Authors ~How to drive traffic to you WordPress site.

I’ve been writing my blog here on WordPress since 2012! Nearly 10 years. Amazing. What have I learnt about successful posts and ways of driving traffic to your blog.

What has worked for me?

• Book reviews : put simply, if you share the love of books and write about the books you read it will draw traffic. A bit of good karma maybe, but as your fellow author is encouraged by your honest and positive review, then they and their followers will share it and voila!
• Offer to be part of Book Tours: much like the above, there is a buzz about being part of a Virtual Book Tour, whether you are offering a Cover Reveal or a full blown review. It takes time, yes, but it draws folks to your site, excellent if the book is in a genre that you write in.
• An enticing title: If you get your fellow bloggers intrigued by your title then they’re hooked. My largest no of readers ever was for the title Can You Snuggle in Bed with a Kindle? Now, that tells you how long ago the post was published. My most recent was I Admit I’m a Murderer with Intent! ~ I was actually talking about the greenfly on my lupin tree, but it certainly hooked readers. I hope they were amused rather than disappointed.
• Background information to your novel/ novels: I had some successful series on each location of my novels called virtual tours. These brought traffic on the long term, far outside the blogging fraternity.; potential readers.
• Series: The above series kept readers hooked because they were interested to find out more but a recent series where I interviewed successful indie authors went down well.
• Extra Historical detail: very much as the above two, I have had wonderful comments and emails about posts, sometimes months or years later and that brings me on to categories and tags

Some bloggers miss a huge trick by not realising the power and purpose of categories and tags. They are your SEO information like the key words when launching on KDP. It is through them that folks can track you down on the internet and read your post, even though they do not blog themselves.

Categories

These are your umbrella subjects. There will be a list for you under post, or you can write new ones and build a list. At first I had far too many and had to rationalise. They can be your tabs, but if you write a category, for example ‘Early Flight’ or Book Reviews’ as in my list and a reader clicks on one of those phrases by the side of your post, all your posts under that subject will come up together. (and don’t forget to unclick the ‘uncategorized’!)

Tags

With these words folks can find your post on the internet when they search for specific things. It may come up when you google it. In my early days of writing if, for example, you googled my twitter handle @Riduna, it might come up with my Twitter feed but also any pages which might mention my first book names Riduna on my blog or of course Amazon. Of course, I have not promoted Riduna for a good while (and probably should do) but you get the idea I hope.

I admit, due to recent circumstances I’ve let some of this slide a bit but reflecting on this has been really positive and given me a gentle nudge too!

Happy blogging. Much love Diana

www.dianajacksonauthor.co.uk

Diana’s Winter Book Review 10 ~ Little Wing by Freya North

Click on the cover picture for Amazon UK

Why did you choose this book?

Waterstones in #Kirkcaldy had become my regular haunt of mine over the winter. I am reading more paperbacks, rather than books on Kindle, because of my RSI problem, which I am managing relatively well now.

I was browsing on Waterstone’s ‘Buy 1 Get 1 Half Price‘ tables and stumbled upon ‘Little Wing‘ by Freya North. I found the title intriguing, followed by the name of the author ‘North’, and wondered if it is Freya’s real name. Then it was the cover which spoke immediately of Western Scotland, or even the Outer Hebrides. I was not wrong. On reading the blurb next, it pointed in that direction. The novel was clearly set in three different time zones and just looked my kind of book.

Did I feel empathy to any particular character?

I felt particular empathy to Nell (2005) who was working in a café, where the employees needed support in order to fulfil their amazing roles. I am a great believer in folks being allowed, with loving and caring guidance, to reach their potential. Nell was an extra special person and I identified with her patience and fondness for her charges, but also with her at the moment when her life was ‘turned upside down’ by a discovery about herself. As far as I know this hasn’t happened to me, but I warmed to her quest and also to her eventual feeling of belonging in the Outer Hebrides.

Is there a lasting thought or memory from the book which remains with you long after the novel is finished?

Having visited Harris and Lewis, and also having relocated to Scotland from Bedfordshire myself, I can visualise Nell and even Florence (1969) and their sense of belonging to what might appear initially to be a bleak and distant place. I can easily imagine the girls walking on the machair, along the sandy beaches, picking up pebbles and shells and watching the seals. I can feel the warmth of the folk she met and their desire to make her feel welcome; one of them even.

It was a great book and I might even keep it and read it again one day, (which is an unusual high accolade from me) maybe when we are travelling further north once more.

Highly Recommended.

Diana’s Christmas Book Review (9) ~ The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan

Available at Waterstones

Why did you choose this book?

I hardly ever buy Christmas books, expecting a possible light romance type read. I might be wrong of course. Anyway, I picked Jenny Colgan’s book up in Waterstones and needed a lighter read having just recovered from Covid. It was about a bookshop too. The setting was in Edinburgh at Christmas and since Edinburgh has become our adopted city since moving to Fife, what more could I want?

Did I feel empathy to any particular character?

Carmen reminded me of myself in several ways. Her lack of confidence; her ability to get on with all manner of folks; her way of throwing herself into a challenge with all her energy and enthusiasm, which doesn’t always work, but in this case worked its magic beautifully.

Is there a lasting thought or memory from the book which remains with you long after the novel is finished?

So many! What a perfect time to read it.

• Jenny C’s Thomas Hardy-esque way of naming her characters. Oke reminded me of Gabrielle Oak; Blair ~ the flashy one who rarely showed his genuine side; Skylar ~ well, she’s up in the clouds; and of course Carmen ~ good Karma and all of that.
• I digress. I am left with magical descriptions of Edinburgh at Christmas, with its fairytale castle on the hill, its lights and higgledy piggledy oldy worlde shops, with their glowing decorated windows for the festive season.
• The Ormiston Oak. Yes, this is the picture remaining in my mind, but I won’t spoil the book for you by telling you why!

I couldn’t get to sleep on Christmas Day eve, having switched the light off just before the last few pages (and probably over indulged in the alcoholic beverages which is unlike me) and so when I got up in the middle of the night to have a mint tea I read the end, but then read it again on Boxing Day!

If you are looking for a ‘feel good’ factor in your reading and a fairly light read, then I highly recommend The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan!