Why You Should Start Your Author Blog and How To Get Your Author Blog Setup For Just $3
Do you need a blog as an author?
If you have ever asked yourself this question before as an author.
The answer to this question is YES.
And I will get to the WHY much later.
In this post, I will show you why you should start your author blog, and I will also show you how you can set up your blog for as low as $3.
Table of Post Contents
Why Do You Need a Blog As an Author?
Do you need to blog or start one?
This is a question that has been asked by so many authors.
I cannot tell you that blogging is a “must” for authors, but you do stand to gain so many benefits by running one.
One major problem you have as an author is obscurity.
Few people know about you and your book(s).
By having an author blog, you establish a platform for your content to be accessible for the whole world.
This implies reaching so many people. You may reside in a location where people do not read much, or your target audience might be people in a different geographical location. These are barriers that can affect your career, and there is one way to overcome them – blogging.
On the internet, there is no limit as to how far your posts can reach, and according to data from Statistica.com, about 4.54 billion people make use of the internet. Your work reaching all these people via your blog is sure to make you famous and put you on track to being a successful author.
Benefits of Having an Author Blog
What exactly are the benefits you stand to gain if you start and build a blog as an author? Here are a few;
- Better productivity; When you have a blog as an author, you will need to write content consistently to update your blog. As you write steadily, it improves your work and improves your productivity. You become more creative as you look for means to entice your readers.
- You get feedback; This goes hand in hand with improving your productivity. Your blog readers will read and comment on your work; this means you get feedback. From this feedback, you would know if your work is up to par or not and know where to improve and where to capitalize on.
- It helps you connect; Blogging offers you global reach, you can reach anybody in any country so long as they have internet access. With this, you can build connections with different people, which can help you improve. Notably, you can connect and work with other authors in your niche.
- You can market your content; With having your blog, you are not limited to selling on Amazon or any other online book store, you can sell them better online via a blog. This is very practical and rewarding if you have a good number of blog visitors.
We all know the limitation you have with Amazon publishing in terms of your pricing and how much you get paid from your book sales.
Most of my books are sold on my blog and not only in Amazon, and I price them as I want while also enjoying almost all the sales amount that comes in minus the payment processor fee which isn’t as much as the cut Amazon and other online bookstore makes off my book.
Take a second look at all these benefits, which one sounds like something you don’t like to enjoy?
None, I guess.
But that is not all as you can also make money from your blog.
How You Can Make More Money As an Author By Starting a Blog
Yes! You can make money from your blog both as a fiction and non-fiction writer. Here are some ways you can do that;
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Selling Books
As an author who publishes books, your blog is a platform for you to sell them. You can set up an online store on your blog and put up your books for sale. You make money as people buy them. Payment won’t be a problem as several online payment gateways let you receive money internationally.
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Sponsored Contents
Bloggers make money by sponsoring the contents of others on their blog; you can too. When other content writers or promoters reach out to you to help you promote their content via your blog, they pay for it.
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Advertising
There are several online advertisement programs you can sign up for and generate revenue. These programs display ads on your blog, and you are paid as your visitor’s view/click on these ads. Google Adsense is ideal as it stands out among the rest.
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Affiliate Marketing
So many author bloggers make money off their blog via affiliate marketing; it is profitable. Ideally, you can affiliate market for Amazon via their Associate’s Program. Marketing books on Amazon would fit with your author blog and bring you money.
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Teaching
If you are a professional non-fiction author, you can set up an online teaching class to teach/coach people in the topic you are an authority at. And as a fiction and non-fiction author, you can also show new and prospective authors. Peg a fee to your class, and you make money from it. The deal here is that you can get students from all over the world.
How You Can Sell More Books Through Your Blog
Selling books is one way for you to make money from your author blog. Selling books on your blog is as simple as putting it up for your readers to see and purchase. However, some tips can help you sell more;
Sell Quality
This is absolutely the first thing!
You need to sell books with quality content if you want to sell more. If a reader purchases your book and learns almost nothing from it, he/she will be discouraged from buying another.
If the book is very informative, not only will they purchase more, but they will also recommend others.
Do Book Reviews
People will be more interested in buying a product that they have an idea about. As the saying goes, “Do not judge a book by its cover,” your readers won’t just buy a book because it has a well-designed cover and title if that is only what they see. Do book reviews; it gives them a sneak peek of the book’s contents, and if the content is interesting, they are sure to make purchases.
Collect subscribers and email them: Money is in the list is a popular say online
Collecting blog subscribers is ideal to engage your readers properly. You can your book purchase links to your readers via mail, and they will be enticed to click if your mail is well constructed.
Now, you know why I need to have an author blog and what benefit I can gain from having one.
