Blogging: How to Keep Readers Interested

If you’re an unpublished writer, what do you post on your website? How do you attract readers?

The first thing you need to do is analyze who are your readers and what do they want to read? Why are they following you? If you’re just starting out, you can control who your audience is by the types of posts you publish on your blog. Do you want other writers to follow you? Maybe you’d like to post critiques or writing articles that show your readers how to improve. Do you want to solely focus on your brand? For example, if you wrote a non-fiction book on how to grow a giant garden, then your posts should reflect all things related to gardening. The same can be done with fiction. If you write paranormal, you can post articles about ghosts, creatures, haunted houses, séances, tarot cards, and all things paranormal. With historicals, you can publish posts about the era in which your characters live.

Some writers have their characters write posts, but not everyone is into that. Unless you’ve read a novel with those characters and have gotten to know them in their own story, it can be hard to get into a fictionalized blog. Although, some do this successfully and have sold books because their blog readers enjoyed the characters so much, they wanted to experience the story through the characters’ eyes.

There are three key elements to building your blog platform. Consistency, frequency, and quality.

Consistency: Pick a theme for your blog and stick with it. If you write about yourself one day, about writing the next, about the news after that, your readers won’t know what to expect, and that’s not always a good thing. This doesn’t mean you can only write about one subject. However, if you’re going to post about different themes, try picking a day of the week for each. I have Monday and Wednesday for writing related posts and Fridays for a nice little distraction. Puzzles. My readers know to expect this. If I decide to change things up, I’ll post a little message to announce the changes.

Frequency: If you only post once or twice a month, your readers are going to forget to come back. If you post every day for a week and then disappear for a few weeks, your readers will think you’ve dropped your blog. Come up with a schedule that works for you. This doesn’t have to be seven days a week. Many bloggers find 2-4 times a week is enough as long as you consistently post that often and your readers know when to expect your next post.

Quality: Make sure your posts are interesting. Readers are busy people and many of them don’t care that you weren’t able to have your favorite coffee this morning because your wife finished it off. Or that you had a bad night sleep last night because your husband was snoring. Or that you’re on your way to work. Keep your audience in mind. What do they really want to read about?

You have to figure out what works best for you. I’m a freelance editor, so my strength lies in teaching writers how to improve. When I first started blogging, I posted through Blogger here at Chatterbox Chitchat. Now that I’ve created an author and an editorial website, I’m also blogging at those sites. At the moment, I’m simply using the same posts, but at some point, this will change. I’m currently focusing on my editorial services, including my new online group course called, “Hook, Line, and Sinker—How to Hook Your Readers and Reel Them In.” However, eventually, I’ll want to focus more on my writing career and brand. At that point, my author website will have its own blog articles related to everything romantic suspense. At least, that’s the plan. If you have a minute, please check out my websites. http://www.lynnettelabelle.com and http://www.labelleseditorialservices.com Thanks.

Do you have a website other than your blog that you’d like to share?