Taking a blog vacation … and watch out for the forthcoming book

I’m taking a blog vacation – In fact I’m taking a real vacation in late July/August, and following that we should be coping with a house move, so it could be a crazy time.

HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean the blog is gone for ever – I’ve lots of exciting plans, not least of all a little book featuring some of the key blog posts from Social Media for Writers as well as more, unpublished material.

All the best things morph and change!

Please keep in touch and sign up for my email updates if you haven’t already, as there’ll be more happening later in 2015 and I’d like you to be one of the first to know.

Thanks, and keep it social!

Tips for Choosing a WordPress.com Theme

I’ve recently been working with two different clients. One is an author wanting to upgrade from her adequate (but static, and a bit dated) website, the other is newly self-employed professional in a specific niche, and needing a web presence.

Both wish to be able to manage the sites themselves without having to call on a web designer or other tech help when they want to update the content. Neither is quite ready for a blog – at least to start with (I’ve persuaded them of the long-term benefits of having a blog, but first things first).

There were some similarities in the design brief: both wanted a ‘clean’ look, the ability to use their own image(s) in the header or masthead, the ability to use to a specific background colour. Both were looking at WordPress.com as a starting off point, mainly for its low maintenance aspect and to keep costs down. A hosted site at WordPress.com can always be ‘converted’ to a self-hosted WordPress site relatively easily. (For more on this, read my previous post about hosted versus self-hosted blogs.)

One of my first directions was to take a look at the range of WordPress Themes available. Were there any Themes they liked the look of? Personally I find it useful that you can browse by colour, or style, or industry, or even layout (number of columns and so forth). You can choose from Free Themes only, or All Themes (including those you pay for). The Theme Library is a whole bunch of goodies, and fun to explore. Or so I thought.

But both clients had the same reaction. They couldn’t choose. They couldn’t see past the fact that they were blog themes. All the examples shown were blogs, not websites. And there was TOO MUCH CHOICE.

I should be used to this by now, but it still takes me by surprise – clients are much happier if I basically decide for them. I have three or four Themes I tend to suggest if the client has no strong preference. These are basic, clean, almost bland in their default form, but they allow for a certain amount of customising, and their look and layout suits what many people want from a website (as opposed to a blog).

So here are my tips for choosing a WordPress.com Theme, if you’re starting from first base and are a bit overwhelmed by the choice on offer:

Click on the Theme name for more details

1) Read the detail – when browsing Themes, hover over the Theme thumbnail and click first on the Theme name for more information. This will bring up a page of detail about the Theme, examples and more. Do this before hitting ‘Live Demo’ and certainly before clicking on ‘Use this Theme’ – only click this when you are sure, as it will replace any current Theme you are using. If this is your first foray into Themes then it’s less drastic.

Look at the list of Features a Theme offers, they can vary widely

Different Themes offer different features

2) Layout – do you have any preferences about where the main menu should go? What do you think about a 2-column layout – with the sidebar on the right, or left? Do you want the option of a ‘magazine’ layout, with blocks of content on the page? Would you be happy with a large, deep masthead? Check out the Theme’s features. This is where you’ll see all the options. Some offer more than one menu, some have one-, two- or three-column page layout options, and more.

3) Images – don’t be put off by a Theme just because it appears to be image-heavy. The images are often optional, and Themes are shown at their best when populated by beautiful photos.

Don’t be put off by an apparently image-heavy Theme, or a Theme Name

4) Logo – some Themes have a logo in place that can’t be changed a great deal, others allow you to use your own logo.

5) Colours and font styles – what are you able to change? Some Themes offer 2 or 3 ‘palettes’ to choose from, and they might allow you to upload a custom background. But more likely you are stuck with the colours you see in the demo. Same goes for font, line height and other styles. However, if you upgrade you can modify these (see below).

6) Check out examples – some Themes offer a link or two to actual blogs or websites using the Theme. They can be useful to see, and help you envisage the Theme ‘in action’. For example, the Hemingway Rewritten Theme shows six example blogs.

