We, at Indie Scriptorium met last week and reflected on our direction and purpose, especially in relation to our weekly blogs. Recently, I came across this post by fellow blogger, Anthony Robert, which to me, hits the spot when it comes to getting out there and increasing our presence.
marketing strategy
Marketing on Websites–Improving Your SEO
Part One – Understanding how search engines work
Having a website is a great idea for authors. It allows them to showcase their books and builds relationships with readers. You can sell your books on-line through links to your book publisher. You can write blogs or newsletters for distribution, provide information about your life and writing career, advertise future releases and connect to social media. You can advertise author events and book signings. It is a marketing tool with a personal focus and while it can be tricky to set up it gave me a lot of satisfaction having a website. But mine hasn’t performed and languishes unread. Time to make some changes.
But where do you begin? There are millions of author websites in existence, and they all are competing for attention and sales. So how do you get your website noticed? Let’s find out.
Let’s start with the biggie, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION – SEO
When I want to research a topic, I fire up Google and then work out what information I want. For example: I want to find out about SEOs. So, I type in “what is a SEO?”
(Some popular alternatives to Google are DuckDuckGo, Bing, Yahoo but there are over 1500 others to choose from including one called Dogpile?)
The response to my search is overwhelming. I initially got a very long and complicated one sentence explanation which didn’t make much sense. I then scrolled down to 76 (enough, there were more) companies giving explanations about SEOs. There were also several You-tube videos available with lovely people wanting me to find out visually what SEO’s are all about. They all invited me to click on their website and swallowed up in their advertising and sign up for expensive services to improve my website’s SEO.
I scrolled down to Wikipedia. I love Wikipedia and regularly donate when they put out requests. Yes, I know it’s not perfect but it’s a great first stop that can provide you with good information and directions for further research.
Wikipedia defines SEO as the “Process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or web page from search engines.”
Okay, what do I, as an Australian author need to improve my website’s SEO. Well, the Key Words are Australian and author. These narrow down my search to what is relevant to me. I Google again and get another long list of companies and individuals who want me to look at their websites and sign me up for their services.
I chose three web sites to explore:
- Australian Writers Centre – it looked professional and offered a course on SEOs.
- Jin and Co. Caught my eye with the proclamation “Two simple steps for authors to found in Google with SEO.
- Amazon SEO for authors.
I chose the Australian Writers Centre because it looked professional. The tag “Two Simple steps…” caught my attention as it offered a quick and simple solution. I chose Amazon because they are a big brand and should know what they are talking about.
So, these services and companies drew me in with their presentation, that includes their titles, their choice of words to advertise themselves and their brand name. It is these factors that draw readers and potential customers. It is these factors that you must address to improve your own website.
The other big consideration is, Do I want to pay for a SEO improvement service or do it myself?
There are information websites for free. These are referred to as “organic” or “natural” traffic and is hard to find amidst the other monetarised websites. Many YouTube videos fall into this category, as does Wikipedia. I also found a Business.gov.au website and looked at Wix and LinkedIn sites for free information.
The second, and more prolific websites available are called direct traffic, which is really advertising. Advertising on-line includes emails (think Spam) Banner advertising where an advert decorates the bottom of a page. Pop – ups jump out at you at unexpected times, some webpages encourage you to join in a chat with a robot. The aim of these services is to get your money, which is fair enough if they provide a good service and you can afford them. All these websites are geared to draw you in and some of them make it difficult to escape from their greedy clutches. Ever found yourself in a website without a log out or delete button and you keep on going around and around looking for a X.
All these multiple forms of websites are guided by Algorithms.
Algorithms have been around since 2500BC in Babylonia. They are formulas that take complex date from a variety of sources and make it more user friendly.
In modern times algorithms are programmed by computers to work out what words and sentences are popular and gain the attention of browsers. They do this primarily through keywords, and getting the right key words, the name and the visual presentation of the site. It’s what draws attention to your website and, the books that you hope to sell.
Website marketing is a huge area to research and understand. I have found just this first step edifying. Watch out for more blogs on this complex topic.
References used in this Blog:
- Wikipedia
- LinkedIn SEO – 6 steps to optimise your profile.
- Wix – Free SEO tutorials
- Australian Government – Business.gov.au – Improve your search engine rankings.
Cheers Elsie King©2024
Photo: Attributed to Stock photos
It’s not Over… Now Comes the Marketing Plan
Self-publishing a book is a wonderful goal but it certainly isn’t the end of the road. The book does not get into the hands of readers without marketing.
So, how do you get your book noticed, bought and read?
I read somewhere that the best form of marketing is to write the next book. That makes a lot of sense to me as the release of the second book, anthology or short story draws attention to what you have written before.
The business of marketing can take up a lot of time and attention and it’s difficult to get through all the steps you need to market your work and still have time for the joy of writing the next book/story.
This blog will explain my strategy for my own modest marketing plan:
What is your goal?
If you are like me my primary goal was to have a novel published. I don’t need a liveable income from writing. I don’t expect to be a best seller and if I cover some of my expenses I will be happy. So, my marketing strategy was modest and relied on word of mouth and the generosity of friends and family to buy my book and spread the word. If you have given up your day job and have the rent or mortgage due, you will need a much more vigorous marketing plan.
The basic essentials that I used are:
- Business cards with an e-mail address and web site address. You can add your phone numbers and address if you choose.
- A website that is connected to your social media accounts and where you can post covers of your books and have links to the sites that sell your book. Then tell everyone possible that you have a website and ask them to visit.
- Do regular blogs on your web site and post to social media.
- Organise a launch party. My release coincided with a big birthday so I invited guests and asked that, in lieu of presents they buy a copy of my book. I then ordered 35 author copies of the book and sold them to friends and family. I sold 34 books with promises of online orders too.
- I’m a member of Romance Writers of Australia so will take five copies of my books to the 2023 Sydney conference and put them on the Indie table for sale along with my business cards and a free card (A giveaway displaying my artwork)
- I have advertised my novel on the RWA website and in their magazine Hearts Talk.
- I paint as well as write so put my business cards of the back of my paintings
- Copies of my paintings have been made into cards and my website address is on the back of the card next to the copyright.
- Indie Scriptorium web site also advertises my books. I and my fellow members write regular blogs about the self-publishing process. We have a small but increasing following and go world-wide. My website is linked to the Indie Scriptorium website.
- Indie Scriptorium will launch a book of our accumulated blogs about self-publishing as well as an anthology of writing, poems, artwork and photograph early next year. Our individual novels and books will be included in this launch.
- My fellow writers in IS plan to get a display table of art, cards, books and other advertising at local craft markets.
- I intend to contact local writers groups and offer to give an information session about the process of self-publishing my book. Hopefully sell a few books too.
That’s the plan for now. I intend to review my sales strategy from time to time but now I’m going to start writing my third novel.
Cheers Elsie King
©Elsie King 2023
Image attributed to Creative Commons 2023
Indie Scriptorium -- Self Publishing Collective 