I’ll be speaking at the NYC SCBWI conference at the Marketing Intensive on Friday, January 27, 2012.

I’ll be talkking through two topics: book trailers and little known features of Facebook. I’m planning a presentation packed with practical information.

Book Trailers for Author Promotion

eBook by Darcy Pattison

I have written the ebook, THE BOOK TRAILER MANUAL (www.booktrailermanual.com). Articles about book trailers have appeared in the 2012 Writer’s Digest Market Guide and How to Write a YA Novel for Dummies by Deborah Halverson.

Here’s my latest book trailer for 11 Ways to Ruin a Photograph

If you can’t see this video, click here or visit Darcy Pattison’s YouTube Channel. If you visit my channel, glance at the description of each video and notice what goes first. Why? I’ll explain in NYC.

Little Known Features of Facebook

I’ll also be speaking about using Facebook. How to get the right name for your page, how to use groups or events and more.

I’ll draw from my experience with my own page, tips from about the internet and the Random Acts of Publicity week, an event I sponsored mainly through Facebook.

Here’s an early tip: when you create your Facebook Page (a fan page, where you will talk about your book) be sure to select the right UserName.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

RANDOM ACTS OF PUBLICITY WEEK

September 6-9, 2011
Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=247495138609650

It’s all about your Friend’s book.

The 3rd Annual Random Acts of Publicity, September 6-8, 2011 is a week to celebrate your Friend’s book, or your favorite book, by doing a Random Act of Publicity: Blog, link, Like, review, or talk about the book . (BLLuRT it Out!)

Daily posts here on Fiction Notes (www.darcypattison.com) will offer tips, wisdom and Prizes for your Friend!
Twitter: Use #RAP2011

September 6: Guest Susan Raab

“Brand Building Square One” by Susan Raab, President of Raab Associates, www.raabassociates.com.
One-day chance for you to enter your Friend to win one of 15 FREE Giveaways of a 15-minute book marketing consultation provided by Raab Associates.

September 7: Guests Barbara Fisch and Sarah Shealy

Many Hands Make Light Work – or How Two Heads are Better than One by Barbara Fisch and Sarah Shealy, Blue Slip Media, www.blueslipmedia.com
One-day chance for you to enter your Friend to win a 15-minute book marketing consultation provided by Blue Slip Media.

September 8: Guest Deborah Sloan

Create Buzz by Connecting with Readers by Deborah Sloan of Deborah Sloan & Company. www.deborahsloanandcompany.com
One-day chance for you to enter your Friend to win a one-hour book marketing consultation provided by Deborah Sloan & Company.

September 9: Guest Dana Lynn Smith

How to Get Your Book Reviewed by Dana Lynn Smith of The Savvy Book Marketer. www.thesavvybookmarketer.com
One-day chance for you to enter your Friend to win a FREE copy of How to Get Your Book Reviewed by Dana Lynn Smith

ALL WEEK: The Book Trailer Manual

Post your Friend’s name/book title on the Facebook page for Random Acts of Publicity to be entered to win a FREE The Book Trailer Manual by Darcy Pattison. One ebook given away daily; must post Friend’s name that day to be eligible and you can post it each day if you like.