7) Try it – if this is your first Theme, just try one and see how you get on. If you find it doesn’t offer the features or flexibility you’re after, or there’s something you don’t like once you start using it, you can always change to another Theme. Build some trial time into your launch, if you’re planning a launch … a few weeks gives you time to try before making a final decision. And it’s one of the fun things about WordPress.com – a makeover is only a couple of clicks away.

If you find a Theme you like but want to customise it to a greater extent that the Theme allows, you have ~~a couple of options.~~

CORRECTION: the Custom Design Upgrade is no longer available outside of the Premium hosting plan.

~~The first is to pay for the Custom Design Upgrade, currently $30 a year.~~ This gives you access to more options, such as a custom background, more choice of fonts, and bespoke colours. It allows you to make alterations to the CSS, or stylesheet – this does require a bit of know-how, but it means you can really make the Theme your own.

However, since September 2014 WordPress.com has included the Custom Design upgrade in its new Premium hosting plan, along with other upgrades such as VideoPress (video hosting), No Ads, a custom site address, increased storage space and email support. The Premium package currently costs $99 a year,

CORRECTION: although it’s being offered to new UK customers for £85, which is a lot more than $99. A tax on UK customers?

~~which I think represents good value and it’s what I now recommend to WordPress.com clients.~~ You can compare the different hosting plans here.

Should you have a Facebook Page?

If you’re building your author platform, you want to be where your readers are. Do your readers (or potential readers) hang out on Facebook?

If you’re not sure of the answer then take a step further back.

Who are your readers? Who are the people you want to engage with, who do you want to know about your writing? Now do some research into the basic demographics of various social platforms. You may be surprised at the findings. For example, the average age of the typical user of Facebook is going up all the time. Take a look at these stats compiled in January this year.

Anyway, let’s say you’re pretty sure you need a Facebook presence. From the typical questions I’m asked about Facebook, it’s clear that there’s often some confusion between Facebook Profiles and Facebook Pages.

Here’s a quick summary.

Facebook puts it very simply: “each person who signs up for Facebook has one account with login information. Each account can have one personal profile and manage multiple Pages. A Page lets you engage with people on Facebook and offers tools to help you manage and track engagement.”

A Page is separate entity from your personal profile. It represents a business or organisation, or something with a commercial purpose. This could be an individual, for example an Author. It could also be an individual Book.

A Page is created by a person with a profile, but you don’t have to make this connection public. In other words, you need to have a personal profile to create a Page, but nobody except you and Facebook need know that you are the creator of that Page. This means you can separate your personal Facebook activity from that of your Page.

For example, many people use Facebook to connect with family members and personal friends. At the same time, you might want a Page for a book you’ve written, or for your professional persona. Not all Facebook Friends are going to be interested in your latest gig, and conversely, those who Like your Page probably don’t want to see photos of your niece’s wedding or what have you.

You can create a Page from the dropdown menu on your Facebook profile.

Of course, when you create a Page, it’s a good idea to tell at least some of your Friends about it, in order to get some Likes and to spread the word.

When people Like a page, they may see that Page’s updates in their News Feed (or not – see below). Once you have at least 30 Likes, you can access Facebook Page Insights.

An alternative to creating a Page is to allow people to Follow your profile. This means anyone who Follows may see your public updates in their News Feed. But if you do this, then you need to be careful which updates you share publicly. You have this option every time you post to Facebook.

It’s important to remember that what actually appears in News Feeds is down to Facebook’s proprietary algorithm, which is regularly tweaked.

What you see in your News Feed is influenced by how engaged you are with a Page or indeed with your Friends. If you have Liked a page, or a Friend’s update, that’s one indicator of engagement. But if you have shared an update, or commented on one, or done so regularly, those are also indicators, and stronger than a mere ‘like’. It has also been suggested that some types of content ‘score’ more highly than others – video, for example.

Buffer has this useful post on how the Facebook Algorithm works, which they keep updated.

If you create a Page and want its audience and popularity to grow, your goals should be not just to garner Likes, but to work on getting people sharing and commenting on your updates. If people ‘like’ but never visit again, your Page will struggle.

One way to gain more interest in your Page, more quickly, is to invest in advertising. It needn’t cost the earth – Facebook ads can be as precisely targeted as you wish, and you set your own limits as to what you want to pay.

