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It's easy to start a blog on a whim. It's easy to sign up for a free blog (I recommend wordpress or blogger and write a review or two on the latest books you've read. What's not easy is maintaining a blog, and bringing traffic to it.

First of all, you have to post often. Three times a week is pretty much the absolute minimum. If people don't see new content, eventually they'll quit checking back, and then you have no readers. A blog with no readers is basically a journal, which is fine, but if that's what you want, I doubt you'd be reading articles for blogging tips.

Second, don't just review the big bestsellers. If you're reading the Twilight Saga or the latest James Patterson book and want to blog about it, great, but make sure to throw in some other titles, too. Chances are, people have already heard of the popular books, and your opinions are more valuable if you might be recommending books to people that might not otherwise have picked them up.

Having some kind of focus can work in your favor, too. It's fine to just be a general book blogger, but there are more specific communities out there, like bloggers who write mostly about children's books, and it's easier to break into a smaller community than the larger community of book blogging. This is not a requirement, but it's something to think about. Don't think that you haveto review every type of book there is.

Spice it up a little! Variety isn't just the spice of life, it adds some flavor to your blog, too. Book reviews are the meat of a book blog, and as such should be posted frequently, but there should be other content, too. Pertinent links, thoughts on general reading, author interviews-all kinds of things can work. If you need content, though, there are lots of weekly memes out there that are not only interesting reading, but also great community-builders. Participating in these memes can mean answering a question, posting about books you've received, anticipating upcoming releases-there are all sorts! A few to start you out are Musing Mondays, Waiting On Wednesdays, Booking Through Thursday, Weekly Geeks, and In My Mailbox, but there are a lot more once you start looking for them.

Speaking of community, this is a very important part of blogging. The aforementioned memes are a great start, but you have to really participate to get the full experience! There are reading challenges of all sorts to join (check out A Novel Challenge for a good directory), for example. The most important part of joining a community, however, is commenting on other blogs. Don't just promote yourself; say something relevant and interesting, and perhaps someone will click back to your blog. It's the start of a new conversation, and that's what blogging really is: a series of conversations.

It's not just the type of content, though. It should go without saying, but your posts should be informative, well-written, enjoyable, and just generally high-quality. Since we're talking mostly about book reviews here, I'd recommend giving a short plot summary, but nothing that gives away any twists (if you're unsure of how much to say, don't reveal anything that isn't given away in the first few chapters or back of the book summary), and keep it concise. When sharing your opinion, don't just say you liked or disliked a book; be a good critic, and explain why. Explain that the characters were flat or the plot was confusing or the writing was beautiful or whatever the case may be. Mix up the good and the bad points; almost no book is all good or all bad. Lastly, have some sort of rating system. Five stars works well for most people. Readers want to be able to tell if a book is worth their time and what your overall opinion was at a quick glance.

Last but not least, enjoy it! Don't blog for the free books (which come later; don't seek these out within your first few months of blogging or you'll just look greedy); do it for fun.If it's not fun for you, don't do it; not everyone is meant to be a blogger.Do it because you want to share your opinions and be a part of a great community. It's a rewarding experience.

Learn more about this author, Jocelyn Pearce.
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