Welcome to the Back to the Basics class! If you missed a previous class, here are the links:
Insert an HTML direct link to your blog into comments
Comment Etiquette
Twitter: Relationship Builder and Marketing Connoisseur
Today we are going to continue last week's discussion on Twitter. First of all, ever wonder how other tweeters tweet a link and it doesn't look like www.googlereview.com/12/11/blahblahblah? Condensing links when tweeting is vital in order to utilize your 140 characters to the maximum potential. Condense your urls by using a URL shortener; a few different (FREE) sites are Google URL Shortener, Tiny Url, Ow.ly, or (my favorite), Bit.ly. I prefer Bit.ly simply because this site remembers all of my shortened links and I find it very easy to use — but to each their own.
Besides saving you characters (that, oh I don't know, you could use to describe your link), it's my opinion that tweets with shorter links look more professional and I'm more likely to click them.
Again, just me, but I'd be much more inclined to click the second link than the first. An easy thing to do is bookmark your favorite URL shortener — this way it's one less step to condense your links. You can even take the character space to @ the author and/or publisher! This is a great way to get in contact with publishers and authors as well!
The other thing about Twitter that I want to mention is tweeting photos. I love clicking links on Twitter for photos — whether the photos be of family, books, snow, whatever! You can of course do this through your smart phone, but you can also do it via your computer with an application like Twitpic. It's easy to use and it adds dimension to your tweets.
I hope these Back to the Basics classes help. The purpose is not to push my thoughts onto others and I am not presuming to know everything or of being this amazing blogger; my hope is simply to help bloggers like myself with what I struggled with as a new blogger. If you have a question that you think I can answer — please fill out the form below.
Welcome to the Back to the Basics class! If you missed a previous class, here are the links:
Insert an HTML direct link to your blog into comments
Comment Etiquette
This week I'd like to address the wonder that is Twitter. Yes, Twitter. We've all heard the news reporters quote Twitter and we know all about Snooki's bad Twitter grammar. Oh, wait, you haven't heard of that? Well, for your enjoyment and my pure amusement — here you go:
Okay... back to the point. Many people would have you believe that Twitter is very much like Facebook's status updates where you can type what you are doing in 140 characters or less. The reality of Twitter, and I think that those who use it religiously would agree, is that it is much more of a message service (like MSN Messeneger, AIM, or Yahoo Messenger) where you can communicate with hundreds of people who have the same interests as you. For instance, I follow all my favorite blog reviewers, authors, publishers, etc on Twitter. It's also a great marketing tool (again, here's a for instance, all of my posts are automatically fed to my Twitter account with a link and the title). In my opinion, as all of these classes are, Twitter is a great tool to "put yourself out there" and get involved in the book blogging community.
I am currently following 514 people on Twitter — most are book bloggers, many are authors, and the rest my favorite publishers and agents. Because I live in the Midwest and the Twitter craze hasn't exactly caught on yet — my Twitter account is solely for books and blogging. Does that mean I don't send random "tweets" (I hate that word) about my life or the wedding? No, but the primary focus is books and marketing.
If you don't use Twitter (again, to each their own) I think you're missing out on a lot. By "tweeting" back and forth with different authors and reviewers your begin to build relationships that you don't necessarily get from commenting on a post. The response is obviously quicker and you can have more in-depth conversations, despite the character limit. I have received books from authors, publishers, and other reviewers because of Twitter. I've been more aware of what is happening in the book blogosphere because of Twitter. Sheila and I were also the one of the few who attended the first debut author get together at BEA last year due to a quick tweet from Shannon Delany (author of "13 to Life ")! We had the opportunity to talk to so many authors one on one! It was fantastic!
Yes, I'll admit it: I've become addicted to Twitter! I love the conversations, the ability to "stick my nose" in other people's business, to find out the latest bookish news, to connect with bloggers I read consistently, to connect with authors I love... etc. But there's also the business/marketing side to Twitter that is extremely beneficial to blogging.
