How To Start A Book Review Blog

Have you ever wondered how to start a book review blog? If you’re a book lover, and you like to share your opinions with others and have discussions about books, then starting a blog can be very rewarding. Not only can starting a book review blog give you a creative outlet but if you monetize your blog it can also end up becoming financially lucrative for you as well. So, how do you get started? How do you set up your only little piece of real estate in the vast world that is the internet? The following step-by-step guide can show you how to get your book review blog up and running in no time at all.

Choose A Name For Your Blog

When you’re trying to establish a book review blog you need to put a lot of time and consideration into choosing the right name for your blog. The last thing that you want to do is get your blog started, then decide to change your name. This can confuse anyone that already regularly visits your blog, so unless you have no choice, don’t change your blog’s name once you get it up and running. What you should do is figure out what type of mood you want to establish with your blog, meaning how will your reviews be presented? Will they be serious? Comical? What type of books will you be reviewing? Then, once you have some ideas go online and make sure that there isn’t already a blog out there that is too similar to what you are planning to name yours.

Should You Choose A Free Blog Or Pay For One?

At first, the idea of getting a free blog probably sounds ideal, but you’re actually better of purchasing a domain name and paying for web hosting. If your book review blog is just something that you’re doing for fun, and you’re on a tight budget, then using a platform such as Blogger is okay. But, if you have plans to monetize your blog, then paying for your domain name and web hosting gives you creative control so you don’t have to worry about having your blog shut down. Imagine how frustrating it would be to have a successful and lucrative blog, then have someone come in and shut it down for some reason.

Choose A Theme That Fits Your Blog

Having the right theme for your blog is important because while the content that you provide is what gives visitors value if your blog looks terrible visitors may not stick around long enough to hear what you have to say. If you have the budget to hire a professional, then this can only benefit the appearance of your blog. If not, then using something like WordPress is a solid option. When coming up with a theme for your blog think about the type of content that you want to cover, then plan your theme around this. Choose colors, font, graphics, and images that work well for the content that you plan to have on your blog.

Tell Readers A Little Bit About Yourself

When people visit your blog they’ll want to know a little about you. After all, wouldn’t you want to know whose opinion you’re reading? Better yet, wouldn’t you like to put a face to the words on the page? That’s right, having a great-looking headshot is a great touch that will help to give your blog a more professional appearance. You don’t necessarily have to do this, but people are visual, and seeing your face will give them a way to connect with you on another level.

Post A Review Policy

What are you going to do if a reader sends you a message asking if you can review a book? Are you going to do it to give them what they want? What if it’s not a book you’re interested in? Or, what if the theme of the book seems to not fit in with the rest of the books that you review on your blog? Rather than trying to figure out what to do about this kind of problem when it arises, you’re much better off planning ahead. Being proactive in anything in life is helpful, and that’s definitely going to be the case here as well. Having a set policy is also something that your readers will appreciate because it provides them with consistency so they know what to expect from you.

Start Creating Content

When it’s time to start posting reviews to your blog you want to be sure that you are consistent. Consistency in this regard means posting quality reviews that give value to your readers and also posting them frequently. If you don’t have new reviews up regularly people will lose interest and when you lose interest you start to lose your audience. How can you be sure that you have regular content posted? For one thing, you should be working ahead of time. If you plan to post a new book review every week then make sure that you have several reviews ready to go ahead of time. You may be tempted to post them all quickly, but it’s more important that you have them up consistently on a schedule. This will give your readers something to expect, which will encourage them to come back. By having several reviews waiting in the pipeline you can ensure that you’ll be able to keep up your schedule.

When creating content for your blog there are some basic rules that you should follow. First, make sure that the content that you post provides value to your readers. In this case, your reviews should help readers to decide whether or not they should read a book. Second, make sure that you use proper grammar and spelling, there isn’t much that’s going to cause readers to distrust you more than poorly written content. Lastly, make sure that your posts are search engine optimized. Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is a method for using keyword placement to help capture the attention of search engines. SEO is constantly evolving, so you need to make sure that you keep up to date on the latest updates.

Is A Rating System Right For You?

Should you have a rating system on your book review blog? That depends because there are pros and cons for doing so. People tend to like ratings because it gives them a quick snapshot of how good you feel that a book is. The pro here is that people like this type of rating system so they’ll be more likely to come back to your blog. The downside is that many people will skip reading your review and just go and look at the rating that you gave a book. What you have to decide is what’s more important to you, having people visit your blog, or having them read what you have to say.

Check Out The Competition

If you want to have a successful book blog then you need to see what your competitors are doing. While you aren’t running a typical business, if you monetize your blog then it becomes a source of income, at which point it becomes a type of business for you. Like any business, you need to know what your competition is up to. This is one of the easiest things that you’ll do after learning how to start a book review blog. Spend some time looking at other book review blogs similar to what you are trying to create, then you’ll be able to make sure that your blog is just as good or better.

Utilize The Power Of Social Media

Social media is one of the most powerful advertising forces in the world today, and the best part is that you can use it for free! Just about everyone has a social media account, in fact, many people have more than one. What makes social media so powerful is the ability for a post to explode in popularity. Here’s how it works. Let’s say that you have a post on your social media page about your blog, then someone sees it, likes it, then maybe even comments about it. Well, if that person has followers then every follower that they have will see that they liked your post or commented about it. This could get them to look at it, and if they like it or comment on it every follower that they have will see that. So, all you have to do is get one person with a lot of followers to engage with your social media account, then a domino effect could have your book review blog suddenly exploding in popularity.

Be Active In The Book Blog Community

If you want to attract visitors to your book review blog you need to be active on forums that they are active on. Engage with them, comment on what they have to say, and join in on the discussion. What you’re doing here is a form of networking. If more popular book review blogs like what you have to say, then it will add credibility to your blog. This will help you to attract more visitors, which will help your audience to grow which will then make you more successful.