Research Resource -- Online Promotional Tips

Research Resource -- Online Promotional Tips
by
Sandra Chevalier-Batik

This is the eleventh in a series of articles exploring on-line sources and search strategies for writers. This month, the writer's guide to understanding effective self-promotion through on-line marketing is featured. Next month, in Part 2, resources for the promotional use of newsgroups, effective use of signature files, developing your private mailing list, using web rings, site awards and other web tips and techniques will be covered.

Using the Internet to Promote Your Career as a Writer

You've planned everything else about your career as a writer. Why then would you simply put up a web site and expect it to act, passively, as an effective promotional venue. This month we are going to look at resources to turn your web site into a valuable on-line marketing tool to increase book sales and royalty statements.

The Secrets to On-line Success

There are proven business rules and successful on-line marketing strategies. The trick is to adjust them to the specific needs of the author/writer. As a professional writer, part of your job is to build name recognition and a writing identity that your clients (if you are a freelancer) or your readership (if you are a novelist or non-fiction author) respond to positively. Market-savvy writers use the web to create relationships that turn browsers into book-buyers, convert a book buyer into a reader, a reader into a fan, a fan into a buyer of back-list and future books.

As you review these sources you will find there are no new marketing ideas, just ones that have been up-dated or adapted for the on-line environment. Even in artistic endeavors, the rules of business, much like the rule of gravity, still apply.

The Basics - Is your web site doing what you think it is?

Your site should convey key information succinctly. As web users tend to scan text quickly, the content layout should offer frequent visual breaks, be consistent and feature straightforward navigation tools. Develop site content that engages the reader and encourage frequent return visits. For writers, such enticements might include on-line seminars, advice columns, reader surveys, contests and cool self-promotional freebies like bookmarks, bookplates and magnets.

The site design needs to take into account the various screen resolutions. Industry sources note that twenty percent of web-users still rely on older 640X 480 monitors. Make sure your images are sized to be effective for all the resolution options in today's market. Keep web page image size down to 50K for fast download. If you feel the need to use sound files on your site, make it a user-controlled option. Not everyone wants to waste download time on superfluous files. Use tiled 'wall-paper' with extreme caution. Unless the effect is screened-back sufficiently, the text has to fight to be readable…not a good thing. Spend sometime surfing the web to note what color combinations work and which ones to avoid in your own site. Notice how type size effects the "readability" of a site. Avoid using all capital letters for heading or body copy. Not only is their use considered to be poor design, empirically, they are harder for the eye to decode.

Your site design needs to download consistently within the big three browsers - Netscape, MS Explorer and AOL. Each page of your web site should be titled to accurately describe the content of that page. The titles should be consistent with the site's navigation and site map. Page titles also effect how search engines will index your site. If you use links on your site, and you should, check them on a regular basis to assure those links are still 'live'. Make it easy for your reader to contact you. Have a "How to Contact" e-mail link on every page. The following sites offer some great on-line tools, tips, techniques and resources to help you with the task of effect web design and on-line promotion.

http://www.netmechanic.com - NetMechanic has become the largest independent provider of web site tools. Designed to function as an expert system for detecting problems and repairing your web site, it provides one of the best-integrated suites of site maintenance services.

http://www.websitegarage.com - offers performance diagnostics on your site to ensure browser compatibility. It also offers tools to optimize the site's graphic elements in addition to many other free, or low cost services.

http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/meta.html - Dr Clue's HTML Guide - Meta Tags is a comprehensive introduction to using meta tags designed for search engines and for other uses, including resources and meta tag tutorials. Provides all needed meta tag information including specific strategies for particular search engines.

http://www.gifwizard.com - The GIF Wizard reduces GIFs, JPGs and BMPs up to 90% without sacrificing quality. Decrease load time - crop, resize, rotate, adjust colors and compress in one integrated, shareware, online editor.

http://www.pegasoweb.com/sepromo.html - The Pegaso Web site offers a wide variety of fee-based Web Site Promotion Services aimed to bring targeted, quality traffic to your site.

http://www.netpromote.com - Net Promote offers 'for-fee' web registration, press release distribution, banner advertising, in addition to a number of helpful links to other on-line promotional services.

http://www.siteowner.com - This site offers a comprehensive shareware toolbox, including Link Finder: to see who's linking to your site; free banner ads through LinkExchange the web's largest ad network; tools to get your site listed in the major search engines; meta-tag managers; visitor counters and affiliate programs.

http://www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket/ - Wilson Internet Services offers you links to thousands of on-line articles about effective Web marketing and to on-line resources for business. The Web Marketing Info Center is the most comprehensive Web marketing site of its kind on the Internet.

http://www.veryhot.com - Internet Marketing Directory - this site provides an all-inclusive internet marketing toolbox, with links to great on-line promotional resources.

http://www.virtualpromote.com/home.html - The Virtual Promote tag line, "Promote or Die" sort of says it all. This award-winning, information-rich site is packed with ways to get your site noticed.

Retro Search

Sources you can touch, index with sticky tabs, and mark with highlighters.

If you'd like to add some excellent books about the ins and outs of on-line marketing to your personal bookshelf, the following are excellent resources.

101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site by Susan Sweeney; Maximum Press; ISBN: 1-885068-45-X. The cover-sheet on this book states that it is filled with proven internet marketing tips, tools, techniques, and resources to increase traffic to your web site. As I have read and studied this book, I find this was an understatement. I considered this book ' must-have' for anyone who wants to build and maintain an effective web site.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Marketing by Bill Eager and Cathy McCall; Alpha Books-Que; ISBN: 0-7897-2037-X. Although I've always found the title-header of this series mildly offensive, the book itself is worth reading. It is well written and organized in a manner that makes it easy to get at the information you need. It offers sound suggestions for e-ads. e-mail, newsgroups, surveys and on-line promotions

Getting Hits - The Definitive Guide to Promoting Your Website by Don Sellers; Peachpit Press; ISBN 0-201-68815-8. This book explains in easy-to-understand language the underlying concepts behind the art of Web site promotion. It gives readers practical, easy to implement on-line marketing tools such as: Guerrilla marketing through listservs and newsgroups; effective on-line press releases; step by step search engine registration processes and how to use links and web rings to get visitors to your site.

Making Your Website Work for You by Jeff Cannon; CommerceNet Press; ISBN: 0-07-135241-4. This book functions as an easy to follow guide to developing your web site with basic business principles in mind. As writers, we usually think of ourselves as more of a creative talent then business mogul, but the plain truth is most successful writers understand the business side of their art. This book has enough well, easy to implement ideas for your on-line marketing efforts to make it a worth while addition to your marketing tool box.

All of these books are available for purchase at Amazon.com. Be sure to connect to Amozon.com through the HODRW web site.

Save yourself some typing. These, as well as other sources not listed here are located on my web site:
http://www.pleiadespublishing.com/onlinemarketing.html

Sandra Chevalier-Batik is senior researcher and technical writer for Pleiades Publishing Services. She develops content and information design for web sites and corporate communications.