I speak a lot about marketing online and the one recommendation I always make to ALL writers and most businesses is 
to start a blog. Adding a blog to your website is one of the most powerful marketing tools you can have, provided you take full advantage of its benefits.
Here are some ways that hosting a blog can help you sell more books.
Engage Readers
Your blog is the ideal opportunity to engage readers and keep them interested in what you have to say. It’s also a place where you can interact via comments on blog posts. While it does take some time and a considerable amount of traffic before you will start generating comments, be sure to respond to each and every one of them. Let your audience know you are paying attention and you appreciate their efforts! Engagement creates fans and leads to word of mouth and book sales.
Increase Website Traffic
The more visitors to your website, the more likely you will be able to sell books. Well blogs are website traffic magnets. Google likes sites that feature fresh content so by updating your blog often—ideally three or more times per week—you will begin to receive more website traffic because your posts will gain more visibility in Google.
Also keep in mind that the more content you add to your blog, the more reasons you will give Google to find your site and send you visitors. For example, I just searched Google for the phrase “How to save space when packing a suitcase.” The top three results returned were blog entries from travel-related sites. Keep this strategy in mind as you write new blog posts. Each new visitor who stumbles across one of your posts becomes a potential book buyer!
Go Social
Your blog should be at the heart of your social media strategy. Each new blog post should be shared with all of your social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest. By sharing the post title and a link to read more, you attract, build, and engage a social media audience while driving traffic back to your site. Social media is a wonderful way to build an audience and get them interested in reading more of what you have to say.
Attract Media
One of the biggest benefits that I have personally received from my blog is the amount of media exposure it has generated over the years. The fact is that journalists use Google to find sources for stories, so when you update your blog often, and a journalist searches for something you’ve written about, there is a high likelihood that your blog post will be discovered. Then the journalist will see that you are an author—and that makes you an instant expert and worthy of contributing to a news story. Blogs rule!
Find Corporate Sponsorships
After you’ve been blogging for awhile and have built up a solid following both on your blog and with social media, corporations can become interested in working with you. They may want to buy your books in bulk to distribute at an event, purchase advertising on your blog, pay you to write for their blog, or any number of other lucrative opportunities. I have earned well into the six figures with various corporate sponsorship opportunities and many have come by way of my blog. If this is a goal for you, a blog can help get you there.
Making it All Work
There is one big caveat to all of this: If your website or blog aren’t impressive, you will miss out on sales. Make sure your site is professionally designed, easy to navigate, and that your content is appealing to your target audience. Make it easy for site visitors to learn about your book by featuring it in prime real estate across your website (such as in the header or sidebar). And always provide one or more ways for visitors to purchase your book by including a link to buy directly from an online bookstore or a shopping cart button where they can order from you directly.
Consistent blogging has many long-term benefits and if you aren’t yet convinced, take a 90-day challenge. Benchmark your current website traffic now and then begin blogging at least three times each week for the next 90 days. Share your posts via social media and watch your traffic numbers climb. Also note any opportunities or additional sales generated during that time. I bet you’ll find it completely worthwhile.
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I’ve been thinking about blogging, but am not sure how to go about it. I’ve heard that your blog topic should be something you are passionate about. As a writer of historical romances, should I stick to that topic, or avoid it and write about something entirely different? Is it a no-no to mention my books titles, for example? I’ve noticed in comments on other writers’ blogs it is not the done thing to name your book, and a couple of contributers to the comments have been taken to task for their shameless self promotion. I suppose it is important to get the etiquette right and not to blunder into cyberspace like the proverbial bull in the china shop.
Hi Christine, I’d recommend that you go to http://technorati.com and look for some blogs by other romance writers to get ideas. For fiction, it’s a bit trickier. You have to find topics of interest to your target audience. Can you write about the city where your books take place? Can you blog from the perspective of one of your characters? Some fiction writers take a whole different approach. JA Konrath, for example, maintains a blog about publishing. It has nothing to do with his books, but it draws an audience and ultimately helps him build recognition and sell more books. Keep searching for ideas because blogging can be so powerful. Good luck!
Thank you very much for the post, but especially the comments above. I did not know you could use technorati to find other author bloggers with similar interests to mine. I started up my blog recently and have been wondering about the content to stick with. I am going to focus on posts that I think will help other author bloggers wanting to start out (since I am already researching such topics whole I am starting out, why not share?) I want to find others that are already established handpicked their brains a bit, too. Again, thanks Stephanie for the tip.
So glad you found this helpful–thanks!
yep but how to target the mass market ? any tips on that
My best tip is to stop trying to reach the mass market! Instead, narrow your focus by choosing a niche. You cannot be all things to all people. Find an audience you can connect with and address their specific needs, interests, and challenges. By the way, I wrote a book about this very topic! Own Your Niche.