NOTE: You may not enter your own name in any of these prize giveaways. By posting a person’s name you acknowledge that you have asked their permission and the post is with their knowledge. Please note carefully WHERE to comment for each giveaway. They all require you to comment on the POST at Fiction Notes (www.darcypattison.com). The EXCEPTION is the ongoing drawing for The Book Trailer Manual; for this giveaway and this one only, please post on the Random Acts of Publicity Facebook page.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who can participate?
   Anyone who wants to help a book get noticed by readers. We are focusing on helping a Friend’s book get noticed, but you can also choose to help your favorite book get noticed.
2. What do I do?
   BLLuRT or Post. Or both.
   1. BLLuRT (http://bit.ly/RAoP2011). The basic tasks for book marketing online remain the same, BLLuRT! Do one of these each day for your Friend’s book or for your favorite book.
      • B is for Blog. Blog about a book, the author or anything related.
      • L is for Link. (http://bit.ly/RAP-Link) Link to something about the book, the author’s page, the book selling page, anything.
      • L is for LIKE. (http://bit.ly/RAP-Like ) LIKE the book’s Facebook page, the author’s page. Or Add them to your Google+.
      • R is for Review. (http://bit.ly/RAP-R ) Review a book. Some experts suggest that books tend to break out when they get over 25 reviews on Amazon, GoodReads or other booksites.
      • T is for Tell or Talk. (http://bit.ly/RAP-T )Tell someone about a book. Your friend, a teacher, a librarian, anyone. Talk about the book—why did you like it? What excited you about this book? Why should I read it?
   2. Post. It’s also a great week to post something about book marketing, perhaps a personal experience, a tutorial, a tips sheet. Put the URL of your post in the Random Acts of Publicity Facebook Event Page for others to read.
3. What books should I talk about this week?
   Your Friend’s book or your favorite book. We are focusing especially on new books or less well-known books. Focus on a great book that not many readers know about.
4. Can Publishers participate?
   Yes, you can BLLuRT about books, too. We ask that you focus on mid-list or new authors, those who could benefit from a boost during Random Acts of Publicity week. We know it’s your job to BLLuRT about the front-list, that and much more; as an individual working in book publishing, though, we are asking that you champion a dark horse during Random Acts of Publicity Week.

–

Random Acts of Publicity Week was created by Darcy Pattison (www.darcypattison.com), writing teacher and author of Prairie Storms (www.facebook.com/PrairieStorms) , as a way to help create an atmosphere of fun and collaboration in marketing books. It occurs each September, the four days following Labor Day.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Getting Your Book Noticed

Should You Social Media? Yes! No!

As authors, we want to know if all this effort on FaceBook and Fan Pages and Tweets and all the other social media helps or not! Here’s a sideways answer.

In a December 2010 survey of major retailers sites, 10,000 shoppers surveyed reported being influenced by these factors:

• Promotional emails – 19%
• Web Search – 8%
• Social Media – 5%

Going Mobile? Is your website ready for smart phones?

• 14% of the shoppers accessed sites through their phones
• 11% bought something through their phones.

Does this trickle down to authors with a single book to sell? Maybe, maybe not. Individuals who are dedicated and diligent in promoting online may see vastly different results. An individual title may buck the trend.

If you’re interested in using social media, here are some recent resources:

• Facebook Marketing in Six Steps: How to successfully manage your fan page
• Value Prop: Is there true value in your marketing proposition?

Have YOU had success with social media promotions for your book?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

1384 People Interested in a Book

Update on GoodReads Giveaway

Joelle Anthony offered a signed copy of her novel, Restoring Harmony, as a giveaway on GoodReads. Joelle did a guest post, giving details on how to hold a giveaway on GoodReads.

Congratulations to the Goodreads contest winner, Kristin Wing. Kristin is an aspiring writer herself.

And Congratulations to Joelle. The contest garnered 1384 entries, an amazing number of people who were interested in her book. Clearly, it’s a good venue to get some interest in your fiction.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Guest Post by Joelle Anthony
Here you go. http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/5228-restoring-harmony

Giveaway on GoodReads.com

Last week, we talked about book giveaways in general. Today, we have a case study on book giveaways on Goodreads.com. Thanks to Joelle Anthony for this guest post.

On Your Site OR On GoodReads?

Book giveaways have become a great way for authors to draw people to their websites, and almost every day, several new announcements for contests pop up on Twitter and Facebook. There are usually more giveaways going than a person can keep up with though. Also, giveaways through blogs are often complicated and/or demanding for the person who wants to enter and can be time consuming for the author too.

It seems like many authors only want to give books away if you become a follower of their blog, retweet, fill in a form, or post about the contest on your site. If this works for them, and people don’t mind doing it, then I think that’s fine, but I personally like the ease of doing a book giveaway on Goodreads.

Goodreads Makes it Easy

For the author, Goodreads handles almost everything. There are a few requirements though. For example, your book has to either be coming out, or has only been out for six months or less. You can give away ARCs (advance reading copies) or actual books, but you do need to say exactly what you’re giving away, and ebooks are not allowed. You can read all their terms and conditions on their site. http://www.goodreads.com

It’s also easy for people to enter, which increases the entries. If you have a Goodreads account, and you see a giveaway you’d like to enter, all you have to do is click one button. If you’re chosen as the winner, you’ll get an email from the author asking for a mailing address. That’s all there is to it.

