6 Tips for World Building in Your Fantasy

 

Because of my love of world building, I’ve always been drawn to the fantasy genre and knew I wanted to try writing a fantasy. But I found out very quickly that crafting a breathing, living world isn’t as easy as reading about one. Suddenly, I needed to know how long it would take to get from one city to the next on horseback. And how long could a horse travel at top speed in a day anyway? When the main character got to that next town, what does the architecture look like? What’s the hierarchy of authority?

It occurred to me then that I wasn’t just building a world where the main character lives, I was building a world where thousands of people exist. If I wanted to make my fantasy feel real, then I was going to have to understand what was going on beyond my main character’s point of view.

With that in mind, here are a few tips I’ve learned to help craft realistic fantasy worlds.

1. Not every world needs to be based off of the European Medieval period.

I love “classic” European-based fantasy, and the fashion of the medieval period fits so well with the epic fantasy feel. But I’ve found that selecting other cultures as a base for your fantasy world can really bring that fresh feeling to your fiction.

2. If you do decide to base your fantasy world off a certain culture, do your research.

This is such an important detail. I know it’s tempting to start writing after plotting and creating characters, but researching about the culture and time period you’ve selected will allow you to pick the most important aspects to add. Research far and wide, even though you’ll only end up keeping about 10% of what you find. If you’ve done your homework, it’ll show in the informed decisions you make while writing and will make your world feel unique.

[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing: How to Build Fantastic Worlds]

3. Say “yes” to yourself.

This is one I had a lot of trouble with in the beginning. It’s hard to trust your gut, but the worst that can happen when you’re writing a fantasy is to get too bogged down in the details. If you find that to be the case, you can edit them out. Better to have many details that you can par down than to have a bare and unimaginative world.

4. Only keep your best ideas.

This one might be in contradiction with the last tip, but it’s really important, too. If you’ve said yes to everything about your world that’s popped into your head, the likelihood of your story being long and reading slow is pretty strong. But now you have so many details to work with. Use the details to craft multiple sentences of the same topic, describing details in different ways. Half of my first drafts are sentences written over and over again describing things differently. It’s easier to shape your favorites after you’ve done the hard work of thinking them up.

5. Give your world a history.

Take the time to go through your world’s backstory, per se. Even if you don’t know who first decided to cultivate the land your bustling main city is on now, make sure there are at least rumors on how the people think their world was created. Nothing is worse than reading about a setting that feels like it just sprang to life because the main character came there. Know the history so you know what shaped your character’s minds—even if you only use a fraction of it.

6. Keep it simple.

Above all, simplicity is always the right choice. If you have to bend over backwards to explain something, it probably doesn’t need to be in your manuscript. If you need to drink an entire mug of coffee to interpret or discuss your world’s over-complicated magic system, you should rethink things. Chances are that the simplest answers are often the strongest, and these details will make your world crystal clear to the reader.

Fantasy novels demand lush worlds. Readers want to discover the world you’ve created as much as they want to meet your new characters. Crafting a world that feels unique isn’t always easy, but if you do it correctly, every place on the page will feel like its own character. And who knows, you might even get readers to say a swear word you created or utter nox when turning out the lights after finishing their new favorite book.

**

Source: Amber Mitchell on Writer’s Digest

• FANTASY
• FICTION
• WORLDBUILDING
• WRITING

Five Secrets to Writing a Fascinating Memoir

Writing a memoir is difficult and extremely time consuming. Like many things in life, if it were easy, everyone would do it. It is so difficult, in fact, that there are in all likelihood more memoir drafts on paper, computer hard drives, and various memory devices than memoirs published.

The rewards of writing a published work, however, can be beyond imagination. No words can adequately describe the feeling of seeing one’s book on the shelves of a bookstore for the first time. It is like Christmas morning and your birthday all rolled into one.

While the writing of a memoir is difficult, it is obviously not impossible given the number published. To assist the aspiring new author, I have distilled the problem down to five basic areas for anyone bold or insane enough to venture into these waters:

1. Was Your Life Interesting to Anyone Other than You?

Before any would-be author writes the first word of a memoir, they must decide whether the details of their lives have been so interesting that if put to paper, people would wish to read the work.

By the time most of us have reached middle age, we possess an abundance of experience in a specific subject or simply life in general. However, are those experiences interesting to anyone else other than ourselves? While each of us may feel our lives have been utterly fascinating, others may not find our experiences as enthralling. The best way to determine whether your life is worthy of a formal memoir is to speak with people other than family or friends about the issue. They are best suited to give you an honest opinion on whether your proposed memoir would be of interest. While almost everyone has at least one book in them, and there is an audience for almost every book, be rational in your decision whether to move forward with a memoir.

2. Time and Place

Once a person decides to write a memoir, they must resign themselves to the fact that time is perhaps the most important element in any significant writing adventure. Someone once said, “The most difficult part of writing was putting backside to seat.” No truer words were ever spoken. Writing a memoir piecemeal, a few minutes each day, is almost impossible. Rather, it should be attacked with an aggressiveness and sense of purpose, which can include writing for hours and days at a time. It is helpful to set aside a specific time each day to write, but impromptu sessions based upon sudden ideas are fine too. Never let a spontaneous memory or idea go unwritten or it will surely be lost. In addition, while devoting a great deal of time to the work is essential, take a day or two off from writing when you develop a case of writer’s block. It is not uncommon to simply lose focus from time to time. A little time off will generally put you back on track.

Equally important as time is a proper environment to write in. While Hemingway frequently wrote standing up from any place he could set a typewriter, most of us do not work that way. To write effectively, it is best to segregate one’s self in a quiet room away from family, TV, pets, and all other distractions. Let everyone in the house know that you are not to be disturbed for anything other than a true emergency during writing hours. Along these lines, be aware that the writing bug can cause family rifts. Children sometimes do not understand why mom or dad disappear each evening into the study with orders not to be disturbed rather than spending time with them. Also, spouses and significant others may find it difficult sharing you with your new lover known as the memoir.

3. Make an Outline and Begin at the Beginning

Before beginning to write your masterpiece, it is best to begin by writing the table of contents, as this will serve as the all-important outline. I discovered that my writing moved in a logical, easy flowing sequence by deciding at what point in life the memoir was to begin from, then chronologically writing about each phase. For example, do you want to begin your story from the cradle, or perhaps merely mention those years briefly and move right into the main story? Once the outline or table of contents has been completed, you may then fill in each section as you wish. In other words, while the table of contents must be in order, you do not have to write your memoir in order from beginning to end. Simply fill in each chapter as you outlined them and it will all fall into place. The writer should always attempt, however, to keep the information flowing chronologically and in a logical fashion.

4. Learn From Others

While plagiarism is a major sin in any sort of writing, there is nothing wrong with examining the memoirs of others to help with your own ideas. Decide what memoirs are similar to what you are trying to write. If you are a pilot for example, study the memoirs of Chuck Yeager or John Glenn. If you are an actor, read memoirs of actors for ideas. In the end, your writings must be your own but there is no reason to re-invent the memoir wheel.

5. Consider a Ghost Writer

Perhaps you have an idea for a great memoir, but you are not much of a writer. Do not let your amazing, exciting life go unwritten simply because you cannot put a sentence together. If that is your situation, find someone who can write to help you polish and structure the work. Perhaps you know a former English major who can help, or simply a well-read person willing to review your work and help correct the draft. While a draft may be as ugly as you wish, the final product must be clean, grammatically correct, and readable. There is also the option of merely sitting down with a writer and speaking your memoir to them, then let that person do all the work. Writers can be contracted for a price, or if you are fortunate enough to sell a publishing house on your work, they will provide the ghostwriter at no charge.

