Blogging for Authors: Why You Need a Blog and How to Get Started
I talk a lot about marketing strategies for authors, and one the most important 
is blogging. Hosting a blog gives you a way to connect with your readers, and it’s also incredibly powerful for search engine optimization (SEO). The more often you update your blog, the more reasons you give Google to find your site. You also naturally build up keyword concentration with the topics you write about, bringing even more traffic over time.
I learned about the benefits first hand when I launched my business website back in 2004 (BusinessInfoGuide.com). My goal was to attract my target audience of entrepreneurs, so I began sharing articles, tips and resources that I thought they would enjoy. I was basically blogging before I knew what blogging was! And with each new article, the site traffic increased. Today if you search for terms like “how to start a gym” or “how to use Google alerts,” articles from BusinessInfoGuide.com show up in the top search results.
Content is king and the more often you update your site, the better. For best results, that means blogging at least five days per week. Since many of us can’t keep up with that, set a goal to update your blog two to three times per week. It will take some time to build your audience, but you should see your traffic increasing steadily. And if you think blogging takes too much time, consider this: you’re a writer! Hosting a blog gives you an opportunity to exercise your writing muscles! I am grateful that I get to blog each week. It reminds me that I am a writer and it’s one of my favorite things that I do.
How to Start a Blog
If you don’t yet have a blog on your website, contact your webmaster and see if you can add one. Depending on how your site was built, you may be able to add a blog to your existing site. If that’s not an option, then consider having your site redesigned. While that may sound like a major undertaking, it will be worthwhile in the long run.
If you’re starting from scratch, I recommend having your site built on WordPress, which is a powerful blogging platform. Find a web master who knows how to build sites on WordPress (most do these days).
The last option is to launch a blog on another website, such as blogger.com. However, when you host your blog on a different domain, your main website can’t reap the rewards of the increased content and traffic. Ideally your blog should be hosted directly on your primary domain.
What to Write About
When getting started, consider what kind of content your audience would enjoy. You can share helpful tips, how-to advice, interviews, opinions on industry news, and other useful information. If you own the rights to your book, you can also share excerpts from your book, which can help inspire readers to make a purchase.
Pay attention to what your readers respond to—and do more of that! Also, your blog is the foundation of your social media strategy. Share a link to each new post on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It will take some time to find your groove and build momentum, but it’s a long-term investment that should pay off over time with new readers and buzz for you and your books!
Here’s a previous article on Blog Promotion Secrets that you may also find helpful.