so there isn't any stress either about keeping up with it. It's another writing outlet for me.

[CoraBuhlert]

Blogs also get you a lot of drive-by traffic. For example, I did episode by episode reviews of season 1 of Star Trek Discovery. When the series returned for season 2, all of those older posts suddenly started getting a lot of hits again.

And just yesterday, a post from 2015 about Jupiter Ascending suddenly got a lot of attention for a four year old post. Turns out that Sarah Gailey, a popular SFF writer and critic, had been live tweeting watching the movie for the first time. Some linked to my old blogpost in the responses to her tweets and suddenly my post got a whole lot of attention.