Blogs, Vlogs, and Podcasts: Oh My!
By Valerie Bradley-Holliday, Ph.D.

When you search me out, and you will, after reading this article, you will find that I have been with Author-me.com for a while. Even though, I have been in place, I still stay current with where writing is going. I encourage you to stay on trend as well and be open to new venues as well.
One of the many challenges for any writer is we want to be read. We want to get our materials out for the world to enjoy. We also want to remain marketable as well. Sometimes sitting in a cramped office and typing away and mass marketing seem conversely connected—not so.
Some of the avenues available on the Internet can allow a person to do both. So, take up your favorite beverage to go as we explore a few options called Blogs, Vlogs, and Podcasts on the Internet highway.
BLOGS
Blogs have been reportedly around since 1994, through Links.net by a Swarthmore College student. What does blog stand for? If you are a Star Trek fan, you know that the captain would always put in a log into the ship of the day’s events and activities. The early term for the online log was called weblog, which eventually got the nickname blog. Some popular sites that writers use for blogging are Wordpress, Wix, and Blogger. Search on any of these sites with your favorite browser for examples. While you say you are an author of books, fine. Blogging can allow you to post installments of your published book to gain interest, build a book chapter by chapter, and establish a venue for selling ebooks, paperbacks, and hard copies. Blogging can allow you to expand your writing skills to include other side interests, like art or photography. Blogs are often static texts that can be edited. The greatest thing about blogs is that they are readily accessible through the Internet. For marketing purpose, you want to make sure your blogs have Search Engine Optimization (SEO). To cover this would require another article. Simply put SEO’s allow people to more readily find you Blog content. Blog content is static and some people in the age of texting long for the personal touch — Vlogs.

Continued next month...