Tag Archives: websites

Business, Marketing yourself

10 Reasons Writers Don’t Need A Website

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

website-building

Why I Have An Opinion About This

So, I’m starting a business where I (a writer) create websites for other writers.

(See, gone for months, yet we pick up exactly where we left off, talking marketing and writing.  That’s how you know we’re BFFs.)

But back to my new biz, Website Happiness.

The gist:  Super awesome sites for writers, no geek speak allowed,  just leading writers through bite-sized, easy peasy steps that accidentally help them with marketing and branding, while costing next to nothing.  Yeah, my slogan is kinda long, but “Just Do It” was taken.

So as I get ready to help some beta clients this weekend, this is a good time to tell you exactly why you don’t need a website.

Reason #1. Websites don’t really promote you (no matter what anyone else says).

Truth:  Websites sit there passively waiting for a human to show up.

cowboy with lassoThey are not a promotion machine with arms and legs, acting as your personal promoter, taking active steps on your behalf.  Nope.  They do not “get out there.”  They do not lasso docile readers or clients, create a stampede to your site, nor generate word-of-mouth by their very existence.

And that’s what a lot of writers seem to think (or hope).

“If I have a website (quality?  who cares!), I won’t have to work.  It will do the marketing for me!  That’s just the genius of web pages.  And I has them.

Soon (mwahahaha), everyone will know about me and all my literary goodness.  Excitement will build because I have an URL.  Finally, I am famous.”

Oh, and I can tell people I have a platform.  Sweet!

What’s that, you say?  It’s not passive?  It really does go out there with the power of Google!

Ah, no.  Getting your site listed in Google searches is also passive.  Google waits for a search to be entered, an invitation, a click.  And even then, seeing lists of sites is not the same as promotion.

Truth

When a reader (or client ) shows up at your website door, if you have an effective website with effective content, yes, it’s possible to educate and influence that reader… if they’re a good fit for you, your writing, or your services.

Your website will passively wait for your reader to decide if this is the case.

And if you really do an amazing job, your reader might tell her friends.  In fact, if you’re amazing, she might tell complete strangers at the grocery store.

So you can see there’s a lot of stuff you have to do right first.  And your website visitor gets to make every decision, starting with deciding to find your site.

That said, if someone does decide to look for you online, and if you’re not there, then you pretty much have zero chance of educating or influencing them at that moment in time.

Just saying.

TO BE CONTINUED….

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clip_image001[4]Diane writes two columns for Freelance-Zone: (1) Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and (2) Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Writing.

Marketing yourself

7 Marketing Secrets for Writers: When the Message Takes a Lot of Words (part 3)

We freelance writers (including fiction writers) are largely in charge of our own marketing.  It’s up to us to answer all those “why hire us, why buy our work” questions.

This series explores winning strategies by using Free Our City as an example of awesome.

FOC Front Start Here:

  1. Be Bold.
  2. Use Structural Shorthand.
  3. Marry The Message With Skim-able Design.

FOC Page 2 FOC Page 3

4. Be Real.

No fake hype.

Nothing needs to be hyped as more wonderful (or more evil) than it actually is. We won’t believe you. We know better.  And we’ll hold it against you if you do this.

Seriously, is there such a thing as a “Universal Premier” for a TV show?  It’s a US show.  It’s probably just a “US Premier.” (And if it hasn’t aired yet, can it be “America’s Favorite Show This Season?”

On the other hand, being real will… Continue reading 7 Marketing Secrets for Writers: When the Message Takes a Lot of Words (part 3) →

Marketing yourself

7 Marketing Secrets for Writers: When the Message Takes a Lot of Words (part 2)

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

How Do You Get Your Reader or Client to Take Action?

You have a website, a brochure, a newsletter… but does it work?  Does it sell books?  Does it bring you clients?

Simply put, do your “longer” marketing materials make a difference?

“Free Our City” Does It Right

(And they have a much harder message than you do.)

Free Our City.  Non-profit.  Horrific topic (sex slavery).

foc banner

They need everyday people (who cringe at their topic) to take action.  And to do that, they have to get across a lot of information.  They must take a reader from 0 to 100 (not just 0 to 10).

Tough job.

Their mission?

As their back cover quote says: No, we are not satisfied and we will  not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water.” –Dr. Martin Luther King.

FOC BackThey use a 4-page, postcard-sized “booklet” to get this mission across and turn the reader into an activist, a bringer of justice.

This is marketing at its best, most useful, most hopeful.

It’s about the power of words to communicate.  And as freelance writers and fiction writers, you, too, need to harness this same power to communicate for your own business.

