Establishing an Internet Presence

In reading a blog on marketing tips, it's only fitting that the fist tip I offer is that of establishing an internet presence. Look, marketing is all about one thing: How do I get my product in front of someone who will buy it? In the days before the internet, companies would buy ads on radio, TV, and in print media. They would hire people to go door to door to tell people how great their vacuum cleaner is. They would hire someone to stand in a chicken suit on the side of a busy road to get the attention of drivers. In fact, there are some pretty interesting, if not crazy, things people to do gain the attention of a potential buyer.

As an author, this is the side of the business you may not like, nor feel prepared to delve into. I can understand and appreciate that. But take heart. It doesn't have to be a daunting, expensive road for you. Sure, if you had millions to spend on a Superbowl commercial, you could probably get in front of more eyes than any other way, right? But for those of us on a shoestring budget, we sometimes don't even have the money to get our next cafe mocha at Starbucks, right, let alone hundreds or thousands of dollars for an ad campaign.

In this blog, I will offer you some free, or near free things you can do right now to begin your marketing campaign. These are not "the best" or "the only" things out there. These are things that I have done that have worked for me. As I run across things that work better, I will share them with you, right here.

Establishing an Internet presence is a must in today's marketing environment. And the nice thing about getting you and your book on the net is that once you are there, you are there forever. It's not like an ad that you buy in a magazine, and when the next issue is out, your ad is gone. The more you add info on the Internet about you and your book, the easier it will be for potential readers to find your book. And with the Internet, you are in a position where you can actually compete with the big-name authors for readers. To see what I mean, take a few moments to read a blog I guest-wrote for Fresh Fiction entitled, The Great Equalizer.

So, without further delay, here are some of the things you can do right now to establish an internet presence:

1. You need a Website. Period. This is no longer an option. And you don't need to know HTML or Dreamweaver to put up a descent site anymore. Hosting companies like 1and1.com, Godaddy.com, or a myriad of others can get you set up in less than an hour for around $10 to $20 per month. Those hosting plans come with a simple web site builder option where you can use a predesigned template for your website and just add your text and pictures. Not bad.

2. You also need a URL. That's the address you use for people to find your site on the internet. SamsonEffect.com is the URL for my book, The Samson Effect. It is the address for the book on the internet. My advice for you is to get your name as an internet address. I wish I had gotten TonyEldridge.com, but another person beat me to it 5 days before I realized it was something that I needed. Trust me, the bald guy with the earring and the manly pose on that site is not me. Expect to spend about $10 per year on your URL. Not bad. And my advice is, always try to get a .com URL first. Those are the most recognizable and the easiest for people to remember if you have to verbally give them your web address.

3. If you don't have, or don't want to spend the $10 to $15 per month on a web page, how does free sound? You can set up your own little corner of the Internet by opening a free account at Blogger.com and/or Wordpress.com. These are the two biggest, most used blog providers on the Internet today. Blogger is operated by Google and WordPress is an open source platform to make it free to all who want it. Each has it's advantages and disadvantages. Each has it's supporters and critics. However, both will do a great job at getting you up on the web for free so you can start letting people know how to find you and your book. And you know what's cool? You can register your own URL and both services will point your blog to it. Here is Blogger's page on how to do that. Here is Wordpress's page on how to do that. And many authors are using these blogs as their sole web page for them or their books. Others, like me, have a website for my book as well as numerous blogs that I write. Be careful, with the ease of setting up your own blogs, you may become a blogaholic if you are not careful.

**Hint. I have set up Marketing Tips for Authors on Blogger and Wordpress. I write this blog on Blogger and then I go to my Wordpress account and click the import button. Presto- The blog, along with any comments you leave, are transferred to Wordpress. Now I have two places that people can find info about me on the web. (I can even import it to my Facebook page, but more about that on a later post).

This is about all I want to say about establishing a presence on the web in this post. In future posts, I will talk about how to track your traffic on your website, whether you use your own web site, Blogger, or Wordpress. I will also give you some tips on how to find readers for website and blogs once you have them set up.

I will leave you with this last, offline tip that may save you money. Visit the Online Print House to compare prices for getting your full color business cards, posters, bookmarks, and postcards printed. I have used them and was blown away by their quality And no, I am not being paid to mention them. But here is what I am talking about. 1250 full color, 2 sided business cards are $59; 2500 full color, 2 sided bookmarks are $135. Click the link to see all their prices if this is something you are interested in.

Tony Eldridge