Blog Critique: A to Z Challenge Blog

In this series I give constructive feedback about the look and function of an author blog from a marketing perspective. As always, I rely on help from graphic designers Tom Barnes (my hubby) and Joe LaRue. To review the blog elements we look at or to submit your own blog for critique, go here.

I am super excited to do today's critique for two reasons: 1) I love the A to Z Blogging Challenge and am thrilled to contribute in return for all the team does for everyone else. 2) I have been informed that the A to Z blog is getting revamped! That means (I hope) that they are up for addressing issues that may involve big commitments to change. Without any further introduction, go check out the A to Z Blogging Challenge site and let's discuss below.

Though the A to Z site has never particularly bothered me, when I look at it with a purposefully critical eye and with the help of graphic designers, Tom and Joe, I see a lot of areas for improvement. The good thing is that these tips should be helpful for anyone starting or revamping a blog. Let's get started, shall we?

• Unify your header style. Whatever you choose for next year's logo could have the potential to change your entire blog look. And that's fine if you are changing it from year to year - maybe you'll want to do that. If not, then it's important to create a header that will last from year to year and tie into your color scheme (more about that in a moment). Either way, make whatever is in your header uniform in style. Right now, your awesome logo for 2012 goes well with the font, but then you have an equally awesome looking design thing-a-ma-bob that doesn't go with your logo. The logo is more urban in look while the design thingy is more classic. This type of coordination isn't necessarily a skill of everyone - some people will not notice or be bothered by the difference in style - so ask around if you are unsure when mixing styles/logos/pics. Whatever you decide for your header, make sure it doesn't take up too much of your page. Along with the navigation bar (more later) we don't get to any posts without scrolling. Your header and navigation should end well before the fold (above the point where you have to scroll to go lower).
• Clearly define your color scheme. We love the bold orange and green, but that's about all you got and you don't carry it further than your header. Whether you use those colors or pick new ones, choose at least three distinct colors and use them in your header and also in your posts. Change your title links to be a color within your scheme. Make your time stamp another. Put your links in your scheme as well. For help on getting exact colors to coordinate, visit www.colorschemedesigner.com
• Make solid font usage decisions. Using a variety of fonts may seem like it adds personality to your blog, but it actually makes it feel chaotic and messy. It can be tricky to unify when you have several people writing posts, but luckily the clear formatting button in blogger can clear out all the formatting (imagine that!) and you'll be left with your default font. Now, you don't have to only use one font in your blog, but don't use too many (2 or 3 at most) and use them for distinct purposes. One font for your blog titles, perhaps, another for your main posts, and maybe a third for something like introductions such as the recurring one I have for my blog critiques (I use the same font but italicize). 
• Declutter. Get your navigation to one line - two at the very most. You will need to shorten your menu items, but that's fine. People don't expect sentences for links. In a minute, I'll give you suggestions of what you could abbreviate to, but first, you could also consolidate. You could put all your Sign Ups on one page, for example, and just call that menu "Sign-ups". Or not if you're worried people will mix them up. Be very thoughtful and experiment with your menu so that it looks even across the line. The blanks at the end of the lines right now are not clean.
• Home
• What are we?
• Participants
• Video Rules
• Video Sign Up
• Videos
• FAQ
• Contact
• Badges & Banners
• Reflections Sign up
• A bit of my usual comments:
• Differentiate your sidebar from your posts with a different color or at least a line.
• Order your sidebar items so the important stuff is at top. I suggest your top items be:
• Followers list
• Subscribe Buttons
• Blog Archive
• A to Z Navigation Buttons
• Eliminate duplicate content. You don't need badges in your sidebar when you have a menu item leading readers to badges, for example. Get rid of anything you don't need in your sidebar to give your blog a clean look.
• Advertisements are always a turn off. If you feel you really need/want the money, just realize you may potentially be turning away followers.

Okay, I think we totally tore you apart, but only because I know you are already revamping. Now's your chance to make the look of your site equal the amount of attention you get. Revamping with these items in mind will only increase your following. 

Any other suggestions for the A to Z team?

