Presents: Website Design and Social Marketing for Authors Setting yourself up for success in the digital world
What to decide before building your website: 1. What kind of site do you need? Your target market and your goals will decide which site is the best fit for your needs.
What to decide before building your website: 1. What kind of site do you need? 2. What is your budget? You’ll need a budget even if you elect to build the site yourself, especially if you want your own domain and hosting.
What to decide before building your website: 1. What kind of site do you need? 2. What is your budget? 3. Are you going to blog? The answer to this question determines what type of site you’ll need and how you’ll manage it when it’s built. Most authors maintain blog sites…it just makes sense.
What to decide before building your website: 1. What kind of site do you need? 2. What is your budget? 3. Are you going to blog? 4. Are you going to sell things from the site? Most authors want to sell their books and services through their websites. E-commerce is huge, and there are lots of decisions to be made before jumping in!
What to decide before building your website: 1. What kind of site do you need? 2. What is your budget? 3. Are you going to blog? 4. Are you going to sell things from the site? 5. MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Who is your audience? Who are your readers? Sometimes the answer to these questions are different from each other. The more you know about the people you want to reach, the better.
What should the design be? Who is your audience? You always want to make sure you’re designing for THEM, not you. It really is worth spending time answering questions about your audience: What are their wants, needs, fears? 1. What problem can you solve for them? 2.
Type of Websites: Brochure type: Largely informational and static Blog type: Dynamic, active, engaging Sales type: can be a combination of both (recommended) Membership: Private virtual community
Some Author Website Examples
George R. R. Martin WordPress site, hybrid sales/static Positive: Designed for his audience 1. Nice Layout 2.
George R. R. Martin Negative: Not responsive/mobile friendly 1. His blog (which he calls “not a 2. Blog”) is directed to LiveJournal, completely losing the design of his Site.
George R. R. Martin
Mary Higgins Clark
Mary Higgins Clark WordPress site, hybrid sales/static Positive: Responsive/Mobile Friendly 1. Excellent CTAs (Call to Action) 2. Simple and elegant 3.
Mary Higgins Clark
Mary Higgins Clark Negative: None
Laurie Halls Anderson
Laurie Halls Anderson WordPress site, Sales/Blog/Static Positive: Nice Styling 1.
Laurie Halls Anderson Negative: Old Style 1. Non-responsive/not mobile 2. friendly
Laurie Halls Anderson
Nelson DeMille
Nelson DeMille WordPress site, hybrid sales/static Positive: Responsive/Mobile Friendly 1. Designed with audience in mind 2. Fits his genre and style 3. Newsletter instead of blog 4.
Nelson DeMille Negative: None
Dax Varley
Dax Varley Weebly site, sales/static/blog Positive: The style fits her genre 1. Negative: Non-Responsive 1. Very little styling 2. Weebly branding 3.
Dax Varley
Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer WordPress site, sales/blog/static Positive: Design 1. Responsive 2. Negative The design doesn’t seem to fit 1. her genre
Stephenie Meyer
Okay it’s built…now what? “Build it and they will come!”….Um, no. This is a common misconception (although people are getting a bit more savvy now). I met one guy a few years ago who actually believed that if he listed his book for sale on the internet he’d get flooded with orders. This is not going to happen.
Okay it’s built…now what? “Build it and they will come!”….Um, no. This is a common misconception (although people are getting a bit more savvy now). I met one guy a few years ago who actually believed that if he listed his book for sale on the internet he’d get flooded with orders. This is not going to happen. Traffic Getting traffic to your website is an extremely important part of your marketing, and getting them to stay there makes Google very happy.
Okay it’s built…now what? Make sure your site is optimized for search (called SEO: Search Engine Optimization), and stays optimized.
Okay it’s built…now what? Make sure your site is optimized for search (called SEO: Search Engine Optimization), and stays optimized. Monitor your site for results: Google Analytics, A/B testing, etc.
Author Website overview Make your website about your audience, not you Make your website stand out from the crowd Have clear goals for what you want your website to accomplish Blog regularly Integrate social media into your site Focus on giving great value through content
Social Media for Authors
Rising Above the Noise How Big is Social? World populations: 1. Facebook 6. Google+ 2. China 7. LinkedIn 3. India 8. U. S. 4. TenCent 9. Instagram 5. What’sApp 10. Twitter
Rising Above the Noise How Big is Social? Ashton Kutcher & Britney Spears have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of: 1. Sweden 4. Ireland 2. Isreal 5. Norway 3. Switzerland 6. Panama
Rising Above the Noise How Big is Social? Ashton Kutcher & Britney Spears have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of: 1. Sweden 4. Ireland 2. Isreal 5. Norway 3. Switzerland 6. Panama YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.
Rising Above the Noise How Big is Social? Ashton Kutcher & Britney Spears have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of: 1. Sweden 4. Ireland 2. Isreal 5. Norway 3. Switzerland 6. Panama YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. 100+ hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every 5 minutes
Rising Above the Noise How Big is Social? There are over 200 million blogs
Rising Above the Noise How Big is Social? There are over 200 million blogs 60 million status updates happen on Facebook daily
Rising Above the Noise How Big is Social? There are over 200 million blogs 60 million status updates happen on Facebook daily
Rising Above the Noise How Big is Social? There are over 200 million blogs 60 million status updates happen on Facebook daily 96% of millennials have joined a social network
Rising Above the Noise How Big is Social? There are over 200 million blogs 60 million status updates happen on Facebook daily 96% of millennials have joined a social network The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year old females
Rising Above the Noise How Big is Social? There are over 200 million blogs 60 million status updates happen on Facebook daily 96% of millennials have joined a social network The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year old females 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content
Biggest mistakes brands make on social No Strategy. It’s almost guaranteed that if you don’t have a marketing plan in place before starting, you’ll fail.
Biggest mistakes brands make on social No Strategy It’s almost guaranteed that if you don’t have a marketing plan in place before starting, you’ll fail. No content goals Each post should serve a purpose, whether it’s to further your brand or give value to your audience.
Biggest mistakes brands make on social No analytics Without measuring what each post is doing, how will you know whether you’re reaching your goals?
Biggest mistakes brands make on social No analytics Without measuring what each post is doing, how will you know whether you’re reaching your goals? No T esting Split testing (aka A/B testing) is a powerful tool to refine your efforts and increase your effectiveness
Biggest mistakes brands make on social Ignoring their audience Monitoring and responding is extremely important. Not only will you know when someone is being critical (and be able to respond professionally and positively), but you’ll make people feel like they matter to you when you acknowledge them. I see this mistake on a daily basis on Facebook. Nothing screams “I don’t care about you” louder than not paying attention.
More things to keep in mind Social media is a marathon, not a race. Social is about building relationships and trust. It’s not about selling to them, although they will often buy from you if they feel you’re giving them value.
More things to keep in mind Social media is a marathon, not a race. Social is about building relationships and trust. It’s not about selling to them, although they will often buy from you if they feel you’re giving them value. Don’t try to get on every social site. You only need to focus on the sites where your audience hangs out.
Recommend
More recommend
