Tag: Search Engine Optimization

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.

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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: 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.

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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

SEO FOR WRITERS — KEY WORDS

This is the third article in the SEO for Writers Series and it answers the following questions: What draws people to your site? How do you increase those hits in a positive way? The answer lies in key words… .

Keywords

Keywords are those terms and words people use when they look for something on the internet through a search engine, whether it’s Google, Yahoo, or another. A label is another good way to look at it. It states your post’s purpose in a few words — sometimes only one. Usually groups of words are used because that is how people search (one word often gives too many options). Your goal is to match as closely as you can what someone will input for a search.

Key Words
Guidelines to effectively use keywords include:
  • The keywords should always be used in the title.
  • Within the first 50 words of your article, repeat the keywords at least once.
  • Throughout the rest of your article, spread out the use of these keywords as a natural part of the article. For example, in a 350-400 word article, the keywords should be used at least 3 or more times.
  • Remember, the search engines use algorithms. This means they won’t necessarily understand and pick up on the way you cleverly use words or a double meaning. For example, a clever title of Chili That’s Too Hot to Handle will rank a lot lower than one with the title Vegetarian Homemade Chili. The reason is because the algorithm used the literal meaning of the words and because the clever title doesn’t include the word “vegetarian,” it will receive fewer clicks.
SEO, search engine optimization, key words, search engine, Google, Yahoo, writers, social media, titles, descriptions
Guidelines to Using Key Words

My goal is not to quell your clever thoughts, we just need to be deliberate when and where we are clever. For example, that chili recipe with a name like Spicy Hot Vegetarian Chili would be a hit, and in its description, include the clever tag: too hot to handle.

Linking your website/blog with your social media will bring in even more traffic, but remember, if your social media site is set on private, Google can’t review these pages regardless of how great and active they are.

What is your experience?

(C) 2019 Karen Van Den Heuvel

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Writers

SEO firms charge big dollars to enhance your web presence through search engine optimization. But what does that mean? How can technically-challenged writers benefit from SEO without breaking the bank? This article is the first in a series. Learn what the SEO firms don’t tell you and enhance your web presence.

SEO, writers, internet
SEO

But you may ask, with social media, is a web presence all that important? Everybody is on social media, aren’t they? It’s certainly easier to start a Facebook page than it is to create a web presence, so why bother?
The fact is that actual numbers of social media usage are far less than its publicity. According to comScore’s Unique Visitor Table for Feb 2016, Facebook with 206,480 million unique visitors actually fell behind Google Sites (243,601 million), Yahoo Sites (204,421 million) and Microsoft Sites (194,845 million).

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Marketing

Although there is a fluctuation in numbers, always remember that reality and press accounts do not necessarily jive.

Additionally, most people don’t use Facebook to research information that could direct them to you or your book. Forrester Research in their June 2013 study (How Consumers Found Websites in 2012, July 2013, Forrester Research, Inc.) found a majority of the United States adults prefer search engines over social media networks or alternate sources. The technique of choice is still SEO. As a technically challenged writer, if I can create a web presence, anyone can and make SEO work for them

Let me tell you a little about my background. First, I was (thanks to Candee Fick, I no longer am) the definition of what it means to be technically challenged. I’m good with the keyboard — I learned to type on a typewriter, at the time typing 120 wpm without mistakes. I was a senior attorney with a national company responsible for contracts, intellectual property, the document retention program, and was the in-house contact for the anti-trust law suits we were involved with as the repository of documents.

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The Author Toolbox

I had a secretary and I dictated my contracts, letters, and other documents. When my husband and I came out to Colorado for a 1 week vacation, I returned to discover my secretary did a major faux pas for the General Counsel and she was fired on the spot. Someone got the brilliant idea that instead of replacing her, they would use her salary to purchase a computer for every lawyer (there were 9 of us) and spread the duties of the remaining secretaries out over all 9 of us.

I was like a deer in the headlights.

I averaged between 110 and 150 contracts/month, 30-50 copyright registrations, not to mention all the fires I had to put out and everything else I was responsible for and I didn’t even know how to turn the “machine” on — yes, it was “the machine.” I couldn’t even imagine how I could function in my job. Needless to say, it was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me. They put me in a Word Perfect class and taught me how to turn on the “machine.” I was good to go.

Then came the World Wide Web, and another dragon reared its ugly head. I was always comfortable using the computer as a glorified typewriter, but … times change.

How comfortable are you with technology?

(c) 2019 Karen Van Den Heuvel