Blog Comments Provide Quick Feedback and Encourage Interaction Another successful blogging tip is to engage readers. Interacting with our audience is the best and easiest way to connect with readers and build a following (that is, grow our platform). The best way to engage readers is by encouraging blog comments. Having comments can also increase […]
Here is the final installment in our series on using WordPress for blogging: a platform-building, book-selling tool. For the first six posts, we covered the technical aspects of setting up and using a WordPress blog. In this post, I’ll share implementation tips.
Another blogging tip is to optimize posts for search engines. As we already covered, the post should be at least 200 words long for search engines to have enough content to analyze. Also, making a post scannable helps, too, especially when we use bold or add a headline tag to subheadings (an easy step I […]
Readers are more likely to read short posts. Making posts scannable is another blogging tip to gain attention. Here are four ways to make posts scannable: Use Bullet Points This is a technique I like, as both a writer and a reader. They add clarity without adding words. Have Numbered Lists A numbered list also […]
Another key to successful blogging is to write like Goldilocks: not too long, and not too short, but just right. But how long is that? Although writers often grumble at my answer, I’ve never heard one complaint from a reader. Readers are who we need to please: posts should be 200 to 300 words long. […]
Part 4 in the continuing series on using WordPress for blogging: a platform-building, book-selling tool. Last week we talked about WordPress themes. Today, the subject is widgets. If a theme is analogous to a cover or skin for a cell phone, then a widget corresponds to an app. Just as our smartphones don’t need apps, […]
Last Saturday, in this series on blogging, I talked about the importance of having a theme to guide content for our blogs. Another critical element is to follow a regular posting plan. On this blog, I post every Saturday morning. It’s a good rhythm for me and regular readers know to expect new content each […]
Part 3 in the continuing series on using WordPress for blogging: a platform-building, book-selling tool. Each blog or website needs a theme. There are two ways to understand this. From a content standpoint, a blog needs a theme or topic to guide writing and attract readers. The theme of this blog is book publishing, of […]
This is part 3 in our continuing series on blogging. First, I shared why writers should blog, and then I gave the four elements of a post. Today’s topic is the one key thing we must do before our first post: develop a blogging theme. For my first blog Musings, I wrote about anything and […]
Part 2 in the continuing series on using WordPress for blogging: a platform-building, book-selling tool. Many beginning WordPress bloggers are confused by the difference between a page and a post. Aside from both being one-syllable, four-letter words that start with “P,” they also look the same, both when writing them and viewing them. However, they […]