by Diane Holmes, (a) Chief Alchemist of Pitch University, (b) lover of learning, and (c) writer of fiction, non-fiction, and the occasional manifesto.

This is the second of 10 Reasons Writers Don’t Need A Website, poking little holes of honesty into the reasons writers are urged to “go get a website.”

Heck, I’ll probably even tell you the real reasons you should have one, the reasons that really matter.

Reason #2. There really are other ways to find you.

There’s a scare tactic that says, “If you don’t have a website, no one can find you!”  Even fiction writers are told this.

Let’s turn this around.  Is it impossible for those writers who don’t have a website to be found?  Totally impossible?

What about…

• Reviews of Their Writing
• Guest Articles
• Interviews
• Services and Professional Directories
• Amazon Author Pages
• Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc.)
• Yelp and Other Review Sites
• Yellow Pages, Google Search and Google Business, and Other Online Directories
• Freelance Writing Bureaus
• Societies, Organizations, and Associations
• Publisher Sites

TRUTH FOR FREELANCE WRITERS AND EDITORS:

If you offer writing services, YES, you need to be listed correctly online in the key lookup directories.  And YES, a website is a good idea, but if you have bad reviews on review sites, your website may not matter.  (They’ll never click on it.) 

Plus you have many ways to get the word out if you don’t have a site.

TRUTH FOR BOOK WRITERS:

If your book isn’t available where they’re looking, such as a bookstore, that’s a problem.  That’s where they hope to find you, first of all.  And if they search on your name or title, they should find you at any number of online retailers.

SO WHAT’S THE REAL REASON YOU NEED A WEBSITE?

Because many of the other places where they can find you give very little information.  It’s like a 10 second pitch.

If you have your own website…

1. You can be generous with the information you provide.
2. You can speak directly to unasked questions and create an atmosphere of trust.
3. You have time (spent reading multiple pages) to develop a sense of relationship between you and your website reader.
4. You have the opportunity to surprise and delight your website visitors with non-fragmented information (unlike much of social media)  that you’ve designed especially for her or him.  It could be writing excerpts and samples, free guides, contests, or anything under the sun.

That’s a lot more than just “finding you.” 

I’d love to see writers get websites because of they will wield the mighty website power, not because they feel threatened and motivated by fear.  I’m officially opposed to subliminal blackmail sales techniques.

Long live the sword of website greatness!

TO BE CONTINUED

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Diane writes two columns for Freelance-Zone: (1) Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and (2) Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Writing.