Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Tips for New Bloggers

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this week's topic: Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers.  Sorry, this is a long one guys!

1.  Make Your Internet Presence Known.  Once you've got your blog up and running get corresponding social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Book Bloggers on Ning, Pinterest, etc.  Then, make sure that all of these accounts link back to your blog - it's a great way to get more traffic.

2.  Comments!!  Make thoughtful comments on blogs that share similar tastes to yours...it's a great way to make blogger friends :)

3.  Join in some blogger hops/memes.  They can be giveaways or content but it's a good way to promote your blog and get new followers.  Also, be sure to do some giveaways that aren't hops to reward your loyal followers!
4.  Use the title of the book and the author's name within the content of your review.  This helps your review to get noticed by search engines.  Want to learn more about SEO?  Check out this great post by fellow book blogger April from Good Books and Good Wine. 

5.  Some tips on how to make Pinterest work for your blog:
  • Have bookish Pinboards (i.e. "My TBR" or "My Favorite Books")
  • Pin book covers from reviews on your blog (this can direct traffic straight to your blog)
  • Want to find out who's pinning what from your site?  Type in your browser: pinterest.com/source/your blog url (for example: pinterest.com/source/nopageleftbehind.blogspot.com/)
  • When you have bookish content that isn't a giveaway/review, create a cool icon or photo.  The icon should have text describing your post - making it perfect for pinning.  There's a Top Ten Tuesday example that I made at the top of this post (feel free to pin it)!
6.  How to spread word of your reviews:
  • Goodreads, LibraryThing, Amazon (copy and paste your reviews to these sites)
  • Lori at Pure Imagination's "Saturday Situation" link-up
  • Link to other reviews, it helps you and your blog friends get more notice from search engines!
7.  Some Facebook page tips:
  • Sign your Facebook page up with Networked Blogs.  This will automatically import your blog posts to your Fbook page - woot!
  • Try to add other content to your page besides your blog posts (it gives people more reasons to follow you on Facebook).
  • Be sure to update your page with a great cover photo now that Facebook has converted everything to Timeline view.
8.  Ways to acquire books: NetGalley, LibraryThing, Edelweiss, Goodreads giveaways, blog giveaways, and/or email the publisher directly.

9.  Make sure to have your own niche.  There are a lot of book bloggers out there so it's tough to make yourself stand out.  Have something unique about your blog.  It could be design, review style, reading tastes or a mix of all three! 

10.  Have fun!  In the end, this is a hobby...it's such a blast for me to chat about books with other readers, get great reading suggestions, and just generally nerd-out!  Don't let this be a chore or you'll quickly run out of steam.

If anyone has any questions about any of these tips feel free to leave a comment and I'll try to get back to you!

14 comments:

  1. I'm just starting to use Pinterest for my blog. I've used it a ton personally but I'm just branching out. Good tips!

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    1. Oooh! I'll have to find you on Pinterest Meg!

      And one of the things that I think makes Pinterest great for book bloggers is that your readers can see your other interests besides reading!

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  2. Great list! I use Pinterest but have not used it with my blog yet. I am going to have to try it out.

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    1. Oh yes Anne you should! I've actually found some great book bloggers through Pinterest :)

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  3. Thanks for the SEO link! My husband is a marketing guru, and I still have difficulty understanding the ins and outs, but your link has some pretty good, idiot-proof info! Great tips!

    Check out my Top Ten!

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  4. Wow these are some amazing tips! I have a board on Pinterest for my books I've reviewed already but I love the idea of a TBR board! Thanks for the links to the blogs with memes! I love having set things to post each week, like TTT.

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  5. Wonderful tips! I think that these are definitely some must-read tips for new bloggers. Thanks for sharing them :)

    Old follower,
    Stephanie @ Stepping Out of the Page
    P.S. Don't forget to enter my latest giveaway!

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  6. Having fun is the most important! I think when it stops being fun, we should stop blogging.. because thats why we're doig this right? for fun! Great post!

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  7. Love the tips - especially #4 & #5. I don't pin everything to Pinterest - but I have a board for my favorites, as well as my lists. And having the book title & author name IN the post seems obvious, but I've seen so many blogs that don't do it (including mine sometimes).

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  8. I'll be honest, SEO is something that still mistifies me (someday I will defeat it!) but I guess I never thought about the importance of having both the title and author in the post title. I will be adjusting that for sure!

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  9. Thank you so much for posting these helpful tips. I'm learning so much today.
    Angela @ AJ Arndt Books Blog

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  10. Okay, I've seen some stuff in your list that I haven't seen anywhere else so I bookmarked it. I haven't signed up for Pinterest yet. I think this is probably something I should do but I'm a little scared to start now because I feel like I'm behind everyone else! Also, the SEO thing - I just totally DO NOT get it. I've read and re-read April's blog post and several others but I just don't understand computer jargon. I have some of these bookmarked to go back and work on as well.

    The biggest thing about your list that stands out to me is the thoughtful comments, because you literally are one of the best commenters out there! I love it. Seriously.

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    1. Awww, you're one of the best commenters too Asheley!

      Yeah, SEO is seriously daunting! I'm still working on it myself. Also, it's never too late to start with Pinterest! A lot of people are still new to it :)

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  11. I am so glad I found your blog! You seem to genuinely care about us new bloggers out there. I just started my blog this year and it has been so much fun but a little terrifying too :) I used to love to write but haven't done it a while. But since I have started blogging, now I have two stories I am working on and I am in my happy little place! Thank you so much for the tips, I definitely put this on my favorite list and following you too!
    Now maybe you can do a post to explain to us newbies (me) lol what a meme is?
    I'm hopeless, huh?

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