Blog Design

** No blog? I can design one for you. Or have a WordPress blog but not happy with it? I can help. **

An online presence is essential for any author, and blogs are simple but effective tools which can run alongside your social networking profiles to enhance your communications and ultimately book sales. Or you may have a website already but want a separate, more interactive, entity to catch two prospective audiences.

I use and recommend WordPress for its versatility and ease of use, and offer the following:

OPTION 1 (£50 / €60 / US$75 / AS$75)

• Your dedicated WordPress domain name (website address) to match your name or book title (subject to availability);
• Choice of over 100 template designs and layouts (options provided upon booking, although some examples shown on the Themes page);
• Rolling front page (updated when new posts uploaded) to include initial ‘welcome’ or ‘introduction’ text with photographs if required;
• Three other static pages of your choice, e.g. author page (biography); book page with website purchase links and photographs; and contact page (with links to your online profiles if appropriate, and optional email and / or contact form);
• Photographs clickable to other pages within the site or external websites e.g. Amazon, Facebook etc.;
• 3GB of web space capable of uploading / storing hundreds of photographs etc. (although it’s recommended to keep these small, details provided in the guide);
• Side menu options: search facility, RSS feed subscribe button, recent posts, archive, Twitter updates feed, Facebook ‘fan’ page display, Goodreads profile display, calendar showing when items posted, category listing, blog page listing, visitor counter and copyright statement;
• Basic PDF guide to maintaining your blog – how to: create and upload new posts; schedule posts in advance; position your photographs to fit the text; add captions to photographs; create new main pages; create categories / keywords; check your visitor statistics; deal with visitor comments and unwanted spam; change WordPress to non-WordPress domain (website address) if required or direct a current website to your WordPress blog (these would both incur a yearly fee set by WordPress, currently £20 respectively); change WordPress domain to another WordPress domain name (no fee – subject to availability); set up share links to your Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Tumblr and LinkedIn accounts so that every time you post an item, a short link to it will appear in each configured profile; and a list of useful ‘help’ website pages and videos.
• Mention on my Facebook page, twice-daily announcements of your new blog on my Twitter feed (currently 2,900+ followers) for the first week and intermittent promotion thereafter.

OPTION 2 (£75 / €90 / US$112.50 / AS$112.50)

As above, plus ongoing email support:

• Emails replied to within a target 48 hours;
• Email assistance answering blog-related queries, including day-to-day technical issues, layout suggestions etc.

OPTION 3 (£100 / €120 / US$150 / AS$150)

As per Option 2 plus:

• Two extra pages to include content of your choice e.g. writing samples, character page, author events page, news page, reviews page, (clickable) photo gallery page, Frequently Asked Questions page, Other Information page etc.;
• Extra side menu options: announcements, countdown to events, icon links to your social network profiles and other websites, cover photographs with captions, blogroll (with links to your favourite sites), Recent Comments, ‘Where to Find Me’ links, and optional biographical summary with photograph.
• Comprehensive PDF guide to maintaining your blog, as per the Basic Guide plus how to: explanation of your Dashboard (the workings behind your blog); create and maintain widgets; change your home page heading / theme / background and associated photographs; create a static home page with rolling alternate blog page; create sub-pages; add links to blogroll; get the best out of your categories and keywords for SEO (search engine optimisation) and increased traffic; and shrink photographs to a manageable size using Microsoft Picture Manager, PaintShop Pro or Preview; and more.
• Assistance with technical issues with the blog itself (rather than just email) after blog signed over to you, and blog designer (Morgen) retained as editor (limited use of your site) or administrator (full use of your site).

NB. You can upgrade at any time. If you go for Option 1 then find it’s not sufficient you can choose Option 2 or Option 3 at a later date, just paying the difference when you upgrade.

The Process

1. You email me with which option you’d like to go for. I email you back a form for you to complete and return with your photographs, text etc.
2. I build the blog and let you know when it’s ready (maximum of two weeks, usually much quicker).
3. You then check it out and let me know of any anomalies.
4. I do the tweaking and let you know when that’s done.
5. Once you’re happy with the site you PayPal me the relevant money (to my email address). I can send a receipt if you wish although you will receive confirmation from PayPal of your payment.
6. I will then release the blog to you so you have full administration rights.
7. If you have taken Option 3, you then invite me as an editor (where I can tweak existing / add new posts) or administrator (full use of your site) in case there are any issues you can’t resolve yourself. I’d obviously let you know how to do this.

Blog examples

Examples of blogs I have created include:

• http://janewenhamjones.wordpress.com
• http://nushuvoluntaryorganisation.wordpress.com
• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://shortstorydaily.wordpress.com
• http://carolinebeynon.wordpress.com (under development)
• http://icanbuildyourwritingblog.wordpress.com
• and of course this one!

***

My WordPress Writing Blog has been compiled using free options and your blog would be based on this format (though its design will be to your specification), this ensures costs are kept to a minimum.

Anything above the options listed (or assistance for an existing WordPress blog) would be agreed in advance and charged at a £10 (€12 / US$15 / AS$15) hourly rate.

My main WordPress blog regularly attracts over 200 visitors per day (on a ratio of US2:UK1 plus many other countries worldwide) with 495 visits on the busiest day to-date (25th July 2012). I post 2-3 times per day with a variety of content and many visits are due to keyword searches because of that high level of content, over 100,000 visits since inception on 31st March 2011.

And of course you don’t just have to be a writer. Although I live and breathe writing, I’m more than happy to build blogs for any other professions or hobbies.

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I have been a writer for seven years and like this writing blog, am consumed by creative writing. This blog creation service is therefore aimed at, but not limited, fellow writers so if you, or someone you know, would like a blog setting up for them do let me know.

I also welcome manuscripts for critiquing / editing, and being based in the East Midlands area of the UK, am available as a speaker, workshop organiser etc.

My email is morgen@morgenbailey.com and I look forward to hearing from you about any service I may be able to provide you with and / or I’m happy to talk about anything writing-related.

You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum and you can follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.