Randy Ross Media

Home

Novel

One-Man Show

Lectures

Calendar

About

Awards & Publications

Web Consulting

Presentation: Blogging for Writers
Document
Presentation: Blogging for Writers
Resources

I) Blogging

 

A) Tools

 

- Easy, do-it-yourself blog platform (Blogger): http://www.blogger.com


- Blogger vs Wordpress: surprising reasons to choose Blogger.


- Ten Best Blogging Platforms*

*note: author bashes Blogger, which I've been using for seven years and am quite happy with.

 

- Find free, legal art for your blog: Creative Commons http://search.creativecommons.org/

 

- Free image editor: Irfanview

http://www.irfanview.com

 

- Audacity audio tool: (free audio editor) http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

 

- A Youtube-like storage site for audio. Box.com

http://www.box.com

 

- Capture and manage subscribers for your blog: Feedburner http://www.feedburner.com/

 

- Monitor traffic to your blog (free and easy: Statcounter

http://www.statcounter.com

 

Include Share buttons and tools: Social media sharing tools make it easy to share your blog posts


 

B) Articles to read

 

- Blogging Tips, Tools, and Resources:

http://www.theloneliestplanet.com/2012/08/blogging-for-writers-tips-tools-and.html

 

- Copy blogger http://www.copyblogger.com/blog (lots of free guides on blogging and SEO)

 

- Article: Is Blogging a Waste of Time?

http://www.theloneliestplanet.com/2012/10/oh-no-experts-say-blogging-is-waste-of.html

 

- Article: The types of articles that get traffic.

http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/7-content-archetypes-that-generate-natural-links

 

C) Blog to follow

 

Http://www.copyblogger.com

 

II) Driving Traffic to Your Blog with Social Media

 - Social Media for Writers

(A presention and list of resources that discuss: pros and cons of social media, how to save time using common platforms -- Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and more esoteric topics such as social bookmarking)

 

III) Optional/Extra Credit: Search engine optimization (SEO and Keywords -- for geeks only!)

A) Tools

 

- Find keywords used by competitors (site is in German. Paste competitor's url in top field that says," URL: Ihre …"

http://www.abakus-internet-marketing.de/tools/topword.htm

 

- Google Keywords Tool (you may need to sign up)

https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool

 

B) Articles to read

 

- Great articles: Keyword Basics

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/06/author-blogging-101-keyword-basics/

http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

 

- Geeky but interesting piece about Google cracking down on folks trying to goose the system.

http://problogservice.com/2013/08/13/google-cracking-down-on-hyperlinked-keywords-in-press-releases/

 

- Keywords for Nitwits (humor)

http://www.theloneliestplanet.com/2012/04/book-marketing-for-nitwits-keywords.html


- Do Keywords matter anymore?

- List of Blog Carnivals



C) Blogs to follow

 

SEO Moz

http://www.seomoz.org/blog

 

IV) Links to other presentations and resource pages for my class series: "Self-Promotion for Writers"

- overview of self-promotion for writers (class discusses popular options for building an audience including: blogging, social media, e-mail newsletters, and old school tactics such as special events and public relations.)



Sign up for The Loneliest Planet and receive my weekly tips on book marketing and self-promotion. (click link below)


Subscribe to The Loneliest Planet by Email



Contact: randy@randyrossmedia.com Copyright 2008-2018, Randy Ross. All rights reserved.