Today, our guest is Timmy White, and his post is on how to use blogging as a successful marketing tool. I think there’s a lot of good information in this, and I hope you all find something you can take away. Don’t forget to share, please. Now, here’s Timmy!

How to Use Blogging As a Razor Sharp Marketing Tool

Many contemporary authors think it’s a waste of time to write something that won’t be published into a financially-rewarding book, but guess what: blogging is an incredible tool that can help them attract a greater audience.

Here is a valuable piece of information: George Martin still maintains his LiveJournal page. It’s called Not a Blog, but of course it’s a blog! His faithful readers are always happy to find out what he’s up to, so the author keeps them hooked with bits of information related to his interests, thoughts, and work.

If you still haven’t achieved fame of Martin’s caliber, that doesn’t mean you won’t attract readers who would be excited about your work. The competition in the blogosphere is huge, but it’s still easier to attract online audience than real readers that would buy your first editions.

Needless to say, you need to form a specific blogging strategy that would lead you to success. These tips will help you gain more attention among potential readers:

Pick a Niche

What will you write about? The most obvious choice is ‘writing about writing’, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Blogging is a very versatile category that enables you to publish short stories, brief thoughts about life, elaborate lifestyle improvement tips, and anything else that comes to your mind. However, you need to pick a particular niche and provide related content that your audience will become used to.

If you don’t know what niche to choose, think about your unpublished novel. If, for example, it’s a story about a murder, you can maintain a blog about serial murders and the psychology behind their actions. You don’t have to think of an entirely new category that’s never been elaborated by another blog. You just need to write better than anyone else in the niche. Continue reading →