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Post date: Jun 19, 2018 2:38:58 AM
Our blogging Panel: Jocelyn, Robyn, Cherie and Mary.
1. Many of the participants were familiar faces, having attended previous events for the Cedar Falls Authors Festival: I saw several on Sunday, at Scott Cawelti's presentation.
2. The four panelists all had great reasons for blogging, ranging from promoting books, building a platform, and connecting with readers.
3. Our audience expressed a range of reasons for wanting to start a blog, and we had folks who already had a blog to those who had never blogged before.
4. Having laptops makes ALL of the difference in doing a hands-on demonstration! Thanks, Cedar Falls Public Library, for making it all happen.
5. Regardless of the platform (such as free WordPress or blogger), it’s important to use pictures, catchy titles, and even videos to attract readers and get them to read your posts. Jocelyn talked about having guest bloggers or collaborating with other authors on book giveaways and other promotions. Mary shared her experience of co-authoring a book with her friend Mary, and doing one blog to promote that book. Robyn used two different platforms for blogs, and enjoyed sharing experiences and prompting readers to reflect, without being too preachy.
6. Sharing blog posts on Google+, Facebook, Twitter or other social sharing platforms is a great way to get the word out about your blog.
7. Several of our participants asked what we thought about repurposing content to repost it: I showed them my LinkedIn page, which now has a place to post articles. The LinkedIn readers generally seem to be a different audience. I also post the same content on Geeky Grandma and my Blogger blog.
8. They liked the look of my Dynamic Theme on Blogger that lets the reader pick how the Blog will look: some views are more visual, almost like Pinterest, while others feature sidebar navigation and are more text based.
9. I mentioned that I had posted my Blogging Workshop presentation on Slide share, which is a website connected to LinkedIn; no one had heard of it, so we took a quick look, and people were pleasantly surprised to see some of the numbers of views for presentations posted several years ago. If you haven't seen the website, take a look.
Look for Blogging 101
10. It was like a mini reunion of the Cedar Falls Christian Writers Workshop: I met all of these women there over the past 8 years.
Thank you all for participating! It was a lot of fun. As soon as few more people send me their blog's URL, I will send it out to the group.
Thank you to the Cedar Falls Public Library for all of their support (Thanks, Erin, Ambri and Neal). And, thanks to the Umbrella/Planning Committee of the Cedar Falls Authors Festival for their support.
Last updated April 13, 2018
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