The first of a 4-part series on web marketing. It’s long enough on its, so I hope everyone enjoys it. Feel free to ask questions in the comments if you would like to know more. I’d appreciate you sharing it with others if you find this information useful.

I think it’s safe to assume people who are reading this have already decided whether or not they need a web presence. If you haven’t decided let me do it for you. You need a web presence. If you are writing for yourself, or for friends and family, then you can tell me “NUH-UH” and I won’t argue with you. Everyone else needs to look into it. If you are unpublished, all the better. If you just started your first book, even better still. This is because of the first point that I want to make.

It Takes a Very Long Time To Build a Web Presence

Domain names are only a few dollars for a whole year. Just google “domain name registration” and take a look. Read some of my pointers below before buying one though. Make sure the name you buy is worth buying and won’t have too much competition.

Every day this becomes even more true. There are thousands of websites and blogs out there in your profession alone. By starting now, you will have a decent amount on content when the visitors do show up. They’ll have enough to be entertained for as long as they want. This is an example of a good goal to start out with.

You don’t have to buy hosting just yet either. You can use a free blog service like WordPress or Blogger to get things rolling. There is no cost, and those sites have built in tools for marketing. Keep the name on the back burner for when you are ready to buy hosting. Remember, you shouldn’t pay more than $10 a month for it when the time comes.

Online Marketing is a complicated issue. Mostly people dabble in parts without fully understanding the potential they are missing out on. Think of your time setting this up as work just as much as sitting down at your real job (be that writing, crafting, programming, etc). There is no difference between the two if you are doing it right.

So, that said, let’s learn about how to do it right (or hopefully at least better)!

Do Your Research

FYI – All notes, names, and websites I just chose at random, they don’t reflect real people (except mine, of course, I am real).

Hey Robert, I’ve already set up accounts on social networking sites and my profile tells people all about what a great writer I am! That’s great, but how easy are you making it for people? What I see all the time is a blog named one thing, a twitter named something else, well, you get the picture.

How do people know that @superfantasywriter on Twitter is also Peter Parker on Facebook, and that he also blogs as iloveliterature on Blogspot? Poor Peter is having to work three times harder than he should have to. So take as much time as you need to plan what you want your “Web name” to be, and then use it consistently. Have you figured it out yet? There’s no rush, I’ll wait while you work on it.

Great, we have our internet name, and it’s the best ever. Now I’ve done it right, I’ve secured /peterparker on Facebook, Twitter, and Blogspot! Again, good job for consistency. But Peter still made a very common mistake. He didn’t take the time to look up his great name in all the popular search engines. Had he, he would have found out that there is a more popular Peter Parker, and that he’s going to be pretty hard to top.

You have to do your research. If you can’t see getting on the front page of search engines, then you have a couple options.

• Add a middle initial or name – This is an option, but it MUST BE USED OFTEN. You should start signing your name like that, and using it as closings in your emails and contacts. It should also be your copyright at the bottom of all your web pages. I did this, mostly because Robert Leonard was a very full search phrase (though I’m happy to say I managed a front page entry on some search engines for Robert Leonard already).

• Create a more unique pen name and start establishing that.

Before I move on I’d like to mention one more thing. I would suggest not establishing yourself based on your first book. I know it seems like quite an achievement – and it is – but think a few years down the line and you’ll see what I mean, hopefully.

Figure Out Your Message

Even if what you are selling is yourself, you must figure out your specific message. When I decided to start establishing myself a few months ago I made this very big mistake. I posted a lot of my political opinions that had nothing to do with what I was selling. I decided I didn’t want to bring politics into this website, so I narrowed it down to the things that are most important to me: Writing/Reading Fantasy, Programming, and Education (okay, maybe a little politics, but we all want better Education).

There are some limitations, of course, or there should be. If you are trying to sell to children and start blogging about drugs and your wild sex life (laugh all you want, I have seen this), expect to lose readers very quickly. If you want to use profanity often, don’t expect a lot of kids to follow you, or parents to let them. If you wonder why kids would follow you anyway, then you need to accept modern times. I worked last Summer teaching 8-year-olds to design websites. Don’t think they aren’t out there surfing for new things to entertain them.

