Website Tips

By Fred Fields

I have a website, www.efcopublishingco.com and its purpose is to get my name and book before the public.

Last year, at the SCWW Convention in Myrtle Beach, I learned something about blogging. There were several seminars dedicated to the subject, and here are some of the basic tips I remember and am using, about developing an active website:

·  Post blogs to your site regularly. Try to have a new blog posted on the same day every week. Although your site should have a theme, you don't have to remain true to it every issue. My site is mainly about golf, but come Monday, if I have something else that may interest my readers, I'll write that. Sometimes I'll put in a joke, golf related or not; or write a tip on some other subject. I wrote a blog about how I lost 20 pounds and have kept it off for 6 months. This week I wrote about the value of experience and studying history. Anything to keep my audience coming back for more, and always on Monday, so they know they can count on its regularity.

·  Associate your website with others, so that anyone arriving at your location will learn about them, and vice-versa.

·  Keep your blogs short and sharp. Three hundred words should be your maximum. Don't bore your readers. If you can tell stories or add humor, that's a good way to keep them coming back for more, and mentioning your site to their friends.

·  Use artwork whenever possible. Visuals attract attention. Drawings or photographs, both are good. Color is better than black and white, but either is better than words alone.

I have made one serious mistake with my website. Efco Publishing Co. is the name I have chosen for my publishing company, and it will market all the books I try to sell. My next book, however, is planned to be a cookbook, and will require a separate website, not tied to the golf format. So I am planning to expand to a master website for the company, and separate sites for each book, or at least every category of books. The company site will, of course, direct readers to the internet location of their interest.

This plan is possible because we are not limited to only one website.

Blogging is effective and inexpensive. Once your website is up on the internet, it is free advertising. Your only expense is the time invested to inform your readers who you are and where you are, and find ways to entice them back to you.