Reaching your goals, multiple websites

Why would you need to have multiple websites?

This is a reasonable question. There are so many websites out there, how are you going to attract people to your particular website? And wouldn't that split your traffic to send them to a bunch of different websites?

Well, yes and no. By having a website targeted to each of your markets you can reach each of them and then point all of them to a central website.

That is why it is so important to secure domains you might need to do this-and secure them BEFORE you need them.

How will I keep the content relevant?

This will require some consistent effort on your part but you can consider simple things link integrating twitter in to your website and posting as you find articles of interest to your target market.

You can interview people whose opinion would interest your readers.

You can also write articles based on your experience and research.

Content should be the easiest part....we are, after all, writers.

How can I build traffic?

Build your readership by offering something they want to see. Write your blog and point people to articles and content on your website. Then on your website point to your newsletter. Your newsletter can provide short articles monthly and point to archived posts on your blog. You don't want to make everything a duplicate [in case you have people who check out all three]. Make sure each place has something the other two things don't provide, but it is okay to use content from each in the other.

I am personally using mailchimp and I love it. Here is a link to check them out.

MailChimp

I am not a computer person, so at first some of the work with the templates confused me. However, once I looked at the quick tutorials [most lasting no more than a minute or two] it gave me AWESOME looking newsletters. [so be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter]

What I really like is that I can either go monthly [starting at $15/month] or I can pay $15 to get 500 mails. This is great while I'm building my lists. It also allows me to work in this system for clients without relying on them for sign ups etc.

They have a free trial offer with 500 free emails so go to the link and play around with it. See what you think. If you get a newsletter, email me through my website with a description of the newsletter and we'll tell others.

Of course there are other programs but I have told you that I only tell you about what I've directly seen results from. This doesn't mean there aren't other great programs out there; this is what I'm using and I'm thrilled with their product.

Reread Tuesday's post and today's post and start to think bigger about your marketing efforts. And if you'd like help my monthly coaching program is $30/month. We can delve in to specifics for your particular writing goals and put something together

But keep moving forward. We're going to get you to your dreams.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

What is this blog doing right?

Hello!!

Over the last four weeks I've suddenly noticed a surge of non-subscriber traffic. That means that people who do not automatically get the blog sent to their mailbox through feedblitz are coming to this blog in increasing numbers.

I've seen a large number of you [74 in the last 11 blog postings] have come through seeing my blog listed in the BlogRush window on the right.

But how are the rest of you finding this blog?

What has made you come back?

Please, don't be shy. Share with the readers [and me] so that we can all learn what it is that attracts new traffic to our blogs. If someone told you about it, let us know that too.

I'd love to know what I'm doing right so that everyone else can implement these tools to grow their own blog traffic numbers.

And those of you who have recently found us, thanks so much for coming over. I hope that you'll subscribe to this blog as well as my fiction blog.

See you tomorrow.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

I'm buzz worthy so give me your input!!

Well this is pretty cool!

A couple of weeks ago I blogged and told you all about Odesk. It is a great way for freelancers like us to find work and begin to build a steady income.

Today I received an email from Odesk saying that I was "buzzworthy".

Okay, I'll admit, I thought it was spam. What in the world did they mean I was 'buzzworthy'? I read the email and found out that they saw my blog and thought it was great. [See the newsletter here] They are giving me a free t-shirt.

Well, I'd like you guys to help me decide which shirt I should get. There are three to choose from and I'm horrible at making decisions!

So go to Odesks store by following this link and then tell me which one you like better:
* Making Geeks Rich and Famous
* Super Geeks saving the world
* Saving the world, one job at a time.

I always saw myself as more of a dork than a geek. I never seemed to have the tech savvy to pull off geek, but clearly I have been promoted!!

So make your voice heard, check out the T-shirts and post your favorite in the comments section.

And two more things

1. I will be posting the ENTIRE manuscript of my award winning novel "A Face in the Shadow" on my new blog Tiffany Colter Fiction. I will post twice a week, each posting will be one chapter. I have posted the back cover copy [story description] on the blog and you can link to it here. Subscribe to the blog and the entire chapter will be emailed directly to you each time I post. This is the story that won the Daphne du Maurier award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense in 2007.

2. If you'd like to sign up for Odesk and find out more about earning money freelancing click this link. It is free to sign up and it easy to navigate. You can check out the website I wrote content for by following this link. I found this job on Odesk. It started out as writing a couple of articles, but they liked my work, so it grew! The articles don't have my by line but I wrote more than 20 of the articles and you can see my bio under the link to the contributors.

Don't forget to vote for your favorite T-shirt!! I'll order it the end of this week and let you all know what I chose.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Why are people unsubscribing to my blog? Part 2

Yesterday I shared with you the beginning of an email I sent to a friend who wanted to know why her readership was slipping. Today I'll post the remainder of that letter.

If you didn't read the first half go back and read it here.

