This week we recapped and reviewed the entire course. This exercise inspired me to look back on the biggest takeaways from each week, and the information that I will be taking with me as I continue to grow my website. Week 1: My take away from the first week of the course surrounds building and maintaining my audience. Most important to me is building an audience of dedicated fans rather than building a large audience. Week 2: The benefit of sitting down and actually producing my business canvas became very apparent this week. It really helped me hone exactly what I am providing for my audience and the value they…

This past week the tool SEO Analyzer was explored in class. So I decided to plug my url into the tool and to examine my results. Here is my score… I am pretty happy with a B+ for my SEO as I have only begun to strive to consider how good my SEO as I develop and grow my site. Some of the sites recommendations are… I had no idea that my heading tags are actually too short, such as About Me, Subscribe, and Contact Me. I want to do further research around just how long these headings should be. If I do decide to change them, I will make…

This week we focused on monetization strategies. The narrow focus on advertisements did not suit my needs. I fear advertising on my blog would chase away my audience for a few reasons. Ads would distract from my content Ads would not always benefit my content Other NA book blogs also refrain from traditional digital advertising Ads would distract from my content as they would steal away someone’s attention, maybe someone would even click on the ad bringing them away from my website entirely. Ads would not benefit my content as the even with all the controls google provides, there is no guarantee that every ad I get on my site…

Last week we were provided with resources to help us create a visual representation of out brand narrative. I chose to look at using Biteable. I have already made a traditional infographic back in Publishing 101, so Biteable represented a chance to expand upon what I previously learned. Biteable allows for you to pinpoint what you are promoting within your brand, and then they suggest video templates for you to edit. I selected that I was explaining a concept from my brand, and I was given a template that I really liked. Biteable was easy to use and provided me with a quality video that explains where I am coming…

This past week we had a discussion surrounding content marketing versus editorials versus advertising. This discussion made me think about how I accredit my sponsored content. Since I started my blog I have mentioned at the beginning of every post where I got any graphics, teasers, and advance reader copies from. I did this based on other book reviewers I have encountered, as they will always mention if and when they receive an early copy for review. I saw this practice being used on other blogs, on Goodreads reviews, and in the descriptions of YouTube video reviews. As someone who read reviews for years before delving into reviewing myself, I…