Scheduled to write a blog post? Be careful what you write. You don’t want to waste your time.
Internet marketers know this axiom about blogging, but many authors don’t, in my experience. Here’s the axiom: give your readers what THEY want, not what YOU want.
A typical blog reader who is a stranger to you wants to be educated about something, or entertained. These folks flit across the Internet, spending a few seconds or maybe even longer on one website before checking out another.
They don’t want to dig into a long explanation of the setup of your novel, as you’d like them to do. The only people who want to do that are those who are familiar with you and looking for info on your next book. These may be a fairly small percentage of the people looking at your post on someone else’s blog.
You have to romance these strangers, beguile them with something educational or entertaining. Note that their attention spans are short, so you have to hook them fast. Say something interesting at the start, and keep the post short. Use visuals, too.
Once you’ve lured them through your educational/entertaining post, you may be able to get them to read your bio and click on a link to find out more about your book. Now they aren’t strangers any more. They’re a little deeper into your “sales funnel,” as the marketers call it.
What you’d love to do most of all is get these not-strangers to sign up for your email list and stay in touch. Do you have an email list? Can you structure the link and your own website in such a way that a percentage of them will sign up? (One key: a freebie.)
Check out our “Behind the Scenes” blog post series from authors to see some examples if educational/entertaining posts.
Gail M Baugniet says
“Say something interesting at the start, and keep the post short.”
This is very good advice and an excellently timed reminder for me to do just that for future posts!
Thanks for the wise words.