Book websites...

[James Fouche]

Alright, so the book is finished, and with it dies the passion of writing it. Suddenly it becomes a business and the passion is reserved for author interviews, blogging, etc. 

 

As a business, the book has to be marketed and awareness has to be created. You set up a site and wait for the feet. They never come...

 

Can anyone tell me how to effectively create Internet-feet to a booksite? I knew I had to market the site in order to get the people to click on it, but the result has been a bit disappointing.

 

Please check out the site below and let me know if there is something wrong with the look/feel. Also, how can I generate more visits to the site?

 

James Fouche

www.jackhanger.com

[I. J. Parker]

That I don't understand, but I certainly like you and will click when the opportunity arises.  :)

[I. J. Parker]

Ah, thanks.  The local search sounds like posting local ads.  I won't do that. The like button appears on Twitter and Facebook.  Can one also have it on one's web site, or only on a blog?

The keyword business sounds like the tags you use for your books on Amazon.

 

I'm not really doing anything with Facebook and Twitter.  Seems to me the trick is to get your book titles etc. in your posts.  That may turn people off.  Kindle Boards and Goodreads are horrible about calling authors names for mentioning their work.

 

You re really good at this.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

SEO, SEO, SEO. That's the name of the game now. For everyone and anyone trying to sell something online.

[EDWARD C MORGAN]

Benjamin speaks much truth.

And I'd argue it is critical for offline sales, too.

[Merrill Lockhard]

Sorry I'm so late in commenting.  I liked the site and the music was appropriate, but probably wouldn't be missed.

 

[James Fouche]

Thank you all for your comments. So it is unanimous, the music must go. Okay, done. I have removed the music and will consider the YouTube clip at a later stage (thanks for that tip, Clay and Roger!) and make some changes to the landing page.

 

That all said and done I still struggle with the beast of marketing the site address and generating traffic. Guess there is no real easy way...

 

James

[Bobbi A. Chukran]

James...another comment, if you can stand it.  LOL.  I just looked at your site again, and noticed you don't have any keywords on there.  Somebody mentioned SEO (search engine optimization) and it's SO important.  Do you do your own website?  If so, you need to add some titles and keywords in there, preferably in the first sentence, that says what the site is mainly about.  IOW, you need the phrase/words in there "mystery" "suspense" "crime novel" etc.  Nobody's going to be looking for the name of your character unless they're already familiar with him and remember his name.  They'll be searching for crime novels, or mysteries, or suspense books. You can add a short paragraph introducing yourself on the first page of your site, and then repeat the title on the other pages.  I hope this makes sense...

[James Fouche]

Thanks for the advice, Bobbi. Will look into the keywords.

 

Never imagined writing a novel would leave me updating websites, but that is the nature of the beast. I appreciate all the feedback.

 

j

[Bobbi A. Chukran]

I know.  I'm afraid a lot of us spend more time on the danged websites than we do writing the books.  LOL

 

Good luck!

 

bc