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Making Your Web Site Work For You

by Charles_Jacobs

What should a web site do for an author? Simply stated, it should
multi-task.

Easy enough to say, but what specifically does that pop phrase
mean to the poor guy or gal who is trying to build a reputation
and move stacks of books out of the garage and into readers
hands? In the simple answer, the site becomes your retail store,
requiring you to follow all of the steps a retailer must perform
to sell inventory.

A site is so important to an author�s promotional effort that I
urge you to think carefully before you decide whether to create
the site yourself or select a professional designer. The free
templates you can find on the search engines are very tempting. I
urge you not to take that route. Hiring a professional is perhaps
the most cost-effective step you can take.

AUTHORS HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS

When you search for a professional to do your design, make
certain he/she has had direct experience in designing sites for
authors. Make sure you get recommendations. Check out the
designer carefully. Unfortunately, as in so many other endeavors,
there are charlatans in this field. (I know. I hired one of them,
and had to bail out pronto.)

The site should be activated four to six months prior to
publication date. It functions as an advance promotional tool for
you, the author, and announces your forthcoming book. At this
early stage, sales tools (shopping cart, cash register, etc) are
unnecessary.

What is needed, however, are the following sections that will
continue to be important even after publication:

Home Page�The key element is an explanation of what your site is
all about. A surfer will make the critical decision whether to
stay or leave the site after that first view. The page must
answer the question: Is there enough content here for me to spend
time scrolling through? In addition, it must offer very simple
and speedy navigation to bring the surfer to any section he/she
desires. (The identical bar should appear on every page of the
site to make it easy to move about.)

Overview of Your Book�Eliminate the adjectives. You are not
praising the book, you are describing it, allowing the reader to
make his/her own judgment. Just as soon as you are able to obtain
endorsements and/or reviews by distributing Advance Review
Copies, those become your �adjectives.� They are far more
believable than your own evaluation of your book.

If fiction, try to give the reader a sense of the mood and the
characters of the story. For nonfiction, stress content, giving
readers enough information to whet their appetites and make them
realize the book contains what they are looking for. Be sure to
include a photo of the book�s front cover.

As you can see already, the presentation of a novel is somewhat
different from that of a nonfiction book. It is generally
accepted that readers of fiction are focused more intently on the
author. Therefore your site should emphasize you and your
background. For nonfiction, content is paramount. Therefore your
site must emphasize the benefits a reader will gain from reading
your book.

Author�s Resume� Introduce yourself to your surfers in simple
direct terms with NO adjectives, just facts. The decision to
include a photo is optional, but if you do, use one that tells a
story. You are a writer. You should be seated at a desk, perhaps
in front of a computer. If not, certainly with paper and pen in
front of you.

Fiction lovers, as noted above, have a greater interest in
learning about you personally. Nonfiction readers are far less
concerned with your personal life than with your professional
accomplishments. Give them adequate information to allow them to
put their trust in you as an expert and in the information you
give them.

Sales Tools�With publication date growing closer, it is time to
begin thinking about the mechanisms needed to consummate sales of
your book.

Most of you have purchased items on the Internet, and understand
the functions of a �shopping cart,� which is in essence a list of
the items you wish to purchase. Once completed, that step moves
on to the payment cycle.

There are a number of companies that provide carts and merchant
payment programs.It is not my intention to promote any single
service. I suggest you click onto the major Internet search
engines and enter �shopping cart� and �online merchant accounts�
to select the systems you think will serve you best.

DRIVING TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE

It�s certainly essential to include the systems and the
information I have spoken about on your site, but if no one
visits, it is meaningless. Therefore, you must use every means
possible to bring readers to your site. The key is traffic,
traffic, traffic.

Revamp your business and personal stationery to include your web
site address. In the signature block of every e-mail, include a
blurb about the site. You can do that very simply on AOL by
clicking on �mail� in the top navigation bar and then click on
�set mail signature.�

You should also prepare a very portable handout. I like
bookmarks and find so do the people I hand them to. Place a photo
of your book cover on it, a short blurb about the book and a
strong invitation to visit your web site. As soon as endorsements
are available, reprint and include the best. Hand them out
freely. The cost is minimal, but the response usually is
substantial.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

The entire question of keywords and linkage with other web sites
is far too important to gloss over in just a paragraph or two. A
detailed discussion of each will follow in later articles.
Meanwhile be alert to the fact that incoming links are perhaps
the most powerful tools available to attract visitors. But they
must be from sites that are of quality equal to yours and cover
similar subjects

Used with some care and some thought, a carefully designed web
site can readily become the most powerful promotional tool in an
author�s war chest. Don�t scrimp. Get the best designer you can
afford.

While you should never get bogged down in the technology of the
site, always keep an alert eye on whether or not your designer
understands your needs as an author and fulfills them.

Need a strong support system to jump start your writing and
marketing? Find it free at <a
href="http://www.retirement-writing.com"
title="http://www.retirement-writing.com"
target="_blank">http://www.retirement-writing.com</a>. Buy
Charles Jacobs� latest book The Writer Within You on the web site
at a substantial discount. It�s a Best Books of 2007 honoree,
5-star rated and a Writer�s Digest Book Club selection.

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