*Drum roll* Friends! Bloggers! Countrymen! Lend me your ears (and eyes and thumbs)… I would like to announce that I am going to start hosting a monthly linky party starting January first! What is a “Linky Party”? Well, let me explain and then I will tell you all about the one that I plan to throw! A linky party is when I, the host, post a special html code in my blog post. This code puts a special link at the bottom of my post that you, a blogger, can click. When you click the link, you will have the option to put in your specific blog post url, some of your information, and a picture. Then you click the GO button. A little picture tile and a link to your blog post will show up beneath my post where other people can find it. Visitors can then click your picture tile and travel to your blog with ease! What this means for you is: more viewership, more clicks, more likes, more subscribers, etc. etc. etc. Most linky parties are themed. You must post a link to a blog post that is about something specific (i.e. book review specific, science fiction specific, sewing specific, etc.). Other linky parties just let you link whatever you like. And each linky party has a different time duration. Some parties are once a week. Some are open one day only. Others are once a month. Others still are quarterly. Take mine for example: it is NOT themed, it is going to be monthly, and it will only be open for other bloggers to post their links in for a couple of days. Now that I have explained that to you, I will tell you about MY linky party! White Rabbit!![]() I have this special joke with my friends. On the first day of every month, we try to be the first person to tell everyone else “White Rabbit!” (though sometimes it comes out "Pink Elephant", "Red Robin", and other random stuff, but that's beside the point!). This started when we were interns at Character First! Education in 2010. What it means and how it started I have no idea, but it has been so much fun to poke each other with it each month (when we remember). I decided it would be really neat to start off the New Year by setting up a monthly linky party built around the white rabbit joke: at the beginning of every month, everyone will have a chance to post something new and have it noticed. So, White Rabbit link party, here we come! FOCUS: The focus of White Rabbit Linky Party is to draw attention to new content on active blogs. HOW IT WORKS: I will make a blog post on the first day of the month with the White Rabbit link at the bottom for you to link up to. The post you link up must be NEW. I don’t want it to be any older than 48 hours old! You can make a blog post the day before and link it up, but anything older than that will not be accepted. It also must be your specific blog post url. Not your basic blog url. (i.e. www.yoursite.com/post-name/) WHEN: I will have it open for two days: the 1st and the 2nd of each month. I will try to open it at 8-9am Central time on the 1st. CONTENT: Any post you link up must be CLEAN and FAMILY FRIENDLY. No cussing, no adult content, no people-bashing... Other than that, you can post whatever you would like: Book/product reviews, interviews, personal thoughts, How-To, writing focused, home school, devotional, or whatever. As long as it is clean, it goes! SHARE: Since the focus of the White Rabbit Linky Party is to draw attention to other blogs, I require that you share and comment (if possible) on another person’s linked up blog. This does not take much time and, if you do it, your chances increase for someone else to come look at your blog. Plus, it helps draw attention to the other person's blog, which is just a nice thing. What do you do if you are the first/only person to link up? Comment on my post. *Cheesy Grin* I hope any bloggers, writers, and readers who read this will join me in the "White Rabbit Link-up" at the beginning of every month. I would love to have each of you link up your content, become more active on your blog, and get new followers!
