Don Winslow, writer of several novels and soon to have two movies based on his work ( one of them with Robert De Niro as a staring role), asked me to create his web presence.
Don Winslow's main concern is not sales (he's already a best seller with his novel (Power of the Dog)), nor does he really feel that a Web Presence is required for his fan base. What Don Winslow is mostly concerned with is another writer, whose name is also Don Winslow.
The trouble begins when a college or book store would like Mr. Winslow to come out to their campus, or place of business, and give a talk. They have read Power of the Dog, or Frankie Machine, and find his work engaging. Then they search the Internet to find out more about Don Winslow, and find another Winslow, who writes erotica (and not very good erotica). It is the type of erotica that would offend Henry Miller, and Anaïs Nin. While it may not offend the person inviting Don Winslow, it does put them off inviting him to their school.
While Mr. Winslow and myself have no problem with rights to free speech or even making a living writing what many people find to be entertaining, he would prefer to not to face an interrogation every time he goes on book tour.
So the challenge here is not only getting to the Top Ten, but also insuring that for the Top 20, the other writer's listing is not present. Since I'm not a "Black Hat" this takes some diligence in the persuasion of the web bots.
Don Winslow has several novels on the shelves and continues to be an active novelist, so this helps a great deal. What I find most effective in cases like this is Blog entries, forum comments and other passive marketing techniques, which continue to bring Don Winslow into the eyes of readers, along with the titles of his books.
It is not necessary to create "links" to his web site in these entries every time, nor is it necessary when creating links, to link directly to his web site. Linking to Wikipedia, Amazon.com, BN.com, or articles written about Don Winslow and his novels, are often more effective, because it builds a base of preference -- Which is my goal. When someone searches for Don Winslow, I want to search engines to prefer to show Don Winslow the Novelist and author of Winter of Frankie Machine, rather than Don Winslow author of ... something else...
Using passive marketing techniques has been the best method of book and novel promotion I've experienced. In the last three years I've helped many authors, (new and seasoned) promote their books with great success. It could be said that I'm building a bit of a specialty skill set in this area. Even Screen Writers like Shane Salerno have come to me requesting that particular events or works be promoted.
Not everyone needs the broad base Internet Marketing skills I have brought together as a complete service, and it is quite a bit of work and a bit expensive, but those who are serious about their Internet Presence find my service well worth the effort.
Glenn's Desk
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Google Analytics Interface Tutorial
Glenn's Desk
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Using Google Analytics : Beginning Analytics: Interpreting and Acting on Your Data
Beginning Analytics: Interpreting and Acting on Your Data
Glenn's Desk
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Blogging For Effect
freelance writing skills
by Glenn Hefley
Whether you are blogging for your own personal web log, or trying to get a message out to the Blogsphere, blogging for effect has appeal. Without some basic knowledge of how blogging works, you may find yourself talking to -- yourself.
The right tools are of course important; being able to post thoughts, ideas and address issues which are important to you as they arrive in your inbox or into your news reader, or something you have stumbled upon in your Internet travels -- without a great deal of hassle is important. Ideas flutter in and out of our minds like crystal butterflies, shattering if jossled around too much.
If you are serious about your blogging, and really want to get the message out there into the blogsphere then start with a good foundation -- your own URL.
The list of basics is short:
- A good blogging software program
- A simple URL name
- Access to research
- Access to news
- An effective writing style
- A decent look-and-feel
- At least three hours a day to commit
The next article in the Freelance Writer series will cover these topics, and more...
Glenn's Desk
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Something I have noticed in the past ( and I have noticed it is much worse), is Blogger Posts do not get effectivly indexed by Search Engines other than Google. This shouldn't be too surprising, since Google owns Blogger, but it really is very difficult to get the other search engines to respond to posts put in the Blogger System.
Normally you use a ping service to send out the message that you have posted something, but that is done through Feedburner now and Google owns that as well. For example you can see the Eddie Cat Burner Feed, but no one else (in the SE world) is paying much attention.
If you are using Blogger for serious intent, and you can't/won't switch over to something more accessible to the rest of the world; there are some services I've run across which might be effective.
The first service is http://autopinger.com/ . You can sign up (free) for the auto-ping service, or simply ping the blog networks right off their front page. They seem a non-intrusive bunch, so I've been testing them out.
The services you want to make sure you get the message to are Technorati, My Yahoo, Weblogs.com, and Bloglines. This covers most of the major search engines.
Each of these sites have search engines on them, which go through the sites which they deem important enough to list. SEO operations for each of these Blog Search networks, is far to much to get into during a blog post, but checking periodically for where you are at (especially for phrases which are more or less unique to your posts). A good check is simply for your latest headline.
MSN had the Walking Eddie Cat blogger site listed when I searched, but was displaying a post over six weeks old (might as well not be listed when the last index is this old). Yahoo doesn't have anything for Walking with Eddie Cat, and Ask.com is listing a member area in PleantyOfFish.com pages before Eddie Cat.
So while your Blog posts may be showing up in mere seconds on the Google Blog Search, unless you are massaging the rest of the world with your Blogger posts, chances are you aren't being heard at all.
Freelance Blogging, Freelance SEO Writer, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writer Tools, Glenn's Desk
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