Z is for Z end

I tried to come up with something better, something marketing related. There are a couple of marketing terms I thought of (zapping, zoning, zipping) but none of them were really appropriate to author marketing.

And so you are stuck with this A to Z marketing challenge ending with a fiZZle.

Thanks for visiting, following, and for the wonderful posts you've shared this month.

It's been quite amazing.

Did you enjoy the A to Z Challenge? Did you survive? 

Y is for Youtube

I've had lots of people ask me about videos, and a lot of marketing advisors will say, "Get on Youtube". And I know we've all spent hours watching videos - videos that have gone viral - and we think, "Look at all those views! I want to be that popular!"

But here's the thing: Youtube only works for authors if you do it right. And many people don't do it right.

Here are the most common mistakes I see from youtube marketing *I'm talking about all author youtube videos whether it's an interview, a book trailer, a writer's workshop, video blog etc. :

1. There is no goal of the video. If you are posting a book trailer for a book that is not yet represented and not yet published, why are you doing so? Are you trying to get an agent from this? Are you just sharing your book so that you can get other people to say nice, supportive things? Have a goal. 
2. The video doesn't capture anything unique. The next step after having a goal is deciding on a video that will help realize that goal in a new, fresh way. Maybe I have followers but they aren't really engaged with me. And maybe I'm a funny person. Then creating a video that shows off my personality could be a good step. Like this video from author Mindy McGinnis (warning: you will laugh and may have to rewatch). 
3. There is no drive to get people to view the video. Think about your blog. You may have thought it was an "If I build it they will come" situation, but it wasn't, was it? Same with videos. You have to build your videos views by inviting people to watch it. Invite them from Twitter, Facebook, your email contacts, your blog. Invite, invite, invite.
4. The video does not have universal entertainment value.  Get feedback. Have people watch your video. Is it interesting? Is it funny? Is it only appealing to people who know you? Just like your book, you need to get some beta viewers.
5. The video is too long. However long your video is, you probably should cut it in half. Most of the time, the joke or cool factor is exposed within the first 30 seconds and the next 3 minutes are BORING. Edit, edit, edit. Watch people view it, if possible. See when they stop laughing or look away or fidget. That's when your video should end.
6. Writers spend too much time making videos. Make sure there is value in the time you spend on your video. Good videos take longer than a good blog post. Jackson Pearce has great videos (like this one) but you can see it took time to edit and put together. Always make sure you are not losing time that should be spent writing.

Even if a writer manages to avoid all those mistakes, the biggest problem with authors on youtube is that the time and energy spent far outweighs the expected results. Yes, videos can drive readers to your blog or book, but not as much as other things that you can do at far less cost of resources. Just keep that in mind when embarking on a video campaign.

Personally, I write so that I can hide my face. I'm camera shy.


What do you think about youtube? What do you use it for or what would you use it for?

X is for X-factor

Not the TV show (even though I have the logo over there) but the term. Dictionary.com defines the x-factor as:

a hard-to-describe influence or quality; an important element with unknown consequences

Every so often, a book or a person or a marketing campaign shows up that has the x-factor. You can't put your finger on why or how, but suddenly that book or person or campaign is embraced in a way that could never have been predicted by anyone. Regardless of how you feel about the Twilight phenomenon, for example, you have to admit it has an x-factor quality.

While you can't create an x-factor if you don't just have it, I believe it's important to recognize that there will always be x-factors in our lives. You may have an amazing marketing plan and stellar book and still not achieve the success of another person. It can make you jealous and angry and just all around not happy. Believe me, I know.

But maybe you have the x-factor: maybe no matter what you do or don't do you will achieve incredible whatever.

In other words, there are some things we can't control. 


Let it go. Do what you can for your book. Do what you can for your campaign. Then let it go.

How have you encountered the x-factor in your life?

W is for Winner

See how I did that? I had a contest last week and today I announce the winner. Because I'm smart like that.

Congratulations to... a Rafflecopter giveaway
Charlene Wilson you are the winner of a preorder of Crewel. Email your address to laurabwriter@gmail.com and I'll get it ordered for you.

Heather Marie you are the winner of a $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble. Email me your email and I'll get you set up.

Congrats again and thanks to all who entered!

