Please
give a warm welcome to Jolie Du Pre who is stopping here at the A-Z
on her blog tour promoting her exciting new series of paranormal
books, starting with the novella Litria. I don't want to give anything away, but wow, wait until you
read her premise. This is a book I'm adding to my Kindle right away.
Give her a warm Alphabet-loving welcome with lots of comments, and
bloggy love.
Running
A Successful Blog
Blogging
is a great way to share your opinions, your life, information on
almost any topic or virtually anything else you can think of using
the World Wide Web. Chances are you want your blog to shine and to
be set apart from the rest. Since there are so many blogs on the
Internet, there are some things you need to do to make your blog
unique and successful.
As
a horror/paranormal author and reader, I created my blog PreciousMonsters to blog about all things monsters and to meet other horror/paranormal
readers and authors. It's also been a great way to meet bloggers in
general. So far I've been pleasantly surprised at the number of hits
my new blog has received. However, I knew my blog would not be
successful unless I followed some basic rules.
Choose
Your Topic Wisely
If
there are a million and one blogs about model airplanes, you probably
do not want to start another one. Do some research and find out what
is currently trending in the world of blogs. Choose something that is
popular, but don't choose the most popular topic.
Blog
Regularly
Once
you have your topic chosen and are ready to blog, you need to be sure
that you make regular posts. In order to keep an audience, you should
have new content for them to enjoy. If someone comes to your blog and
continues to see the same post, they will stop returning. On the
other hand, if readers come back and find something new, they will
continue returning to find out if you have made a new post. We're
all busy, and it's easy to put our blog posts aside for awhile. I've
done it many times, but let's try not too.
Respond
to Readers' Comments
As
readers begin to comment on your posts, respond to their questions,
concerns or general comments. If they ask a question, be sure to give
them an informative answer. By taking the time to interact with your
readers, you are showing that you care about what they have to say.
This will keep them coming back as they start to view you as a
friend.
Promote,
Promote, Promote
Readers
will eventually find your blog, but it will take longer if you don't
promote it. You don't have to get crazy with promotion. Choose a
few of the most popular social networking sites and call it a day. I
promote on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. In addition, one of the
best ways to promote your blog is by joining a blog hop. The
Blogging from A to Z Challenge was one of the best things I've
participated in for my blog's success.
***
LITRIA
starts off THE M SERIES–an exciting new series of novellas by Jolie
du Pré chronicling the Buscetto family, their deeds, and their
victims.
LITRIA
is available NOW at!
Also at:
Who’s
lurking in Layneworth?
It’s
the Buscettos—a charming family who live in a nice house?
Not
quite.
The
Buscettos look human, but they’re not human. They’re Zxxtergins,
a type of little-known monster who has roamed the Earth since the
fifth century. The youngest Buscetto, beautiful eighteen-year-old
Litria, is in search of gorgeous females for sex, followed by food.
Her nightly behavior wrecks havoc, causing her family to fear
exposure and resulting in grave concern, extra work, and late nights
for Layneworth detectives.
When
nude and mutilated dead women appear, almost daily, across
Layneworth, Detective Brenda Martin, and her partner Robert Moretti,
are on the case. The mayor, before his untimely demise, preached to
beware of werewolves, and few believed him. But as the killings
increase, Brenda thinks she may have more than just a serial killer
on her hands. Will Brenda discover the true monsters, and what
happens if she does?
Thank
you for visiting STOP 4 of the LITRIA BLOG TOUR. Leave a comment to
be entered in a contest to win a $5 Starbucks gift card.
The
next stop is August 8 at the blog of Annie Walls.
Blogging regularly is something I have trouble with, and it seems that all it takes is a few days away for all your hard work to be undone. Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteJamie @ Mithril Wisdom
Thanks for guesting, Jolie. Very good advice you've given, and a nice reminder for seasoned bloggers as well. I find the responding to comments part the best insurance of an active blog.
ReplyDeleteP.S You probably know this, but you should comment here yourself and then you'll get emails of all of today's comments directly to your inbox. Seems obvious, but it took me a while to figure that out when I guested other places.
Tina @ Life is Good
Post A-Z Road trip!
Co-Host of the A-Z Challenge
Hi Arlee
ReplyDeleteGood to be here again after a bit gap
I am so glad to note about the new developments here with number of guest posts.
Hi Jolie Du Pre, for the informative post. this will definitely be a help especially to the newbies. You have missed another important aspect a new blogger need to follow, that is a blogger need to visit and read other bloggers post and post their opinion, suggestion etc their so that it will work an added advantage to the commentor, since the comment suggestion etc is worth reading surely other reader will jump into their page. So be stick to the point to the subject mentioned in the blog.
Good to meet you Jolie Du Pre
Keep inform
Keep writing
Best Regards
Philip
I've got my rhythm now. And commenting is so important. I don't do much to promote my blog though. (Don't do much to promote my books, either!)
ReplyDeleteBlogging is all about visibility. People have to know you're there in the first place and then you have to keep them aware that you're there. A lot of competition to deal with.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post, Jolie.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Hello everyone!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for visiting BLOGGING FROM A TO Z and for visiting my blog post. Special thanks to Arlee, Tina and to everyone who makes BLOGGING FROM A TO Z a success!
@Jamie Gibbs - I would say blogging regularly is the most difficult thing to do when you have a blog. Guest bloggers help.
