How Authors Can Get Their First 1000 Blog Readers

Getting your first 1000 blog readers to your author blog is very achievable if you know how and what to do. But first let’s ask:

Should Author’s Blog

100% YES. No matter whether your author business is attracting retail customers or other businesses, you need to be providing valuable content via a blog. In fact studies show that converting lookers into customers is 6 times higher for authors who blog than those who don’t. Want to sell more books – then blog.

In fact I covered this more fully on this blog here Why You Should Start A Blog

But for 68% of all author bloggers, getting traffic to their blog is their biggest challenge. Most just sit in silence waiting for  somebody, anybody, to turn up. Let’s see if we can help that along. Let’s create an avalanche of eyeballs onto your author blog

9 Red Hot, Not To Be Missed, Must Do, Winning Tips To Get 1000 Blog Readers To Tour Author Website

#1 Don’t Write For An Oxford Professor

Writing has changed since the 1950’s. Words appear in many more places than a stock standard book. Since the growth of online articles, the language used in writing has become more conversational. Writing is less formal, unless you’re writing for an Oxford professor. It’s less stuffy.

Keep the mood relaxed. Write in short paragraphs, much to the horror of that professor, I know. Even be as short as one sentence. Shock, horror. Why has this become the normal?

80% of readers do their reading on a mobile device. 79% only skim your article. So make it easy for them to read. Short paragraphs and bold heads make it easier to skim.

#2 Lure Them In – The Carrot Dangling Method

It’s great to have skimmers, but readers of your article is better. How can you entice them to read every word of your article. I like to use the Problem – Agitate – Solution method

First and foremost your article needs to help your reader. It’s not about you, Mr. Blowhard. So what’s their problem/

Discuss the big issue. What are some of the pain points.

Then turn up the heat by asking what will happen if they don’t solve this problem. In a word it means failure. A total catastrophe. Financial ruin, maybe even death. This is the agitation part.

Now you, their saviour, come to their rescue with a solution. Aren’t you just the nicest person? You are because you are providing a solution to their woes.

#3 Put In The Time – Length Does Matter

About a decade ago I was writing 300 word blog posts and generating reasonable traffic to my property blog then. But as time went on I started to see a decline in my reach. I had peaked at 30,000 readers a month and started to slide.

Readers were telling me in a round about way that they wanted more. They needed me to put more time into my posts. They needed to to give them the wow factor. I could not longer knock out something in 30 minutes and expect tens of thousands of eyeballs.

And with time came more words. Three hundred words didn’t cut it anymore. That was a lazy man’s approach who didn’t really care about his customers. Nope I had to pen 500 – 1000 words.

But now that’s got even more in depth. If I want an article to rank in the top ten for a keyword phrase, I need to write 1500 – 2000 words and MORE!

#4 It’s Not Only Keywords

Keywords are important and you need to do your research. No point writing an article around a keyword that does get any traffic. But what is equally important is what people are searching for on the search engines.

The most popular type of search on Google comes under the ‘How To’ area. How to write a book, how to design a book cover, how to build better characters and so on. If your author blog is looking to attract other authors to your products and courses, how to posts will be popular on your site.

#5 A Picture May Tell A Thousand Words BUT

a STORY drives a readers emotion.

You know that. You are a writer of stories. But don’t just restrict that for your book.

Adopt stories into your blog posts and watch your readership grow.

Jamie Buttigieg, a certified Story Brand Guide, understands this best. He has seen over 1000% growth in blog enquiry not only on his own business but for his clients as well. “Having a clear message gives a site clarity and lets the visitor know exactly what they can expect”

Jamie Buttigieg Story Brand Guide

#6 Go Beyond Words With Pictures

Skimmers read in blocks. Bold headings are good but images also slow down the reader, hopefully capturing more of his/her reading time.

#7  Shmooch  An Influencer

Get friendly with an influencer in your industry. If you are a romance writer hook up with other writers in the romance genre who have more appeal on social media or simply make more sales.

Reach out to them every time you give them a shout out. Here’s a simple email script

” Hey Influencer (use their name)

I love reading your blog/books. In fact I’m a big fan. 