V is for Vacation

Everyone needs to take a break sometimes. Even when you're marketing. Or when you're God - he took the seventh day off. Or when you're in the middle of an A to Z Challenge.

Yep, today I'm on VACATION.

See you tomorrow.

Meanwhile, don't forget to enter for a chance to win a $15 Barnes and Noble gift card or a pre-order of the AWESOME Crewel by Gennifer Albin. The winner will be announced Thursday. 

U is for User Profile

Let's talk about your user profile. Or for your links under your user profile, anyway. This is a recycled post but so completely important for bloggers. I think it's as pertinent now as it was when I began blogging.

A few short months ago when I began blogging I posted a comment on another person's blog and clicked to follow her.  The next day I returned to her blog and found her post was directed at me (without saying my name).  She informed her readers that she was super irritated with people who left comments but didn't have their own blog on their profile so she could follow back. I hung my head in embarrassment and quickly rectified the situation.

Through the last few weeks I have read comments that reveal I was not alone in this mistake. Others of you have made it.  This recent blogging campaign has shown me that others of you are doing it now. So this post will teach you how to make things right.


Please know that if you don't have your blog linked to your Google profile, I am not irritated or full of judgment. I simply want to help those who want to learn.

And from a marketing perspective, you should always have your link in your profile to make it easy for people to find you.

1. Open your blog.
2. Click on the "View My Complete Profile" under "About Me"
3. Select "Edit Profile"
4. By "Show My Blogs" hit "Select blogs to display"
5. Choose your options and save

Now when you follow someone or comment on another blog, anyone can click on your profile and see hyperlinks to your blog(s) under the heading My Blogs. (See below). Tip: Don't keep private blogs on this list. It's irritating to your followers to not know which blog they should follow.

I hope this was helpful and less pointed than the way I learned.

Are you linked up? How long did it take you to learn? How did you finally figure it out or were you always completely on top of it?

T is for Thesaurus

You thought I was going to say Twitter, didn't you? Yes, Twitter is a very good marketing tool for authors and you should certainly look into using it. But there are a lot of posts about Twitter and not so many about a marketer's best friend: a Thesaurus.

A lot of marketing is about having a clever, catchy phrase or keyword. If people can remember you/your book/your event/your whatever, then you have accomplished half your marketing goal.  I'm sure most of you writer types are used to using a thesaurus for your writing, but have you considered it for your marketing?

Do you use a Thesaurus? I have it on a quick link.


And don't forget to enter to win a $15 gift card from 
Barnes and Noble or a pre-order of Gennifer Albin's Crewel. Contest ends Wednesday.

S is for Survey

Surveys are fun, interactive and a great tool to engage your readers. 
Don't forget to enter for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate from Barnes and Noble or a copy of Crewel when it is released on 10/16/12. Contest runs through next Wednesday. 

R is for Rafflecopter

Remember earlier this month when I said to stay tuned for a contest? Well, here it is.

Win a pre-order of this book!

Rafflecopter is my personal favorite way to run a blog contest. It makes it easy to collect entries, require actions to be performed by each entrant, and then randomly picks a winner. You can even assign point values to each action. And it's all FREE.

Since I just finished an Advanced Reader Copy of Gennifer Albin's debut novel Crewel, and it was EXCELLENT, I decided that I would give her book as the prize. She had a ton of agents fighting over her and enough houses wanted her book that it went to auction. Yeah, this book is HOT. What's it about, you ask. Here's the blurb from Good Reads:

Incapable. Awkward. Artless.

That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her—tonight.

Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.

The book isn't released until October 16, 2012 so I have to pre-order it for the winner. I know, it's a long wait, but IT'S WORTH IT. That's how excited I am about this book. So enter lots. Now. (If you really want a taste of this novel now, go to Gen's author facebook page and read hit the "Welcome" icon where you can get a sneak peak at the prologue of Crewel.)

UPDATE: To sweeten the deal I have changed one of the prizes to a $15 GC to Barnes and Noble. I wouldn't want the people who've already read Crewel to be left out.