The nice thing about giveaways at Goodreads is that the site promotes them, they pick the winner, and they simply email you the winner’s information at the end.

Get Results at GoodReads

Also, the sheer numbers of entries can’t be beat. I’ve seen bloggers give away my book and have as few as twelve or thirteen entries and other more popular bloggers garner maybe as many as two hundred, but my first giveaway on Goodreads netted two thousand and seven entries.

In conjunction with this guest post, I listed a giveaway for my book Restoring Harmony on Goodreads one month ago. After ten days, I had over six hundred entries. Many of these people who entered also added my book to their To Be Read lists. I doubt all of them will actually read/buy it, but even if only a few do, those are probably readers I wouldn’t have reached.

Cross Promote

You can increase your entries, and thus your exposure (the more entries you get, the more actively Goodreads promotes your giveaway) by posting links on your own website, Facebook, or tweeting about it on Twitter. I do a reminder on Twitter and FB once a week during the contest, and the number of entries definitely jump when I do this.
So if you have a recent or upcoming release, I urge you to try listing a contest. Publishers can do the giveaway too, so you may be able to get your publicist to provide the book so you don’t even incur any expenses. One last thing I want to suggest is make sure you let your contest run at least a month. It gives it a chance to build momentum and interest and for plenty of people to enter. Speaking of entering, you can still enter to win Restoring Harmony through today, September 10th, 2010.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

WHAT: Random Acts of Publicity 2010
WHEN: September 7-10

Last year, I declared the week after Labor Day, as Random Acts of Publicity Week. It’s coming back this year on September 7-10. Here’s a quick summary from last year and we’ll update it with lots of fun this year!

Random Acts of Publicity 2010

Are you like me? I always promise myself that today I’ll write a review of my friends’ books and actually post them on Amazon or Library Thing or GoodReads or somewhere. But do I? No. That’s about to change!

I know how wonderful it is to see new reviews on Amazon of one of my books. I know that it’s better to give than to receive. During the Random Acts of Publicity Week, I vow to put these two things together and give friends some support for their books.

So, I’m declaring next week, September 7-10, 2010, as the RANDOM ACTS OF PUBLICITY WEEK, a week when you do something to promote a friend’s book, or to promote a recent book you’ve read. Four days of promoting others’ books should be great fun.

Why this week? We all know that the holiday shopping season is when people buy things, including books! We want our Amazon pages and other publicity in place before that season starts. So, September is a great month to help others by reviewing their books and doing other Random Acts of Publicity.

Look for more in the next few weeks. For now:

Spread the word. Let others know about the Random Acts of Publicity Week. (Copy the banner if you want and post it on your site.)
Read or re-read books. Plan the books you want to promote. Have you been waiting for a good time to read your friend’s book? This is that good time. Check it out; buy it; read it before September 7.

Any suggestions for this week? Help me plan it! Want to do a guest post on this, or plan a related day on your blog? 0

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Why you Should Promote Your Back-List Books

Author Alexis O’Neill has just released a video for one of her back-list titles. Most authors promote heavily newly released books, but don’t do much for titles a couple years old. I’ve asked Alexis to explain why she’s focusing on her back-list books and give us a few tips about back-list promotions.

Q: What is the title and when was it published? Can we see the trailer?

The Worst Best Friend (Scholastic 2008).

Here’s the first trailer for The Worst Best Friend.

Q: Did the book receive any awards, special recognitions, etc?

This book is a companion book to The Recess Queen (Scholastic 2002) and they are often purchased together. Both are books about the ups and downs of friendship – one featuring girls the other, boys. While The Worst Best Friend hasn’t received awards, The Recess Queen has won many, including Children’s Choice in two states and a nominee in seven others.

Q: Do you have newer or forthcoming titles with the same publisher?
No.

Q: Why did you decide to promote this particular book at this time? Have sales dropped and you just wanted to give it a boost? Do you expect your efforts to help keep the book in print?

