MULTIPLE
DOMAIN NAMES MEAN MORE TRAFFIC
MULTIPLE DOMAIN NAMES MEAN MORE TRAFFIC
Rumors of War (http://www.rumorsofwar.net) is a web site designed
simply yet it stands bold and precise in its statement. While other
authors . . . have web sites that start with ‘Let me tell
you about myself,’ Peggy opens with the covers of her two
books--no scrolls, no ads, and almost no copy. Click on a book and
she takes you there . . . Meeting the author is last. She wants
you to know the books before you know the author . . . commendable
web site . . . is bookmarked for return. I want to read Rumors already.”
C. Hope Clark’s review for Word Weaving (http://wordweaving.com)
How did I generate such an awesome review of my web site? Simple--online
research. Online marketing and promotion is time consuming. You
can spend several hours just submitting your url to search engines.
If you’re going to devote all that energy, you’d better
make sure you have a site that’s user friendly. After all
once visitors have arrived, your first goal is to keep them there.
When I decided to build a web site to promote my novel “Rumors
of War,” I researched other book sites. I found three main
types--author driven, book driven and fan driven. Starting with
Yahoo.com I found “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt
among the web pages at Simon & Schuster’s site. Same with
the Harry Potter series, I found J.K. Rowling’s books at Scholastic’s
site.
The goal of my web site is to use the Internet to help build an
audience for my current and future books. Since I’m relatively
unknown, readers aren’t going to come searching for me. The
best way to discover new authors is to read their books.
While searching I noticed that movies are always promoted by title.
That got me thinking, if I’m putting my book title in front
of hundreds of pairs of eyes every day, then the title should be
my domain name. I purchased rumorsofwar.net.
Coming up with content was easy--cover image, plot summary, reviews,
sample chapter, ordering information, and a page about the author.
I kept the style and graphics simple. It’s a web site about
a book. Readers are accustomed to black print on a white page, framed
with an attractive cover. The banner and side bar are colorful,
but the same on every page so visitors know they’re still
at my site while they’re bouncing around.
Once I published the site and posted announcements via email, discussion
lists, and bulletin boards, feedback was immediate and positive.
Everyone liked the focus on the book yet gleaned enough personal
information about the author that they felt comfortable letting
me know they liked what they saw.
One week later my children’s novel, “Carly’s
Ghost” arrived from the publisher several months earlier than
I expected. Overnight I had two books to promote and only one web
site. My focus on the book title was practical in theory but could
turn out to be expensive in practice. I certainly couldn’t
afford to publish a new web site every time I have a book released.
For help in solving this dilemma, I called Scott Forler at Prairie
Web, my web hosting service. Impressed with the amount of traffic
at my newly debuted site, he recognized I’d hit on something
positive with my design. Building on that initial bump, we put together
a plan to cover not only the release of “Carly’s Ghost”
but all future releases.
I purchased the domain name for the title, carlysghost.net. Next
I replaced the home page with a splash page featuring the cover
images of both books, accessible from both urls: rumorsofwar.net
and carlysghost.net. Visitors can click on either book cover, or
the text instructions.
Each book has its own home page. The two books are together on
the splash page. The only other link between their pages is at the
“About the author” page. Each book’s pages carry
the banner designed for that particular book and cover image. But
I kept the side bars the same color and used the same basic framework
for both books’ pages. Again to let visitors know they’re
still at my site while they’re clicking about.
For future releases, instead of publishing a new web site, all
I have to do is publish the new book’s cover image on the
splash page, and add a set of web pages.
An attractive web site and terrific reviews definitely keeps visitors
there. To make sales you want them to bookmark your site so they’ll
return. The way I do that is by updating, sometimes as often as
once a week; adding reviews, sites that feature my books, posting
articles, and other news about my books. Visitors quickly recognize
fresh information. Put the emphasis on the enjoyment of your visitors,
and they’ll keep coming back. That’s the most effective
way to make sales.
About the Author Peggy Tibbetts is the
author of the 5 star political thriller, Rumors of War (http://www.rumorsofwar.net)
and the 5 star children’s mystery, Carly’s Ghost (http://www.carlysghost.net).
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