Blogging a marketing technique for freelancers

Blogging is a marketing technique for freelance writers: If you are a writer who is associated with a publisher or you are a self-publisher, any case you will have to play an active role in marketing your work. Even though you may be associated with a publisher you should not be surprised to know that most of the publishers have a small budget for marketing activities and hence you too have to market your work. On the other hand, if you are a self-publisher, the marketing activities will be all your efforts, but trust me you should find it difficult.

One of the solutions is to have your own online blog where you can write about your work, creating a blog will surely help you in promoting your work. Nothing is easy in this world; good blogs can prove to be a selling success where as a bad blog may end up being an immense waste of time, no sales whatsoever. I am sure as a writer nobody will like that!

Following tips may help you get the right content on your blog increasing your visitors and achieve sales making the blog be a successful selling tool:

Creating a Brand and growing brand value

Your blog will let readers know you and will help them understand you as a writer. If your writing style is liked by the readers of your blog they may buy your book.

Using the blog for pre-marketing activities, teaser content!

Efforts in selling your work should start even before you complete your work always remember time to market is important. Creating a buzz even before your book is published is important. Starting a blog and talking about your upcoming work, some sample pretext of your work to grow reader’s interest would certainly help. Carrying out online promotional activities through your blog will help, you can even take pre-orders, running contests to engage readers or related parties will also help.

Recognize your readers and they will recognize you.

Keep your blog updated and have an interactive behavior where in you should reply to each and every comment received on your blog. Do a lot and valid link building activity for your blog. You can also accept guest blogging on your website, the will help in increasing your followers.

Motivate your readers to participate

Asking your readers to get involved and ask them for feedback and suggestions this will certainly help in building consumer trust. Running related competition would also help in increasing consumer/reader base. Allow readers to let you know what they’d like to see in your next work/project this will also help to create positive publicity for your work, make readers/people feel to be part of the process. After all, it’s more likely that, those who participate may purchase your book.

Be connected to your readers on regular basis

Being connected on a regular basis is important if you want your readers to come back to your blog on regular basis. When a re-visitor finds out that you have not updated your blog for a long time – they’ll just not come back! Even a first time visitor would like to see what’s new what’s latest. Do understand latest does not mean “last for the first time”, it means recent “Like, few hours back or yesterday”. In cases you may decide to post once a week, in such case do mention the same on your website, make it clear at the outset so that visitors/readers are not disappointed.

Blogging is a very useful tool for writers to promote their work hence you need to do a bit more than just writing a book; I am sure as a writer you won’t like to see that no-one knew about your work. Just consider this as a marketing activity to reach out to your readers.

Visual aesthetics for going Sales

Believe it or not, featured image for your product increases the chance of sale. A good story with supporting images sell better than a fantastic story with no images.

If you wonder, why so? When you submit your writing to a publisher do have some relevant pictures if you don’t, then your publisher will have to spend time for the same and no publisher would like that. But do take care about the pictures you use, do have the copy right for the same or you may fall into legal issues and the quality of the pictures you use is also equally important.

Following are tips for you to Find or create relevant pictures.

Tip 1. Just Click over Click

A digital camera will be handy, just click and click and click, then select the one which are good in terms of relevance and quality. Always carry your camera – there could be sudden moment of interest.

Tip 2. Detailing is important

Everyone likes to see detail. Let’s say that you are writing about a new automobile launched, get the whole of the vehicle in your image. Make it to be an eye-catching click as a whole, take detailed click from various angles and covering different parts of the automobile.

Tip 3. An image can talk

Conveying information using the photo is important. Say the vehicle has a MC-Wheel do take a click. If you have mentioned about the vehicles dashboard do take a detailed picture of the same.

Tip 4. Do remember, theory of visual relativity

Size should be expressed w.r.t visual relativity. For example if you are writing about a mobile phone claiming it to fit into a human palm, then take a picture of the mobile phone placed on human palm or keeping a measuring scale next to the mobile will express the size.

What if photography is not something you can do?

Find copyright-free images. Checking about who owns the copyright is important, do take permission to use.

By having relevant pictures supporting your content will increase your chances of getting published. These three websites offer images for you to use:

• http://morguefile.com/
• http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/
• http://www.unprofound.com/