How can you start a blog?
The Keep It Simple Simple [KISS] Way To Start Your Author Blog
People believe it is expensive to run a blog because you need to pay for hosting, purchasing domains, themes, plugins, etc. However, you can set up your author blog for as low as $3; sounds untrue? Here are the steps to follow;
Get a domain and hosting from HostGator
Your blog domain and hosting is the first thing you need to get.
Before now, you should have come up with an ideal domain name that will suit your niche and style. For hosting, I recommend you register with HostGator as you get a free domain when you register for just $3 per month.
Below are the steps to follow;
Step 1:
Click on this link to visit the HostGator hosting platform. Using this link, you can get a special “you only” $3 monthly web hosting.
That is all.
You purchase your blogging domain and hosting at a low cost – $3 per month.
If you need help with how to go about this, visit our hosting guide here to read a detailed guide that shows you how to get your hosting through that unique link.
Step 2:
The next thing is to set up your blog.
Setting up your blog does require money as you are expected to purchase WordPress themes and plugins.
However, you can do all that for free by making use of Authors Crib’s FREE Author Blog Setup Service. You only need to buy your hosting through this unique hosting deal link to qualify for enjoying that free service.
You also get two premium themes installed for you with premium plugins worth $250 all for free.
Follow the steps below to make use of this free author blog setup service to set up your author blog;
- If you have not signup for your hosting account using the link above, click here to visit our FREE Author Blog Setup Service page
- if you have already signup for your hosting account using this link, fill in the free author blog setup service request form by entering all the required details (You are going to provide your HostGator Account Username/Email and account password but be assured that they are safe)
- Submit your request.
That is all!
Sit back and relax while Authors Crib sets up your author blog for you.
You will be contacted after the work is done.
If you have any questions concerning the free blog setup service, you can check out the FAQ page for answers.
After Starting A Blog, What’s Next?
With your blog set up, the next thing to do is to create posts and start publishing content.
What should be the first posts as an author? Well, it depends on if you are a fiction or non-fiction writer.
First of all, you should start by writing your Author’s bio. Your author bio tells your readers about yourself, your interests, and your hobbies.
Your readers must trust your writings.
After that, you can start creating your first posts.
These should be pillar posts; check out this article on how to create your first five-pillar blog posts.
Note; you do not have to publish all posts at once. You can draft them and schedule them for publishing.
Getting Initial Traffic To Your Author Blog
Getting initial traffic is one of the major barriers new bloggers face.
Getting initial traffic does not have to be very difficult, but it is important to note that it does not happen overnight. It takes time to get quality and lasting traffic to your blog. Notwithstanding, here are some things you can do;
Search Engine Optimization
For your author blog, you might not need to research keywords and all, but it is still important to optimize your blog for search engines.
At one point or the other, your readers are going to search for you via search engines.
Making your blog SEO friendly involves making sure it loads fast and has an easy to crawl design.
Submitting your blog to a Google Search Console and Bing Webmasters are also recommended.
Blog Promotion
Social media can be an ideal source of traffic to your blog.
Statistica.com data shows that close to 3 billion people make use of social media.
Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are ideal for blog promotion, and author bloggers have been utilizing them to generate traffic for years.
As an author, you should make use of at least one (if not all) of these platforms.
You can get traffic by sharing your blog links to your followers.
Another ideal means of blog promotion is by using Facebook and Google Ads.
You need to pay money for these services, but they can help get your blog noticed.
Check out this guide for more details on how to get initial traffic to your author blog using the power of Facebook ads.
Read More:
The 3 Best Ways To Get Huge Traffic To Your New Blog
How To Launch Your Blog And Get Your First 100 Visitors
Now, What’s Next?
Blogging apart from its advantage and benefit is fun and opens a lot of opportunities to grow as an author.
You get to learn how to write better, and you also get better and faster feedback on your pieces of art than you can write a book.
With a blog, you can build a tribe of yours that like and enjoy your writing and books.
At the same time, you can also use your blog as a stepping stone to connect with more authors and bloggers in your niche, get more exposure for you and your book while also having more reasons to want to write more when you know that some people are following you and love to hear your thoughts.
The list can go and on like that.
You can never regret spending time or money on a blog, and the good news is that it’s not much you need to start one.
Just $3 a month will get you’re a hosting account in a month, and you can get your blog set up for free here while also having all the premium themes and plugins you need to run your blog effectively for FREE as well.
So what’s stopping you from starting your author blog?
If anything still stops you from starting a blog, let me know about that in the comment box below.
Now it’s Your Turn
What is your three major takeaway from this post?
How do you plan to use all the information you have read about to start your blog today?
Let’s hear your answers, questions, and thoughts in the comment section below.