Monday, January 10, 2011

Get Googled!

Get noticed! SEO tips for Authors, make sure google is working for you! Help from Peak City Publishing, Raleigh North Carolina
In my last post, "Have You Googled Yourself Lately", I promised to write more on where and how to increase visibility on the web.  While I am not an expert in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) there are some simple steps you can take as an author to bring your name to the top and give your readers more information about you, your expertise and your other contributions.

The obvious places to be are the most common social media sites:  LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter,  and Blogger (Blogspot).  The Article Library located at:   http://artilib.org/submit-article.html is a less obvious, but just-as-free service, to publish articles and news stories.  

What to write about -

Topics related (but not specifically) to your book. 

  • Places or Locations in your book(Current Events, Historical Items, Areas of Interest)
  • How To/Tip Sheets
  • Interviews of people related to your subject matter
What not to write about -

  • Me, My, I - Articles written by you, about you,  may be perceived as self-promotion
  • Articles containing profanity or crude language -  while this may be a style used in your book, it is not generally picked up by people for re-print in other publications
  • Opinions cloaked as an article - we support freedom of speech and all that - but, promoting your opinion is likely to isolate you from potential readers
  • Politics :-)
How to write it...

  • Crisp and clean - include a headline to catch the eye and spark interest (Janice once sold out an apartment complex by using a sign that said "We've Got Gas")
  • Include who, what, when, where and why
  • If there is a place to put it, include your bio and a reference to your book (i.e.  The Night, Peak City Publishing, 2011 - To be released early 2011)
What to do with it...

  • When your article is published, copy the link and include it on your Facebook, Blog and Twitter
  • Encourage your friends and followers to share the story
  • Google it - see how many groups, organizations, etc. have picked up the article then re-publicize the article using these third party links. 
More to come soon....

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