As an author, new visitors to your Blog or Website are crucial to getting noticed as a writer as well as selling your books or services. Getting hits comes from knowing how popular your site is with the search engines and being able to draw visitors through them as well as through your own “side-line” efforts. So how does your site rank?
First, use the Website Grader at http://websitegrader.com/ to see your stats. Simply type in your Website URL and click “Generate Report” (un-check for “Monthly Updates”). This is the best free tool online to find out where your site ranks.
Now you know; so how do you improve these rankings? Start by sending a note to Google and other search engines every time you post something new. Yes, the search engines will automatically look for new posts, but not very often on a less popular site (as most of ours are). So you need to step up and submit your Website yourself (below are the links to do that). Make sure you are submitting the “exact” URL for your new post. Each time you post, Blogger or whoever you use, creates a special link just for that new post. Example:
My URL is http://abookinside.blogspot.com
Bloggers assigned URL for my post on Publishing is http://abookinside.blogspot.com/2010/11/to-be-or-not-to-be-self-published-that.html
See the difference?
Here are the links to submit your new posts:
Google http://www.google.com/addurl/
Yahoo http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
Bing http://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx
Next, get some inbound links by visiting sites which are similar in content to yours and asking for a link exchange. Scroll down to the bottom of this home page to see all the related links I have swapped with and how I place them on my page. Also, every time you visit another Blog, leave a comment with a link to your site.
Another appealing asset the search engines are happy to see is consistent new useful content on your site. The more good information you post, the more value they see in your site. More value means better placement when a potential customer is searching for your product.
For added hits to your site, I like Entrecard. You put the logo on your site (create one for yourself) and share advertizing spots on other members sites. Yes, over time many become repeated visits and quick click-throughs, but that still looks good to the search engines and you will get fresh visitors through your free ads. Sign up for Entrecard at http://entrecard.com/rr/29732v.
Finally,
Make sure you have a “Share” button on your Website. That way visitors who like your site can share it on other social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Find the Share button at http://free-7.blogspot.com/2009/06/share-button-complete-bookmark-for.html.
I hope this information is helpful to you as we’re all in this together and I would love to see all those in this field become more successful! Notice all these marketing avenues are free?
This site (A Book Inside) has reached a page rank of 5 (that’s really good), but it took 5 years and a lot of work to get here. Even so, my visitor count could be better. I have a lot to learn; but what I do know I have shared with you here. If you know of some great ways to build a following, please share that with all of us in the comment section below.
Even right here and now, you can help my site by clicking the Share button and posting this on your own social networking sites! Thanks for stopping by!
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