The Power (and Problems) of Social Networking Sites

I’ve already discussed how important it is that you mark these sites with the name you are trying to market (consider this a reminder). I believe there is a lot to be said of social networking, but a lot of it can equate to wasted time if you do it wrong. I’m not saying that I know how to do it right, believe me. Until a couple months ago I avoided these sites like the plague. I’ve come around though, and will share my thoughts about some of the more popular ones.

• Twitter – I would recommend this one to any aspiring author. There are a number of published authors, literary agents, editors, and publishers on Twitter. They post good advice all the time. Also, there is a very large writer community developing on Twitter. Befriending other authors is a good first step to finding readers. They could potentially sell a book before you, and may even put in a good word to their agent. You never know. Any business is all about connections.

• Facebook Personal Page – Unless you are relatively established, I would leave this one alone when it comes to marketing yourself. It’s a better place for friends and family.

• Facebook Fan Page – This can be more beneficial, but it’s still somewhat difficult to develop a following. You can always set it up and make (yes, force them!) your family and friends to join it. One nice thing is that your page will show up people’s Suggestions and Highlights if they have a friend who is your fan.

• Live Journal – I dislike this site for reasons I won’t get into. I will say that the LJ blog makes it difficult for the average visitor to post a comment. I would recommend hosting your blog on your own website. If nothing else, I know George R. R. Martin has a very popular LiveJournal blog, so I won’t say it can’t work.

• Myspace – Go for it if you want, this one of my least favorite websites online. I would at least set one up with a link to your website. It can’t hurt, too much.

There are others, lots and lots of others. If you look around you might find some that suit you well. It is easy to fall into the social networking pitfalls like so many people. These writers (and business people) spend a great deal of time checking, tweeting, posting, etc. You need to learn moderation so that you are not annoying your followers that don’t like it. Keeping your posts meaningful will also make those followers pay more attention to what you do say. I like to take 5-10 minutes a few times a day checking up on things, and then spend more time at night when I have the time. Other people I know only look once or twice a day but spend a couple hours on it. You just need to find what works for you.

© 2009 Robert W. Leonard

That is a good place to leave it for now. You should know some of the basic things to look at when working on branding your name. Check back next Monday to get into the basics of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. And don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the next Tuesday Night Storytime, Part 3 of Mr. Snaggle’s Oddities!

4 part series on Web Marketing coming every Monday in September.

While these articles will focus on writers, the advice will be sound for anyone in the publishing industry, or anyone with a business really. It’s likely that I’ll have more to say on the subjects, so depending on the interest, there might be more specific articles that I write as well. I will say up front that I welcome any suggestions, I’ll do my best to incorporate them into the posts.

After designing websites for 10 years, it’s come in handy for me while trying to develop an interest in my writing. As someone who really enjoys giving away things, I thought the best thing would be to share my knowledge with my readers. Hopefully you guys find it as useful as I have.

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for part 2 of Mr. Snaggle’s Oddities! Click here if you don’t know what that is.

1. Branding Your Name – Monday, September 7, 2009

The first post will discuss the different ways you can make your name easier to find online. Picking the name you use online is an important step because you want to be consistent. Many people use multiple names at different sites, and that does work sometimes, but if you choose a good one and keep it, you can fill the top of a search engine front page with yourself.

2. Basic SEO – Monday, September 14, 2009

If you don’t know, SEO stands for search engine optimization. In this post I’ll talk about some of the most basic ways to ensure you are using your website or blog to the greatest extent possible when it comes to marketing. These tips will greatly help search engines find your website and promote your ranking.

3. Tracking Statistics – Monday, September 21, 2009

Whether your website gets a couple visitors a day or thousands of visitors a day, you need to be aware of it. I’ll show you some of the better free tools that show you how many people come to your site, and where they come from as well.

4. Standing Apart – Monday, September 28, 2009

In this final post, I’ll talk about why you can’t just have what everybody else has these days. You have to find out how your voice is different, and utilize that. There are plenty of ways that you can do this, and I’ll talk about a few of them.

So come check out the posts, they will be available every Monday in September.

