I was delighted to give a presentation for the Dallas Area Romance Authors last month. I talked to them about blogging and even a little about social media.

Here are some snippets of what we talked about:

What is blogging? – Blogging is just writing/journaling in a public forum

Why is important? (Specifically why is having an online presence for writers
important) – Writers need to have a community. Meeting in person, having a review group is great but having you work always available to lots of different sources is only something you can do online.

Where to blog: Deviantart, other writer communities, Facebook, actual blog. There are lots of writing communities but its also great to start your own, more eyes can see you and also you can connect and form your own community.

How to blog: Etiquette – the golden rule still stands. You like comments? Give them. You want links? Link to others.

Wordpress: I suggest starting with a free wordpress blog to get started. You can always get a personalized domain later and lots of snazzy add-ons but for basics Wordpress is the most SEO and user-friendly.

Fears: Other people taking your work – A couple of ways around this. First of theft does happen online. Fortunately it doesn’t happen terribly often. If you’re really concerned, don’t post anything you plan to publish, or post just sections. Little bread crumbs about your work can really get people intrigued.

Blogging can help you

*         Gain an audience – one you didn’t previously have access to

*         Improve your writing skills -  Just like journaling you are exercising those writing muscles. Also you have plenty of critics to help you improve!

*         Help you stay on track with your goals – it helps to be accountable. Having readers will force you to connect on a regular basis and stick to what you promise.

*         Promote your published works – Once you’ve written something feel free to shout about it on your blog! Publish reviews or cover art. Tell people where to buy it. Create a splash page promoting it if you are using wordpress.

*         Getting involved in an online community – Once you start updating regularly find some other writers you trust and connect with them. Create a little circle of people helping one another.

Paid blogging – Paid gigs exist out there. They don’t pay a lot (some time $10 an article) but it can be a great way to earn a little cash doing what you enjoy.

We also talked about social media, specifically about how Twitter works and how to connect better using it.

This is the list of blogs and Twitter handles that I have. If you are part of DARA feel free to email me or put your information in the comment to keep the list updated.

Non-DARA people: These are wonderful, talented women. If you enjoy romance take a minute to check them out!

• Raquel Rodriguez: http://raquelrodriguezauthor.blogspot.com/
• Kathy Ivan: http://www.kathyivan.blogspot.com/
• Sandy Wills: @sandy_wills http://sandy-wills.livejournal.com/
• Sally Felt: @Sallytex http://sallyfelt.com/
• Wendy Q: http://wendyquest.blogspot.com/ http://wendyquest.wordpress.com/
• Nile Landry (Dren James): http://nilelandry.wordpress.com/
• Jennie Bryant: http://www.jenniebryant.blogspot.com/

I’m doing a series of workshops for the Center for Spanish Language Media at UNT.

Register

Facebook Event
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CSLM Facebook Page

Contact Denisse Olivas (denisse.olivas@unt.edu) to attend multiple sessions.

The key to any good marketing strategy is balance. It is easy to get caught up in social media (I admit, I’ve wasted time on plurk and twitter) or spend lots of time designing the perfect landing page, but you should never neglect the other areas of marketing. Like any strategy, internet marketing should be well-rounded.

Most business owners already know how to multitask effectively. You need to divide your time. You need to find clients, deliver your product or service, follow up and still find time for the ever accumulating paperwork. It just comes with the territory. What I want to know is do you use those same strategies in reference to your web presence?

Let me challenge you to figure out where you spend the most time and/or money with your marketing online. There are plenty of tools out there that can track time spent on a particular site (firefox pageaddict, toggl and others). Or just keep a time diary. Each day write down how much time you spend on blogging, SEO, paid marketing and social media (I suggest breaking this category down by site).

Once you’ve done this for a week or two take an hour to review it. Is there any place you waste time? Is there some place you hardly ever look at? Be hard on yourself, because you are the best judge of how valuable your time is.

Try this out. Let me know how it goes. What’s your biggest time waster? Remember, the key to any healthy web presence is balance.

The number one thing I hear from business owners when I talk about blogs and social media is: I don’t have time. Like most excuses, this one has a simple solution… its just not one that most people like to hear: If its important, you will make time. That may sound harsh or even impossible but it really is the bottom line.

I do want to talk about some things that can make finding time easier if you are willing to put some extra effort in. These suggestions are not a quick fix, nor for the faint of heart. But if you have a serious desire to increase your web traffic with a blog, take a month and try some of these techniques.

Listen to Your Muse. In the past I was clinically diagnosed with insomnia. This means some nights I sit awake for hours, just trying to sleep. Often I’ll think about business and get a blog idea. For me, it just seems like 3 am is the magic time. I will make myself get up and be able to pump out two or three posts at a time. If at all possible, write when the idea comes, even if its on a napkin, or its just a few scattered ideas. It may be on your lunch break, it may be right after dinner, but if at all possible, go with it. Calliope may only sing once.

Create Time. Lots of people talk about creating time. They say get up one hour early or shave off five minutes here and there. Well, that never worked for me, and if you read the last hint you’ll know I need all the sleep I can get! Instead, try to make your time work more efficiently. For example, my phone (and its a really old, lame Nokia, not the iphone) has a recording option. If you get stuck in traffic on the way home, why not just record your post and then type it in? Ever get stuck in line or have to sit for a doctor’s appointment? Carry and pen and pencil or make a note in your pda.

Deadlines. We all hate them, but they exist for a reason. Set goals, achievable ones, and write them somewhere in ink. It doesn’t matter if you procrastinate til the last minute, just complete the deadline. (Rewards are a good way to trick yourself into doing it, if you need the extra motivation.)

No step too small. A blog is a creative outlet. This is not a high school paper; there are no rules about length, format or content. Even if you write down three quick tips, its still a post! Even if you can only manage to post once every two weeks it is still progress! There is nothing too small you can do for your blog.

Stop—Banana Time. I think a lot of people get caught up in how much “work” a blog is. Think of blogging as your chance to talk about the things you love most. that should be fun, right? I love the internet and all its potential for business owners, and I love reading blogs from other people who are just as passionate about what they do. This does not mean you have to put a dancing banana in your blog post but if you get hit with writers block, go back to what is fun and write about it!

I hope these few simple hints can help you break through the cop-out of “not enough time”. Like everything else, blogging is an investment in your business. You are the one who makes the choice to do it or not.

Today I want to chat a little bit about why “non-techie” people should blog more. As my example I want to spotlight a new client of ours, Sharon Jones who owns Guardian Pet Sitters and has just started her own blog for pet lovers.

I chose this blog because it has nothing to do with programming, technology or the internet. Right now its hard to tell how many tech blogs are out there but the percentages are high. Personal blogs, news blogs and tech seem to take up the largest chunk of the 78,703,197 blogs identified by statistical websites (source from blogpulse).

In the past two months here are the percentage of posts that Blogpulse has tracked with the keyword “Internet” compared to the keyword “Pets”.

But let’s compare that to the number of people in America who own pets. The National Pet Owners Survey 2007-2008 cites 63% of U. S. Households own pets (source: APPMA). So the number of people who might be interested in tips on pet care far out weighs the number of blogs marketed towards them.

Many businesses have something unique to offer the blogging community. They offer a service or information about something that not many other people are blogging about. Even less cuddly businesses like lawyers, technicians, or CPAs have plenty of worthwhile information and very little competition. In fact I would subscribe to an interesting blog on any of the above topics because they meet a need in my life. Check out Sharon’s blog and consider what unique perspective your business could bring to the table.