Monday, January 2, 2012

What Makes a Successful Blog?

What's the Secret Formula to Success?

1. The day you blog?
(Are weekends the best?)
(Or Mondays when everyone is more active, back at work, etc.)

2. The time?
(Early or late in the day?)


3. Name recognition?
(Does this matter?)

4. Subject matter?
(This has to matter!)

5. What’s the most popular topic?
a. Writing tips?
b. Personal Recollections
c. R-rated book excerpts?
d. Promos?
e. Great photos?
f. Great links?


6. Social Media
a. Facebook
b. Twitter
c. Linked in?
d. Writing Groups
1. Coffee Time Romance
2. All Romance Reviews
3. Wild Rose Press
4. Long and Short Romance Reviews
5. Others?
6. Amazon Author Page
7. Facebook Author Page

7. Long list of followers to establish credibility?

8. Length of Time the Writer has been Blogging?

9. Number of Books the Author has Written/Experience Level?

These are things I’ve wondered about since I first started seriously blogging a year ago. What things contribute to creating a big following? I’ve heard it takes six months to establish that following. Is this true? Does it contribute to sales? Is it better than paid ads? My New Year’s resolution is to grow my blog and its followers. How best to do that? And is it worth it? Am I wasting time with this when I should sooner be working on my novels?

Next week: The Rhythm of the Word

2 comments:

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Hon, if we knew the answer to that, we could write a book: Writers' Guide to Blogging. I worry that the majority of people who read my blogs are other writers. Where are the "readers", those delightful people who buy our books? Do they read blogs? Or are we merely preaching to the choir? I don't know. I've been blogging for a year and a half. Am I successful? No, not in my opinion. The masses aren't flocking to Vintage Vonnie, just sweet, sweet writers and I'm happy to have them.

Sandra Koehler said...

I agree, Vonnie. It's mostly my fellow authors and while I'm super happy to have them visit, I'd like more readers too! Thanks for your thoughts. Sandy/Alison