@Tina - Thanks for uploading my blog post, and yep, I'll be back often to visit and leave comments.
@P V Ariel - Yes, that was something I should have included in my post. Visiting other blogs is important. Not only do you contribute to the blogging community, but it's also a great way to promote your blog by leaving a link to your blog after your comment.
@Alex - Some people do fine without promotion, but many do not. I'm also an article writer. When my articles place well on Google, I don't have to promote them. Google is King, and the search engine plays big in getting exposure to our blogs.
@Arlee - Thanks for creating this awesome blog! BLOGGING FROM A TO Z is a success story!
@Jolie du Pre,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your quick response to my comment, i do agree with you but, leaving our links at the end of the comment is not an advisable thing to do, instead visitors can reach our page by clicking on our Avtaar picture. If they like our comments definitely they will visit our page. Of course we can place a back-link if its relevant to the post, otherwise its better not to post back links in the comment box.
Best
Phil
I respect your opinion, Phil, but clicking Avatar pics is ONE option, not the only option and not the only good option. Leaving a link at the end of a comment is perfectly fine. I'm not talking about spamming a blog. I'm talking about reading a blog post, responding to the blog post and then leaving a name and a link. At my blog I use Commentluv. It's a great way for readers to leave a link back to their blogs and their most recent blog posts.
ReplyDeleteJolie -- Having been a long time advocate and promoter of the hyperlink signature I have to agree with you, Jolie. I find clicking the name or avatar frequently quite annoying since you often have to wade through profiles or Google + pages before you find the blog. If a blogger has more than one blog it can be particularly annoying. With the signature you go directly to the site the commentor wants you to visit with no hoops to jump through. It's a big time saver.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately spammers often use the same method, but it seems Blogger does a pretty good job sorting them out.
WordPress is another story. Comments with links often go directly to spam and I have stopped using the hyperlink on some of those excepting the ones with whom I have regular interaction and my comments don't get blocked.
I love the hyperlink. Makes sense. It's a big time saver.
Lee
Tossing It Out
I have to jump in with Lee and Jolie. As co-hosts of the A-Z, we highly encouraged the hyperlink for our participants as a time saver for us all, for all the reasons Lee stated. We even had a great tutorial written by a guest teaching everyone how to do it. Yes, there's always spam, but the "mark as spam" or delete a couple of times doesn't take anywhere near the time of all the trouble Lee cataloged.
ReplyDeleteTina @ Life is Good
Post A-Z Road trip!
Co-Host of the A-Z Challenge
@Arlee and @Tina: I agree. Also, I encourage links at my blog. I do the same at other blogs, and I don't have a problem with them at mine. Yes, there's going to be spam. In fact, if you're not getting spam, it means your blog is not reaching an audience. (The more hits my blog receives, the more spam I receive.) Fortunately, most blogs have spam blockers, which helps with the problem. Otherwise, it's my job to remove the spam my blog receives. After all, part of being a successful blogger is "housekeeping."
ReplyDeleteGood tips on blogging and promotion. The book also sounds like a good read.
ReplyDeleteHi Jolie, Arlee and Tina,
ReplyDeleteI partially agree with the opinion you raised. of course as Arlee said clicking at avtaar pics take you to the g+ etc place and put you in confusion but at the same time you get a clear picture about the commenter and that gives more light about the author. Keeping backlinks at the comment page I totally disagree because I have written that opinion from my web experience especially when i was involved in Google's knol pages. in the beginning i used to give my main blog's link to each comment i post, and the web community there at knol created a big fuss out of it one person blocked me from commenting on his page,and there were two opinion about it and it lead to a big controversy among the knol authors and lastly i stopped adding back links at comments. And at a later stage i realized that that is a good practice, and decided that let me not an exhibitionist. To promote our writings what i feel better is by posting at social web sites
Of course if the link is a relevant one to the subject i post it even now.
I am sorry for this disagreement on this issue with Arlee, Jolie and Tina. Sorry for the inconveniences caused to you.
Best Regards
Phil
@J.L. - Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDelete@Phil - Promotion is promotion. If you run into a blogger who has a problem with links, don't return. (Unless of course you really love the blog. LOL!) I've never understood the attitude about links. If we're truly a community, and we wish to help each other, we shouldn't have a problem with links. Now if it's clear that a person has no interest in your blog other than to post a link, that's a difference story. But some of my most frequent visitors and strong supporters also leave links. No problem.
You will always have people who will complain. You say stick to social networking sites. Well, people complain their too.
Thanks for visiting my post, and it's no inconvenience. We're simply having a discussion. :)
@Phil: no inconvenience!!!!! This is blogging commenting at its best: discussion promoting! Having a debate like this is what it's all about! Thanks for getting us going. Sounds like you have a great reason and history for your side, as do we, so we can just plain agree to somewhat disagree as friends in the community. No need for apologies at all!
ReplyDeleteTina
Jolie, you give some great advice. I'm with you on joining blog hops/fests - doing A to Z really helped me increase traffic to my blog, connect with other bloggers, and learn a lot about the way things happen in the blogosphere, as well as bring up my "followers" count. It's a good way to appropriately "expose" yourself online. :-)
ReplyDeleteSome Dark Romantic
@Mina - Hello! Thanks for visiting. Yes, A to Z was well worth the time and effort. I'm glad I did it!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Alex J. Cavanaugh! You won a $5 Starbucks gift card.
ReplyDelete