Tag: hits

Publish Don’t Perish: Tip #4 – Get Started On Your Website

Get started on your website regardless of how far along you are on your first book. The idea is to build a following of readers before you release your first book. If you wait until after, it may be quite difficult or even too late for that first book. The good news is, if I can do it, just about anyone can — no joke. In my SEO for Writers Series, I provide guidance on how to get started and optimize your readership. For your convenience, I listed the articles below with a brief summary and link for each.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Writers

Discover:

  • What a website provides that social media does not; and
  • An incredible tool to get you started: The Author Toolbox — Practical Tools to Build a Book, a Platform, a Business, and Career, by Candee Fick.

Search Engine Optimization for Writers — Unique

SEO, writers, unique, Google, content, websites, authors, books
Unique

Our definition of unique is not necessarily the same as how Google and other search engines define it. When it comes to your website, being unique as Google defines it is what’s important in growing your reader base.

SEO for Writers — Key Words

Readers use key words to find what they are looking for. Identifying these words and terms are critical to increasing the number of people who visit your website, in other words, increasing your hits.

SEO — Make Your Content Stand Out

When you make your content stand out, you will increase your hits. Ensure your content stands by focusing on these critical areas:

bloggers, writers, copyright
Make your content stand out.
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  • Be Appealing and Useful
  • Purpose
  • Value
  • Answer a Question
  • Relate
  • Variety
  • Entertain
  • Visual
  • Inspire
  • Scannable
  • Compatible
  • Shareable
  • Regular Publication

SEO — Increase Your Hits

We’ve been looking at ways to increase your hits, from the key words you use to making your content stand out. This article provides the last of the tips to increase your hits and entice the reader to stay a while. After all, a reader who hits and immediately jumps off tells “Google” that they did not like what they saw, but one who stays … .

SEO — Your Website Topic

The last article in the series discusses your website topic. For those who write nonfiction, this won’t be a challenge, however fiction writers are another story. Receive inspiration for your topic in this article.

Don’t be afraid — Go for it!

Don’t be afraid — Go for it!

© 2019 Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer

SEO — Your Website Topic

We’ve been talking about content, because that is the most important. For this last post in my SEO Series, we’re going to explore your website topic.

How many of you write nonfiction? Fiction? Nonfiction writers have their topic laid out — the topic of your website is that of your book or books.

Fiction writers are a different story. Depending on the type of fiction they write, they may or may not be able to tie their blog to their novel or genre. If you fall into this category, choose a topic you enjoy (your sense of joy will spill out to your readers) and know about.

For example, I am a dietitian and am passionate about eating properly and exercise. I am also an attorney and am passionate about the legal profession. My first novel is a romantic suspense thriller, Hidden Bloodlines. The heroine is an attorney (of course). My theme is “adding spice to your life” with a blog tying my books, passions, and writers/readers, titled “Thyme for Writers.” I confess to not coming up with that title — Candee Fick, a fellow writer in my writer’s group did. — Thank you Candee!

My website has posts on nutrition (including delicious healthy recipes), exercise (a physical therapist has been a regular guest on my website), legal issues facing writers, tips for writers, and interesting real places that relate to my book. Whew.

Fitness, workout, weights, weight control, body, weight loss, zucchini, routine, exercise, weight lifting, cardio
Reverse Flies on Ball for the Newbie & Advanced

Statistics show that for the greatest impact, at least 2 blogs per week should be your goal. But some of us have other obligations which may make it unrealistic.

Whatever your topic, I recommend not making the same mistake that I made. I let the fear of technology stop me; don’t let it stop you. Start your website/blog now. Don’t wait until you have that publishing contract like I did. It still takes time to build that following. If you start your web now, and your book gets released in 2 years, you will have a following who will buy your book.

writers, authors, resources, toolbox, encouragement, fun, romantic suspense, journey, writer’s journey, adventure, tips, direction, research, joy, funny, inspiration, thyme, time, Focus on Love
Author Candee Fick

With respect to the technology aspect, you don’t need to hire an expensive web master. I’m living proof. A writer I know who is a former K-12 teacher, Candee Fick is amazing. She can teach you how to get up and running and manage your own website at a very reasonable hourly rate. I am living proof. And, I confess, she used me as her beta tester for her “worst case scenario” — what is the most time it could take to teach someone.

I’d like to leave you with the 2 most important SEO tips: (1) optimize the very first paragraph on each page and (2) update often.

We all know that the web is flooded with all types of useless, inaccurate, information. When you create valuable content that serves a purpose, you are slicing through the noise and clutter on the World Wide Web and become one of the trusted resources. That is what we want to strive for sooner rather than later.

(C) 2018, 2019 Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer

SEO: Increase Your Hits

The last article in the SEO Series focused on the importance of making your content stand out to increase your hits. The more hits your site gets where the visitor stays a while, the higher your ranking. This article takes a look at more ways to increase your hits.


