MUST HAVE BOOK PROMOTION TOOLS

I've talked about this before on previous posts, somewhere in time. But I just want to reiterate once again and possibly give you information you haven't heard as writers.

First of all, these are the imperatives, as far as I'm concerned. If nothing else, please do these things for yourself:

1. Create an author website
2. Create an author's blog
3. Create an author Facebook account
4. Create an author Twitter account
5. Create an author's page on Amazon

If you do nothing else, this will get you out there and make yourself known and broaden your base of readers, thereby increasing your book sales.

Let's take them one by one. Today, let's talk about number one: Create an author website. This will be the only of the five that will cost you. But it can be minimal, depending on how you approach it.

I would suggest . . .

First go to GoDaddy.com and purchase a domain name. That will be your address (URL) on the Internet and will come up in searches for your name. So use your name or your penname as your URL. For instance, mine is www.rebeccabuckley.com . My publishing companies are www.rjbuckleypublishing.com and www.orangeflowerpublishing.com . The simpler the better, be specific. Don't make it difficult for potential readers to find you. Being too clever or cutesy can lose potential readers and buyers, they won't be able to find you. So use your name as your domain name.

Now, you might want to also create a website for each of your books, in addition to your primary website which will have all your books and everything about you. For instance, if your title is "Brownout", then you'd purchase the URL www.brownout.com . But if you have quite a few books, it could be a time-consuming task. So to start with just purchase your "name" domain name (URL, Internet address).

Next, on GoDaddy, you can actually begin creating your website right there, immediately. They provide that process for you. Or you can go to other website-maker sites and create from templates that are provided. Do searches on "how to create a website" or "website templates." Here are a few easy do-it-yourself website companies:

www.freewebs.com
www.intuit.com
www.weebly.com
www.webs.com
www.wix.com
www.yola.com

Some authors hire website designers because they just don't want to deal with it, depends on your budget. Some write their own html (the source code that creates the page) and upload their pages using CuteFTP, which is what I do. I purchase templates or get free ones, download them to my computer and then through WORD notepad, I create my pages, using CuteFTP to upload them to my FTP space parked on GoDaddy.

CuteFTP is a program that makes it sooooooooo easy to upload revised pages to your FTP space (which is the space parked on GoDaddy if you use them as your host). Your FTP space would be your domain name, for instance, mine is ftp.rebeccabuckley.com. That's where all your web pages are stored so when searchers type in www.rebeccabuckley.com ... they will be essentially directed to your homepage in your ftp space. And, CuteFTP makes it easy for you to upload or delete files in your FTP space. Check it out.

Now if you use a webpage maker, an Internet company who handles all that for you, then you wouldn't need CuteFTP. You'd upload and make changes through their website.

Whatever direction you go, however, it is a must to have a website. You have to do it. Do your research.