Tag: blogging

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I somehow let ten years of blogging slip by last year, but I’m noting my eleventh now. Well, it also slipped by about a month ago, but at least I’ve sort of remembered the anniversary.  :)

It doesn’t really seem like eleven years.  It seems like it’s been a while, though.

I know I didn’t have much of a plan…just that my publisher was very pro-blogging and blogging in 2008 was what everyone seemed to be doing.

I did actually list what I planned to cover in my first blog post.  And I stuck with some of it: sharing resources, most notably.  But I’ve rarely posted a book review here (as I said I would).  Mostly because I’m a terrible reviewer and am much better at endorsements.  There were plenty of posts on balancing writing and parenting, another area I said I’d cover, although now my kids have grown up and need a lot less parenting at 22 and 18.Continue reading

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

In part one  of this series, I covered setting up a blog and maintaining a blogging schedule.  But that’s only part of the process. Today I’ve got ideas for post content (since our writing is the most important part of our blog) and finding/connecting with an audience (since no one wants to blog to thin air).

Tips for content:

Comments on your blog posts can inspire other posts.  Many times my blog commenters have either asked questions or suggested future posts.

Expand on topics other bloggers have covered (giving credit to the original source). Sometimes I’ll run across interesting posts that inspire me to experiment with a writing or promo approach.  I post on my results and how they might have differed from the original writer’s.

Update older posts (with an eye to not wrecking your SEO).  For those of us with years of posted content on our blogs, there’s always the option of updating older posts with fresh content.  Since it’s not a good idea to repost blogs from an SEO standpoint, it’s probably best to use the older content as the basis for a mostly-new post.

Break longer content into shorter posts.  This approach certainly helps fill up a blog’s editorial calendar. I’ve gone back and forth on this through the years, but now my posts are usually pretty short.  If there’s a complex topic, breaking it down into a couple of different parts can help.  I keep reading that most blog readers prefer short posts since they’re skimming on their phones. I don’t mind long posts, myself … what’s your own preference?Continue reading

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

My first post on this blog (which started out at Blogger) was on August 9, 2008.  Tomorrow marks 8 years of blogging.

When I first started blogging, I don’t think I really had in mind how long I would be blogging.  Mostly, blogging was something that my publisher had indicated that I should be doing.

At the beginning, I was blogging with my readers in mind.  That almost immediately shifted since I felt more comfortable writing to writers.  Also, I was trying to work out my writing process as I worked on book three, and talking it out was helpful to me.

In the last eight years, I’ve seen a lot of blogs come and go.  I’ve missed bloggers who have passed away and I’ve missed the ones who stopped blogging.

I’ve picked up  tips along the way…practices that were helpful to me, mistakes I made that I needed to correct, and tips from other bloggers.  Today I’ll share tips for setting up a blog or making a blog serve its purpose better, and tips for maintaining a blogging schedule.  On Friday, I’m covering tips for content and engagement and benefits to blogging.Continue reading