I will announce the winners next Thursday, April 26, 2012.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Q is for QR

QR codes stands for Quick Response codes. They are those funky little boxes on EVERYTHING these days that, if you take a pic of it with your smart phone, you are led directly to a website. They are the all the rage in the marketing world. You see them on mailers and billboards and bus shelter signs. Do you know what I'm talking about? There's a picture of one to the right.

Yeah, now you know what I'm talking about. Let me tell you what's cool about QR codes - they are an easy way to get people to your website without them having to type in the address.

And they aren't just for the big marketing people. You can easily get your own QR codes for FREE to put on your own marketing materials. You can put them on your business cards, bookmarks, postcards, t-shirts - anything - and whenever someone scans the box with their smart phone, they will be taken to your website, or wherever it is you want them to go. Let me clarify, your smart phone has to have a QR app, but lots of people have that app.

Here's a website I have used for QR codes. If you want to better manage your codes and track them you can purchase a plan for as little as $25 a month, but I doubt that any of us will really need that. When we get to that level, our publishers should be handling it for us, right?

Do you use QR codes? Do you have the app? Have you even seen QR codes?

P is for Promotion

Promoting yourself is hard. That's why I started this blog - so that I, or, we, rather, could practice promoting ourselves together. I haven't really encountered a need to actively work on my promotion seeing as how I don't have a book to send out to the world, but my amazingly talented critique partner, Kimberly Ann Miller, does.

This is Kimmy! Kimberly Ann Miller, I mean.

Remember how I said yesterday that you should always look for opportunity? When Kim got the deal to publish her book and began to ask me a few marketing questions, I thought, what a great opportunity to share the process with the blogosphere. I told her I'd love to give her some ideas and asked if she'd let me share here. She said yes! Welcome to another occasional series following Kim's book promotion from contract to launch.

Today is for introductions only, but I am very excited to give you my crit partner, Kim.


So Kimmy, tell us about your book and publishing deal: 
Triangles is a young adult contemporary fantasy. Here is the blurb from Spencer Hill’s website:

A cruise ship. A beautiful island. Two sexy guys. What could possibly go wrong?

In the Bermuda Triangle—a lot.

Hoping to leave behind the reminders of her crappy life--her father's death years ago, her mother's medical problems, and the loser who’s practically stalking her--seventeen-year-old Autumn Taylor hops on a ship with her sister for a little distraction. When she wakes up in the Bermuda Triangle, she fears she's gone nuts for more than one reason: that loser’s suddenly claiming they're a happy couple... a hot guy is wrapping his arms around her and saying "Happy Anniversary"... and suddenly, she’s full of bruises, losing her hair, and getting IV medication. Autumn visits the ship's doctor, hoping for a pill or a shot to make the craziness go away. Instead, she's warned that these "alternate realities" could become permanent.

She just has to ask herself one question—how the hell is she going to get out of this mess?

I had an interesting journey leading me to Spencer Hill Press. I entered a query contest on Kate Kaynak’s blog, Disgruntled Bear, last October. She is an editor and author at Spencer Hill. She liked my query and invited me to send it in when they opened to submissions on December 1, 2011. I had it ready and sent it per their submission guidelines on that exact date. A few days later, Kate requested the full manuscript. On February 21, 2012, I received an email from Kate offering me publication! They have been fantastic to work with since day one. I have already spoken to three editors and a cover artist! I am thrilled to have such a great publisher behind Triangles.

Before you landed your deal with Spencer Hill, what social media were you using?
I had a Facebook page and was fooling around with Twitter. I also had read along the way that it was a good idea to have a website, so I set up a basic site using my internet service provider.

What advice has Spencer Hill given you? What have you done since signing?
Since it’s early in the process, we haven’t gotten too deep into marketing, but my editor told me we will be working on a comprehensive marketing plan soon. So far she has made some suggestions such as becoming more active on social media, joining Tumblr, and improving my website’s look and color. We also talked about the importance of a great cover and captivating jacket copy. She’s interested in hearing what your suggestions are and coordinating our marketing efforts!

Isn't that cool? Her editor is interested in hearing what I have to say!! This is very exciting to me, especially since I have known Triangles for awhile now and feel very close to its success (it's a GREAT story!). So I typed up a bunch of suggestions and the team is looking them over now. As Kim and Spencer Hill move forward, I will share with you our ideas (as I'm able) so make sure to check back often. 