What do I talk about? 10 ideas to get you started

Maybe you’re writing a blog, or have a Facebook page to maintain… there are going to be times when you think ‘what on earth do I write about and why on earth would anyone be interested?’ Not to worry – I hear this all the time and you already have LOADS of good material to share, believe me! Here are a few ideas to get you going.

1. What I’m working on

Everyone wants to know what people are writing about, what’s coming next, sneak previews of topics or plots or characters. You don’t have to give much away, but a little sharing brings your readers along with you. If you start doing this early in the process then you will build a head of interest so that by the time the work makes it to the booksellers your audience is desperate to get their hands on it.

2. Where & how I write

Do you have a routine – 1,000 words before morning coffee, no writing until after you’ve walked the dog? Do you write in cafes, in an office, in silence or listening to Mahler? Do you favour longhand drafts or do you write directly onto a computer or tablet? Do you record notes for yourself when out and about?

However humdrum they may seem to you, these kinds of details are fascinating to your readers. You don’t have to share any personal or private information. But letting people in on your life in small ways – mentioning your dog by name, or admitting you always write in pencil – can make you stand out as someone who is not only real but memorable for being real.

3. Who my heroes are and why

It doesn’t matter how many times you see this tackled in interviews, it’s always a winner. By admitting which writers you admire and love reading, which authors have influenced you, you’re going to stimulate conversation. Encourage your readers to share in return – “over to you!”

4. How I got here – inspirational stories

Have you overcome difficulties to achieve success? Did you face 100 rejections before your first novel was published and is now a New York Time Bestseller? Did you used to work at a publishers and were you inspired by the slush pile to write your own novel, only better? Inspirational stories are always popular, and great material for sharing. Package your stories up with a hashtag such as #FeelgoodFriday, #inspiration or #howIdidit and encourage retweets and shares.

5. Writing struggles, and how I overcome them – for example creating believable characters, dealing with writer’s block

Admitting your vulnerabilities is a great tactic for creating a warm fuzzy feeling towards you. Other writers will empathise, readers will marvel at how much work actually goes into your craft. These can also be turned into ‘how to’ posts, if you’re interested in building an audience of your peers in order to market your coaching services, for example.

6. My favourite book/author/poet when I was a child/teenager

Similar to number 3 – you’re telling readers indirectly about your life and what has shaped it, and you’re giving them something to emphasise with or reminisce alongside you. Don’t forget to ask readers for their own examples.

7. Ask reader ideas about a character or a plot, or for input on a book cover

Is there anything more exciting for readers than to be consulted by authors they admire? Imagine being able to influence plot twists or character traits – it’s great fun, you’re not committed to using any of the ideas but that’s not really the point. The fact that you’re asking, whether it’s in comment-form (will take a lot of your time to reply to everyone individually) or as a poll (less personal but easier to manage the results), the consultation process is what matters.

Similarly if you have involvement with the book cover (or if the publisher can be persuaded to take part), why not run a few dummy versions by your readers and ask them to vote for the winner?

8. Write yourself into my forthcoming book (contest)

What’s in a name? You could run a simple contest whereby you outline three or four (as yet un-named) characters in your next book, and ask readers to put their own names forward. Make them work for it though – they should say why character X should be named after them. Great fun, and very memorable. This can also work well in children’s books. I still remember a schoolfriend telling me how the little dragon in ‘Ivor the Engine’ was named for her father, and how impressed I was.

9. What I think about … the shortlist for XYZ award, a recent award-winning book, etc

OR What I think about … the changing face of romance, the growth of steampunk etc

Everyone has opinions, and we love reading them – whether we agree or not. Opinions spark debate. They may (or may not) be controversial. They can be revealing, informative, entertaining … if you’re already a non-fiction writer you will probably find opinion pieces easy. If you don’t, not to worry you may prefer to
curate other people’s opinions in the form of a round-up ‘what people are saying about…’ Either way, talking about topical events, happenings and trends will help position you as a player in that world – connected, knowledgeable and interested.