Health, exercise, stress, wedding, wedding planner, workout, weights, warmups, warm-ups, stretches, burpy, advanced, newbie, rules of the workout, fitness, getting fit, curls, weights, sit-ups, crunches, stress reliever
Stay A While

Article Length:

Blog length articles should be between 300 and 500 words. There’s a reason for that. You don’t want to overwhelm a reader, but by the same token, statistics show that readers typically only read half of an article. That means, for a 300 word blog, they’ll read 150 words. I was asked to write an informational article with a minimum of 1000 words for The Attorney General of another state (not Colorado) by the SEO firm hired by the Attorney General. They wanted to increase awareness of a new bill and the implications both for and against, and make sure they stayed on the site without bouncing off. The keywords and length were critical to increasing their SEO presence – this was the way the Attorney General was monitoring the effectiveness of the SEO firm he hired. He wanted confirmation that his constituency was informed and had the facts they needed to make an informed decision.

SEO – Article Length Matters

The problem with short blogs is that even if their target audience read the entire blog, they would not be on it long enough to register as “liking it.” Scary.

Update frequently:

At least one time each month, update your content, even if it’s only a paragraph. Google and the other search engines love updated content.

Search terms in additional places:

If you include search terms in places other than your title and page description metatag, you’ll optimize your site even more. But don’t force them if you can’t naturally make it work.

Copyright Basics, Bloggers
Search Terms In Additional Places

Links: The words from your search terms should be used as text links or anchor text (these are words forming a link to an external site or another internal page). Keep in mind that linking to words like “click here” or “learn more” won’t increase your ranking. Also, make sure that external links open in a new window while internal opens in the same window. With an external link in a new window, if they check it out, Google reads them as still on your site as well — they like it.

Headings: Not only do headings and subheadings assist in the organization of your text, but they help readers find what they’re looking for. If you include search terms in the headers, it’ll help your ranking. Search engines can’t read words within a picture, so make sure it appears in regular text.

Text within body: Use the search terms wisely. Don’t overload a page just to try to increase your ranking, not only will it bother your readers, but Google won’t like it.

Images & tags: Images can help with your search engine results. They not only appear in search results, but they can increase your ranking when search terms appear in the filename, caption, title, nearby text, and tag (when you over over an image on a pc, this is the text that appears.)

Next month we’ll look at the importance of mechanics, what search engines “hate” and a great free tool.

(c) 2018 Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer

SEO: Make Your Content Stand Out

The idea is to increase your ranking. The more hits the better. In addition to using the right key words, make your content stand out. After all, it’s your content that will make or break you.

Be appealing and useful

Ask yourself this question — What value will your viewers receive from viewing your content?

Be Appealing and Useful
Purpose

Content should have a purpose and plan. If it doesn’t, it will be confusing, bland, and redundant. Once you have an understanding of why you are creating your content, it will be far easier for you to write, video tape or photograph.

Value

Content should offer something valuable to its readers/viewer. For example, if you can make someone laugh from a video, it has value. If people learn something new from a blog, it has value. If a tweet breaks news, it has value.
Be unique. If you can provide your niche with a perspective no one else has offered, your content will stand out. It’s different, not the same old, same old.

Answer a Question
SEO, value, quesiton
Answer A Question

Your content needs to answer a question, even if it’s “Why am I here?” If a person is searching the world wide web for information and so happens to land on your article, will they quickly move on or stay to read your article?

Relate

Your readers like to relate to a video or blog post where they can nod their head in agreement. For example, a video that shows what kids might do in the back seat on a long ride might cause the parents to share the content because they can relate.

Variety

Add variety to your content – mix it up! Experiment with videos, photos, and written content. Remember, variety is the spice of life.

Entertain

Consumers enjoy interesting, educational, intriguing content. If your reader is entertained, they will want to see even more content from you and may even want to buy your book or services.

Visual

Catchy, vibrant, intriguing photos will grab your readers’ eye and they’ll be interested in seeing how it relates to the content.

writing, journey, publishing, Thyme for Writers
Inspire
Inspire

You want your content to encourage a reaction, whether it’s a link to additional information, a call to action, an invitation to share or comment. Your creative content should inspire your readers to take some type of action.

Scannable

Most people do not have much of an attention span on the web (unlike paper print) so make sure your content is broken up into small chunks that is easily consumed replete with headings, images, subheadings, numbered lists, and bullet points. It’s easier for your audience to take away something valuable.

Compatible

Your content should view and read well across all types of mobile platforms.

Wedding Planner, decorations, creative, artists, reception, Hidden Bloodlines, bookclub, Stanley Hotel, Black Friday
Karen & Joni
Shareable

You not only want your readers to enjoy your content, but you want them to love it so much they want to share it with their friends. The more people who share, the more people get exposed to your brand.

Regular Publication

You don’t have to publish daily, but when you are consistent with your posts, people have something to look forward to. For example, if you post your blog every Thursday, like I do, your readers will visit your site every Thursday to check out your new content. Marketing research shows that blogging twice a week is best for marketing your book. Again, consistency is important and if you can manage twice that’d be great.

What value do readers receive from your content? Next month we’ll take a look at four more points to increase your hits!

(C) 2019 Karen Van Den Heuvel