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How to write a daily blog.

In December 2010 I decided to write a daily blog for the whole of 2011. The blog was about my work with womb twin survivors (see the blog here.) I am a member of a Linked In writers' group, and they expressed interest in how I had managed to write a blog post every day and had quadrupled the number of hits in less than 9 months.

So here is what I learned and how I did it.

Making the blog

1. I used Blogger (mainly because I coudn't get my head round WordPress) but it doesn't matter which system you use.
2. Make sure you explore all the various parts of your blog and all the extra functions, and use them. As you do with your writing, make sure you create a professional look
    
3. Read articles about blogging available on the net. [example here]
    
4. Put somewhere in the header that this is your daily blog - this is what all the search engines will find.
    
5. When you make a post, use a "jump break" so that only a few intriguing sentences will be visible at first and the reader can click a "read more" link to read the rest. That way you can have lots of post visible at once when people come to visit, which makes you look very industrious and amazing.

Making the daily posts

1. Keep them short - 500 words maximum every day, as that is all the average blog reader can absorb at once.
    
2. Make sure there is a daily post, by creating posts in advance and saving them as drafts, even if they are incomplete.
    
3. If you are away on holiday or likely to be too busy to write, you can schedule your posts in advance by changing the date and time and publishing it. They stay on a "scheduled" list and are posted automatically at the time you say. (I once did a whole month in advance - I don't think anyone noticed.......)
    
4. If you are in the process of gathering ideas for a book, say about a murder mystery in a coal mining town, you can make a series of short posts about some of the more fascinating things you discover about coal mining while doing your research.
    
5. If you have a book already published, you can have fun dropping little hints about the plot, as a teaser to possible purchasers.
    
6. If you write non-fiction in an area where there are more facts than you can possibly include in your book, the blog is the place to get them out there in a, "Not a lot of people know that....?" kind of post.
    
7. Value your comments, they are like gold dust. Feedback from book readers is very hard to get - here are your readers, potential and actual and you can answer them! That is even better.

Self-disclosure

1. You have to decide what your blog is for. If its self-promotion, forget it. Your blog is not about you and whether you took the cat to the vet today. That puts people off. You will have learned how to get out of the way when you write your books and articles - this is no different. Have a personal web site for your bibliography and books and just link your blog to all that.
    
2. If you love your chosen subject area, make it clear, but don't go on about it, or ram your ideas down the throats of your readers.
    
3. Don't be ashamed to share reviews on your blog, both good and bad, but keep your own emotional responses out of it.
    
4. Talk about impending publication dates and upcoming events, but don't slip into that narcissistic "LOOK AT ME!!!" thing that is so common these days, or your readers will leave you in droves and your hits will dip.
    

Above all, ENJOY IT!!!