10. Ask readers for suggestions of books that would make great movies, and who would star in them.

OK, it’s a bit populist but the odd lightweight topic never hurt anyone’s reputation as a serious writer! This is the kind of fun question to throw out on a Friday and again, it has great potential for multiple shares. I don’t know about you, but I could go on and on about how I was desperate for ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ to be made into a film, but when Clint Eastwood was cast rather than my own choice (Sam Shepard) I was gutted.

Don’t stop at words on a screen. Many of the above themes can be re-imagined as interviews (either you interviewing another writer, or another writer interviewing you, perhaps on their own blog), as audio posts or podcast episodes, or as video.

And if you’re thinking ‘what’s all this got to do with selling books?’ then remind yourself that buying a book is an act of trust. A reader is entrusting their precious time and emotional involvement with the world and characters you have created. If they already feel they know and like the writer, because of the conversations they’ve had or what they’ve heard them say and talk about, they are more likely to trust them. Plus of course, it’s fun, stimulating and may lead you in all kinds of interesting directions in your writing.

Are you making the most of Twitter lists?

Last year I wrote a post about Twitter lists, and from talking to people it’s evidently still a feature of Twitter that’s widely under-utilised.

Remember, a list can be public or private. A private list is great for researching, whether it’s background for your latest book or keeping tabs on groups of people you are interested in following (but don’t want to look like a stalker) such as agents, publishers, journalists or reviewers.

A public list is one that other people can see and subscribe to. People who create public lists are often seen as authoritative and knowledgeable in that field, a ‘curator’ of useful people to follow and great content. But before you start a public list check out those already in existence, rather than re-inventing the wheel (see my next point).

You can of course subscribe to other people’s (public) lists. This means, for example, if you are a poet and want to follow other poets on Twitter, you don’t need to start your own list if you don’t want to, because someone like Antony Wilson has already created one called ‘Poets’ (and there are over 700 members).

When you subscribe to a list, the list owner may or may not get an alert telling them the list has a new subscriber. When you add someone to a public list, that person will generally get an alert telling them.

When you add someone to a private list, they are not notified. This is why, if you don’t have a lot of followers, it’s a good idea to add people first to a private list rather than following loads of people.

Why? because it’s a good idea to keep your ratio of followers to followees either reasonably equal, or have more followers than followees. It is one of the informal criteria many people have for deciding whether to follow someone.

Here are a few ideas about how you could be using lists:

To capture the names of people involved in an event

How often do you meet interesting folks at a conference, or a book launch or other event, and exchanged names or contact details, perhaps hurriedly, then later struggled to remember the name or find their card? Why not create a Twitter list specifically for that event, and add their Twitter name to it there and then. If you’ve already created the list, and are using a tool such as Hootsuite on your phone, you can add names at least as quickly as adding someone to your phone book.

If you take part in a Twitter chat, you could also add participants to a list and give it the name of the chat. That way you can keep in touch with them without having to follow everyone, the list keeps growing as new people join the chat, and you’ll always remember the context in which you ‘met’.

To create a helpful resource

It’s not just your peers who may be grateful for a list of fellow crime writers on Twitter – your readers will also appreciate it. They’d probably also be really interested to know who are your favourite bloggers, or literary events, or living authors who are great Tweeters. List-makers are often seen as the curators, the do-ers, the people to be connected to on Twitter, so a bit of altruism in this department won’t do your reputation any harm.

To reward or show recognition

If there are people who regularly share your tweets, or respond, or are great conversationalists, or write consistently good blog posts, you could create a list for them and give it a ‘feelgood’ title that makes it clear why you’re grateful or why you rate them – ‘Awesome writer-bloggers’, ‘Generous Tweeters’ for example (or whatever works for you – but make it reasonably descriptive, so that anyone added to it feels rewarded and anyone coming across it will be impressed enough to follow or check out its members.

One thing that has changed since this time last year is how to search for Twitter lists on Google. The way to do it now is to type the following into the search box:

site:twitter.com inurl:lists <insert search term>

(with or without the angled brackets). For example:

site:twitter.com inurl:lists crime writers

brings up the following:

You can also search via the Twitter search box, and via people you already know on Twitter.

Good luck and have fun with lists – there are loads of other uses, let me know in the comments if you have devised innovative ways of using lists.

