Searching for SEO Content and Butter Knives

Indie authors, we are not alone!! I hear that even published authors, these days, are responsible for finding SEO content for their platforms.  Blogging and social media is not enough?  When do we have time for more?!!  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, so isn't that just Google's problem or the spiders that help websites and blogs 'show up' in search results?  No.  Sorry.  We are now quite encouraged and motivated (as the results are often the difference between lots of fans and no-ownership platforms) to find content that brings in new fans, and helps us connect with readers.

In otherwords, the content part of the word SEO content is the hook: or, the reason searchers go to your blog from their search results page - or, your website, your fb page, and so forth.  So, a book-buying mother, who is looking up fairies might have typed in Fairy Birthday Parties.  She has typed just one of the reasons, as a book buying mother, that she might look up (and go to) my blog with a faerie-based book.

All this leads me to the reason I am writing this post.  If you are an Indie author, think twice - no 13 times - before choosing vlogging as your SEO content.  Shakespeare's Rosalind took up less of his time, honestly; and though he probably didn't shower as often, sleep in his own bed, or smell that good during his musings around between writing time; he did get back to writing as his focus.  Not so sure that vlogging as a mistress muse is as giving, forgiving?  Understanding?  No.  She isn't.  She is quite the demanding whore, as I have found out - and relentlessly impossible to ignore.

Run.  If you have chosen vlogging, you already know.  You need a shower.  You need your 4 food groups on a plate, instead of eating with just one hand.  You need two hand free, not just one holding a caffinated beverage.  We all have needs.  Vlogging extinguishes yours like a prima-donna girlfriend with a hot temper.  I don't want a girlfriend.  I wanted young readers to discover my books. I hope after bags of craft supplies, hours of crafting, videographing, editing, and drinking coffee, they do discover my Faerie Project and love my books.  Try the link if you don't believe me.  I have to go now.  Part I of a vlog post is requiring my undivided and overly-stressed out attention.

FYI: If you do choose vlogging, choose a topic you LOVE.  I'm not sure I even like Faeries anymore, and I have at least 2 more books to go before they love me back, if in fact, our relationships do last through the vlog years.

Author's Website - A Must for Self- and Indie Published Authors

Tips for Creating an Author's Website

When signing up with hosted websites such as Blogger, an author's website is more of a blog than a full service, e-commerce website. Authors who wish to sell books right on their website opt for buying a domain name and URL from a site like GoDaddy.  Since my books sell on Kindle for Amazon.com, I decided to publish a blog hosted by Blogger - Wordpress is another good option, and has even more features specific to helping an author succeed.

Hosts like Blogger and Wordpress can accommodate a purchased URL with a program where you buy your domain name in order to have a dotcom as your address even though your site is under the umbrella of the blog host's platform.  Its very inexpensive, only $10 per year and there are a few extra bells and whistles, at first, although the features of the blog remain virtually the same.  Its not the same as a full-service site, but you don't have to be your own web developer to own your dotcom URL.  An author's website is a necessary step in building a platform, so appearing to own the URL is, for some, a status symbol.  Authors who have built a platform on the web, already, probably went this extra step to help brand their name; or, they own their domain with web developer tool access.

Either way you decide to go, you'll need an author's website or blog with your name on it.  The next step is to decide what kind of SEO content you'll add to its pages, and the specific aspects to include to sell your book and provide information.

SEO Content Isn't the Same as Book Selling

As an author and writer, I keep two seperate blogsites which link to my Indie publishing blogsite. This helps me keep each purpose in its own package (I try to refrain from going off on tangents or mixing content up, this way).  Some authors like to keep it all on the same page - book selling and SEO content - however, understanding the difference between the two, first, helps you include both the salad and the entree in your website's content.

A blog with SEO content helps you sell books, moreover, it helps you create a platform.  You are a person, with a book, and a cart to checkout or buy the book.  This equals book sales. Prompts for finding your best SEO content can be questions like "Well, what else do you do?" or "Why does that matter to a reader who lands upon/looks for your site?" In other words, imagine a viewer of your page asking you, "How does this help me?"  Base the next prompt on what your content is about and ask if you can help: "I am trying to find a book market, (a sewing machine, a tomato cage, etc)."

As a self-published author, you will have more than one book. And, yes, probably more than one Facebook page or Google+ page as you go.  Marketing the places you sell your books, your books, and your social media sites is now involved in your marketing task.  All of these pages now must contain links to your events, online book tours, book festivals, signings, or launches, and links to buying your books.

A good rule of thumb for the self-publishing niche:

1. The author's site contains the information readers look up
2. The SEO content is the information authors look up.

How This Translates with Other SEO Content Subject Matter

Here are other ways of seeing this concept (or rule) played out on your author sites with your web content:

1. The author's site features your book covers, sample chapters, book signings, a raffle.
2. The SEO content is a fan page about your fictional characters with quotes, sign-ups for whatever fans of your characters like to read about, or is referenced by.

Another idea to illustrate the differences:

1. The author site features your photo, bio, press releases, and books about sewing.
2. The SEO content has sample fabric patterns used in the book, links to sewing community pages, articles about sewing techniques, and maybe a pattern download, or something.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  Its really the content a person looks up who isn't looking exactly for your book - but can be reached by your book which offers the kind of entertainment, or