~This week I’ve really been focusing on building an online presence and let me tell you, it’s a job!

I have spent countless hours following pages on Twitter and Facebook, reading a ton of great material, connecting with a lot of talented writers and entrepreneurs… and of course, commenting on posts and having discussions with people about writing.

Here is my new confession: I am a bit obsessed with social media right now!!

It really sucks you in once you get momentum going on multiple social networking sites, but it is definitely an essential tool when building your business. It’s also incredibly exciting hearing feedback, gathering followers and gaining knowledge on many subjects. I’ve met some really interesting people and they are all on their own journeys, which is a wonderful way to learn the ins and outs of networking. You must follow and connect with like-minded people to grow, and the experience is really fun once you really dive into it.

Sharing is caring ❤

Now, this is just my own opinion as I am diving into a few different writing outlets including novel-writing, copy writing and freelance journalism. In all the research I’ve done, I’ve found that most agents will look for a strong online presence when working with writers. It’s the best way to promote ones self when your publishing a book, building your portfolio or for any kind of web writing. Social media sites are a fabulous source for finding publications and clients.

Some people don’t agree though and it’s really up to you how far you want to take it. It can be overwhelming and time-consuming which some people don’t like. I’ve had a few friends say, “I could never do something like that….” and that’s fair enough. This magical world of social media is not for everyone. I have to step away sometimes and remember that there is a real world out there that needs to be cherished and loved. The best way to do that is make a social media schedule.

Greg Pratt, my instructor at Uvic, doesn’t really use social media to build his freelance business. In Freelance Journalism it’s not always necessary to have a huge following online because most of the time freelancers are communicating with specific editors and using the perfect pitch to land a publication. Also, Greg works as an Editor himself so he has an actual “day job” taking up a lot of his time. He’s been quite successful without using a large amount of social media.

It really depends on what you want to do with your writing.

Do you want to publish ebooks?
Would you like to build a travel blog?
Will it benefit your website to link it to another social networking site like Twitter?

I have answered YES to these questions so now it’s time to take my SEO to the next level. Following the most popular trends, I’ve learned that Twitter and Linkedin are the two major social networking sites most people use to connect. Link ’em all together and BAM!!

SEO at full throttle! 🙂

Here are some great links I’ve found that cover SEO information quite extensively:

http://www.acronym.com/bebrilliant/seo/5-ways-you-need-to-use-social-media-to-boost-your-seo/

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-seo/

http://blog.sumall.com/journal/8-ways-social-media-affects-seo.html

and if you work with WordPress.org and use plugins you can really optimize your site:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-social-seo-booster/

Thanks Google!

Certain plugins aren’t available for WordPress.com users apparently, which I just found out through… you guessed it, Social Networking 🙂

Thank you to my fellow bloggers who have helped me out with optimizing my website. I am very much enjoying this whole process.

The internet is a wonderful thing isn’t it?

How about you? Is their anything about SEO I’ve missed that you have learned about in your journey?

What are your thoughts on Social Media?

I would love to hear from you! I am just learning all of this myself so any feedback would be great. Let’s connect!

Happy writing xo