Find Kimmy at:
Twitter: @KimberlyAnnNJ: https://twitter.com/#!/KimberlyAnnNJ
Facebook: Kimberly Ann Miller: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000972287894
Email: KAMillerWrites (at) aol (dot) com
Website: kimberlyannmiller.com
Tumblr: http://kimberlyannmiller.tumblr.com/

Your turn, readers: what aspects of promotion do you find the most difficult? 

O is for Opportunity

So much of good marketing is just recognizing opportunities when they arise. Good recognition of opportunity requires you to be a bit self-centered about your viewpoint. How can this (or that or whatever) benefit me? 

Yeah, it doesn't sound so good, but it doesn't have to be mean or selfish. For example, if the coffee shop in your neighborhood starts doing open poetry nights, will they also let you read a book excerpt? You don't know unless you ask.

The difficult thing about opportunity is that it isn't like I can give you a list of them for you to seek out. They come and go in many forms and the ability to recognize them takes thought and creative thinking. And always being on the lookout.

I'll leave you with some of my favorite opportunity quotes:

"Opportunities? They are all around us?there is power lying latent everywhere waiting for the observant eye to discover it."

- Orison Swett Marden

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
- Thomas Edison

"It is not often that a man can make opportunities for himself. But he can put himself in such shape that when or if the opportunities come he is ready.” 

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Even when opportunity knocks, a man still has to get up off his seat and open the door."
- Anonymous

"Once an opportunity has passed, it cannot be caught."

- Anonymous

What opportunities are around you? Do you take them when you see them?

N is for Need

The best way to market anything is to create a product that fulfills a need. Generally, people don't know what it is that they need so you have to tell them.

Successful author marketing will tell consumers why they need your book or blog. That doesn't mean you specifically come out and say, "You need to read my book because blah blah blah." Think about the best advertisements. You have to drink a Coke to be All American. You have to buy an iPad to change the world. You have to eat at McDonald's because you love it. All of those address needs of consumers - they need to feel All American. They need to change the world. And so on.

The needs that are usually fulfilled through books are: Consumers need information or they need to be entertained. But we, as authors, can still pinpoint even more specific needs.

Why do you choose the books that you do to read? Because other people reviewed them and told you all the reasons you needed to read it. Because you saw a book trailer that told you why you needed to read it. Because you saw a display at Barnes and Noble that said "On the NY Times Bestseller List" and you felt like you needed to be up on the latest.

When you are deciding how to market your book or your blog, focus on the needs that your product could fulfill. The more specific you are the better. It's just like when you write your query and you tell agents why they should request your material. Tell readers why they should read your book. Why is it different than every other dystopian? Why is this romance the best of the century?

Even if you aren't yet published, it is never too early to start thinking about this.

Are you thinking about the needs your book fulfills? What about your blog or website? Do you address a need that readers are looking to fulfill?

M is for Market

Know your market.

When I - or anyone, for that matter - says "know your market", we mean that you need to know exactly who your book or product is FOR. Not just YA or MG but YA readers who like paranormal romance or MG boys who want potty humor and drawings.

The reason you need to know your market is because step #2 is to BE where your market is. My book is an MG for girls (mostly) ages 8-12 who like magic, friendship, and happy endings. This blog is not where I'm going to find those readers. Facebook is not where I'm going to find those readers. Researching where those kids hang out and get their reading recommendations from is crucial. I'm imagining that librarians, school events, and interactive websites are going to be top on the list of places that they are that I can also be (or my book can be, when I finally have a published book).

Being where your market is takes research and thinking outside the box. You may need to get your creative little head going to figure out how you can afford to be where you need to be, but you can totally do it - you wrote a book, after all. Well, you will have if you are at this stage of the game.

Know your market. Be where your market is. Any questions?

L is for Launch

...book launch and the launch of a new occasional series, that is.


I am very intrigued with the idea of how to put on a successful book launch, and in an attempt to gather info for one day when I have my own book launch (positive thinking!) I am starting a new occasional series of interviews with authors who have launched their own books. 