As long as a book is in print, it’s alive! My friend, Tina Nichols Coury, created a book trailer for the launch in 2008. She recently approached me and asked if she could try another slant on the trailer, and I said. “Go for it!” Among other differences, the first trailer is narrated, the new trailer has only background music.

Just think of this: a book is back-listed within six-months of publication. That’s hardly enough time to get the word out about it. I think that our promotional efforts should keep on going as long as the book is in print. And I think that fresh material on a variety of platforms introduces your book to new and diverse audiences. Look at how popular Twitter and Facebook have become in just the past two years. Having fresh material is an “excuse” to post a new link.

There is no magic bullet for promotion, so expecting a book trailer to do all the promotional heavy lifting for you is crazy. Frankly, what keeps my books in print is that I’m invited to do tons of school visits every year. (Bully and friendship themes are evergreen issues in schools.) But keeping your name – and your book title – in front of the public can’t hurt! And the more platforms we use, the more likely it is that we will find new fans.

Q: Some authors hesitate to put time, money and effort into promoting backlist titles. When should you do this? What difference do you hope it will make in sales? When should you not do this?

If you are a career author, books are the sum of your parts. I don’t spin my wheels over sales figures. I’m proud of each one of my books, and I want to make sure that they stay in print and continue to connect with kids. Most authors pump resources launching their newest book. While this is important to build buzz, why give up on the others? I have a friend whose books were published in the early 1990s, and republished in paperback in the early 2000s. They are still going strong. Why? Because she’s out doing school visits, making new promotional material and keeping her books in the consciousness of readers.

Q: Any other tips, cautions, recommendations?

1. About the financial investment – there’s no excuse for authors not learning how to create book trailers and other materials themselves. There’s lots of software and step-by-step videos to guide you through the process. If you’re not adept with visual media, then barter with an illustrator friend: you write the content for his or her brochure, website, blog, etc. in exchange for a book trailer.
2. In terms of promotional videos, think outside the box. Most book trailers focus on the content of the book. Why not create videos about the making of the book, too? Teachers, librarians and kids love this kind of background information.
3. One-minute videos rock. Two-minute videos are okay. But today’s viewers have little patience with anything beyond that.
4. My final recommendation? Play! It’s so hard to prove any one-to-one correspondence between promotion and sales, so do what you can (without breaking the bank) and have fun creating ways for your Backlist Darlings to stay on the planet!

Here’s the new trailer for The Worst Best Friend.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

With the PR Notes Wednesday, I’d love to answer questions. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll go and find answers. Email your questions.

Creating a Contest as Book Promotion

Mary Nethery took the time to ask this book promotion question:

Kirby Larson and I have written Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival, and Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle. I have a new picture book just out from Clarion, The Famous Nini: A Mostly True Story of How a Plain White Cat Became a Star.

Mary Nethery’s question is:

What’s the best way to do a contest with bloggers where your book is the prize (and is this strategy effective)? I see lots of that going on, but not sure how to actually implement the strategy. So, that’s my question!

To answer, I asked three authors to comment on their experiences with contests:

• Lisa Yee, (website or blog), author of Millicent Min, Girl Genius; Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time; So Totally Emily Ebers; Good Luck, Ivy; Absolutely Maybe; Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally)
  
• 
  Angela Ackerman, owner/blogger of The Bookshelf Muse, Canadian author of MG to teen novels.
  
• 
  Joelle Anthony (website) , Canadian author of Restoring Harmony.
  

What was the goal of your contest?

• YA: I usually run a contest when I have a new book released, or when a paperback version of a book comes out. For example, my most recent contest was to announce the paperback release of BOBBY VS. GIRLS (ACCIDENTALLY). It’s a fun way to promote the book and connect with readers.
• AA: To increase readership and awareness of my blog, strengthen my writing platform. Also to thank readers for their loyalty.
• JA: During the month of my launch, I did hope to get new visitors to my site by holding contests, but for the most part, the idea behind them was to thank people for all their support. I feel weird promoting my book by giving it away. I’ve actually never given my own book away on my site. For the most part, when I’ve had contests in the past, it’s been to give away books I love or in conjunction with authors that I’ve had on my site as guests.

How do you structure a contest?