How to follow blogs in Hootsuite

Following other blogs is a big part of your life as a blogger. Just think of the inspiration, context, camaraderie and collaboration opportunities they offer. But how do you keep up with them? Do you use a feed reader, or hear of new posts via email, for example?

Because I blog using WordPress I’ve always found it easy to just hit the ‘Follow’ button on another WordPress site, and have the blog added automatically to my WordPress Reader. But for non-WordPress blogs, it’s not quite so easy – you have to copy and paste a blog or feed URL manually into your WordPress reader.

Also, with WordPress blogs, I have the option in my Reader to get a weekly email digest of new blog posts. This means every Monday morning I have a dozen or so alerts, and I can skim through them at the start of the day. But more than a dozen at a time would be too much for my inbox (or my Monday morning brain). And I don’t have this email option for non-WordPress blogs I subscribe to in Reader.

However, I recently took the plunge and decided to add all my blog subscriptions to my Hootsuite dashboard. I’d been putting it off because it wasn’t a high priority and I imagined it might be more complicated that it turned out to be, but I needn’t have worried.

So if you’re in a similar position, here’s a step-by-step guide to moving all your blog subscriptions to Hootsuite, so you can view blog updates anytime alongside your other social media accounts.

1) In WordPress, go to your Reader, and click on the cog next to ‘Blogs I Follow’ to bring up a list of your subscriptions.

Click on ‘Export’. You’ll be prompted to save the export file (.opml).

2) Log in to your Hootsuite dashboard and Add a Tab and call it ‘Blogs’. (For this illustration I’ve called mine ‘Test’, because I already have a ‘Blogs’ tab.)

You’ll then be prompted to add a Stream to that tab – you have a choice of Networks, Apps or Shared. Select Apps, and click on Hootsuite Syndicator. If you don’t see that as a choice, click on ‘Get More Apps’. You can then search and install Hootsuite Syndicator (it’s free).

3) Under Hootsuite Syndicator, click on the RSS icon and you’re into the Subscription Manager screen.

Here you can either add individual feeds, or import a number of feeds. Do this by dropping in your .opml file.

4) If you have a lot of feeds to import it may take a few minutes, but eventually you’ll see all your feeds appear.

5) Close the Subscription Manager, and you now have a ‘Blogs’ tab alongside your Twitter, Facebook or whatever you have … where you can skim through new blog posts and read them at any time.

I’d like to be able to read blog posts from my phone, but sadly it seems that Apps streams aren’t viewable on the mobile app version of Hootsuite. However you can read them on a tablet in a web browser.

Subscribing to new blogs

When I find a new blog I want to subscribe to, I now look for the RSS icon, rather than just hitting ‘follow’ or ‘follow by email’.

When I click on that, a box comes up inviting me to add the feed to my Hootsuite (you have to be logged into Hootsuite for this to happen).

Click on ‘Add to Hootsuite’ …

I then select ‘add feed to existing tab’ and choose ‘Blogs’ – and the blog is added to my Blogs stream in Hootsuite. Done!

Inviting guest writers onto your blog

Interview couch Keeping a blog going with good content isn’t easy. Even if you keep your editorial calendar up to date (ahem!) there are always times when your priorities are elsewhere, you know you’ve got a big job coming up or you just need a break.

This is one reason why it’s worth having others post to your blog. I don’t mean you have to give them access to the Dashboard (although if your blog turns into a team effort, it’s easy enough to do that while still maintaining control).

It’s more a question of receiving someone else’s material and posting it up, with an introduction from yourself. Occasional guest bloggers will usually do this for a byline and links to their blog and social profiles.

How to find guest bloggers

1) A personal invitation is a good approach. Start with other writer friends you know, whose style you like and who you think would have something to say of interest to your blog readers. They don’t have to be bloggers themselves, but they should have something new to offer – perhaps a niche expertise or a different background to you.

2) Target your best commenters. If there is someone who comments regularly on your blog, and has interesting opinions, you could ask them if they’d like to write a guest post expanding on something they’ve written.

3) Go through your social contacts. I’ll bet there are people you interact with on Twitter who would make great guest bloggers.

