It’s one of the first questions I ask every author when we first get on the phone: “Do you plan to blog?”
Obviously, every author answers differently. But the answer I get most often is something along the lines of, “Well, I’ve been advised to blog, but I have no idea what to blog about and don’t really want to waste my time blogging if no one is going to read it.”
That’s when I start explaining that blogging isn’t as complicated as many people make it out to be. In fact, you can blog frequently and with good content with minimal effort. All it takes is putting a few pieces in place … then the blog entries will pretty much come to you.
Here are a few ways to do just that:
- Solicit questions from your readers. Their questions, and your responses, can make up blog entries.
- Collect the news. Sign up for Google Alerts, and news on the particular subject that you write about will come right to your inbox. You can then create a blog entry out of a list of relevant news stories and/or your opinions on one particular story that you find to be most interesting.
- Browse the social networking sites. Join groups that have to do with your subject matter, and see what other people are writing and/or commenting on. Sometimes, your blog entry could simply be a recommendation of a piece you found there.
- Ask readers to submit stories/testimonials. As long as you have their consent, you can use their words as blog entries.
- Get other authors to join in. Every author is looking for a way to get their name out there to future readers. So why not reach out to other authors in your genre and ask them to write guest blog entries. It’s a win-win: they get extra publicity and you get fresh content for your blog.
One thing is for sure: having a regularly-updated blog is key to attracting and retaining readers. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think.
How do you find content for your blog? If you have any tips that I’ve missed, share them in the comments box below!