Blogging 101: Websites Essential for Running a Blog

So, you want to start a book blog and you don't know where to start. This is completely normal. Starting a blog is an overwhelming feeling, there is so much you need to know that you don't. We are hoping with this new series that we will be able to help new bloggers navigate the blogging world!

Previous Posts: Platforms

Yay! So you decided to start a blog and which platform you want to do to host that blog! A huge part of blogging it networking yourself and your blog. Networking is going to help you build relationships with other bloggers, authors, publishers and other people who share your interests. Please remember that gaining a following on any of these networking sites is not an overnight accomplishment, it is a lot of time and hard work. But with that you will see results. 

Twitter will be one of your best friends and resources in the blogging world. We use twitter to interact with out followers, fellow bloggers, authors and publishers. We also use it to share our daily posts and our excitement on upcoming projects! As you continue to blog and build a following you will take notice on where your blog traffic is coming from and a majority of the time it is from twitter. 

Our biggest advice is when you create a handle for twitter, use something as close to your blog name as possible or something that can be easily related to. For example for The Book Bratz we use @Thebookbratz with a link to our blog in our bio. You want to choose a name that is going to best suit you and your blog but as well as having people go: "Oh! This is _____ blog's twitter!" (This is something we do all the time! 

Let's think about this this way, we all like a million different pages on Facebook. But Facebook pages for sports figures, TV shows, Musicians, ect. are all trying to accomplish the same thing. They are part of a bigger whole, there is snapshots of certain things but make you go to the full website to view more. Just like you would link your reviews to twitter, you would do the same with Facebook! Facebook also gives you the option to promote your posts are your website ($$$) which could help you bring in new readers and followers.

Whether you use Google, AOL, iCloud, Yahoo, Bing, ect. it is super important to have a functioning e-mail associated with your blog. As book bloggers who take review requests we deal with authors and publishers via E-mail weekly. We also use our blog e-mail for our twitter, Facebook, Bloglovin', NetGalley and any other account we sign up for that pertains to The Book Bratz. Same as with twitter, try to make an e-mail that will be an easy connection to your blog. We use thebookbratz@gmail.com as our e-mail. 

Bloglovin' is a platform that allows users to read, organize, and discover their favorite blogs on mobile and desktop in a easy way. Some readers prefer easier access to blogs and their posts rather then fishing on the internet. Bloglovin' is a huge way to promote your blog and make your content easily available to all. The best thing about Bloglovin' is that once your account is hooked up to your blog your posts will automatically be posted. 

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This is only four of the tons of websites out there that people use daily for their blogs. These four are the most important to use and many others in the blogging community. Remember, a following on any of the websites is not an over night thing but rather gradual and overtime. At first it will seem that none of your hard work is paying off, but I promise you  in time it will! 

Any questions you have please comment them and we will be happy to answer them to the best of our ability!