3) Don’t just limit yourself to writers. What related topics might your readers interested in? What about a post about book cover art, or the historical period you write about, or a popular library or research facility? There will be specialists in all these areas who could write something fascinating and different. Think about other media. If you rarely post audio or video, for example, there might be a guest blogger who could do that, providing something new and fresh for your readers.

Agreeing the terms

Be professional and organised – when someone agrees to write a guest post, make sure you’ve established what’s expected on both sides. Are you offering byline & links plus exposure to your audience, or some other form of compensation? Are they providing a copy of a book or other gift for you to run a prize draw for readers?

Provide a deadline for receipt of copy, a preferred word count, and either establish a topic up front or let them know they have a free rein. Do you want them to provide images to go with the post? If so, what size should they be, and do you also require captions?

When the post goes live

Are guest bloggers expected to monitor and respond to comments for a day or two after the post goes live? If your blog is busy and receives lots of comments, be sure to ask them to. One of the benefits of having guest bloggers is that it takes some of the workload off you, but if you have to spend two hours fielding comments that kind of defeats it.

Make sure you promote the post in the normal way and publicly praise/thank your guest for their piece. Are guest bloggers expected to share the blog post with their social networks, or promote it on their blogs? Again, one of the reasons for inviting guests onto your blog is to increase its exposure to new audiences – namely the guest blogger’s own social networks. So worth asking, although it wouldn’t be good to insist. It’s unlikely someone would not want to do this, but they may need nudging.

These are just a few guidelines to get started with guest bloggers. The ‘deal’ you strike is more likely to be relaxed and friendly than formal. However, as your blog grows in popularity you may start getting actively approached by people wanting to guest on your blog, and that’s when a guest blogging policy is a good thing to have. Start by creating a ‘Write for Us’ page or a paragraph on your ‘About’ page that sets out the terms for potential guest bloggers.

If you find guest blogging works, and some guests become regular writers, you will almost certainly need to start compensating them. But there are ways you can up their profiles before it comes to that – such as adding a headshot to their posts, an Author Box linking to their profile, and having a ‘Contributors’ page or sidebar feature where they are listed. Many large multi-author blogs started this way.

And don’t forget you’ll probably find yourself guesting on other blogs too. Guest blogging is sociable and rewarding. Have fun with it.

#Whattheheck are #hashtags and how should you be using them?

Hashtags started life on Twitter, as a way for people to find tweets on a specific topic. A kind of search tool, if you like. The habit caught on and hashtags are now routinely used to organise conversations around a specific topic or event. This might be anything from a scheduled Twitter Chat, to a news story, sports event or a conference – you name it.

You’ve probably seen them on your TV screen when a show is on – #poldark for example. When you see a hashtagged word like that, it means ‘follow this hashtag on your social platform of choice to see and join in the conversations going on around it.’ And it’s not just Twitter these days – hashtags are used on most social platforms.

Event organisers routinely use them to facilitate attendees connecting with one another, before, during and after the event. I’ve experienced this often – if you go to an event where you don’t know anyone, you can identify other attendees by their tweets using the event hashtag. It’s a useful ice breaker.

Hashtags are great for following topics long-term. For example, I have a permanent stream set up on my Hootsuite to monitor the hashtag #poetry, and another for #writetip. You can join in by using established hashtags in your own updates – it brings you to the attention of others following that hashtag.

Think about it – without any filtering, your Twitter stream is a hosepipe of updates on every subject possible. How do you get to see the updates you’re interested in? How do you join an existing conversation around a topic? How do you find other people interested in the same topics as you? One answer is to follow a hashtag.

How to follow a hashtag

When you attach a hashtag (#) to the front of a word (or phrase, but with no spaces) on Twitter or Facebook, it’s turned into a hyperlink, meaning it’s clickable. When you click on it, you’re presented with all the updates containing that hashtag. This includes upates from people you’re not following, and this is important: hashtags don’t just filter your home stream, they are a way of connecting with other people using the same hashtag – whose updates you wouldn’t otherwise see.

