Guest Blogger: Bridget Zinn

Today I have a guest blogger, Bridget Zinn, who also writes YA fiction. A few weeks ago she did a techie post on how to make use of all those online tools that will help you network.  Be sure to click on her link about using a blog reader (which you can save as a Word file to your computer for future reference). A blog reader is a great tool that will tell you when your favorite blogs have been updated, so you don’t have to go clicking a bunch of links every day. I also recommend setting  iGoogle as your homepage. There are lots of nifty gadgets you can add, including Google Reader.

Be sure to visit Bridget at her blog.  Not only is she a super-cool and very funny person, but she’s a great cook, too.

And now, here’s Bridget:

Keeping Up With Gossip

Handy ways to keep up with virtual gossip:

1) Use a blog reader. It helps you keep track of all of the blogs you read. The tech genius at my house made handy instructions you can get here.

2) Sign up for Google Alerts. Google will alert you anytime the key words you plug into their form come up online. You can find out who’s talking about you or your book.

3) Become a Twitter follower. Twitter is like a mini blog. You just type in a line or two whenever you feel inspired to do so. You can follow other people and find out the minutia of their days too.

4) Get Google Analytics on your blog. You can track who’s going to your blog and how they’re getting there. Not exactly a way to find gossip BUT you can discover a lot about people from how they find your blog. Obsessive self-googler anyone?

5) Sign up for Facebook and keep up with what all of your friends are doing. I JUST did this. It wasn’t hard to do at all. Friend me please!!

6) Sign up for GoodReads and get book recommendations from your friends. I’m really bad at keeping this one up to date because I read so many books so quickly, but it seems like a great idea.