Another Spring Picture

I blogged a couple of days ago with five ways to increase your blog readership. Here’s an additional five that I hope are helpful for those who like to look at their numbers every once in a while. But remember — writing always comes first!

1. Be a pro. Proofread and remove errors. If someone points one out to you, fix it and thank them for the feedback. Make your posts look professional, not hastily assembled or sloppy. The appearance of the post can’t help but make an impression. Take the time to preview the post and make sure all links lead to the right place.
2. Monitor results. You won’t know what works unless you’re looking at the data, even if it’s at the topmost level of “how many comments?” (This is a bad metric because so often the answer is “none.”)

Your profile matters. Fill out your profile on social networks and make sure it includes your website’s URL. This adds to its search engine ranking, making it appear higher in search engine results.

3. Pay attention to the Zeitgeist. Pulling your blog topics from Google or Twitter trends can be a good idea — as long as you have something useful to say. Don’t hashtag for the hell of it.
4. Content trumps cash. Producing good, interesting, useful content will outperform any amount of money thrown at advertising. I find that some social networks send me coupons to use on advertising every once in a while and I do use those — but once they’re used up, I stop the campaign.
5. Promote other people. This gives you good content if the recommendations are wholehearted and worthwhile.

In prepping for the WFC panel, I found there’s a bunch of Fritz Leiber stuff available free on the Kindle. Here’s some links for fellow Kindlers.

The Big Time
Bread Overhead
The Creature From Cleveland Depths
The Moon is Green
The Night of the Long Knives
No Great Magic
What’s He Doing In There?

Not free, but still well worthwhile at 99 cents:
The Big Time

I’ll be springing for the rest, probably: Conjure Wife and Our Lady of Darkness and all the rest. If you’ve never read Leiber, I heartily recommend him, and every sword and sorcery fan should be familiar with his Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books.