• YA: The last contest I had was a photo caption contest. I’ve also run book title contests and other word games contests. The first week I post the contest and the rules, and then on the next blog, a couple days later I hint at who the “celebrity” judges are and list the prizes. On the next blog, the judges are revealed. (In the past I’ve had Newbery authors, editors, agents, illustrators, indie book sellers, librarians, etc.) Each contest runs about two weeks, then the judges are given a week to select the winners.
• AA: I find the less hoops the better. People don’t like having to do a bunch for an entry. If you ask for less, you often get more. For example, if I ask people to retweet or mention it somewhere, then often RT, FB & mention it on their blog. If I asked them to do all of that on the outset, less people will participate or they might resent all the time they have to take to do these things. I feel too that if you ask them to provide links to where they promoted your contest, it’s a negative thing like you don’t trust them. I’d rather avoid that and take people at their word, and I think they appreciate that. I do ask that all people become followers of my blog.
• JA: Some people do really elaborate contests, but I like them to be easy for everyone. In general I do a blog post about the prize and why I’m giving it away, and then anyone who leaves a comment is put into a drawing. It gets really high tech from there – I write all the names on slips of paper and my husband draws one out of a hat!

How do you announce a contest and get participation?

• YA: The contest are announced on my blog and on facebook. Lots of times, others will blog about it, too, and that’s fun because it draws in new readers/contestants.
• AA: Blog about it and make sure Contest is in the title, then announce it on Twitter, FB, & forums. Many people have me in the sidebar/blogroll and the word ‘contest’ always is noticed.
• JA: I post it on my blog, tweet about it a few times on Twitter, and usually post something on Facebook. Others tend to pick up the news and post about contests in their own social networking way too.

What reward/prize do you have for participation?

• YA: The prizes include autographed books, and stuff I find in my office and around the house. Plus, this last time, since the judges were animators/illustrators (Tom Warburton and Bob Boyle), they each contributed autographed books, and the illustrator of BOBBY VS. GIRLS (ACCIDENTALLY), Dan Santat, drew a picture for the winner.
• AA: Prizes that will appeal to my target audience: writers. Often I give away critiques which are extremely valuable for a writer. Do enough of these well and word will spread, and more and more people will enter for a chance to win a critique.
• JA: Usually my prizes are ARCs or books and they’re almost always promoting the release of a book I love, often by someone I know. During my launch month, I did have other prizes that tied into the book like vegetable seeds, music CDs, bookstore gift certificates, and Restoring Harmony SWAG.
  Note from Darcy: I had to ask Joelle what SWAG was? Joelle says it’s free gifts to promote something. She used Random House postcards, magnets, post-it notes, notebooks, and totebags.

How has the use of a contest helped your book promotion efforts?

• YA: I’m not sure, but I do know that it’s lots of fun!
• AA: I do not have a book to sell yet, but contests have really helped my followship and increased my platform. Agents, Editors and authors mention my blog as a resource at conferences and workshops, and my blog has been mentioned in at least 1 writer’s magazine that I know of.
• JA: It’s really hard to say. I know I got more visitors during the month of May than I normally do, but there’s no real way to tell if any of them bought the book or just wanted the prize. It doesn’t really matter to me because I do the contests for fun.

Would you use a contest again?

YA: Absolutely.
• AA: I do several a year.
• JA: I might. For my next book release, probably. And occasionally in between, like on my birthday or something. The thing is, now that I live in Canada, postage is very, very expensive, so I probably do a lot fewer contests than I would if I lived in the U.S.

Any other tips/comments?

• YA: Because I have both kids and adults entering my contests, I make sure that all the entries aren’t higher rated PG-13.
• AA: Don’t make the rules of the contest complicated. Readers are giving their time by being on your blog and they appreciate it when the blog owner respects their time by not asking a lot just to enter a contest. Like I said, I find that if I only ask a little, people tend to do more than I asked in the first place, just to be nice. I think it also promotes loyalty by not asking a lot. Good luck!
• JA: Don’t make contests too complicated or people get turned off. Also, think about whether you really want to give your own book away or not. It can come off kind of arrogant if you’re not careful. Like “Win this great autographed book by ME!!!!” I’d rather use my site to promote other writers. The way I see it, if someone comes to my site, it’s pretty obvious I have a book out and what it is, so why pound my blog readers over the head with it?

