How Blogging and Feeds Benefit Authors

Today's guest interview from MaAnna Stephenson is part of her virtual tour. Two decades of technical writing, web design and marketing for private clients and community groups led MaAnna to produce the Just the FAQ series of ebooks and classes to help authors learn to use online tools to market their books.

Welcome MaAnna. Can you tell us why it is so important for authors to have a blog? 

A blog can be easily updated by the author and it allows them to showcase current events and news. That’s very important because it presents the book and the author in a lively, dynamic atmosphere that generates excitement and translates into more sales. Because readers can leave comments, a blog also gives an author a way to develop a two-way communication with their audience. This endears the author to their readers and creates a loyal fan base.

Nonfiction authors can use posts to share their expertise and build their reputation as an expert. Consistently posting to the blog also helps the author rank higher in search engines simply because they have more entries indexed with the search engine. It gives the author a bigger footprint online.

What if an author already has a static website – is there any way to incorporate a blog into that site so they don’t have to have two different sites?

Yes, it’s actually very easy to do. Many authors have already spent a lot of money on a static site design that acts as an online brochure for their book. What makes the site static is that it only presents information and does not offer a way for the viewer to interact by leaving comments. It’s also likely that the author does not know how to change the programming code to make updates to the site, showing new activity.

Instead of paying to completely redesign the entire site, an author can establish a free blog account with Blogger and then the blog’s RSS feed can simply be incorporated into the front page of the static site with just a few changes to the layout. It’s a very cost-effective solution.

Any other advice about blogging?

If you have a blog, you need to offer an RSS feed for it and advertise that it’s available for subscription. More and more online viewers are opting to view blog posts in a reader, which gives them the ability to build an online newspaper of sorts. It will deliver exactly the content they want to read without them having to actually go visit multiple blogs to see if there has been an update.

One of the reasons the trend toward RSS feed subscription is growing is due to the fact that online viewers have always surfed in their virtual house shoes, meaning that they’re usually relaxed at home or on break from their job while they are perusing the Internet. The fewer clicks they have to make to get to the information they want to read, the better. Also, more folks are viewing the Internet on their mobile devices. RSS feeds can be setup to optimize the blog entries to display much better on these devices than the actual blog would appear.

MaAnna's new Blog and RSS Feeds class takes you step-by-step through the process of creating, customizing, optimizing, and using a blog on Blogger with RSS feeds from FeedBurner, and includes advanced tips and tricks not found in the books.

Leave a comment below to be entered in a random drawing for two free Just the FAQs classes. Not only that, but every commenter is a winner and will receive a copy of MaAnna's Quick Step Guide. If you haven't already read her books, you can pick up the series here.

Comments

[MaAnna Stephenson]

Dana, thank you for hosting me today and the nice interview. Each person who posts a comment will be eligible for the drawing at the end of the tour to receive a free class from Just the FAQs. Everyone can download the Quick Step Guide for setting up a blog on Blogger with RSS Feeds from FeedBurner right now at http://www.JustTheFAQs.net

[Malcolm R. Campbell]

The ever-changing look and feel and content of a blog's feed on an otherwise static site really helps keep a page fresh. For a novelist who may not have all the collateral freebies of a nonfiction author, the feed helps bring people back.

Malcolm

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Excellent points Malcolm -- thanks for sharing!
Dana

[David Knight]

Hi Dana, thanks for the information re the blogs and RSS feeding. I am a complete novice when it comes to this sort of thing.I will be contacting my website 'guy' to try to activate these ideas asap. I really need to get traffic to the site to help move the books...they are for humankind's spiritual guidance and education.(Not a money making pot). God Bless all. Love all...serve all.