Wednesday, May 29, 2013

.#ArmChairBEA Blogger Development @ArmchairBEA



Design credit: Nina of Nina Reads
Armchair BEA


Day #2 Has me talking about Blogger Development. 


Starting a blog is a daunting but rather easy task. What many may find difficult, is keeping up with daily interaction and expanding your blog to become what you want or need from it. 

First I would say, blog for yourself, don't start off thinking you will get a million hits, or that you will have a million followers. It takes time and energy to build a following. Do what comes naturally to you.

To have a successful or at least a noteworthy blog is to have interaction with your fellow bloggers. Yes, you must go there if you want interaction. There will be people who comment who don't have blogs, but the majority do and they would love to interact with you, so talk with them. Visit their blogs and jump on the comment train. 
Socialize on other sites. It could be on book related sites-Goodreads, Shelfari, or the new sites-Book Tribe, Riffle, etc. interact with people who have similar taste to you. This will not only open up discussions, but it will draw people to your site(list your blog, on all the above sites)

Another great way to draw people to your blog would be to join blog tours. I know what your thinking-but it's so much work. I'm here to say yes, it does take extra minutes from your day, but more and more tour companies are making it easy to post book blasts, cover reveals, etc. Most are now formatting the post with HTML so just copy and paste, easy as pie! 
If reviewing every book seems like too much, then do another post. Most tours want reviews, but they also need interviews, blurbs, guest posts, or just posting a giveaway. Remember tours are like an advertisement or a commercial of sorts for a book and author. Authors want and need this from bloggers. What do you get in return? 
Well, first your helping an author get his name/book out there.
Your hopefully seeing an increase in blog traffic(I know I do)
You may get your hands on a great ARC, that you've been dying for.
You might gain a new follower
You may receive a gift, or on some occasion the actual book in the mail, signed with swag.
You may receive acknowledgment from the author, weather through your blog, or other social media site. I know first hand, must of my interaction from authors come via e-mail or twitter.

Social Media and why you should join- I'm briefly going to explain why you need to have social media sites connected with your blog.
ONE WORD-Free advertisement! You can reach a broad range of readers or followers utilizing social media. Twitter, Facebook, etc.. are the way to go. Tweeting your post, and sharing your posts on Facebook could draw many people to your site. Think about it. You tweet/share your posts throughout the day and someone retweets/shares it. So not only did you share it with your followers, but they shared it with theirs, and it could go on, and on. So yes, social media sites are a must. The only thing negative I would say would be --just don't over do it. Tweet/share at least three times a day, but don't   over do it and become spam. No-one wants to see a million tweets/shares about your review, so proceed with caution, and don't over do it.

My last piece of advise, make sure your enjoying what you do. Blogging takes time, energy, and sometimes money. Don't go into blogging thinking your going to get hundreds of free books, yes you will get books, but are you up to the task to review every single one? Reviewing books from pubs, authors, etc. is just that! You MUST review that book, now I know you won't be able to review every single book or like every single book, but proceed with caution on requesting or excepting books. Don't overwhelm yourself with too many ARCS. I know it's a thrill to receive a book in the mail, or on your e-reader every week, but do you really have the time to read them all, and satisfy the pubs. and authors?   
If you don't follow through with your reviews then they will discontinue sending them to you. With that being said, you can easily overwhelm yourself with reading/reviewing/blogging so much so, that YOU WILL BURN OUT! It happens to almost everyone. So take it easy and do what feels right for you.


I could go on and on, and will soon! I'm currently working on expanding my blog through more discussion posts. Another great way to draw all types of readers to your blog.
So what advise would you give me? Did my posts help you, or do you agree/disagree with my thoughts? Is their anything you could add???

18 comments:

  1. I think discussion posts are a wonderful idea and something i want to add to my own blog. It's a great way to include more people in what you are doing. At this point, however, I only have book reviews.

    tanya

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    1. Well, when the time is right, it's right! Whatever works for you.

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  2. Great post!! I love discussion posts. We try to do a mix of fun post and discussions with Book Girls Don't Cry. I think that something I wish I had known before starting my blog would have been to have about a month scheduled before going live. I mean, now I don't really care so much if I don't have a post, but at first I felt like I needed a post every day and it was hard to keep up. I just go with the flow now. Lol!!

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    1. Are you kidding!! Your such a master at getting those posts, and reviews up! I am always amazed at your skill at posting everyday.

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  3. I think discussion posts would be a GREAT addition to your blog!! You are really BUSTING out at the seams, girlie!

    Awesome advice!!! EVERYONE - listen to the girl!! She knows what she's talking about! I've watched her grow up and look! 2028 GFC!!!! But followers aren't important, people! Do it for the LOVE!!! :) *huggles*

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    1. You goof! I miss you!!! Where oh, where are you this year?? Armchair is missing u!!

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  4. I agree that blogging should be enjoyable and that it takes time to work up an audience. I get impatient but I know it will come in time. I've done a few blog tours but I you encouraged me to do more. Nice post!

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    1. Thanks, ad you'll get there soon enough, I'm sure!

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  5. Great advice! Blog tours are a fantastic way to discover new authors and readers, and social media is important. But it is easy to try to do too much!

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  6. Great post! Lots of good information and reminders for all of us. I love blog tours and I have to limit myself on which ones I participate in.

    LLM - ABookGeek
    http://abookgeek-llm.blogspot.com/

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  7. I'm new to the blogging world myself and while right now I am co-blogging on a site, I am in the process of building my own. One of the biggest problems I have had is interacting with other people. I have kids and a needy husband that only want my attention when i'm on the computer. I just can't seem to keep up! I think the discussions are a great idea to get people interacting. I really like your post and advice. Thanks for the insight!

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  8. Wonderful, wonderful advice! I wish I had actual ideas for discussion or the confidence that people would participate.

    Right now, I'm in complete burnout mode. I have a stack of 10 hardback books sitting next to me to review, several tours coming up and another four or five on my Kindle to review. I can't even keep up with commenting. :( Peeps, take Lisa's advice and do not get ahead of yourself with saying yes to pubs. Practice saying "no."

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  9. Discussion posts are awesome! And I agree, part of what makes blogging fun is the interactions with other bloggers! As I don't have many friends in RL who are readers, the internet has saved me!

    I also agree that we should blog for ourselves - it's a hobby (at least for most of us) and it should be fun and not feel like work.

    Here's my Better Blogger / Genre Fiction post :)

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  10. Definitely blog because you love it. There should be no other reason, in my opinion.

    - Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl

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  11. I agree with everything! I'm a somewhat new blogger. And just recently discovered that I could be a blog tour host. There are so many good books out there. I just feel like I don't want to miss a chance at reviewing a good book for free.. It is overwhelming sometimes! But good overwhelming (:

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  12. I agree with you! I just started my blog .. and I'm loving it much! I admit I have so much more to learn... but well, I love learning new things! :D Lately, I've experience Burn out from accepting more Arcs..it was more than I can handle. :( Now, I'm learning to get hold of myself ( Yes! I can't resist books! ) or at least to think twice before accepting ( more ) ARCs. :)

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  13. This was a great post. Social media is an area I really need to expand into, as well as commenting on other blogs and putting myself out there. Sometimes I forget how much of a difference that can male. I am learning that it is okay to say no to a request for a review. Some books just are too far out of my comfort zone to work.

    Lisa @ Just Another Rabid Reader

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    ReplyDelete