I am so thrilled to introduce my very first interview for this series - Fiauna Lund is an old friend from high school. Well, not old because that makes me feel elderly, but you get what I mean. She has always been such a sweet, funny, unbelievably supportive, creative soul and I was so happy to reconnect with her on Facebook - especially when I realized she was writing books! She is an inspiration to me, both as a writer and a mother. 


But enough of the intro, onto the fabulous interview:
Welcome, welcome, Fiauna! I'm so glad to have you!

Now tell us what have you written? 

The Sprightling Diaries: In the Twilight

Tell us about the book you launched. 

In the Twilight is a ‘tween fantasy-lite about a town with a centuries-old secret and one girl’s discovery that it is her duty to keep that secret safe. Fourteen-year-old Avril Holly lives in a world full of secrets. Not only is she half faery, sprouting wings at twilight, but suddenly she also has the power to read minds. When she is attacked walking home in her otherwise safe community, she finds she must learn to use her new power to keep her community safe and their faery heritage a secret. 

Who published your book? 

My book was published by Shady Hill Press, a small publisher located in Salt Lake City.

Did you have a marketing budget? 

The only marketing budget I had to stick with was what I could pull out of my own pocketbook.

When did you launch? 

The book launched in December of 2011, right before Christmas.

What did you do pre-launch? 

Pre-launch I used social media (blogs, blog tours, and Facebook) to make the public aware of the forth-coming book. I did a “radio” interview at a local studio that was released on the publisher’s website and blog. A friend of mine also put together a blog tour for a group of 20 debut authors. Right off the bat, In the Twilight was featured on those twenty blogs. That really helped me develop my community of authors for support. And, believe me, that support means a lot when your baby—oops, I mean book—launches.
Tell us a bit about the launch events. The launch was very low-key. In December, the week that the book was released, I held a book signing at a local mall book store. I handed out promotional items like wristbands and flyers to passers-by as well as pitched my book to anyone who dared to stop and listen. I also typed up a press release that the publisher used in a mail marketing campaign directed at book buyers and distributors. 

What surprised you about the whole process? 

I was surprised at how much I was required to do as far as marketing was concerned. I am a writer, not a salesperson. To say that once the book is published the real work begins may be cliché, but it’s true. And the marketing side of publishing really saps creative energy.

What worked? 

Books sell two ways: word of mouth and point of purchase. Get your books in the hands of people who will talk it up and you may sell books. But people won’t buy books they can’t find. Do whatever is within your power to get your book on store shelves. A good press release will help with that.

What would you do differently? 

Going forward I would like to find representation from a good agent. Bigger publishers have PR people to guide authors through the launch process and marketing. Unfortunately, no big publisher will look your way without proper representation.

What words of advice can you give us? 

Set your goals and have realistic expectations. You know your book better than anyone else—it’s your baby. I’ve been told that writers don’t make bestsellers, publishers do. Given that fact that annually about 170,000 books are published every year and only 2,000 of those will sell 50,000 copies, your chances of becoming a bestselling author are pretty slim. That doesn’t mean you are not a success. If your goal is to write a bestseller, get a reputable agent and get your book in the hands of the big publishers.
Beyond that, trust your gut. In order to sell your books, you must also be able to sell yourself. You can’t sell yourself (or much else) if you don’t feel right about what you’re doing or how you are going about doing it. I’ve wasted energy and time trying to market in ways that didn’t feel authentic, in ways that stopped me from being comfortable with myself. In the end, instead of selling more books, I only lost creative energy. So, I say, be confident. Stand tall. Avoid negativity. In writing your book, you’ve done something most other people only dream of. And that is success!

Thanks, Laura. You are awesome!

Aw, I'm blushing. Especially because I am not nearly as awesome as you. Thank you for edumacating us all, Fiauna! I hope you'll come back again soon!

You can purchase Fiauna's wonderful book, as I did, here. I haven't read it yet, I must confess, because my too be read pile is VERY TALL. It's about 2 down from the top though.

So what did you think about this new series? Would you like to see more book launch tales?

K is for Keywords

There is much info about keywords floating around on the internet. I often read about how important they are for bloggers, but sometimes the reasoning and the execution makes me chuckle a little. I figure it's worth a little chat.