If you’re using Twitter on the web, click on a hashtag and you’ll see all the tweets using that hashtag – but you also have a number of choices on the left hand side of the page – the default is ‘Everything’, but you can search for just people, videos, news stories etc or even more specific criteria in an ‘advanced’ search.

If you want to save a search, hit ‘save’ (top right of search results column) and you can return to it anytime but clicking inside the Twitter search box – a list of your saved searches will come up, just click on the one you want to retrieve.

Another neat thing you can do is to embed your search results in a Twitter widget on your blog’s sidebar. You might want to do this, for example, if you’ve created a hashtag for your new book release, or are attending or promoting an event, or involved in a news story, and you want your blog visitors to see the conversation.

Click on the three little dots top left of the search column and you’ll be prompted to ’embed this search’. This takes you to a screen where you can customise your widget.

I’m often asked if hashtags are ‘governed’ in any way. Can anyone create a hashtag? What if it’s been ‘taken’?

The answer is it’s a free-for-all, in that anyone can create a hashtag, and if it’s already in use then that’s your lookout! It’s best to check first by doing a search on your chosen hashtag.

Something that can be an issue is multiple hashtags for the same thing, which results in a number of parallel conversations – not ideal. This is why TV companies, publishers and event organisers often make an effort to promote the ‘official’ hashtag, before too many unauthorised versions come into play.

If you do create a hashtag and want people to use it then you have to encourage take up – by using it frequently, attaching it to relevant retweets and so forth. It’s a good idea to keep your hashtags short if possible, allowing space for retweet, otherwise they may get cut. This is also a good reason not to use TOO many hashtags in one update. Using more than one is fine, but if they’re long they don’t leave much room for anything else. Hashtags stand out as links, and can add interest to a tweet in the same way that regular links do – research suggests that updates containing links (including hashtag links) get shared more than those without any links.

Another way you sometimes see hashtags used is as a sort of ironic comment, or as a way of getting a point across, or being funny – such as #whatwashethinking or #lazyediting. These kinds of hashtags tend not have much of a shelf life and are really just created as one-offs, for effect. Of course, sometimes they catch on – you just never know!

Should writers blog? Hear me being interviewed on The Author Biz

Last month Stephen Campbell of The Author Biz podcast invited me onto his show to talk about authors and blogging. He grilled me about everything from ‘should authors blog?’ (I wish there were a straightforward answer to this!) and my thoughts on the various platforms available, hosting options, organising your time and so forth.

Listen to the podcast here.

I find being interviewed a little nerve-wracking and I admit I could only listen to a small amount of the recording! But If you’re new to blogging or on the fence about it, it’s definitely worth a listen.

Stephen publishes a new podcast every Monday on The Author Biz, a towering achievement, and his interviewees have included many top authors, publishers, agents and editors, all sharing their expertise, opinions and advice. I’m grateful to be included in such great company.

Do check it out, and you can subscribe in iTunes.

How to promote your blog posts on social media – manual vs automation methods

You’ve written a new blog post and hit ‘publish’.

What next? You may have subscribers who receive an email alert, either immediately or maybe in a weekly digest, together with other blogs they follow.

But what about reaching new readers? Your post may well come up in searches – particularly if you’ve thought about your keywords and used them strategically.

Blogs are part of the bigger social web, and the principal way they get found (and you get new readers) is via the sharing that happens on online social networks – not just directly from your blog, or on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and so forth but also blogger communities, writers’ communities and special interest forums. But for sharing to take place, people have to know about your blog posts.

What can you do to help kickstart the sharing process? The answer is as much or as little as you like.

The manual method

How it works: You log onto your social network(s), write an update and post in the URL to your blog post. Some people see it, click on it and hopefully share it to their networks.

Upsides: doing it manually means you can write bespoke updates for each of your social networks, which may be desirable if you connect with different audiences and want to customise your language, or maybe not always post to a particular network. You will have a clear picture of what updates are being posted when and where, so you feel in control and happy that your audience won’t feel swamped with too much promo.

Downsides: it’s labour-intensive, especially if you post often and are active on a number of networks or forums. Unless you consistently use a URL shortener/tracker like bit.ly, you won’t be able to easily track who’s clicking or sharing. When it comes to Twitter, one update probably won’t do it, because it’s unlikely all your followers will be online and monitoring their feed at that one moment.