Credit: Writer’s Digest

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The Seven Most Common Email Marketing Mistakes

1. Unsolicited messages (but you don’t believe they are)

Are you absolutely sure that you have your customers’ consent to send them a specific message? If you send a commercial message to customers (or prospects) who did not subscribe to receive such messages from you in a direct and verifiable way (i.e. they received a subscription confirmation request and confirmed the subscription), you are sending SPAM. It doesn’t matter if you believe it isn’t, or if you think that the recipients will definitely be interested in what you are about to tell them. Don’t do it. It will negatively impact your reputation, the perception and respectability of your brand, the deliverability of future messages (as users will complain), and – of course – the effectiveness of the message itself.

Some businesses send spam because they believe it has a positive return on the investment. Apart from being illegal, unsolicited messages typically have a minuscule return on the investment. Responsible and well-managed marketing campaigns – even on small numbers – will deliver a much higher return.

2. Sending without testing

It’s a jungle of desktop- and Web-based email software out there! That said, many businesses can spot and resolve problems in just a few minutes by testing a message on the most popular email clients (e.g. Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo!, Outlook,…). Make sure links work, images are loaded correctly (once permission has been granted), and there are no grammar and spelling mistakes. Then, focus on how the message is displayed across the different email programs.

For a more in-depth review of the message, you can use a service like Email Analysis.

In terms of testing the results of a campaign – if you are becoming a pro – you can use A/B testing to test variations of the same message on a small portion of the list, and then send the best-performing one.

3. Underestimating subject and sender

The key to the success of an email campaign resides with two often overlooked elements: subject and sender. They are absolutely critical in the recipient’s decision to open or not open a message. First, they need to recognize you (don’t change the sender!). Secondly, you need to convey that the message is an interesting one.

A subject that says “September Newsletter” is likely going to attract a lot less attention than “[News] The 7 ways to send effective emails”. That said: no tricks: never create a subject that is not consistent with the body of the message.

4. Mishandling unsubscribes

Your customers need to be able to unsubscribe with a maximum of 2 clicks, without having to receive a confirmation message, and without having to enter the email address that they are unsubscribing or a password to log into an account. Making it difficult for recipients to unsubscribe can only have one effect: they will complain by flagging your message as spam, or blocking you as a sender.

As multiple recipients take these actions, your sender reputation will begin to deteriorate, and your deliverability will suffer. Your messages will start getting delivered directly to the spam folder, or not delivered at all.

5. I’m a graphic artist!

Creating a well-formatted email message is not like writing a Word document, and not even like creating a Web page. The fact that different email clients can render the same message very differently – if certain best practices are not followed – creates complexities that can heavily affect the success of a campaign. A list of do’s and don’t’s is available in the article “How to create a good HTML message”.

A message quickly thrown together will immediately be recognized as such by many of your recipients. The risk is that the message may not even be legible on some email clients (e.g. because of the way backgrounds are handled). The structure of the message is also very important: don’t take for granted that the message will be read in its entirety (it often is not), that recipients will fully understand it, and that they will know what you are expecting them to do. Be as concise and clear as possible, and then link to more information.

If the message contains a request for action, make sure that it is prominently displayed and explained, and not just contained in an image (which might not be shown). Letting graphics do the talk is not a good idea because in many cases those graphics will not be displayed (e.g. blocked by default, not downloaded by the user who might be in a hurry, or not shown due to the message being accessed on a mobile device).

6. Ignoring message statistics

Message statistics are nice, but few actually take the time to really review them, learn from them, and act accordingly. Each piece of information carries an important message. The Open Rate is typically affected by the mailing frequency, by the sender/subject combination, and by the trust-based relationship that you have established with the customer over time. The Click Rate (within opened messages) is a great indicator of the quality of the content, the effectiveness of the “call to action”, and the relevance of the message to those particular recipients.

Other statistics such as the Delivery Rate (how many emails get there?) and Unsubscribe Rate will help you understand the quality of the list and of the overall communication strategy. Monitoring statistics over time will help you anticipate potential issues, profile recipients, discover the best time and frequency for your mailings, and track the percentage of active vs. inactive customers.

7. I don’t need an email marketing system

Without a professional email marketing system, the likelihood to see poor campaign results grows exponentially. Over 50% of recipients will likely never receive the message, for a number of reasons. An analysis of message statistics and bounces, together with some tests on the most popular email clients, will provide evidence of this.