While I don’t have any screenshots yet — mostly because it’s not built yet — Tuesday Night Storytime is about to get its own page! This has been in the works for a couple weeks while we built up some episodes to share with the world.

Until recently, there just wasn’t enough content to warrant it. Now we’re on Story #3, which means we’ll be able to offer the first two stories on the TNS page. Instead of being in parts, you will be able to listen to them in their entirety (which seems about 40 minutes per story). It will also be a way to listen without having to listen to the intro’s every week. Story #1 has not been released in an audio version yet, so that will be another thing to look forward to. It’s being recorded right now.

For the new page, we’ll be adding a brand new MP3 player that is bigger and even cooler than the one I have now on the front page. I’m very excited! When it’s ready to go I’ll let everyone know. Though the changes in the navigation bar will probably be just as obvious.

We added a new look to my programming page recently. It’s only a start, but I already like it a lot better. I plan to add a great deal more about the kinds of programming I do later on. For now it talks about some of bigger projects we do. I dig it though, and I’m excited about continuing more work on it!

I’m extremely happy to announce the release of my brand new front page. I think it’s fantastic. The custom mp3 player was designed by Samantha, and then made in flash by David, the narrator of the stories.  The percent bars I talked about in a previous post, but for those that missed it, Samantha made those as well. I mention it again because I asked her to do the same to all my headers. So each one now has the same effect.

On the bottom of the page is another new addition. Samantha made these images, so far 9 in all, that randomly appear on the page. They lead to interesting things to do around here. Of course, I like databases so everything is now controlled through my admin panel. I can add podcast episodes to the list, add new image links, and change my percentage bars. All for the fun of it.

I’m not really done, so expect more updates soon.

It’s a lot of fun changing the way websites work. In my opinion, it’s more fun to spruce them up than it is to make them sometimes. You can really take a look at each aspect and ask yourself, “What would make this better?” A question that is almost always fun to answer.

The first update I’m going to talk about is the BRAND NEW books page. I’ve put two of my three projects on there (with samples of both). The assassin book will show up there soon, but I can’t for the life of me think of a neat cover for it. We’re (my wife and I) are thinking we can make a temporary image that would work for any new project. But then we have to make that, so either way, it’s still not ready. I like it though, and I’m glad visitors will a chance to read what I write. Samantha made the cover for The Forest Awakens. My good friend Rob, of Evolinium, made the Draknor cover. I think both are awesome.

Another fun thing we added was the progress bars to match my current projects. This is fun because of the geek in me. I first saw it on Brandon Sanderson’s website. I thought the idea was fantastic. So set it all up in PHP so I could change the numbers in one place and everything would update itself.  It’s very fun. Samantha made the three bars.

I’ll have more new updates to share soon, but they are still not quite finished. I plan on updating pages all over the place, and adding fun ways to find them. Including a random option.

Today I updated the front page of my wife’s website. She designed it and it looks great. The new page required a change to her gallery uploading  system as well.  So now she can choose between a listed item and a sold item when she edits pictures. Sold items appear on the gallery still, but listed items now appear on the front page. When you click on one of the pictures it takes you to her Etsy shop to that item’s listing. It’s very neat.

Does it make sense that I feel more energetic on a rainy day? I love opening the windows and working to the sound of rain outside. Maybe that’s because on nice days I’d rather be outside than working. Then again, I want to run in the rain right now… so who knows.

Awhile back I talked about a new project of mine. A website that I was building and was keeping secret. Some things are still being kept secret, but I think it’s far enough along to talk a little bit about what it will be.

Lately it seems everyone around me has gotten lost in the craze of social networking. Because of the immense popularity of it, I thought why not build one of my own? Don’t worry, I’m not trying to take on Facebook, MySpace, and the like. Nooooo way! Instead I’m designing a social site directly related to the thing I love, writing. People will be able to make accounts and talk on a discussion board I built myself, or they’ll be able to participate in our monthly writing exercises. I hope to have lots more things to do as well.

So far I’ve added a profile system, a discussion board, a pretty detailed admin system, and ways for people to share stories and drawings. There is still plenty to do! Expect to see some screenshots over the next couple weeks. I don’t think it needs to be finished to release it. It does need more than it has now though.