The basic automation method

If you blog with WordPress, it’s fairly easy to connect your blog with your social networks so that whenever you publish a new post, an alert goes out. From your Dashboard, go to ‘Settings’- ‘Sharing’. Here’s the page for my blog Poetgal, and you can see I have connected it to my Twitter and Google+ accounts.

Once you’ve done this, when you’re on the Edit Post page you’ll see your Publicise settings on the right of the screen:

If you click on ‘Edit’ you can customise the wording of the auto-update. Then when you hit ‘Publish’ the update and link to your blog post will be posted to your connected networks. There’s a good walk-through of Publicize here.

If you’re not using WordPress, don’t worry, there are third-party apps that do the same job no matter what blog platform you’re using, and some come with many more features (see below for the all-singing all-dancing options). For example, take a look at Twitterfeed or IFTTT (which stands for ‘If This Then That’).

Upsides: You no longer have to go to your social networks and post each blog update, so it saves you a shedload of time, and having to think about it. Once these services are set up, they run in the background. An app such as IFTTT allows for quite specific targeting, using what it calls ‘recipes’. This means you can specify things like “If I publish a new post on my WP blog with the category ‘Twitter’ then post a tweet with image to @robinhoughton”. You can also set up automatic actions based on just about any activity on most social platforms.

Downsides: You may not want every update to go out on all your social networks, and if that’s the case you need to set up filters – always check what settings are available. These tools are pretty cool but there are so many of them it can feel overwhelming – it’s very easy to sign up for them as the basic versions are all free, but you need to keep a clear picture of what you’ve set up, otherwise you could end up multiple-posting. I’d advise finding a service you like and sticking with that. If you change any of your network passwords you’ll need to refresh the connections with any third party apps as they will stop running.

One of the main issues with basic, one-off auto posting is that it only happens once. So you have the same problem as manual posting in that not everyone will see your autopost. If this concerns you then you probably should choose an app that autoposts as many times as you like, at different times of day, what I would call managed automation.

The managed automation method

A step further from basic automation is to signup for a service that will allow you to manage a range of triggered actions based on your specifications. You can decide exactly what gets posted, where and when, and you usually have access to a whole range of other features such as browser extension allowing you to bookmark and share anything on the web, syndication of your blog posts to social bookmarking and media sites, and social analytics.

The good news is you don’t have to jump into using all the available features, and in fact the advanced features are usually only part of the premium (paid for) packages. Even so, the free versions of Hootsuite, Buffer and dlvr.it, for example, are all very good and worth checking out.

You can sign up with any of these services using your favourite social network (if you wish) or by creating a new username for that app. The free versions will have limits on how many social networks you can connect, access to analytics and custom features. But unless you are a pro blogger (running your blog as a business) then you’ll probably find the free services are plenty good enough. All these apps allow you to ‘queue’ your updates for re-posting across your networks at different times of day and on different days, in order to be seen by a bigger cross-section of your followers.

Upsides: These apps give more power to your social updates and take a lot of the elbow-grease out of it. Pro-bloggers swear by automation and there’s no doubt that if you are serious about making blogging pay, you need to spend less time doing things that can be automated, and more time on the stuff that requires brain-effort such as writing great blogs posts, interpreting your stats and nurturing strategic relationships.

Downsides: There will be some trial and error before you find the app(s) that suit you, and you need to pay attention to the setup. Automation isn’t for everyone: many people prefer slow-blogging: creating contacts more organically and growing a following based on recommendation and more personal promotional methods. That’s absolutely fine and if I’m honest I’m a bit of a slow-blogger myself. Having said that I do find Hootsuite invaluable as it gives me the right amount of automation and control while still keeping it real.

There’s a great deal of commercial clutter and over-promotion on the social web, and bombarding it with yet more isn’t on everyone’s agenda. However, you do want people to see your blog posts, and saving some of your precious time by taking advantage of the helpful tools available is, I think, a sensible choice.

Social Media for Writers

Helping writers get their heads around blogging and social media

Author: Robin Houghton

Taking a blog vacation … and watch out for the forthcoming book

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