  I think that giving a book away on Goodreads is probably better promotion. A few people gave Restoring Harmony away on their site and I think the most entries one of the really popular blogs got was about 60 entries. On Goodreads over 2000 people entered to win one copy of my book.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

]]> http://www.darcypattison.com/pr-notes/online-contest/feed/ 12 http://www.darcypattison.com/pr-notes/website-keywords/ http://www.darcypattison.com/pr-notes/website-keywords/#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:50:02 +0000 Darcy Pattison http://www.darcypattison.com/?p=2739

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

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PR Notes: Start with Optimized Websites

The first thing you should do for book publicity promotion is a website (or a blog). I know. Most of you have one.

But let’s do a check to see if it’s the most effective it could be.

1) Put your name into a search engine. Great. Your website/blog came up first (I hope!).
2) Describe your latest book in 4-5 words. For my forthcoming picture book next year, Prairie Storms (August, 2011, Sylvan Dell), I might list these words: prairie weather animals kids book.
Put those words into a search engine. Does your site come up on the first page of the results?

Can Anyone Find Your Site?

It’s no use having a website, if no one finds it! Tweaking your website to make sure search engines find you is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Last year, I did lots of tweaking and it doubled the traffic to my site. Yes, doubled it within six months.

I’m not going to do a whole tutorial on SEO here, you can find those online, as well as books devoted to the subject at your bookstore. Here, I just want to talk about keywords.

Keywords for your book

When I listed those words for Prairie Storms, I just pulled some out of the air, but I won’t do that when I create the website this year. I’ll look at statistics, because the online world is all about statistics.

First, you’ll want to use a tool like Google Adwords Keyword tool to help you find the right keywords. For this tool, you put in words that you think someone will use to find your book. For example for Prairie Storms, a teacher might use these keywords: weather unit lesson plans.

Try this with me. Go to the Keyword Tool and put in those words, one on each line.

I like to click at the top of the Local Monthly Searches column, so it will sort the results in descending order from the most searches on down.

Here are the top 3 keywords:
Weather – 68,000,000 searches / month
Plan – 20,400,000 searches / month
Lesson – 9,140,000 searches / month

Wow, lots of people are looking for weather related stuff! But if there are 68 million searches/month for “weather,” how many could I reasonable expect to come to my site? None. If you don’t show up in the top 30 results for a search term, very few people will click on your site. Page ranking is the term used to refer to how well a page on a website ranks on search engines. If you’re in position 10 for the keyword, “weather”, that would be fantastic.

What I need to do then, if find phrases where I might could get a high rank. In the Keyword tool, you can do this by putting phrases in brackets; also on the left-hand column, click on the Match Phrase; on the Contains column, I only want to see results for “weather lesson plans”. Searching for [weather lesson plans] there are 8,100 local searches/month. The competition is low enough that I could probably rank high on it.

Before I create the website for this book, I’ll probably repeat this process and decide on 4-5 keyword phrases.

If I rank #1 on that keyword, will I really get get 8,100 visits a month from that keyword? No. But I’ll get a good percentage of them. And it’s up to me and the content on my website to make sure the visitors stay a while and read about my book.

The next thing to do is to use that exact phrase on my website. I use the Live Keyword Analysis to check the percentage of times I use a phrase. I put my text into the tool, along with the word or phrase and it tells me how often I use it. You should shoot for 3-7% of the text including the keywords. Once you’ve optimized the use of the keyword, making sure the text reads in a natural way, it’s ready to put on your website.

Tedious sounding? Maybe.

But it’s meant doubling the traffic to my blog in the last year, something which has helped get the word out about my work. And that’s what we care about, isn’t it? It’s something simple that I can do, something that is totally within my control and outside the publisher’s control, and something that works.

What keywords will you use on your author website? Do you specialize in medieval historical novels for teens? Or do you write nature animal books? Choose your keywords carefully for your general website and especially for each webpage about your books.

What keywords have worked well for you?

P.S. Mary Nida reminded me in the comments that blogs are as important as website. In reality, all this keyword stuff works for blogs and/or websites. So, I made a few revisions above to emphasize this.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

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