I just wrote an article about “The 10 Best Ways To Develop Sexier Characters For Your Romance Novel’ and I mentioned you as one of the all time best authors.

Here’s a link to my post if you would like to share it.

It would not only make my day, but it would make my year.

Thanks

Your Name” 

Sure not everybody will share but if you get 5 or 10 who do, bingo! More traffic to your blog.

#8 Target Your Audience Not Everybody

You are not writing for the whole world. As an author you are generally in one specific genre, sometimes venturing into its sub genres. Don’t chase everybody.

C T Mitchell has the tag line “I write mystery novels that entertain readers”

There are two specific audiences here. Those who like mystery and those who are not hung up on ‘professor quality’ grammar or stuffy English. His mood is very much about entertaining and it shows in his writing

Grab it fee at TheShortReads

#9 Encourage Engagement

By talking in a conversation tone throughout your article, you give the reader a more relaxed, somewhat intimate experience rather like how two old friends would communicate.

At the end of your article leave a question that invites the reader to leave an answer or comment.

Over time this builds trust with your reader who are then more likely to buy your services or products

Conclusion

Getting your first 1000 readers is a challenge but if your adopt these 9 hot tips you’ll soon achieve this and surpass it with ease.

Of the nine tips, which was your favourite? What ones are you going to adopt? Please leave me a comment below.

 

 

Start A Blog: Why Authors Need To Start A Blog

Have you ever wanted to start a blog? Maybe you’ve pondered it but being a writer of books you’ve questioned yourself if it is necessary in order to boost your brand, your profile or business as an author. Besides you are already writing a ton of words everyday, why do you need to write more.

To start a blog takes commitment. I started this blog off to help other authors sell more books. I have had good success as an author with nine #1 Amazon in category in three years, so I figured I had some skills that maybe useful to other writers in helping them become more successful.

While a lot of people start a blog as a hobby writing about their daily activities, travels or even fitness workouts, I had a specific end goal in mind. Help others and they in turn would help me.

I figured out right from the ‘get-go’ that I would never be the next James Patterson. I would always be a ‘working author’ – enough writing skills to entertain readers but I would need a side gig to boost my income.

But that’s my plans as to why I would want to start a blog. Yours maybe different. Perhaps your reasons may include:

1. To Have Fun

   I like writing and I like connecting with people. I read a lot of varied blogs and I’m fascinated by the stories bloggers write about. To me it’s fun and the reason why I’ve been blogging since 2007.

2. Blogging For Authors

   No matter what type of blog you have, you are helping others. Someone may be motivated by your blog posts, they may learn something new, they may find enjoyment from reading your writing, and so on.

   I like to talk about book writing and publishing so that I can help others. For me, I have learned a lot (and I’m still learning) about blogging, extra income, book marketing and everything else – all from other bloggers.

   Hopefully, my blog posts help and motivate others to be awesome with their book business as well. For example, I hope that all of my extra marketing posts help motivate others to create multiple streams of income. I hope that others will want to become full time authors and earn a healthy living . I hope that others want to become more in control of their lives and leave their corporate gigs for a life of freedom.

3. Connect To A Community

   I’ve made a lot of good friends through my blog. And, I love receiving emails from readers and blog friends that I’ve made. Being able to connect and learn from others is one of the biggest positives of blogging.

4. Developing As An Author

   A blog can help you grow in so many ways. You will most likely become even more passionate in the topics that you love, you will constantly learn new things, you will meet many new people, and more. Naturally you are strengthening your ‘writing muscle’ – and that’s got to be a good thing.

5. Building Your Author Business

   Of course, I have to include this as a reason to start a blog. Blogging can be a great way to improve the business you already have, or to create a business all on its own.

   I know several successful bloggers and they all say the same thing, that blogging is the best thing that has ever happened to them. I agree!

Whatever your reason, as an author you should definitely start a blog.

Author Blog With No Traffic – Fix It Fast

So you’ve started your new author blog (well done!) but there’s deadly silence. No interaction, no post likes and you’re wondering if anybody else is reading your masterpiece except you? Frustrating I know and disheartening.

