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…

This past week’s SEO lecture inspired me to make a few changes to entice Google through search engine optimization. The lecture also inspired me to look at what I was already doing right, and what I definitely need to continue to do. I had not been using headers, nor had I thought to use headers in a sentence like format. So now as you read my latest reviews you can easily identify where my bullet point thoughts start, where you can get the purchase links, and where you can follow the author online. I made sure to format these subheadings into sentences. My titles are already very specific to my…

This past week’s guest speaker was John Burns of Echo Stories. Using lessons from his lecture I crafted my corporate backstory… I have always been the type of reader who is mocked repeatedly for what they choose to read. Back in Elementary School I loved Twilight with a passion and was made fun of by other kids constantly for it. Throughout High School, I struggled to be open and honest about what I was reading due to being scorned in the past and the animosity in some online circles towards those reading Young Adult Literature, at the time. Then I discovered content creators on YouTube who were talking about Young Adult literature…

I am excited to have a new key partner added to my arsenal this week. I am now signed up with Foreword PR and Marketing. This PR company was brought to my attention through signing up to be apart of the launch for Fiona Coles’ new release this spring. I am excited to be working with another PR company, in order to gain even more opportunities for review. Now in terms of the partner, I may lose… Amazon Associates. I have ninety days officially to generate sales from my affiliate links. According to my Amazon Associates page, my links are being clicked on, what is not happening is the purchasing.…

This week we were assigned to do a promotional video. The most rewarding part of the process for me was the editing process. I actually used to make YouTube videos years ago, so I knew my way around iMovie. It was so much fun splitting and splicing video clips and audio clips together just like I used to do. I chose to screen record my blog to show off everything I discussed in the audio recording. I was able to perfectly time scrolling through my reviews while saying the names of the authors out loud. I recorded the audio in Garageband on an external microphone to ensure for the best…