Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every Monday and Thursday, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own . . .), the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. Visit her Web site at http://www.camytang.com/ and her blog at http://camys-loft.blogspot.com/ for a huge Web site contest going on right now, giving away ten boxes of books and thirty copies of her latest release, Single Sashimi.

...a blog post that is one long gigantic paragraph is hard for someone to read on a computer...

If you do not like to blog, then don’t read this article. I’m serious—and don’t feel bad about it, either. Blogging is not for everyone, no matter what people say. Don’t feel you have to blog because someone tells you to, or because everyone else is doing it.

But if you do like blogging (or if you’re like me and just can’t stop talking and writing), then you can very easily use your blogging for marketing. Don’t be intimidated by words like html and SEO and Technorati. Blog marketing all comes down to one thing: Blog to draw people to you and your books.

Interesting Content:

Contrary to popular belief, people will not visit your blog a second or third time if there’s nothing for them when they visit the first time. Yes, it’s a “me” generation.

Work with it—create content in your blog that is entertaining or informative or just cool. You want content that will grab your readers so they’ll want to come back to find out what you have to say the next day.

Blog Often:

Studies have shown that people who don’t blog regularly have less traffic than people who consistently blog three to five times a week. You want more people reading your blog because, well, that means more people are likely to buy and read your book.

Commit to blogging at least three days a week, on the same days. This is not as much of a time suck as you might think—I take a day each week and write all my blog posts for that week. Sometimes I’ll take a longer post and break it into parts.

(On a side note, studies have shown that long blog posts tend to lose your readers’ attention, so aim for 250–400 words per post. Any longer, and you might lose readers.)

A nice feature most blogging Web sites have is that you can schedule posts to automatically post at a certain day and time. After I write all my blog posts, I schedule them to post each day at 12:01AM.

Nice Formatting:

Related to short blog posts (above), a blog post that is one long gigantic paragraph is hard for someone to read on a computer.

USE LOTS OF WHITE SPACE. AND, YES, I AM YELLING.

Most blog paragraphs are one to two sentences long. Longer than that, the paragraph is too long, and your readers start to skim.

Also, use a nice sans serif font and a few pictures sprinkled in—blog readers love pictures. Make sure you upload low resolution pictures—if they’re high resolution, some readers’ computers won’t be able to show them.

Other Ways to Draw Readers:

Ideally, you want your blog to be unique, so that people return to your blog for what they can’t get at other blogs:

Unique content (discussed above)

Contests (give away items related to your book, or give away books in your genre)

Downloads (pictures or worksheets or whatever you can offer people for free)

Building Your Readership:

This is the one thing you really don’t have much control over. Building readership usually takes time. Don’t be impatient or discouraged.

Advertise your blog in your signature lines on e-mail loops and forum boards. Include a short sentence about what’s new on your blog that week, whether it’s a giveaway or an interesting blog post.

Comment on e-mail loops and forum boards so that you get name recognition.

Participate in e-mail loops and forum boards that are nonwriting related to draw readers (as opposed to writers) to your blog. For example, if your book is about skydiving, find a skydiving forum board.

Don’t go overboard and make your posts on those e-mail loops and forum boards all about you. I’m serious—people sniff out a salesman easily. Participate genuinely and people will find your blog on their own.

Keep business cards and/or bookmarks with you to pass out to people you meet, and make sure to include your Web site and/or blog information. Also give these to local conferences or meetings that you’re allowed to pass out promo items at.

Write a Good Book:

Ultimately, this is the best thing you can do to draw people to your blog. People who love your book(s) will find you on the Web, and they’ll follow your blog avidly, waiting for your next book to come out!