Now we’re getting to the fun stuff. Tracking your statistics can become a serious obsession. I try to fight it, but I love knowing where my traffic comes from. On a side note, September already has my highest unique monthly visitors, and there is still a lot of time left! Yes, I haven’t beat that obsession yet… Anyway, let’s get into it.

I want to start off with something to consider, I once asked literary agent Jenny Rappaport of LitSoup if you should mention your website statistics in a query. Her response was no, unless you have more than 40,000 unique visitors. I admit, my jaw dropped a little. If you look at most first-time authors, very few of their novels sell even close to that number. But I got over my grumbling (I cannot brag that number) and started thinking of the basics of it.

First, when you are tracking unique monthly visitors you have to understand that most of those visitors are bots. If you don’t know what bots are you can search around, it’s a bit beyond the scope of this article. To put it simply though, think of search engines. They use bots to scour your website for keywords and Meta tags. They return the info and that helps (or hurts) your search engine ranking. So if you have 40,000 visitors, more than likely you had less than 10,000 real visitors.

Second, how many of your visitors are actually going to buy your book? If you have 250 regular visitors, can you bet on half of them buying it? We would hope for more than that, but this is a tough market.  So I think it’s another thing to consider.

On the same page, I’ve heard other agents and assistants say they’d like to see at least 2500 real visitors. that seems like a much more fair number. But again, that would be well over 10,000 unique monthly visitors in most cases. This is why most blogs and websites (and businesses) disappear in the first 3 years. It’s tough to build a following.

Alright, so there is some back story on why you should watch your traffic. Let’s get into how you can watch your traffic. I will keep this relatively simple. There are a few free tools that you can use. If you want to go all out, you can pay money for it, but most people don’t have to. If you are a published author, literary agent, etc. then you can consider it, but even then I might try the free options first to get a taste. I’ll go over each pretty briefly, if anyone wants a more detailed article about a particular service, just request it in the comments below. I’d be happy to do that.

Google Analytics

I’m going to be an unpaid advertisement for Google in this post. When it comes to free online software, you just can’t beat them. This gem is something every website or blog owner should have. Yes, bloggers, there are plenty of Google Analytic plugins. Go check them out!

This one may take you a week or so to figure it out in full. The amount of information it can give you is worth exploring though. The most basic feature will track your daily visitors, and it will compare those visitors to the number you got in the last 30 days. So at any time you can go see if viewers are going up or down. What does that tell you? Well, think about what you’ve done in the last 30 days. If you had a spike in visitors, I’d say you did something right. Of course if it went down, figure out why and stop doing that. If you don’t learn from your mistakes…

It does other cool things as well. You can look at your viewers on a world map and even click on countries to look at specific states and even what cities people came from. That’s perhaps my favorite feature. I like that I have visitors in Brazil, Belgium, Canada, and the like. And hello if you’re reading this! A couple other things to watch are where your traffic comes from and what pages people are visiting the most. For instance, I know Twitter brings me a lot of traffic, so I’m probably not going to stop using it soon.

Google Feedburner

This is for you bloggers out there, or podcasters, or anyone else that set up an RSS feed. Feedburner is actually very cool. What you do is forward your RSS feed through their servers. Of course, this is just another way Google stays at the top of the search engine game. But unless you have a problem with the power of Google, I’d still use it!

Feedburner will take your feed and break it into sections. It can show you how many people are subscribing to your blog, which is fun. I’ve certainly enjoyed the steady rise in subscribers I’ve had in the last couple months.

Web Host Statistics

These get more into your actual statistics. If your hosting company doesn’t offer it, you should think about moving to another. They are a dime a doze. The one I linked to above I use with all my clients, and this website too. This is also where you get more into the numbers that are bots. Most good hosting companies will show you which of your visitors were bots. While it says my website gets more than 100 visitors every day, a lot of those are bots.

Hosting companies will give you other information too. Such as bandwidth usage, unique daily/monthly/yearly visitors, traffic sources (where traffic comes from), and things like that. I mentioned this in the last article, but it’s important so I’ll mention it again. Your hosting company should also offer you free SEO submissions to help bring more traffic.

