Website Prep - Understanding the Web

In my quest to build an author website, I've come to understand more about getting traffic to that site and how the web works. Maybe you already have a good handle on this, but I'll blame my learning curve on being from "an older generation". (Who knew a fifty-something-year-old would need a website?) Let's simplify my findings into 3 main points: 1) Keywords, 2) Links, and 3) Activity.
1) Keywords. When someone uses a search engine, they only want to see choices come up that are relevant to their request. This relevance is largely determined by matching the text on your site with keywords or phrases put into the search engine. There are keyword tools you can use to make certain you have text rich in word content that will attract more viewers.
2) Links. Both inbound (people coming to you by clicking on a link) and outbound links (where you create links for people to follow once they are on your page) help to improve your ratings. A popular site that mentions yours and creates a link to it gives positive "link juice" to your ratings. Make sure to link all your social media sites to one another.
3) Activity. Your blog or website needs to be active with new text or images monthly. Don't redesign the whole thing. Just freshen by adding or changing out a button, tab, or even a word to have those "spiders" that crawl the web see your site as active. Blogs that are active have got this covered with each new post. You can find lots of interactive things to make your site interesting, but start with the basics to get going (see previous post).
For more depth on these subjects, you might enjoy this article from The Guardian. As for me, the plan this week is to find the right images I want to put on my soon-to-bloom site.
Meet Rebecca on the new-to-me blog of the week at www.rebeccalamoreaux-anauthorinprogress.blogspot.com. You'll find some heartfelt posts, writing experiences, and book/author spotlights. 

Building a Website - Prep Stages

Why: I've been told by a website technician that the main purpose of having a website is to provide an effective way to grow an e-mail list of potential customers. The target audience comes to you when they sign up for your newsletter, for example, so you can let them know about your events/products/services of interest to them. These lists garner the greatest marketing success because the person is already interested. Obviously, there are other purposes for having a website. For authors, this means thinking about business/marketing when you'd rather be writing.

Timing: My goal is to get my author website up within the next month. Why worry about having an author website when my book(s) won't come out come until a year or so from now? Rankings. Exposure. Longevity plus activity equates to higher placement in search engines. We want to optimize all efforts made. So, since I'm going to build one eventually... why not now?

Consider: What can you offer now? Anyone can put up their author bio and what they are currently working on. List any awards you've earned or share a writing sample. These can be switched out later for actual images of your book cover. A way to contact you is a must. Do you have a blog or social media site you can link to? These will send traffic your way. All these things and more can be put on a website before your actual book comes out.

Prep Work Now: Get ideas from other websites. Find the kind of template you like. What inspires you? I've begun this process and it can be mind-boggling. One suggestion would be to compare two sites at a time and eliminate one by figuring out what you like better about the other. Jot that thing down. Do the colors strike you? The simplicity? Interaction? Make a short list of things you like best... and see if it lists the site host (maybe in fine print at the bottom). Another thing to do now would be to have someone take a few photos of you if you don't already have a professionally-appropriate profile picture. Figure out your domain name options and your website title. Let your plans simmer and settle.
I'll be posting more about my own experiences with this and I'd love to hear about yours. You can also leave your website address in the comment box for us to check out. Finally, I'll link one good article I found about the basics.

The New-to-me Blog of the week is Mel's Shelves at www.melsshelves.blogspot.com. I found book reviews and blog tour contest buttons. A nice reader site. Want me to check out your blog? Leave the address in a comment.