This isn’t about tag lines or jingles. This is about how to take a complicated message and share it with the world in a way that doesn’t disappear into the static.

If they can do it, so can you.

Last week, we looked at how they chose to (#1) own their message and( #2) use a tried and true structure to make it easy to digest.

There are 5 more things you can learn from Free Our City.

FOC Front

3. Marry The Message With Skim-able Design.

Continue reading 7 Marketing Secrets for Writers: When the Message Takes a Lot of Words (part 2) →

advice, fiction

If You Hate Rough Drafts….

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

Some writers dread starting a project. 

They’re a perfectionistic lot, refusing to be pleased with the  imperfect efforts known as DRAFTS.

Somehow, drafts feel like failure.

its all bad

Is This You?

Real Life Artist, Chloe, has an idea book.  That’s better than a rough-draft book, don’t you think?

Rough Draft Book = WRONG BAD EVIL WRITING (that is blood-smeared from my valiant and noble efforts to craft worthy prose)

Idea Book = BRILLIANT NOODLING AND GENIUS LEAPS OF GREATNESS (that are effortless, feel like recess, and taste like lollipops)

And this got me thinking about Catherine Tully’s write-from-the-gut first draft.

Writing in an all-out passion is the dream.  Some writers even do it on an on-going basis.

But many writers wrestle with first drafts and every draft after that:  the imperfect, necessary drafts.

So I’m going to suggest some solutions.

1)  Stop Failing.

Don’t continue to follow your writing process if it never works for you. (Or if it only worked for you once, 10 years ago.)

2)  What You Tell Yourself About Your Process Matters.

Figure out what you believe about your writing process and first drafts.  Make a list.  When you run out of ideas for your list, ask what you assume about your writing, what you fear, and what you want to force to be true.

Trust me, you’ve got some hinky ideas that are holding you back.  Some writers actually believe they are bad at writing first drafts.  Or can’t write more than 2 pages a day. Or can only write at home, in the evening, if no one else is home.

What you believe becomes true (and yet unhelpful) and will stop you from finding a solution.

3)  Speed Liberates.

Look at the speed of your writing.  Many writers write better when they’re forced to write fast (timed speed-sprints).  Better means easier, happier writing, and also all-around better writing.

4) Be a Detective.

Keeps tabs on your  process.

Watch for times when you start bogging down, when you hate what you’re writing, when you start resisting writing altogether.  What specifically is happening?  What course corrections work to turn it around?

  • Sometimes, when you start slowing down, hating the draft , you’re headed in the wrong direction.  It’s your gut instinct speaking up. 
  • Or maybe your creativity benefits from background music. 
  • Or maybe you just don’t write well after 45-minutes of hard focus, and you need a break.

5) Project vs. Process.

Not all projects are worth spending your life on.  They don’t keep your attention, much less engage your passion.  And working on a project you hate stops you from working on something that sings to you.

When you are hating a first draft, it’s crucial to know the difference between Wrong Project and Broken Process.  (PS  If your writing process is broken, all projects become the Wrong Project.)

BONUS:  Learn to be Imperfect.

Seriously.  If the problem is perfectionism, then learn how and when to be imperfect.  And learn why this is beneficial.

Here’s why I think it’s absolutely essential:

Trying things out is how you find your genius. 

That’s all drafting is.  Exploring the universe of what you could write.  Trying something, then something else.

Just to  see what’s possible. 

So instead of perfect, try to be possible.  Pretty much all great  inventions happened because someone tried something to see what was possible.

Possible is the new Black.

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clip_image004Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

Business, Marketing yourself

7 Marketing Secrets for Writers: When the Message Takes a Lot of Words

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

Not everything is a jingle.

Sometimes the message is a mouthful.  A conversation.  An mini-education.  Even a rant.

Then what?  How does marketing work when you need to give your reader/client a lot of information?

You can’t force them to listen.

Force someone to listen

For one thing, you’re not even there in person.  They’re looking at your words.  And baby, reading your words, your marketing material, is totally, 100% voluntary.

That, my friend, is your biggest hurdle.  Think it’s hard to gain “visibility” with a 5-second tag line?  Try holding a stranger mentally captive for 5 minutes so that you can get your long message across.

Big fun, that.

The Lesson

Yesterday I read a 5-minute marketing message by accident.

I was at Starbuck’s, and I ambled over to the bulletin board while I waited on my whole-milk latte. So, I’m here for coffee to go.  I’m not hoping to learn something or take notes.

On the bulletin board, I expected information about (a) garage bands and (b) manicures.  Instead, I read Free Our City’s marketing brochure.  4 pages long.  Front, back, two inside pages. On a topic I didn’t want to read about (sex slavery). 