Social Networking

I’m only going to mention two things here. Because they are the only two that I have any experience with for tracking on social sites. Surely there are more if you check whatever you use the most.

• Facebook Fan Page – This has a built in system that will keep track of how many people are checking out your page.
• Twitter – I found a website called HootSuite that is a Twitter management site. One cool thing about it is that they use their own “short urls.” If you use them, it will keep track of how many people click on your links. For instance, I’ve found when I post links about writing, I get a whole lot of views for them (as should be expected considering my followers). I’m sure other Twitter sites do the same, but I’m not sure which.

© 2009 Robert W. Leonard

Next Monday will be the last article in this series. If anyone wants me to continue after that I’d be more than happy. Just jot down what subjects you are interested in via the comments below. And make sure to check back tomorrow for the latest Tuesday Night Storytime, part 5 of Mr. Snaggle’s Oddities. Things are really building up!

This is part 2 of my article series on web marketing. For those that don’t know SEO stands for search engine optimization. That’s what you’ll be reading about today.

If you missed last week’s post, click here.

There are lengthy books about this subject, so to pretend I could explain it all in this post would be foolish. I can, however, get you looking in the right direction. And by the way, if you would like a good book on this then take a look at this top-10 list of them.

So then let’s begin shall we?

Meta Tags

These tags are designed to tell search engines what to display when people find you. The description is usually a couple of sentences about the site. This is something that should be obvious so people know what to expect. Just think of the last time you were annoyed because a site was nothing like you were searching for. You don’t want to do that to your visitors.

Keywords is exactly what it sounds like, the things you want people to find you for when they search online. This website has ones related to fantasy and web design: fantasy, high fantasy, web designer, etc.

Meta information should go between the <HEAD> tags on your website. It should look something like this:

<head>
<meta name=”description” CONTENT=”What your site offers.”>
<meta name=”keywords” CONTENT=”Relevant keywords”>
<meta name=”revisit-after” CONTENT=”15 days”>
</head>

Weblog Plugins

A lot of people these days don’t actually run a full website. If you just run a blog, that doesn’t mean you have to learn advanced PHP to take advantage of SEO. There are many plugins out there that will handle all your needs for you. It’s kinda like magic, but much less cool.

I use this one for WordPress. But you can find plenty by searching for “SEO plugin <type of blog>.”

Hosting Submissions

A lot of hosting companies, like the one I use, offers SEO submissions free of charge. They’ll let you submit your site as much as once a day. I try to do it at least once a month.  As they say, consistency is key.

Actual Content

This is the real kicker. Everyone wants the coolest graphics and the latest Flash on their website. The problem is that nothing written in either of those is found by search engines. I hope this changes in the next couple years, but I’ve been hoping for the last couple too… You do have the option of using the alt tag with images of course. It is good practice, since things inside this tag can be found.

Your actual content should be considered as well. Remember that what you write can also be found on search engines. This can work both for and against you. You may re-consider saying something when you think of the audience. On the other hand, it’s not always a bad thing to talk about trends and popular subjects. People search for those, why not let them find you?

Be Friendly – Comment on Blogs

You hear complaints about this all the time. I’ve done that, I comment on tons of blogs, but nobody ever clicks back to my own. This happens for a number of a reasons, but the most important to me is the quality of comments. Most people go to a blog and post “great post, thanks for sharing.” I’ve even been guilty of it. What about that comment would even make the blog owner respond, much less their viewers?

If you aren’t interested in what they have to say, go comment on another blog. It’s as simple as that. People will have to find your comment interesting before they will want to read more that you’ve written.

The other big thing I see is people that are pushing themselves way too hard on someone else’s blog. If I am going through comments and see someone not only link back with their name (which you SHOULD do), but also add another link to their blog at the bottom of their comment, then I get annoyed. I promise you that I’m not the only one. Even if it only links to your blogger profile, accept that and move on. If you don’t list your website on your profile (all of them!), that’s your own fault.

© 2009 Robert W. Leonard

Because the last article was so long, I tried to narrow this one down. Do you guys prefer it to be shorter or longer? I tend to like more info, but I’d love to hear what readers prefer. Also, make sure to check back tomorrow for the latest Tuesday Night Storytime episode, part 4 of Mr. Snaggle’s Oddities.

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!