But sadly this can be just more than a sickening feeling in your gut – it can be real. In today’s noisy online world it’s hard to grab the attention of potential readers. There’s simply a lot of choice and your author blog must be relevant  if you are going to attract visitors.

But sadly even relevancy isn’t the only thing you’ll need to cut down the noise and to get the right visitors.

Don’t Give Up On Your Author Blog Just Yet

Blogging is great and content marketers sing it’s praises. And as an author trying to build an audience, create a platform and ultimately sell more books, you should too. But too many blogging authors dismiss the power of social media platforms to get exposure to their brand. Exposure to your brand is the key here. I know authors use social media, usually the wrong way. More on that in another post.

So let’s look at how you the ‘world’s greatest fiction author’ can get more exposure. Here’s 5 strategies that’ll fix an author blog with no traffic

Offer Valuable Content

I know you’ve heard this a million times. But why do authors just post stuff about their latest book release, price drop or upcoming signing. Boring! Do you really think readers are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for you to tell them that your latest masterpiece is now 99 cents. NO! You can mix some of this content in 10% of the time but readers are looking for information that is relevant to THEM not you!

There are a lot of social platforms where you can offer varying content. Mix it up with a video post about the benefits of print books over digital,  write an article on what the ultimate price should be for a short read or just throw in an inspirational quote from a famous author.

Look at similar content (don’t plagiarise), personalise it to your own voice and release it on steroids.  Don’t deliver the same old ho hum stuff – give it stick!

Run A Contest

Great way to get eyeballs at anytime but especially when your author blog is new. Your prize needs to be interesting and relevant. A nights stay at a resort is nice but will it sell you more books. An Amazon gift card would be great, signed copies of books would be valuable or even a Kindle Pro would be useful for a reader to check out your books.

You can Google ‘giveaway sites’ to find a ton of places to promote your giveaway. One of my favourites is http://www.giveawaypromote.com 

If you want to step it up a notch check out Rafflecopter or KingSumo – these professional giveaway software programmes create a very professional looking promotion for your contest.

Post Shareable Posts or Graphics

Let me start off by shocking you with an awful truth. People aren’t interested in YOU. They are only interested in themselves and how you can help them. They also live in a very negative world bombarded each day with thousands of noisy messages. No wonder depression is on the rise.

So the number one, numero umo, #1 type of post you can put on your social media platforms is an INSPIRATIONAL one. Inspiring posts win hands down and easily thump your boring ‘me me posts’

Where do you find great posts?

They are everywhere. On Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr – everywhere. But collating all of them is time consuming and you should be writing your book, right? Yes that is right. That’s where the money is.

How will you know if your inspirational radar is in tune with your audience? Want to know a simple little trick that will get you tons of engagement, a huge reach and a bucket load of likes and shares? Us posts that have been PROVEN to have got lots of likes and shares. Simple but still time consuming. Here’s what I do.

I use the pro version of Post Planner. For $9/mth I grab the best performing posts and send them to my Facebook and Twitter accounts. In fact on a Sunday morning I sit down, grab 3-4 posts a day and schedule my week; all in about 15-20 minutes. That’s right! The best 21-28 performing posts to my audience in just 15 minites for $9/mth. Post Planner is awesome!

Run Ads

If your budget allows, run some ads. You can use Google Adwords or my preferred choice is Facebook. With 1.8 billion users, their audience is huge. Start off at just $5, promote your blog post AND add a bonus for visitors to get a BONUS report when they get your blog.

What To Write About

Your topic must be relevant and interesting to a reader. The simplest way to do this is to do some keyword research by jumping over to Google’s free keyword planner and putting in some keywords and grabbing the most popular searches. If you are a crime author search for the best crime authors, what makes a good crime plot, ideal book length etc

But if you want a ninja tactic go to Buzzsumo.com and enter a competitor’s details and see what are their best performing posts. Buzzsumo free edition will allow you 1-5 searches a day of such content. You’ll get to see what has performed best by likes, shares and reach on Facebook and other platforms. Simply grab this high performing idea and make it better but DON’T copy.

Use the above tips and your new author blog will soon see a rise in traffic. What methods have you tried? What social media platforms do you prefer? Leave me a comment below

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