First of all, before I forget — quick plug to "follow" me on Twitter via @google, send me a quick tweet by putting "@google" at the beginning and mention that you read this post so I can follow you back!
If you've bought into the concept of Twitter, after you've signed up and installed the Twitter app to your desktop for easy and consistent viewing, find a Twitter Button to add to your blog. Mine can be found in the right sidebar. Then, if you really want to go all out, add your Twitter updates as well (again, mine are posted on the right sidebar).
This next part is vital and one of the best parts about Twitter: synch your blog feed to Twitter. Meaning, every time you post (even if it is a scheduled post and you aren't at your computer), the title and link to your post will be automatically tweeted to all your followers. This is a great way to get yourself out there even if you, like most people, are at work or school during the day and can't be on Twitter to get your link out there. I use (and LOVE) Twitterfeed. Another great service that I've used in the past is Google's FeedBurner. Both services are free and easy to use and, like I mentioned, can do wonders for marketing your posts and blog.
You can also synch your Goodreads account to Twitter so that every time your rate, review, or mark to read a book it posts to Twitter automatically as well. You can do this by going into "My Account" and then into "Feeds." Again, this is a simple but extremely effective way to market yourself and your product (blog, reviews, posts, etc).
The next step (if anyone is still reading) is to go out and begin following people. Don't know where to start? Who to follow? Here are a few of my favorite "Tweeters" (link goes to Twitter page):
@BookaliciousPam from Bookalicious
@BookJourney from Book Journey
@MichelleBall from Hooked To Books
@GReadsBooks from GReads
@brokeandbookish from Broke and Bookish
@thestorysiren from The Story Siren
@shanynlee from Chick Loves Lit
@booksandwine from Good Books and Good Wine
There are also quite a few fantastic authors on Twitter who you can @ when reviewing or talking about their novels. It's easy to search Twitter to find your favorite author but a few of mine are:
Shannon Delany — author of "13 to Life "
Lauren Oliver — author of "Before I Fall " and "Delirium "
Julie Kagawa — author of "The Iron King "
Denise Jaden — author of "Losing Faith "
Make sure when you follow someone to send them a public tweet (put @ in front of their Twitter name — ex: @google) and say a quick hello and introduce yourself. If you don't respond to their tweets with "your own two cents," they won't know you are there! Twitter is the place where jumping into conversations isn't rude, putting your opinion out there isn't presumptuous, and linking your blog consistently isn't spam (always in moderation people). Give it a try! I was a skeptic before and am now addicted to all things Twitter. If you make an account or already have an account, link it below (please link to your Twitter profile — not your blog).
As always, if you have a question please leave it below!
Welcome to the 2nd Back to the Basics class! If you missed the first class on inserting an HTML direct link to your blog into comments — make sure to check it out (much like this):
This week we are talking about the same thing but with an added bit of civilization: commenting.
Small Review brought up a good point last week — how to comment, leave a link, and not be spamming.
I replied with following but I want I think that she brought up a very solid point. It seems like every comment I get on my Friday Meme posts are spam.
The question then becomes how can you leave a direct link to your blog (to make it easier for the blog owner to return the comment love) but not be spamming?
Like I said last week, the point of many memes is to visit new blogs and get your name out there (especially for the Book Bloggers Hop, hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and Follow My Book Blog Friday, hosted at Parajunkee's View) . But you need to comment. Last week I pointed out that it was easier for the blog owner to visit your blog by leaving a link; what I left out was the apparent need to leave a valuable comment. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I am talking comment etiquette.
These two comments, while they leave me direct links to their blogs, are not "content rich" comments. They tell me nothing about the blogger or their responses to my own post. They give the impression that they didn't even READ my post, just copied and pasted a generic comment in an attempt to gain me as a follower.
Well, sorry folks — life don't work that way (grammar cringe). If you're going to comment (and I hope you all do), leave a valuable, content rich comment. Not something generic that you leave on all 400 blogs that participate in any given meme. The second commenter at least tried, but really... that's all you're going to give me? Now, this does of course depend on the blog owner's ability to write a "content rich" post worthy of valuable feedback — but that's for another time.