And I read all 4 pages.

If Free Our City can get tender-hearted me to read on such a gruesome, appalling, heartbreaking topic, then they’re doing something right.  (And aren’t I just the type of person who should be their reader?)

Here’s what we can learn from Free Our City.

FOC Front

1. Be Bold.

Own your message. Get to the point. Lead with the bottom line or at least something that clues the reader in to the topic at hand.

Even if it’s a tough topic, dancing around it won’t help.  In the seconds or minutes that you try to ease into it, your reader has moved on to manicures.

We don’t want to be lured into messages.  We’re hip to all forms of marketing, so don’t toy around with us.

So I read the topic, saw that it was Sex Slavery in my own city, and I felt obligated to read more.  It’s my city for Pete’s sake!

Q,  What’s your bold message?  What message do you need to just go ahead and own?

2. Use Structural Shorthand.

When you frame your information in a format that is familiar, we know the rhythm of what’s ahead, PLUS we’re able to take it in bite-sized pieces.

FOC Page 2

By using a Top 10 List, I was able to digest a whole lot of key information at a glance. In fact, with 10 items, there’s a subconscious test: Do you know all 10 things? 

That’s hard to resist

Examples of Structure Shorthand:

  • Top 10 Lists
  • Knock Knock / Who’s There?
  • Surveys
  • Questions / Answer
  • Definition Lists
  • FAQs (frequently asked questions)
  • Infographics
  • Timeline
  • Diary
  • Advice Column
  • Poem
  • Map
  • Interview
  • Artifact (real or fake)
  • Mind Map

Q.  How can you take the information you need to get across (for your freelance business? your novel? your blog post? a speaking opportunity?) and format it into an irresistible, easy-to-understand structure?

CONTINUED NEXT WEEK! 

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clip_image004Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

Marketing yourself

5 Website Mistakes That Most Writers Make

by Diane Holmes, Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book, founder of Pitch University.

Ah, the well-designed website!

Sigh. Writers have some craptastic websites, don’t they? No, I don’t mean you. I mean the “other” writers.

There are exceptions, writers who not only write good content, but also develop a well-designed, effective website.

But most writers have a do-it-yourself mentality (due to budget), so they figure out how to get something “up,” and they equate “something” with “awesome.”

websites that suck

#1  It looks homemade.

You think: “Look, Ma, I made that!”

They think: “If this represents the best they have to offer, then it’s not up to our standards.”

* Your website should be just as professional as your client’s website. Any client?  No.  Your best client.

If your clients don’t own websites, then aim to match or exceed the sites they consider similar to yours.

#2  I can’t read this mess.

You think: “I’ve got everything I need up there and it looks great.”

They think: “I can’t see that tiny font, and I especially can’t read that gray-colored font on that darker gray background or that weird glow effect.  And there’s so much freaking clutter, I can’t tell what to look at.”

* Reading, in the internet world, means skimming and finding your way around the site.  Your site visitors need to be able to skim your homepage in a couple second, get the key information, and decide to stay.

#3  Who is your customer, client, or buyer?

You think: “I like to write and sell my writing.  I’m for hire!” (Or “I have a book!!!”

They think: “I’m looking for something specific, and all I see here is someone who generally likes to write and is desperate for work.”

* You should be thinking: “I know who you are, and I’m here to delight you.”

Then focus on just that portion of the population who will really get you and who you’ll really delight.

#4 We need to talk about your personality.

You think: “I have to include this information.”

They think: “There’s nothing here that really gets me excited; it’s just information.”

* Have a voice. Create a relationship.  Be interesting, dynamic, and unique.  Make them say, “That’s the guy!  I’d love to work with him.”

You think: “Hire me now!!!  Call in the next 30 seconds!  I’m excellent and wonderful combined with chocolate.”

They think: “Hey, I’m in control of this visit, and I’m clicking the back button right now.”

* You can’t force people to want your writing.  But you can be excited about what you do and present it so that your perfect audience recognizes you as amazing.

#5 Info, info, info… all about you.

You think: “They came to the website to find out about me, me, me.”

They think: “I’m going to the website to see if there’s something I want.”

* You should be thinking: “They’re coming to my website wanting and needing something specific, and I’ll show them I have the perfect solution.”

Not communicating the problem or need you’re solving and the benefit you’re providing is a huge mistake. That’s how visitors decide if the website and YOU are a match to what they were hoping to find.

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Diane Holmes Crop 1Diane writes two columns for Freelance-Zone: Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

She’s the Founder and Chief Alchemist of Pitch University.