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Why WordPress is the Best Choice for your Book Blog

Advice for Book Bloggers

5 Reasons You Should Have a Self-Hosted WordPress Site

I’ve designed and developed blogs on Blogger, WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress for my clients and hands down WordPress is the best choice for your book blog. Need some convincing? In this post I’m going to share 5 reasons you should have a self-hosted WordPress site.

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Protect Your Content by Owning Your Site

The cool thing about having a self-hosted WordPress blog, is that you actually own the little piece of the web (the server space) that your site is built on. That means that no one can remove your blog without your permission, unless of course you forget to pay your host.

Unfortunately, when you use free web hosts like Blogger or WordPress.com those companies are the owners of that server space and have the ability to remove your blog at any time. If you haven’t read my post on how to protect your Blogger book blog from getting shut down, go read it!

WordPress is Easy to Use – But has Limitless Options

Even though there are lots of options for more advanced users, the WordPress dashboard is really easy to use. If you can create a document in Word, you can write a blog post in WordPress.

There are also lots of great resources and tutorials out there specific to using WordPress. The beginner videos from WP101 are a good place to start!

Once you have learned more about blogging, those advanced options will be there waiting for you. By starting on a self-hosted WordPress account you will be setting yourself up for success from day one!

Awesome Sidebar Plugins for Book Bloggers

With WordPress, there is a plugin for almost everything! Want to have an Amazon search bar on your sidebar? There’s a plugin for that. Want to connect with Goodreads or Instagram? There’s a plugin for that too.

Plugins are easy to install and setup without ever touching a line of code. And the best part is that most are free!

SEO: Helping people find your blog

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a breeze with WordPress! If you use a premium framework like Genesis, you can be confident that the proper HTML structure is there so that search engines can easily find and share your content.

More advanced bloggers can also install the free Yoast SEO plugin which helps you set keywords, meta description, and social sharing options for each post. You can even select the exact image you want shared to Facebook!

Better Design Options

Let’s be honest. Whether you use a pre-made template or hire a professional web designer, sites built on WordPress blogs just look more professional. That’s because your designer can have complete control of the code for the site.

Here are some great resources for pre-made templates:

Or if you want something a little more custom, be sure to check out my book blog design and author website design services!

How to Protect your Blogger Book Blog from getting Shut Down (in 6 Simple Steps)

Advice for Book Bloggers

6 Simple Steps to Protect Your Blogger Book Blog

Did you know that if your blog is hosted on Blogger that Google could shut it down at any time, with no warning? It’s true. I have spoken with several unfortunate book bloggers who have had this happen to them. Most of the time the blogger wasn’t aware that Google has the power to shut down a blog and remove its content. In this post, I will show you how to protect your Blogger book blog from getting shut down, in 6 simple steps.

How to Protect your Blogger Book Blog from getting Shut Down

Why would Google shut down a book blog?

It’s very clear in the Blogger Content Policy that adult content must be placed behind a Warning Message. For book bloggers writing about romance novels or adult books often the content or book covers are risqué in nature and could be construed as adult content.

Why does Google think I have adult content on my site?

The most likely scenario is that a visitor reaches your blog and for whatever reason reports it to Google. Google then reviews these flagged sites and if they find it to be in violation of their Content Policy, then they will take one of the following actions:

  • Put the blog behind a ‘mature content’ interstitial
  • Put the blog behind an interstitial where only the blog author can access the content
  • Delete the offending content, blog post or blog
  • Disable the author’s access to his/her Blogger account
  • Disable the author’s access to his/her Google account
  • Report the user to law enforcement

How can I protect myself against Google shutting down my book blog?

If you are blogging about romance novels or novels with adult content (and don’t want to move to WordPress), the single best thing you can do is turn on the Warning Message! Even if you are not writing adult content, the fact that you are linking to a book that contains it or are displaying a book cover that is risqué in nature might be enough to require the Warning Message.

How do I turn on the Adult Content Warning Message in Blogger?

Here are The 6 simple steps to turning on the Adult Content Warning Message and protecting your Blogger book Blog from Google shut down:

  1. Login to the Dashboard of your site
  2. Click Settings
  3. Click Other
  4. Find the Adult Content section
  5. Select Yes
  6. Click Save Settings

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That’s it! A two-minute fix that could save you hours of headache later. Better yet, you should consider migrating your blog to a self-hosted WordPress site where you will have complete control of your content.

If you’re interested in making the move to WordPress, please contact me and I’d be happy to guide you through it!