BOOKMARKETING WEEK 5

© 2014, Tara Lynne Groth

“Homework”

What 3 steps did you take to grow your writer platform?

WEEK 5: BOOK MARKETING ONLINE

Your Writer Website

Your Writer Website

If you’re writing your own book, you can write your own website.

If you’re writing a novel, book of poems, memoir or non-fiction book, you know how:

To tell a story

Long/short your finished piece should be

Each scene, stanza or chapter is sequenced

When writing for the web you need to know how:

To convey your story so that your audience will find you

Short (Not long when writing on the web!) to keep your content

To effectively place links and buttons on your page to entice visitors to navigate your site the way you want them to

Affordable Website Services

What is affordable?

Domain registration

Hosting

Design

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Annual maintenance

You can easily spend:

$1,000s+ per year

<$100 per year

Domain Registration

Go Daddy, eNom, PowerYourName, NameCheap, HostGator, 1&1, Name, Gandi

The above offer hosting solutions

As little as $9/month

Website Hosting

Bluehost, Network Solutions, SiteGround, Dreamhost, Linode, A Small Orange, Rackspace

The above offer hosting solutions

As little as $3.95/month

Website Design

Use design solutions offered by sites mentioned on prior slides

Hire a designer

DIY

Prices vary

Website Design Templates: Weebly & WordPress

Design Elements

Dress Your Writer Website for Success

Font Choice Affects Blogs

How do search engines work?

How do search engines work? Google crawlers, spiders, algorithms Fresh and targeted content Consistency Link-building Finding competitors’ key words Key word selection: Alexa, Soovle, Search Results Analysis, Analytics

Analytics Terms

Visits

Unique visitors

Pageviews

Pages/visit

Visit duration

Bounce rate

Traffic: search, referral, direct

Traffic: organic vs. paid

Tips for Your Writer Website

Content

POV

Subheadings

Anchor Text

Links: Draw more traffic to other areas, engage visitors to spend more time on the site, bring attention to older/newer content, inbound/outbound

Meta description & tags

Optimizing Your Writer Website

More Tips for Writer Websites

“Black Hat” SEO – AVOID THESE PRACTICES!!

Keyword stuffing

“Cloaking”

Plagiarism

“Spin”

Book Buying Options

Link to every possible purchase option

Make it clear from the home page where to click to learn more about the book

Create multiple layers (more pages) about the book

Book reviews Character map (Where are they now?) Events Editor experience About the cover designer

Book package

BOOK MARKETING ONLINE

A Writer’s Blog

What will you blog about?

How will you decide topics? Content calendar Evergreen pieces

How often will you post content? Plan quarterly & schedule! Create 3 from 1 / complementing

How personal/private will you be? Offensive content v. Diplomacy Relevant?

When will you start? Launch after 3+ posts Start following first

This is what happens when you stop posting content after gaining momentum.

Blog Platforms - Samples

WordPress (.com) SEO & user-friendly Highly customizable Built-in community Mobile-friendly Plug-ins Free, upgrade costs WordPress.org requires download, hosting, fees

Blogger (Google – formerly Blogspot) Not as versatile HTML skills help Free

Tumblr (Yahoo) Built-in community Image-heavy, long load time Free

Blog Responsibilities

Commenting Moderate your own Engage with others Rule: Comment on a new blog and a known blog every time you post

Consistency

Images (Remember MorgueFile, Pixabay, DollarPhotoClub?)

Showcasing your writing skills – proofread!

Attractive titles

Bullets, lists, spacing, images

Be a resource

Timing a Blog

Going to a writers’ conference/retreat or other literary event? Have your blog established to spread the word. Turn the event into post(s). Live blogging!

Studies show posts generally enjoy more traffic on weekends. This is true from personal experience, as well as Mondays and Thursdays.

Most users read blogs in the AM! See Kissmetrics stats.

NEXT WEEK: BOOK MARKETING ONLINE

Social Media, Blog Engagement

“Homework”

If you have a website/blog, audit your site for improvements

If you do not have a website/blog, make ‘dummy’ accounts on different platforms and pick one you are comfortable with.

Read Writing Down the Bones p.122 “Why Do I Write”

© 2014, Tara Lynne Groth

Connect:‘Resources for Writers’ – www.taralynnegroth.comTwitter - @writenakedwritenaked.wordpress.com

FIND THE SLIDES

View this presentation at slideshare.net/taralynne0