When I
first started blogging I didn’t know just how much I was going to enjoy it
although I do remember something nagging inside my brain whenever I watched
Carrie on Sex in the City sit at her computer.
She may have written a column for a newspaper but in so many ways it was
a blog, perhaps the original blog. She
wrote regularly, had followers and wrote around a particular topic but there
was always a point to it that was applicable to life in general. I wanted to be like her; well in as far as
writing is concerned. Last post I
discovered blogging was an even better marketing tool than I suspected by being
an integral part of getting Fifty Shades of Gray out there to the public. Whether you are a fan or not is irrelevant
but that the blogging process is not one to be underestimated is, and its
blogging I want to talk about.
Since becoming enmeshed in the
world of writing I have read lots of blogs and have fallen in love with the
medium because it does just that. It
allows insights into life through different topics. I particularly like reading posts from Pulse
in Linkedin. They come from a variety of
people in a variety of professions and yet there is almost always a meeting of
the minds in what is shared. People are
interested in being a part of people succeeding and write what they can to
provide encouragement. At the same time
we learn about their world. Blogging
allows us into the world of fiction with writers, science with scientist,
therapy with its therapist, in short blogging doesn’t discriminate which world
we enter. The best part about it all is
that we benefit on so many levels so easily without an overload of periphery
information on that particular topic often a strong excluder. Instead we connect on a human level.
Marnie LeFevresees blogging
as “part of
nearly every business strategy. It’s not something that’s done to fill idle
time, but rather something that is scheduled and prioritised. It informs. It
builds relationships. It sells.” For me
some days it takes over all my writing time and considering my stage in life
and how much I do want to finally be a writer I have had to consider carefully
my motives and the importance of blogging.
I love that Marnie has put all this up there to read. I needed the
reassurance which I found in her post. Marnie has eleven reasons to blog but
she had me at the words “expanding my network”, and “building brand awareness”.
Me, I am the brand. It is a good
to look at yourself and what you have to offer in such a clinical way. Calling it a brand distances you so that you
can better see what you need to do. Blogging is a way to build what Marnie
calls brand loyalty. As a brand I need to be flexible enough to include a
different sort of writing, a more personal approach. In a post you can pass on information, answer
questions, vary your topics and be more open to receiving feedback, immediate
feedback. I think in this way you get trust, loyalty and a chance to shape
reader perception into a positive one for your business as a whole. This isn’t
just any brand, it’s a personal brand.
Having read quite a few posts lately from some very
interesting people I have felt the final push into having a website grow
stronger. A brand needs a home. The
website is about housing me as an author and showcasing what I produce
including a blog. Part of me feels
foolish to have the website ready without a published piece but then I remember
I have been posting for almost a year in this journey to reach the place I want
to be. Writing a post can take as much
work as writing a novel. In fact in some
ways it is harder because you constantly digress to different topics to keep it
fresh, and you have to produce often as it gives readers a reason to trust in what
you can do. Blogging for writers is a
heavy duty form of practice where readers not only look at the content but at
how you produce it. Your ability to
express unique thoughts and do it grammatically well is what a writer is judged
by. You are asking people to purchase your computer scribbling. As Marnie point out, the quest to deliver
interesting, or informative posts drives you into researching. It’s a business; writing is a business either
in book form or as a post and you owe your clients the best possible service. Blogging outside of the career as a writer is
just as difficult, if not more so because their business is not words. Yet I see some incredible work in front of me
every day where bloggers prove that the greatest enemy to success is the face
we see in the mirror and it isn’t theirs.
So now I have the website and am looking at the
transfer of my blog to its new home. Of course I have had some technology
problems (okay no surprise to anyone that knows me) and the blog seems to have
attached itself on every page of the website but not under the Amorina Rose’s
Blog where it should be sitting. So unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, for
the next few months at least, my blog http://amorinarosewrites.blogspot.com
will continue where it is as well as on the new website. All this is courtesy of a wonderful young man
called Sean who has endless patience as well as being savvy, and who is a
budding young author himself. I am
hoping both sites boost each other but am aware my website is a sad
skeleton. Suggestions are welcome as it
is sadly lacking flesh to plump it up and give it life. I will have plenty of
snippets as teasers but mostly the site is needing its author to get a move on
with the promised anthology and a hot contemporary romance. Don’t hesitate to
come find at www.brstrickland.com and feel free to contact me on my contact page with
any ideas and comments to improve the site, and have some faith the rest will
come.