I only post 3 days a week [sometimes two] and I've had 5,78 9 hits since I started my blog the week after last year's conference. This number does NOT include my subscribers [because the full blog is emailed to them directly] so these are all new or regular readers who do NOT subscribe. When I asked subscribers to visit my blog for a full week my numbers [hit count] nearly quadrupled for that week. So I'd conservatively put my hits over 10,000. But I know my target market [writers, primarily those who are on the cusp of publication] and I write things that I'm learning that will help them. I also reference back to previous blogs I've written [I may say in a blog "back in November I talked about fear" and then I'll link to that blog so they start reading more of my archives.]

I write all of my blogs on Sunday [or if I have a great idea I'll write ahead] and then schedule them to post the following week. If I see on my calendar I have a REALLY hectic week or two coming, I may post 5 or 6 blogs and schedule them so it looks like I'm still posting daily.

I also know Tuesdays are my highest traffic day, so I try to post my best blogs on those days.

Finally, I don't rely on comments as a gauge of success. I used to do that but then I realized that my regular readers don't regularly comment. It is those guests who want google to see them talking on a "relevant" blog in the comments. I've looked and the correlation between comments and traffic are NON-EXISTENT.

I'm a part of blog rush and have experimented with various catchy titles and try to use "key words" [money, improving, success, building, tough love, mistake] to catch attention and pull people over.

I tried to do it they way you describe, with having others essentially use my blog as a platform...it fell FLAT. I got bored, they got bored, it didn't work. And I even had it on shoutlife where there is a ready audience.

I found that honestly [guarded honesty] about things I've learned, the process, my struggles in writing a great book, etc. are what keep people coming. Especially as I work the problem out before them. If I say "I'm having a hard time finding time to write but I've learned that if I get up at 8:30 instead of staying up until 2am, I'm more productive." People comment on that. Then a week later I'll say "Last week on my blog I shared how getting up early was helping my productivity, [link to that specific blog] well I managed to write XXX number of pages since then!! I've also started outlining the night before I'm getting even more done."

Obviously this isn't EXACTLY your target audience. If you're writing to readers, tell about the writer's life in a way readers can relate to. "Many readers don't realize the stages to writing. Some days it can seem like you will never get there but today something great happened....."

or "Readers have asked me how I get story ideas, well, let me tell you about how an idea popped in my head today..."

If you're writing for writers...well, we know how to write to ourselves.

You get my drift.

***

I hope this has helped all of you. Now, go blog successfully!!

Why are people unsubscribing to my blog?

I have a few really close writer friends and one of them was talking about people who unsubscribe to her blog. She was wondering what it was about her blog that was causing people to unsubscribe. Over the next two days I'll share with you exactly what I told her. I hope this honest insight in to what I've learned will help you.

Today we'll focus on people unsubscribing, tomorrow about how I do my blog.

Dear [friend]

I remember a few months back I posted a tough love blog that was directed as much at me as it was to everyone who reads my blog. I basically said "suck it up, quit making excuses and, if you want to be a writer, WRITE!"

I almost never receive comments on my blog, but on this blog I did. One of them was a woman who said she was about to unsubscribe but after reading that blog, decided not to. She said she was super busy and didn't have time to read so many blogs and mine was about to go.

That was really a wake-up call to me. There are MANY blogs out there that offer book reviews ad nauseum, author interviews and the exact same content as every other site. [I'm not saying this about your blog specifically. I'm sharing what I've learned from research.] If they can find 90% of your content some place else...they will.

Think about the blogs you liked and what made them different. Other than the person's name [fame]. They had content you couldn't find any other place.

Even my friend Nora St.Laurent has a blog with author interviews and book reviews but she really shakes it up and I was so impressed I blogged about it. Her blog is:http://www.psalm516.blogspot.com/ Scroll through the author interviews and see how she makes this different than other blogs. [but don't rip off her idea. ]

***

That is the first part of the letter, I'll share the rest tomorrow. Think about what I said here and then look at your blog. Does your sole traffic come from people wanting to win a contest? Are they actually reading what you say?

Tomorrow I’ll talk about how I increased the traffic of my blog. I hope to see you then.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Blog tours and book sales

Show of hands, how many of you are familiar with blog tours? Okay, it looks like most of you raised your hands.

Now, how many of you have purchased a book because you heard about it on a blog tour? Okay, not as many. That sounds about right.

As a part of a group of writers I am very familiar with blog tours. About a year ago Mary DeMuth did a blog tour where she did a quantitative study of the results of her blog tour. Did a blog tour really equal sales? That is the purpose right?

Well, it depends on where you are in the game.

I really have begun to wonder about the effectiveness of blog tours as it pertains to books. Maybe it is simply because most of the people I know who do blog tours are writers and each writer invites another writer and they write about other writers....and it gets to be like that bad tupperware party where everyone keeps booking a show off of each other and you end up running out of money because you're going to one a week.