See ya January 1st - New Years Day! (I'm gonna "White Rabbit" all of you! Mwahahaha! Terrified?? You should be...) ![]() ![]() When I talk about social media with friends, relatives, and acquaintances, and particularly with those I know in the author world, I constantly hear how no one understands Twitter. "I just don't get it." "It makes no sense." "I have no idea how to use it." Well, let me tell you something: I get more website clicks and sales from Twitter than just about anywhere. And it is the simplest thing to use. Want a crash course on how to use Twitter? Okay, here we go: 1. Twitter is so simple to use because you can only type 140 characters into the status/update/"what's happening?" bar. For most people, this is very irritating. But for a business, it really simplifies things. All you need is a quick, catchy phrase followed by a link to your book (or whatever you are selling) and a couple of hashtags. Q. What are Hashtags? A. They look like this: #writing #reading #bookworm #bookreview #IndieAuthors #ilovetwitter #mydogisawesome #mytongueispurple #lovemycookies ...You can literally hashtag anything, anytime, anywhere, and hashtags are the BIGGEST thing that will draw attention to your Twitter. So, don't forget your hashtags. 2. What should you type into your Twitter update? If you are an author, tiny quotes from your book work well. Pictures of happy costumers, of your product on display, and other things are great as well! Let me show you a couple of things I have posted to my Twitter. Maybe they will give you some ideas! 3. The best way I have found to Tweet a Web link to my book, or Facebook Author page, or Amazon Author page, or anything, is to use Bitly. *holy choir begins to sing praises* With Bitly, you can shorten your long links like this (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kathryn-Fogleman/475623382492122) and turn them into this (http://bit.ly/FBkjf) Big difference, huh? It saves a lot of space on the Twitter update! Plus, if you sign up with Bitly and get a free account, you can save your short links, reuse them over again, and check on them to see how many clicks you have had on each link! Very cool. 4. This is very important: DON'T SPAM PEOPLE. Don't Tweet the same thing, the same link, or only your product over & over & over & over again. Add a little spice! Throw in some variety! Need some ideas? Well, here you go: - If you like to read books, then post your book reviews! Help other authors out! Type the title of the book or take a picture of it, give a short reason why you like it, and then copy the Amazon or B&N link for that book so that those who see your Twitter update can click the link, look at the book, and hopefully buy it! It also helps if you tag the Author, if they are on Twitter. By tagging their Twitter name, both of you exchange traffic and costumers. Simply put a "@" and then type the author's Twitter name, just like I did in the below picture. Ta-Da! Something else I like to do, that also draws a lot of attention to my Twitter, is to post quotes and pictures of things that I like to "Nerd Out" on. For instance, I really like the Science Fiction TV shows Star Trek, Firefly, and Stargate. I tend to post a lot of quotes and pictures that relate to those particular shows. This brings in a lot of extra traffic to my Twitter, especially when I put hashtags with the posts, because all three of those TV shows have a large, nerdy, fanbase. Pinterest makes it easy to post pictures AND quotes on Twitter. When you "Pin" or "Re-pin" something on Pinterest, simply click the "Post to Twitter" button before you pin the picture. It automatically posts it to Twitter for you! Pretty easy! - Re-tweet other people's Tweets. This also helps draw attention to your Twitter and your links, but more importantly, it helps other people reach a bigger audience. But PLEASE! Don't go overboard! There are some people on Twitter who re-tweet Every. Single. Thing. They. See. It gets really, really annoying. I like to re-tweet two or three things at a time, but no more than six, because that is when it starts to annoy people. I typically choose quotes, silly things, blog links, or pictures to re-tweet. Now you are a Twitter Pro!Okay, not really, but that just about sums Twitter up! There is a lot about Twitter that I still haven't figured out. But the important thing for you to know is that Twitter is EASY and it is EFFECTIVE. If you start using it more regularly, your products will start getting more attention from more people. A lot of Bloggers are on Twitter, looking for new things to blog about. A lot of Reviewers are on Twitter, looking for new things to review. And if you are an author, there is a HUGE author base on Twitter - readers and writers!
So don't be afraid of Twitter any longer. Twitter is your friend. Twitter is simple. Twitter is my favorite social media tool, and if you know me, you know that I HATE, HATE, HATE social media! So it means a lot when I say that something in Social Media is my favorite... Get out there and start putting your Twitter to use! |
Kathryn FoglemanAuthor of the fantasy series, Tales of the Wovlen, Kathryn spends a great deal of time in the world of her imagination, having tea with fire breathing dragons, writing books on flying space ships, and practicing her mad scientist laugh with gusto. However, on occasion,she returns to this world just to play with her dog and blog about her fun. My BookGrab a Button!![]() Archives
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