Build a Platform Without Steroidal Fluff

#blogging #platform #social media

Building a platform often includes creating a blog. First time bloggers are usually overwhelmed and have no clue where to start. Let’s take a look at a few ideas that will get you successfully started on building your platform.

First, you need to ask yourself a few questions:

• Do you have time to create a blog?
• Are you committed to maintaining a blog?
• Will you bring something new to an already over-saturated market?
• Can you adapt to market trend changes?
• Do you see blogging as a burden?

Social media is booming and everyone feels like they need a platform. Blogs and podcasts are all over the web and it seems like everyone is concerned with content. People think beyond words when it comes to blogging. Content includes videos, images, and podcasts. In order for your blog to attract interest, you must provide information that people want. Merely creating steroidal fluff will get you criticized and ignored.

Your blogging content needs:

Valued Information – Share content that you have learned and are knowledgeable. Teach others what you know. Try not to sound like everyone else. This will help establish credibility, trust and likability.

Creative Mixture – Your blog must keep visitors interested and entertained. Utilize images, photos and videos to get your points across in an exciting and creative way.

Distinction – Separate yourself from others by approaching your topic from different angles. Don’t be afraid to allow other knowledgeable colleagues to guest post on your blog. This will help you gain access to new patrons that might not otherwise visit your blog.

Consistency – Blogging once a month is unacceptable as readers will forget about you or lose interest. Most readers have a reading schedule, so post a schedule for your blog and stick to it. Blogging 2 to 3 times a week should be sufficient.

Organization – Readers who find your blog for the first time will want additional information similar to what initially landed them on your blog. Creating static web pages with your best posts in various categories is an excellent way to organize an archived system. Have a search feature in the sidebar to make it easy for readers to find what they are looking for.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – While it is important to get your pages ranked higher on a web search, steroidal fluff stuffed with multiple keywords in your titles and posts could backfire on you. Google may drop your site in the rankings and you and your site could be labeled unreliable and untrustworthy. The best SEO is creating original content that is relevant and helpful with a few select keywords.

Why You Still Need to Provide Email Newsletters

You may be wondering why you need to bother with a separate newsletter if you're already actively promoting yourself through blogging and social media. One of the main reasons is because it provides the best channel for direct access and target marketing.

On social media platforms, your news posts and tweets roll on and off people's newsfeeds before they have a chance to see some of your news and announcements. Additionally, they have the option to turn off notifications of your posts even if they follow you--and many of them exercise this right. You can't send all of your followers a direct message or it will be considered spam, and doing this could get your account suspended. Additionally, social media platforms are forcing people to pay for accessing the very social media platforms they've built on those sites through ads. As social media sites grow and paid advertising is dominated by the people who have the most money, once again small businesses--such as authors--will be lost in the mire of chaos and confusion.

People use social media in varying ways. Some hop on and check it several times a day, while others once a day, and some may go several days between logging on. Just because you have a number of friends and likes doesn't mean they are interested in YOU and what you have to offer, instead many are hoping you are interested in THEM and what they have to offer. Others are looking for friends, but they may not have an interest in what you do or want you marketing books to them.

Providing a newsletter, whether monthly or quarterly, gives you tangible names and emails of people who have an interest in what you're providing--the types of books you write. If they weren't interested, they would not opt-in to receive your email newsletters, or if they are already readers, they wouldn't be buying your books. This is your target audience. Your newsletter is delivered directly into their inbox and they aren't likely to miss it as they would on a social media site. It feels more personal when they have something delivered to them and they don't have to go looking for it or stumble upon it.

A social media post is only limited to 140 characters on Twitter and a bit more on Facebook. You can post 1,000 - 2,000 words in an email newsletter, including photos and videos. There are few limitations. It will sit in a person's inbox until they have time to read it in detail, after the kids go to bed, early in the morning when getting their coffee and checking their email, or after they return from vacation. It isn't rolling off a timeline. The sense of urgency isn't as demanding as it is with social media. I hate it when I see something on someone's feed, and I don't have time to respond or read it. Later on, I'm forced to go digging for it on their timeline and by then I may not find it or I might forget about it and distracted by new posts on my timeline.

Blogging is a better advantage in being able to post as many words and images as you want, but people either have to remember to return to your site, bookmark it, or subscribe to it on a reader feed or have it delivered to their inbox. This is more like receiving an email newsletter. It's more personal and direct.

If you use an email newsletter service, you have a general idea of who is receiving it--at least their name and email address. Also, you can see how many people click to view it, which links they click on, how many subscribe and unsubscribe each month. You can view an overall report on what topics and posts appeal to people the most and target future topics accordingly.

Do you already send out an email newsletter? What is your experience? What would you advise others to consider? 

The Advantages & Disadvantages of Ghost Blogging

As with Ghost Writing, the practice of Ghost Blogging is becoming an increasing phenomenon-especially in the corporate world.

What is Ghost Blogging?

It's when someone hires another blogger or writer to write their blogs for them and they slap their name on it as if they wrote it themselves.

Many people feel this is deceptive and unethical.

I believe it is expected in the corporate world where many CEO's don't even answer their own email and phone calls and haven't written their own letters for years. It's "understood" that their Secretary or Administrative Assistant is writing their letters, emails, and responses.

The issue with blogging is that it's suppose to be a modern tool for transparency and a way to personally connect with one's readers--whether those readers are clients, patients, customers, students, or fans. Busy people claim they don't have time to blog like clockwork on a regular schedule. Yet, they feel obligated to blog because everyone else is doing it, like their competitors, and it truly is a great promotional tool if utilized effectively.

Should authors Ghost Blog or Hire Ghost Bloggers? 
If we hire someone to Ghost Blog in our name, are we deceiving our readers? Shouldn't we be spending our time writing those great novels that our readers can't wait to read? Don't we have an obligation to meet the deadlines looming over us like a big fat cloud that is turning darker every minute we do something else? The temptation could be great for some of us--especially if we just need to get past a deadline for a short month or two.

I believe an author should carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages--and Christian writers should seriously pray about it. It may also depend on the type of blog you own. For instance, I've made my personal decision not to hire Ghost Bloggers on my author blog--my main blog, but I do have Guest Bloggers who use their own name, and it is very different. However, I wouldn't think twice about hiring a Ghost Blogger for my Today in Carolina History Blog, which is no longer active, since all I do is post historical events that took place on that day. I'm not really writing. I'm not giving writing tips, marketing tips, opinions or any insight into my personality or life--only stating facts.

If you decide to hire a Ghost Blogger, I would like to caution that if your readers find out, you may risk them feeling betrayed or deceived. You also risk losing them as readers on both your blog and your books. A certain amount of trust in you as a leader, as well as your knowledge and authority in authorship could be broken.

What are your thoughts? How do you feel about Ghost Blogging?