When you leave comments like those above you do yourself and your blog a disservice by misrepresenting yourself. You think you are only leaving a harmless comment but in reality you are marketing yourself as a shallow, self-centered, and basically bad blogger (not to mention spamming). I'll admit it: when I receive comments like those above I don't waste my time visiting that blog (even if it easy to find via the direct link). Why would I waste my time to visit another blog (much less follow), when they can't even leave a legitimate comment! The inability to leave a valuable two sentence comment proves to me that blogger's inability to write a content rich post.
So what's a blogger to do?! It's simple: leave a good solid comment responding to the post's content (show me that you read it!) and then leave a link. Sonette from Sonette's Bookworm Blog has mastered this technique! I mean look at this comment! It's full of content and opinion and she even mentions a previous comment! Plus, she still makes it easy to find her and return the blog love!
So, please boys and girls, if you want to present yourself in a professional likable manner the next time you blog hop, take it from me and take the time to leave a "content rich" comment. Not only will your fellow bloggers be more apt to return the comment and blog love, but you'll be presenting yourself in a welcoming and warm manner. Yes, it's easy to copy and paste the same comment on hundreds of posts but it won't get you very far: do your blog a favor take the time to comment right. If you have a question please fill in the form for next week!
I've decided to start a new feature at Miss Remmers' Review — welcome to the first Back to Basics Class!
Now, I am by no means an expert and I don't pretend to be. I've been blogging since June of 2009 and would like to share some of the knowledge I've picked up along the way! This is simply my way of helping new bloggers out by answering any type of question they may have about blogging, blogs, HTML, etc.
The first thing I want to address is a simple but great HTML code to be used when commenting (especially for the Book Bloggers Hop, hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and Follow My Book Blog Friday, hosted at Parajunkee's View.) These memes are used to grow a follower base and to visit new blogs.
It goes without saying that you get what you put into these memes. You can't simply post, sign the link, and expect to be famous — it doesn't work that way. If you post, sign the link, and visit as many blogs as you want to visit you and comment you'll get the results you want. But I will say that gaining massive amounts of followers overnight adds nothing to your blog — you need good content and this takes time and patience.
Commenting is essential if you want the bloggers who you visit to return the favor. You can't just expect them to know that you stopped by. When you comment it looks something like this:
Now Michelle and I are blogging buddies so I know the link to her blog Hooked to Books and my computer has it "memorized" so when I go to type it in to visit I just have to type in "Hooked" and it automatically takes me there.
But if you are new to my blog and you comment, in order for me to return to visit I have to go through these steps:
Click your name on the comment which takes me to your profile page
Find your blog and click that (extremely difficult if you have several blogs listed)
Comment on your blog
Three steps may not seem like a big deal, but if I have 25 comments on Follow Friday post and I want to return the visit to those 25 bloggers, those three steps are cumbersome and actually deter me from returning the comment.
Instead of deterring fellow bloggers from going through all the steps to visit you, promote your blog and promote commenting by adding an HTML link directly to your blog when you comment. You can insert this link for ANY comment — not just Friday Memes! It makes it easier for the owner of the blog and any other visitor reading your comment to get back to your blog! It looks like this:
It makes it so much easier to return the visit and return the comment love because its a direct link to you!
How do you do this? You simply take the HTML code below and insert your own link and name:
<A>insert title of Blog</A>
Here's how mine looks:
<A >Miss Remmers Review</A>
I keep my link saved to my desktop with a Stickie (Mac) so it's easy to find and I can bring it up and copy and paste whenever I want. This makes it so much easier for fellow bloggers to find their way back to your blog without the hassle of "steps." Try it this Friday and let me know if it works for you — do you find more people are commenting on your blog in return? I hope this first "session" of class was helpful to you. If you have any other questions please send them in for next weeks!
Huge thanks to @MichelleBall (Hooked to Books) for being such a great sport/volunteer.
