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Winter 2008 Welcome to the first edition of Novel News! We’ve included lots of information on how to promote your writing or small business with your website. We believe that your website is your greatest marketing tool and the goal of our newsletter is to help you make the most of it. We hope you enjoy it! And if you have ideas for future articles, please let us know. What you can do for your site's SEO SEO is a hot topic, and for good reason. A well-optimized site can bring you more business and name recognition than the most expensive advertising out there. But with so many people talking about it and so much information to wade through, much of it contradictory, how can you tell the difference between what’s helpful and what’s hype? In this article, I’m going to demystify some of the hype and tell you what you can do to improve your site’s optimization. What is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it refers to the art and science of trying to get your site as high as possible in search engine results. Since each search engine wants to provide the best, most useful results, SEO is largely about providing useful content in your website. Content is King If you get nothing else from this article, I want you to remember one thing: Most people go to the internet for information. Whether they’re shopping, catching up on headlines, or trying to find their favorite author’s next release, they’re going to the internet to find something out. The best search engines have extremely savvy spiders to search out quality content to get people the information they’re searching for. Long gone are the days when reciprocal links and meta tags were all you needed for good SEO. These days, if you want good rankings, you need good content. What this means for you is that you’re more in control of your website’s SEO than you might think because you control the content. What’s more, if you’re a writer, you have an edge. Did you know that one of the most frequent recommendations from SEO experts is to have a professional writer write your content? That’s because writers will write clearly and well, without grammatical and spelling errors. Writers are also adept at using a few words instead of many, and a few information-packed paragraphs are better than pages of rambling. Why is this important? Because people go to the internet for information, and if your site isn’t clear and well-written, visitors won't bother wading through your site. They’ll just go elsewhere. If you’re an author, you’re already several steps ahead of the game, because you can write. Your site will most likely be clear, relevant to your writing, and hopefully, even entertaining, because that’s your skill. "People go to the internet for information." Make it relevant and unique Your website probably already includes a lot of what your visitors will be looking for—your writing, your books, your upcoming signings, etc. But make sure you’re also including information that can’t be found elsewhere. Try putting in extra goodies for your readers. How about interviews with your readers’ favorite characters? Or perhaps some ‘deleted scenes’ of what was going on with your secondary characters while your protags were saving the world? Got a heroine who’s a chef? Give us her favorite recipe. You can also update your site with simple things like a quote of the day, a weekly/monthly greeting, reader giveaways or desktop downloads. Keep it current Whatever you decide to do, mix it up and keep it current. Give people a reason to return. Also, spiders love fresh content. They keep count of how many people visit. If you’re constantly updating your information and people keep returning, spiders are going to assume you’ve got good information on your site that other people might want to know about, and rank you higher in search engine results. Inbound Links A huge way that spiders judge your content is how the rest of the web reacts to it. Are other people linking to your site? How many of those links are quality, inbound links? Focus on providing information that people will be interested in and want to link to from their blog or website. (After all, they want to update their content, too.) And keep in mind, reciprocal links don’t work very well anymore. Spiders aren’t interested in whether you can simply trade links with someone, or if you’ve signed up for a huge database service. It also doesn’t help much to link to sites that aren’t relevant to yours. You’re not going to improve your SEO much if you trade links from your author website to your cousin’s tractor store. (Unless your cousin is John Deere and you write a series about a farmer-detective.) "Give people a reason to return." So, how can I build natural, inbound links? Try writing a useful article that people might want to display on their site. Do you have a great story about how you found your agent, how you got published, or how you split your time between writing and working/being a parent? Submit it to Digg or Delicious. Sign up for a couple of forums. Search engines frequent forums and blogs because they have so much new content. Start posting and put your website in your signature.
Other Places to get your name out there (Read more about Inbound Links in our next edition of Novel News)
But pictures and expensive design are
important, too, right? Flash Flash is… well, flashy. Flash animation can provide fun and entertaining media on a website. It can also be distracting. More importantly, it can be a real hindrance to your SEO. So, if you decide to use Flash, make sure you're using it to enhance your websites userability, rather than to build your entire site. "Keep the content of your site clear and relevant." What about all the money I gave my SEO expert or designer? It probably wasn’t money wasted. Other than content, there are a lot of ways your site can benefit from quality design. A clean design, well-constructed page titles, and industry-focused keywords are just a couple of the behind-the-scenes things that a professional designer can do for you and your site’s SEO. However, always beware the designer who says they can get your site listed at “number 1.” It’s just not possible. The search engines are too sophisticated and their algorithms change too frequently for someone to promise those kind of results. Look for a professional who will encourage you to be involved, and will be happy to handle the technical side of things. Be patient Search engine optimization is a long-term process. If you have a new book coming out, don’t wait until the week before its release to put the title on your website. Put a teaser up there months before to really give search engines time to spider it. Then, a month or two before your release, write a paragraph or so on your index page. Focus on building a great site with useful content that others will want to link to, and be patient. That sounds like a lot of work. How can I fake it? You can’t. The search engines are too savvy. Instead, focus on having great content that is useful and relevant. Try to provide information that isn't readily available everywhere. Update your content on a regular basis so people have a reason to keep visiting. Work on building quality in-bound links. And hire a reputable professional to handle the rest. One last note... Now that your content is current, useful and clearly-written, and your website professional is taking care of the technical side, sit down and write your next novel. What better way to update your website than to include new information about your next, upcoming release? Ultimately, that's the best promotion you can get. - nwd
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
(Like this quote? Get the desktop)
Helpful Links:
Need a Valentine's Day gift for your critique partner or another writer you know? Take a look at Ninth Moon, an online store specializing in gifts for writers.
Got writer's block? Take a moment to check out Write Attitude and get renewed.
We love referrals:
Refer a client to Novel Website Design and we'll give you a big, fat "Thank You!" in the form of a goodie you can use elsewhere. Tell your friends about all the great new services and products at Novel Website Design.
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What's new: Our look!
We've launched our new website, complete with upgraded services and shiny new colors. Let us know what you think.
New Launches:
Check out the new book trailer for Maureen Lang's latest release, On Sparrow Hill, and the new website for Life Coach, Tanya Hertel.
New Services:
In addition to websites and book trailers, we now provide designs for print materials like bookmarks and business cards.
We're happy to announce that we now accept PayPal for all payments, deposits and monthly fees.
NWD stuff!
Take a look at our store at Cafe Press for your very own NWD t-shirt or mug.
Or get some motivational bookmarks for your critique partner or writers' group.
Tips and Tricks:
MS Word shortcut du jour:
<ctrl> <shift> > (greater than sign) to increase font size one point
In our next issue:
Look for an article detailing how you can create the best, most productive inbound links and make them work for you and your site's SEO. |
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