Keywords, for the purpose of this discussion, are the words that internet searchers put in to find information. For example, if I wanted to look up information on eye doctors in Denver I would put the words "Denver" and "Eye Doctor" in the search bar.

This is important for bloggers or website owners because if you want someone to visit your site then marking your posts so that they will show up when people search is essential.

So how do you get keywords to show up in searches?

1. Great blog post titles. Your titles are the number one place that search engines will look for keywords. Make sure they aren't obscure but say exactly what your post is about.
2. Bolded or larger words used in your posts. Don't overuse them or the search engine bots get mad at you. But an occasional bold on important key phrases are a good way to attract the bots.
3. Labels. Now here's where the execution doesn't work so well. Those labels that you can put on your posts in order to grab an audience are often given too much importance and are used too haphazardly. Make your labels short, concise and clear. 

Here's the thing about keywords: Just because you can draw someone to your site doesn't mean you should.  

Think about who your keywords will attract. I could label this post as "Things that make me chuckle" and maybe it will draw some people who search those terms, but do you think the people who search those terms want to find this post? No, they'll move on. And they won't benefit me at all. They won't become a follower and they won't buy my books (when I have them:).

Try to picture in your mind who your readers are - who you want them to be - and use keywords and labels that will attract them. I want author bloggers who are looking for marketing advice. So, for the most part, I should focus on using labels that will attract those people. Using other terms will only confuse readers, make my label cloud too cluttered, and attract people who will only stay on my page for a few seconds.

Do you think about keywords? Do you have any thoughts to add about your experiences with them?

J is for Joint Ventures

Joint ventures in author marketing are hip and happening. They're also very effective.

I'm talking about the blogs, contests, and other marketing efforts that are taken on by more than one author. Here are some examples of these joint ventures:

The League of Extraordinary Writers

Friday the Thirteeners

March Madness Agent Pitch

A to Z Blogging Challenge 

The hosts who put on these websites, contests, and challenges have joined up with other bloggers and authors to make the event bigger than they could manage on their own. 

Joint ventures make sense. The work load is manageable and the exposure is farther reaching than a person can do on their own. You also have a team of marketers and a team of ideas. 

These joint ventures don't go without work, though. And other people are relying on you so the pressure can be on. But, especially if you have a book to sell, I recommend the efforts. Find a group of others that have a similar work and similar goals. 

Have you been a part of a joint venture? If not, will you do them at a later time?

I is for Involved

I read an excellent post recently where social media strategist, Cindy Ratzlaff said about marketing and book promotion:

(I)f anyone tells you they’ll do it all for you, RUN. If the author is not involved personally, lending his voice and personality to social media, the desired effect will not be achieved. The whole point of social media is to shorten the distance between the passionate reader and the passionate writer. Social media marketing is the new book tour or bookstore reading. The author is the magic.

Those are some dang good words to remember.

Be involved. Be yourself. Be the magic.

Are you magic?

H is for Host

Customer service is an essential part of marketing. When you are a blogger, customer service comes into play when you respond to comments on your blog, thank followers for following, and the way you treat your guest bloggers.

It may seem obvious what steps a blogger should take to be a good host, but I have personally found this isn't always true.

Before I share my good host tips, I apologize to anyone who I haven't given these courtesies to when they have been on my blog.  I am only human, after all. And these are merely suggestions for everyone to think about when hosting guests - they may or may not always be practical or appropriate to implement.

• Give your guest plenty of time to complete their post/interview.
• Invite them to be as long or as short as they like.
• Invite them to respond to comments if they choose.
• Tell them exactly when the post will be up and send them a link.
• Send them a reminder the day before the post goes up - especially if it's been awhile since you communicated.
• Build your guest up and validate them in your introduction. Let your readers know why you respect this guest and why they should read on.
• Thank them in public and privately.
• Tweet and Facebook their visit to your blog.
• After all comments are in, usually a week later, thank the guest again by email.

Think of a guest on your blog like a guest in your house. Treat them as such and you'll be a perfect host.

Are there any other courtesies you like from your host that I've forgotten to mention?