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27 February 2006
Society of Authors talk notes
Thank you for attending my talk 'Promoting yourself as a writer online'. I hope you found it useful. Here are links to the sites I spoke about in my talk, together with some of the notes from the slides.Free book chapters and links to buy
- Free chapter from 'Small Business Websites That Work' - all about planning your website
- Buy 'Small Business Websites That Work' at Amazon
- Free chapter from 'The Customer Service Pocketbook'
- Buy 'The Customer Service Pocketbook' at Amazon
- JournalismCareers.com - advice on writing for magazines as a career
Statistics
Example author websites
A good example that wasn't mentioned in the talk, which belongs to an author who emailed me about the talk:Ten reasons to get your own author website
- Reach out to new readers
- Raise awareness of your book
- Get the retail margin
- Make money off adverts (see below)
- Merchandising and extras: ebooks, podcasts, mousemats, mugs etc
- Attract writing commissions
- Let readers try before they buy
- Get reader feedback
- Build a mailing list
- Keep control
Most important thing
Shopping list
| What to buy | Why buy it? | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Internet Service Provider (includes email) | To let you access the internet | £12 per month (dialup) or £25 per month (broadband) |
| Domain name | So people can find where your website is stored | £ 1 per month |
| Web hosting (might include domain name) |
So people can get the text and pictures on your website | £10 per month |
| Tea | Helps concentration | £1 per month |
| Biscuits | Helps concentration | £1 per month |
| Total: £24 per month (dialup) or £38 per month (broadband) |
Site design
- 37 Signals - an example of current minimalist trendy design
Promotion links
- Google Toolbar - will tell you the PageRank of your website (ie, how important Google thinks it is)
- My list of search engine submission pages
- Yahoo Groups - free newsletter management system
Making money from your website
- Google Adsense places relevant text adverts on your website by looking at the keywords in your content:
- Amazon Associates - get commission for referring sales to Amazon
- Commission Junction - clearing house for lots of affiliate programmes
- Paypal - a website enabling individuals and businesses to exchange money through a proxy account they charge with their credit cards. Also supports donations and a website shopping cart. Simple and effective.
- WorldPay - accept credit cards.
- Clickbank - a service for selling electronic products which also manages an affiliate programme for you to help you market your products.
- Selling music on Ebay - similar principles apply to selling books
Website recipe
- Domain name - point it at your blog
- Blog - keep site updated
- Amazon Associates - make money referring sales
- Google Adsense - targeted advertising
- Paypal Shopping cart - accept credit cards
- Yahoo Groups - to run your newsletter
- Google Analytics - understand traffic
- Linkalarm - check your links all work (free trial)
Further reading
- Read how I designed this website
- Website placeholder content for your first website
- Look after your domain name
- Effective email newsletters
- Getting press coverage for your website
Fun and games
Here are some fun online experiences I've createdThanks and credits
- Society of Authors
- Prompt Communications - source of the Blogosphere cartoon. Sign up for the weekly technology newsletter
- Janine Norn - Made the South Park Studio used to make the Virtual Sean cartoon