Laura’s Blog

It’s Makeover Monday! Today we’re reviewing Susan Daley’s blog, “Looking Out My Backdoor.” Susan, the author of two non-fiction books, writes:

Help. I don’t seem to know how to attract people to my blog and yet remain true to myself (is my message just too boring?)

Before I address that important question, let’s take a look at the medium through which Susan delivers her message. Here’s a screenshot:

Susan has recently made the transition from Blogger to a WordPress.com blog (another free blog hosting service). She’s taking advantage of WordPress’s functionality by adding six static pages to her blogsite, including the all-important About page and several Category pages that feature posts from her primary blog categories (books she’s reviewed, books she’s written, and teaching children).

Susan’s blog header is typographical, with her blog’s title and subtitle atop a chocolate background. Not too exciting, yet not distracting, either.

I really like the old-fashioned typewriter keys image Susan use in her website’s header. Perhaps it’s because I learned to type on a typewriter that looks just like the one in the header, but the images there resonate with me.

I’m wondering why Susan decided not to put an image in her blog’s header. I’m not saying she needs an image there, but for brand consistency, she might consider adding one of the images from her website’s header.

Susan is also aware of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and she includes both an RSS feed for her blog (top righthand corner) and a simple form so people can subscribe to her posts via e-mail. Giving readers multiple options for subscribing to your blog is always a good thing.

She includes a Twitter link (upper righthand corner), but when I click it, it takes me to Twitter’s Home page. It should link me directly to Susan’s Twitter account so I can follow her.

Susan faces an issue common to many bloggers: Her blog and her website are hosted by two different services (and thus, have different addresses). As a result, she must alert people to the existence of her website and direct visitors there. She does this in her blog’s sidebar, directly beneath her subscription form and book trailer. Because the link is placed between two images, it’s easy to miss it. I would move it up higher and place it either directly above or directly below your e-mail form, so people will be sure to see it.

Susan also includes a link to her Facebook page, which is good. Always give readers multiple ways to find you.

Now, back to Susan’s question about attracting readers to her blog while remaining true to herself.

In her blog’s tagline, Susan lets visitors know that her blog is about “teaching, writing, and books.” From what I’ve learned about the books Susan has authored, they are books that teach lessons, so her blog’s theme jibes with her tagline.

However, a lot of authors blog about teaching, writing, and books, so Susan has a ton of competition. What makes Susan’s writing unique?

It looks as if Susan’s books are commentary-style books about biblical heroes. Susan’s teaching focus appears to be on middle-grade children. And her book reviews appear to be on adult novels. Therein lies the potential problem: her blog is directed at three distinct audiences.

That doesn’t mean Susan will be unable to develop a loyal readership; it’ll just be more challenging and will take longer. One suggestion is to create an Author page at Amazon’s Author Central and migrate all book reviews to Amazon.

Another tactic would be to review only books about biblical heroes on her blog, so she has the opportunity to better promote her expertise as an author of books about biblical heroes.

…or Susan can blog about how to teach biblical truths to middle-grade children.

The most important thing is to build your blog around a theme, and to make sure every article reflects that theme (makes for more powerful search engine optimization). Blog readers are creatures of habit. If you throw zingers at them or they don’t know what to expect from day to day, they’re unlikely to become loyal readers. And we don’t want that!

Susan may need to do some fine-tuning of her blog’s theme, deciding which of her three subject areas she feels most passionate about, and focusing on building her expertise as the go-to resource for that particular topic and audience.

Go for it, Susan, and please let us know what’s working best for you!

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