A blog can turn you into an expert on a subject faster than you might realize. Your site also can turn you into an author…really fast. And authors are experts. That’s why an “authority blog” and a published book provide a winning combination for anyone wanting to achieve expert status.
When I started this blog, I was not an expert on blogging or blogging books. I had an idea, and I set about blogging about the topic. I did so three or four times per week for about five months. In that time, I not only blogged the first draft of my book, How to Blog a Book, I also became the leading authority on blogging books. That also qualified me as a blogging and book-marketing expert.
Who woulda thought? Not me.
Then I took a course from Chris Garrett on authority blogging. I realized I’d done just that…blogged my way to “authority” or expert status.
30 Days to Exert Status
Can you really blog your way to expert status in 30 days? After all, it took me almost six months.
Well, you could if you followed the advice of some blogging experts: Publish one to three posts per day.
Personally, I don’t think anyone wants to read anyone’s posts three times per day.
However, if you publish a blog five days a week (or even seven) for 30 days, you’ll give the search engines, like Google, a hell of a lot of content to index. Each post is filled with keywords or search terms. The more new content you publish, the more often the search engines index it, which allows them to determine the topic of your site. The more keywords found on your site for one subject, the faster you move up in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). And when that happens, you become “visible” or “discoverable.”
If you make it to the first page…or the first spot…on the SERP for your keyword(s), people view you as an expert.
Can you do that in 30 days? Depends on your keywords and how often you publish posts. But you will make massive movement upward in the SERPs for sure if you frequently post for 30 days on one topic.
Then you just have to continue blogging often and consistently on your topic to continue that progress after April is over.
A Book Turns a Blogger into an Expert
During those 30 days of authority blogging, you’ll produce a lot of content. That allows you to make another move towards expert status: produce a book.
Authors—especially nonfiction authors—are almost always seen as experts on their topics. A book gives you instant authority status.
So why not use your blog to write a book? Don’t just publish posts. Publish posts that can be turned into a book.
Blog a 15,000-Word Book in 30 Days
To turn yourself into expert blogger and expert author, here’s what I suggest:
- Plan out a short book of about 15,000 words. That equates to 30 posts, each 500 world in length. You’ll need a table of contents and some idea—maybe a bullet list—of the content you will include in each chapter.
- Plan to write and publish 500 words each day as a blog post—but also as an “installment” to your book. To do this, you have to break each chapter into post-sized bits. You want to end up with 30 posts total to blog your book in a month.
- At the end of April, edit and revise your blogged book’s first draft.
- After you finish your revisions, hire an editor to edit the manuscript.
- Then hire a designer to create a cover for your book.
- Hire a formatter, so your book is ready to be uploaded to Smashwords, Kindle, CreateSpace, Ingram Spark, or the publishing site of your choice.
- Upload the formatted document and cover to the publishing site of your choice.
You are now an author as well as a blogger. And you are an authority. You’ve established your expert credentials in only 30 days.
How to Participate in NaBoBloMo
National Book Blogging Month (NaBoBloMo) is a personal challenge. You won’t find a forum here on howtoblogabook.com or any special events. You don’t need to check in, register or report on word or post counts.
If you want to declare your goal so you have accountability, please do leave a comment below stating the fact that you are participating in NaBoBloMo. Describe your blogged book, and include your blog URL so others can visit your site and read it.
Feel free to come back every Tuesday in April and comment again on this post or any other post to provide an update on your book blogging progress. And read all four posts this month, which will pertain to NaBoBloMo and its theme for the year.
Photo copyright: roxanabalint / 123RF Stock Photo
Isaac says
Hey trying my hand at writing and designing my book. Would love to hear your thoughts on both. You can find a small part at colormyflaws.com