But I also see a really great side to blog tours.

If you are not to the published stage yet, blog tours may help you introduce yourself to a possible base of readership. I have had MANY people come over to my blog to visit because they heard about me on another person's blog or they linked to me from an author/editor/agent's website.

So really deciding the usefulness of a blog tour is really about deciding what your goals are and what your definition of success is for the tour. Once you've decided that then you can create a realistic plan for marketing YOU.

And that is the first step in creating a platform for YOUR book.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Marketing with a coauthor

Hello

This week a coauthor on one of the projects I'm working on was in town. It was a great time together. The best part is that we were able to have fun while making progress on the book.

So today I want to share some marketing tips for those of you who coauthor books. Consider how tese tips can be applied to your overall marketing plan.

1. Have marketing epicenters.

By this I mean both of you should be hitting the marketing of the project together AND independently. For me and my coauthor the epicenters are geographical. He is in Texas and I'm up by Toledo, Oh. Therefore we're each able to build separate markets while working on our joint project. If you both live close together then your epicenters might be social. Maybe one of you is a homeschooler and the other is in to scrapbooking. There are two separate 'areas' that each can market in.

2. Have a united vision.

Nothing will destroy a collaboration faster than if one person feels they're doing everything and the other isn't contributing. Make sure there is clear, open communication and both of you are committed to not only WRITE the project, but to market it. Now if want to do a division of labor where each works in their strengths [maybe one is a blogger and the other is great at public appearances] then do that. Just make certain each feels that the other is working with them.

3. Have a contract

I believe firmly in putting it in writing and being specific! I was very uncomfortable at first about doing this when I was working with people I know well but it is to protect my friendship as much as any financial issues that may arise from the books. Kathy Ide has some great examples at The Christian PEN. [And that website is a GREAT resource if you'd ever like to check it out.]

4. Have Fun

I tend to be very business minded when it comes to my writing. I take it very seriously and am focused to a fault. My coauthor, Tony, balances that. He is helping me focus on the relationship aspect of writing. My other coauthor, Nora, is great at helping me believe in myself when things get frustrating. By working with these two other people on different projects every aspect of my writing life is growing.

5. Help each other

Always remember, in marketing, writing and life it isn't always what someone else does to help US-we also need to focus on what we contribute to bring out the best in the marketing skills of our coauthors. With Nora it is bouncing off ideas of how to maximize the opportunities she has. With Tony "The Duck" Brown, it is about taking his expertise and applying it to marketing books rather than concerts. I hope that I'm able to use what I know to build both of these people up. It's not about my ego, it's about the projects. Sometimes I'm nearly invisible because that's what the project dictates. Other times I'm front and center. In music there is always a lead singer and there's the Harmony. Know your place on each project and you'll have a far better marketing strategy.

So whether you're flying solo or working on a team, create a marketing plan that capitalizes on the giftings, opportunities and the strengths of the project.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Writing a group blog to build a platform

So what are some ways to write a group blog?

I have recently started writing as part of a group of other writers [and aspiring writers] at a blog called "Writer's Rest". I've only been blogging with them for a couple of weeks but I have learned a number of things that may help you all become more effective bloggers-even when you have limited time.

How do you start a group blog?
First, decide what the topic is and find a small group of other people who'd like to write on the same thing. This doesn't need to be writing related!! Just something that interests you.

Next, communicate.
Cath West helps organize Writer's Rest and she uses Yahoo Groups to do it. We each schedule on the calendar when we're going to blog so we don't have empty days, and so we don't have two bloggers on the same day. I think it is an EXCELLENT idea. We also swap marketing ideas, chat and work on ways to improve traffic.

Appoint a leader
You need to have one person in charge of layout, scheduling and the "contact person". Make sure you find one and that they are reliable. There won't be much involved but having that one "go to" person will prevent lots of chaos.

Support each other
Make sure that you are reading postings for other people on your blog. Learn from each other, grow together. You can develop wonderful friendships from connections like this.

Market the site
What better way to practice the lessons you're learning here about marketing than by actually applying them to promote your own blog!! There are many ways to drive traffic to your blog or website. Start doing some of them. Get a feel for what works and what doesn't.

Use it to build your own platform
Writing as part of a group of bloggers can help you build traffic to your site in a few different ways. There will obviously be people who follow each blogger over to the new site. There will also be people who find this site through search engines. In order to promote this joint blog as well as any individual site you have make sure you include links to your site [and from your site to that blog] as well as occasionally talking about your own blog/website on the group blog. This does not mean an infomercial but if you blog twice a month on the group site feel free to make an announcement about something going on at your main site. If it is something that will be of interest to your readers, let them know.

So are there any "group bloggers" out here who'd like to make a comment? Tell us some of the good and bad about group blogging. We'd love to learn from you.

I have to go now, I have reading to do.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter