• Magazine
• Newspaper
• Online media outlet or content site
• Radio station
• TV program
• Blog
• Podcast

It’s more powerful than advertising and other paid-for marketing tactics because it brings with it far more credibility. That’s because when you’re quoted by the press, you get an authority boost.

People are smart enough to know that journalists are selective about who they use as sources. So, if a reporter chose you, you must know what you’re talking about.

What are the easiest and most effective ways to get publicity? Here are my top three.

1. Write and distribute a publicity tip sheet.

A tip sheet is a type of press release that offers tips or advice in a bulleted or numbered format.

Like a press release, it’s written like a news story so that a media outlet or blogger can run it as is. No additional research or writing is necessary.

Media outlets, especially newspapers and magazines, like tip sheets because they can pull out just one or two tips to fill space. They also run them as short articles or use them as a starting point for longer feature stories.

Radio stations like to share the advice in snippets or, like TV talk shows, build author interviews around the tip sheet topic. Bloggers run them as new posts because tip sheets with substance help them deliver useful information to their followers.

Learn how to create one and see an example in “How to create a book publicity tip sheet.”

2. Blog regularly.

When I’m looking for sources for my freelance writing article assignments, I often start with a Google search.

I might type in my article topic, or, when I specifically want to interview an author, I’ll type the topic plus the word “author.”

More often than not, search results take me to blog posts. I contact the blogger via email; if they respond (and sadly, it’s “if,” not “when”), we do an interview … and that expert scores free publicity.

Here’s how you can leverage your blog’s content to get publicity:

• Provide your email address on your “contact” page, not a form that people have to type into. Because I rarely get a response to my form-based inquiries, I try not to use them when I find a source I’d like to interview. If I can use only one of the two experts I’ve found, I’ll start with the one who provides an email address.
• Respond to media inquiries quickly. Most of us move on to the next option quickly when we don’t hear back from someone we’ve contacted within a reasonable amount of time.

3. Subscribe to HARO.

HARO – Help a Reporter Out – is a free service that helps journalists find sources to interview and quote in articles and broadcast segments.

It is one of the easiest – if not the easiest – ways to get book publicity.

HARO is every book publicist’s secret weapon because works. That’s why every time I coach an author who wants media exposure, the first thing I ask is, “Are you using HARO?”

And it’s free.

HARO feeds you requests from journalists

When you create a free HARO account, you’ll get three emails a day. Each of these emails includes a collection of brief messages from journalists who are looking for article or segment sources. We call those messages from journalists “queries.”

I use HARO regularly to find people to interview or quote for my freelance writing assignments, and, sad to say, I rarely hear from authors.

Worse, those I hear from don’t respond in a way that makes it possible for me to interview or quote them.

That’s because there’s a right way and a wrong way to respond, and many sources of all types, not just authors, respond the wrong way.

HARO response secrets

I teach how to use HARO the right way to get publicity for your author career and your book in my course, “Get Quoted: A Journalist’s Strategies for using HARO to Snag Book Publicity.”

Mastering HARO will give you a competitive edge that will not only help you sell more books, it will contribute to the platform you need to get a traditional publishing contract.

And, for those who consult, coach, or speak, it will boost your profile in ways that attract more clients and allow you to charge more for your services.

Get more information on the Get Quoted course description page.

Publicity begets publicity

It’s important to use any of these methods or others, including contacting media outlets directly with article or segment ideas, because publicity begets publicity.

Here’s what often happens once you’ve been quoted a couple of times:

• You, your book, and your website show up higher in search engine results when people, including journalists, search for your topic.
• Journalists who see you’ve been quoted already are more likely to contact you for an interview. That’s because another reporter has vetted you, and because it’s clear that you’re willing and able to talk about your topic.

You also earn the right to share media outlet, blog, podcast, and content site logos on your website in an “as seen on” banner.

Don’t wait to pursue publicity. Let this free strategy help you reach more of the right readers.

Have you snagged publicity? Please tell us how you did it in a comment!

You just have to have them.

Images serve several purposes on blogs. First, they make each post much more attractive and readable. They draw the visitor’s eye to your content and, with long posts, break up the text so it’s less overwhelming.

In addition, they help your blog post get found by search engines when you have the right keywords in the image title and the “alt text.” The “alt text” option in WordPress gives you another opportunity to add the keywords to your image.

They also draw more attention to your post when you and others share links to your content on social media.

Quality counts

Your images won’t help if they aren’t top quality, though. And I say that knowing that the best-known stock photography sites charge more than the typical author wants to spend on blog post images.

Fortunately, several sites offer quality stock images for free. I only discovered them when my favorite paid image source, DollarPhotoClub.com, went out of business. I started researching affordable alternatives, fully intending to pay for access, when I stumbled upon several sources of top quality free images.

Why pay $100 or more a year when there are so many quality options that don’t charge?

Free stock image sources

Here are a few of the best free stock image sources. Use the search box on each site to search for the types of images you should be using in your blog posts (for example, I typed “books” into each search box). That will help you determine which site might be the best for your blogging and social media image needs.

1. Gratisography

Photographer Ryan McGuire adds new photos every week but with just one photographer, the selection is more limited than it is on other sites.

2. Kaboompics

This free photo site has a particularly impressive selection of images for a wide range of topics. The home page alone inspires me to find and use more images.

3. Pexels

I found Pexels.com when a service I write for recommended it as an image source. I like that it prompts me every once in awhile to donate to the photographers via PayPal. I’ve been using this site the most but I’m about to try Kaboompics next to see if there are more image options.

4. Picjumbo

Photographer Viktor Hanasek lets you search his vast library of free images, opt for premium membership ,or even purchase the All in One Pack of every image from the site. An email subscription will get a selection of new photos sent to your inbox weekly.

When searching on this site, use the search box in the upper right of the screen. Don’t use the DepositPhotos.com search box if you want free images — that search box will take you to a paid image site.

5. Pixabay

Pixabay offers photos plus illustrations and videos, which makes it even more useful. You can also filter search results by type, color, category, size, and more.

6. Unsplash

With more than 50,000 free images, you’ll have plenty of options here. You can also subscribe to get an inspirational collection in your email each month.

While these free stock image sites offer all types of photos, you can also use a search engine to find sites that provide photos for specific niches that include food and travel.

4 tips for using images in your blog posts

These six sites will help you find exactly what you need for your blog. Before you start downloading images, though, make note of these tips for using them effectively. (These are the kinds of things nobody tells you when you start blogging.)

• Read this helpful guest post on this site, “How to pick the right images for your blog posts.“
• Check the rules on the image sites to make sure you understand the terms. For example, some might require you to provide source attribution.
• Resize the images. Big images cause pages to load slowly. You can resize in Microsoft Paint (a standard accessory on Windows computers) or with the tools at online sites that include BeFunky.com.
• Keep your author brand in mind when selecting and editing images. The mood evoked by images should match your website’s mood. And, when adding text, use colors that are compatible with your site colors.

Before you start adding quality images to your blog posts, check your Google Analytics account to see how many people are visiting your site. Check again a couple of months after you’ve started adding images. It’s quite likely that you’ll see an increase in traffic.

You will probably see a boost in your social media shares, as well.

What’s more, you might even enjoy the process of searching for — and finding! — just the right image for each post. I know I do.

What are you doing that’s working for your blog? Please tell us in a comment. 

Tip of the Month

I always share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

This month it’s the free “Build Book Buzz Book Marketing Plan Template” you can download and use immediately.

This easy-to-use fill-in-the-blanks template comes with complete instructions for filling it out. Available in PDF format, this document has everything you need to create your blueprint for book marketing success.

Plan ahead for your book’s success by downloading and using your free “Build Book Buzz Book Marketing Plan Template” immediately.

You need an author website. (No, you can’t use a Facebook Page in place of an author website.)

So the question isn’t the one I hear from so many authors — “Should I create a website?”

The question is: “What should I use for my author website address?”

Options include your:

• Author name
• Book title
• Book topic
• Company name
• Memorable phrase related to your book

For some, the answer is obvious. For others, it isn’t.

And the whole situation can be somewhat confusing, especially if you introduce landing pages into the conversation. (Landing pages are single page sites designed to get people to take a specific action, such as provide an email address to receive a free digital download, enter a contest, purchase a product, register for an event, subscribe to a newsletter, and so on. There are no toolbars or menus because all of the content is contained on that single page.)

In general (but definitely not always . . .), the safest option for many for your site address/URL/domain name is your own name. It helps build your author brand while offering the most content flexibility.

In fact, Theresa Geraghty, vice president of product marketing at the world’s largest domain registration company, GoDaddy, recommends reserving your name even if you don’t plan to use it.

“You want to own your identity, especially while you’re building your brand,” she says.

11 questions to ask about your author website name

It helps to have a process to follow as you examine your website naming options so you know what makes the most sense for your situation — not mine, or anyone else’s.

Here are 11 typical questions along with suggestions that work for each situation. Skim this list for your situation. Not all of these will relate to you.

1. Will this be your only book?

If it’s a one-off and you have other reasons not to use your author name (it’s too hard to spell or too common), consider using the book title or a shortened version of it.

2. Do you expect to write more than one book?

Reserve your author name.

3. If you write nonfiction and you’re going to write several books, will they be on the same topic?

If they are, either your author name or a memorable address related to the topic make sense.

If you’ll be writing on disparate topics, there’s no quick answer. You can use your name and allocate site real estate to each book, buy the book title domain name for each book, or set up topic sites. If it were me, I’d probably use my author name and subdivide the site for SEO (search engine optimization) and simplicity reasons.

4. If you write fiction and plan to write several books, will they be in the same genre or several genres?

If they’re the same genre, use your author name.

If you’ll write under different genres, you’re still better off for SEO reasons to keep everything on one site. Use your name as the URL and divide the content according to genre. Design the site home page so those content “buckets” are clear.

5. Do you plan to write a mix of fiction and nonfiction, in several genres, or about a range of topics?

For example, if you write in several genres, your author name can act as your umbrella site URL. The home page and toolbar or menu can direct visitors to the right book category. Each category can have its own section on the site.

You can use that approach if you write both fiction and nonfiction, too. Divide your site content by type.

On the other hand, if your fiction could alienate or offend your nonfiction audience (or vice versa) or it’s not wise to house both under one roof for other reasons, consider using your name plus the type — authornamefiction.com and authornamenonfiction.com.

6. If you’re a business owner, does the book support or relate to your business?

You can showcase the book on your existing site.

Another approach is to have two online homes for your book — add information about it to the existing website, but give the book its own website, too. Use the title or a shortened version of it for that URL. Then, link the book content on the business site to the book website, and add information about the business to the book’s website, and link it to the business site.

7. Is your name hard to spell or remember?

Geraghty advises purchasing your name, but then considering variations of it, too. Grab common misspellings plus your first name and last initial or that option with the word “author,” she says.

“Experiment by searching for several options to see which ones you like,” she says.

8. Do you already have a website with your name as the address (yourname.com) but it’s not an author site?

If your book is compatible with the site’s content, expand it to include book information. If it isn’t — if the two can’t coexist peacefully — consider buying your name plus “author” — yournameauthor.com.

9. Is the domain name (URL, web address) for your name or topic already claimed by someone else? 

This, Geraghty says, is exactly why she encourages people to buy their own name as soon as possible. When it’s too late for that, she recommends adding your middle name or initial, using your name plus “author,” “fiction,” “nonfiction,” or your genre (jenniferjonesromanceauthor.com).

Is the .net. .biz, or another extension option available? Grab it.

You can also try to buy your name from the current owner.

“GoDaddy can broker that,” she says.

10. Are you planning to build a business around your book?

Consider buying a memorable or clever domain name for the topic. For example, consider an entrepreneur with a gluten free cookbook who is planning to create online training programs or other products — an app or laminated cards travelers can use to request gluten-free meals in a wide range of languages. She should consider claiming an umbrella URL such as glutenfreegurl.com. The domain name will be the brand; the book and other products are part of that brand.

11. Do you write under a pen name?

Reserve your pen name domain name so that you’re easily found. You can also house your pen name writing on a website that uses your real name, but many authors use a pen name to keep the two separate and distinct, so keep that in mind as you make your decision.

Claiming your author website domain name

Reserving your domain name is often easier than determining the right name to use.

Because I use GoDaddy.com for all of my domain names, I became a GoDaddy affiliate. You can’t beat the price — you can get your website address for as little as $4.99 — and I love the customer service. (Tip: Geraghty says the customer service agents will even help you figure out what name to use.)

Start at the GoDaddy $4.99 domain name page or your favorite domain name registration site and type a few options in the search bar.

After you’ve added your author name (and any range of options — .com, .net, and so on) to your cart, play around with a few other options. Knowing that romance is one of the most popular genres today, I just searched for “bestromancebooksoutthere” — (best romance books out there) — and discovered it’s available! If I wrote romance books, I’d grab that for sure.

Don’t stop at one domain name

In fact, I’d recommend that you buy a few URLs so that you have choices. Here’s why: You can “redirect” all of those URLs to just one address. “Redirect” is another word for forward or “point it to.” As a result, pretending I’m a romance author, I can claim — purchase — sandrabeckwith.com, sandrabeckwithromanceauthor.com, and bestromancebooksoutthere.com. I might even purchase the .net addresses for those, too.

Then, I can use sandrabeckwith.com for my website URL, and redirect the other domain names to that address.

Here’s an example from real life: I offer authors a daily book marketing tips series, “365 Daily Book Marketing Tips.” I purchased dailybookmarketingtips.com because it’s memorable and relevant.

Click on that link, and look at the address at the top of the page. It’s not dailybookmarketingtips.com, is it? That’s because my webmaster redirected it to buildbookbuzz.com/365-daily-book-marketing-tips/.

I realize that naming your author website and then snagging the right domain name isn’t always as simple as just purchasing the URL for your name, though. If you still have questions and would like feedback on your options, jump on over to the Build Book Buzz Facebook group and post your question there. We’ve got a great group of smart and generous authors who are always willing to share their experiences.

What’s your author website domain name and why did you select that one? Tell us in a comment.

70 quick tips that will boost your author blog

By Federica Auletta

Any author can blog, but only a lucky few are successful at it. As a matter of fact, there are hundreds of millions of blogs available on the web, but the majority of internauts know only about a handful.

With that in mind, you might wonder how some bloggers drive tons of traffic to the blog on their website. Market Inspector has created an infographic (below) with 70 proven tips to help authors like you start or promote a successful blog on your site.

What to work on?

1. Search engine optimization – SEO

There are likely several key factors that influence a website’s search result rankings. No one is fully aware of how browsers classify pages, since these algorithms are kept a secret.

What is certain, though, is that some criteria have been identified: blog updates, the use of links, content relevancy, spam level, and domain authority are just some of the specifics that help optimize a page.

2. Attitude

Even behind a monitor, a personal approach always matters. The first rule for effective blogging is commitment. Perseverance and expertise are keywords when it comes to starting or managing a blog.

It’s important that the blog page is updated with unique content at least once a week. You want readers to anticipate your posts, so the only way to gain more traffic, better visibility, and returning visitors is to be a consistent blogger.

3. Content

Certainly, what mostly affects the performance of a page is that the content is not only engaging for your readers, but also for search browsers. This being said, the content provided has to be high-quality, unique, and innovative.

This is particularly true for authors, who should be using a blog to showcase their writing ability.

In addition, text length and keyword density make content relevant. Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on a web page compared to the total number of words on the page. The keyword should also be included in the title and headings to make it even more significant.

4. Target

Identifying an audience for your blog or article must be a priority even before you start writing. Therefore, start by collecting information about the questions people are asking and what answers they are looking for from someone like you.

To retain readers’ attention, it is essential to think like them and to catch their interest. This can be done by providing richer content than your competitors and by meeting the target audience’s needs.

5. Layout

Content is king, but how it looks counts as well. Both the layout of the blog and the posts themselves affect the final outcome. A clear layout, an easy-to-read font, and an appropriate balance of images is always important.

Concerning the text, the use of boldfacing, lists, numbers, and spacing always helps give the eyes a break from condensed paragraphs. A good layout is not only visually pleasant, but is also more appealing to read since it targets the right side of our brain – the creative side.

6. Network

Spreading the message is the last phase of the author blog-building process. At this point, it’s important to be current by creating a page for your blog on every social media site. Social media platforms are certainly related to online marketing, and therefore are important even for blogs.

Share groundbreaking articles. This will help your post spread more quickly, which, in turn, will help you develop a larger network of readers.

The comprehensive infographic below offers 70 helpful tips for making certain that your author blog takes off, whether you’re just starting out or have been blogging for some time. Set a schedule to implement them over time, starting with the easier ones first, and watch your blog soar!

Which tip from this list will you act on first? Share it in a comment below.