Sending a message in BCC to a large number of recipients is a particularly bad idea. Apart from the fact that this technique leads to mistakes, is slow, does not allow for any personalization, and is blocked by many providers, many recipients will recognize that the message is part of a poorly executed mass mailing. This was the technique used by the first spammers.

The main reason to move to an ESP (an Email Service Provider) is – in one word – “infrastructure”. We do this for a living, and we worry every day about things like (sorry for the technical jargon) IP reputation, well formatted headers, throttling, feedback loops, bounce management, SPF, DKIM, etc. etc. We do it, so you don’t have to. And as antispam filters become stricter and stricter (rightfully so!), you need to know that all the precautions are in place so that your messages are not mistakenly flagged as spam.

Culled from Mailup

Post Tags:#email marketing#messages#mistakes

Selecting Your Niche As A Writer

There are different forms and types of writing. And it is important for a writer to have basic knowledge about each of the different types and forms, even if it is not your preferred choice.

It is also good for a writer to have a most preferred niche. That is, a place where you are comfortable, where you can write at any given time.

Sometimes, finding that niche might be very easy for some writers, while for other writers it might be difficult. This might be because of several reasons.

And one major difference is that people are different. While some people prefer creative writing, some prefer content writing. Some will rather write stories and have the liberty of picking their characters and giving them life, while some would love to write for brands and write within a framework. Meaning that they will write a few hundreds or thousands of words and be done.

This same thing happens when it comes to book writing. Some people prefer to write novels while some prefer motivational books or self-help books. And even for the creatives, there are still other genres like romance, suspense, thriller and the likes.

Here’s a guideline you can follow when selecting your most preferred niche.

You can select a niche based on what you want to build your name or brand on. That simply means you can select a niche around what you want to be known for. Do you want to be a novelist, or someone that writes children’s books or self-help? The choice is entirely up to you and up to your career choice. So make a careful exploration, know what you want to do and go for it.

You can select a niche based on job demands. This point applies to ghostwriters or people that are just writing to make money, and not necessarily to make a name for themselves in the writing world. So you can train yourself and get comfortable in the niche that most people seem to have a need for in your location.

You can select a need based on your preference. In as much as it is good to have an idea of the different forms and types of writing, it is also important to find a place where you are most comfortable in, where you can make stretches and meet the deadlines of your work. Settling in a niche where you are not comfortable can be quite a stretch and can tarnish your image if you do not deliver, or if you do not do a good job.

Writing is very important. And sometimes, this writing can be based on your character as a person. So if you are good at marketing generally, you might be very good at writing content for clients that need advertising. If you love telling stories, you might be a good story writer or a novelist. Find that niche and spread your wings.

How To Measure Brand Awareness

Measuring brand awareness divides marketing. It is viewed by some as a pointless exercise, an accumulation of vanity metrics that bears no relation to marketing ROI.

The other school of thought, advocated by Bryan Sharp, contends that one of the strongest drivers in making consumers buy is simply the ability to recall that product. Sharp states that brand recall is improved with a consistent and ubiquitous logo and tagline, by celebrity endorsements and traditional mass marketing.

This helps to explain why brands push so much money into sponsorship: by partnering with another global brand they increase their exposure to a wider audience.

 

Nobody expects Manchester United fans to rush out and buy a Chevrolet purely because the brand appears on the players’ shirts, yet the car manufacturer pays $71.4 million a year for the privilege.

The advantage for Chevrolet is that when a potential customer thinks about buying a car, the Manchester United deal increases the likelihood they can recall the brand and therefore consider purchasing one of its vehicles.

As Chevrolet’s CMO Tim Mahoney states, “Manchester United provides us with a global stage, including here in the U.S. That’s rare.”

 

According to Ad Age Datacenter Coca-Cola spent $3.3 billion worldwide on advertising in 2013 alone. Their brand is so strong Coke is one of a handful of generic trademarks. Without thinking, consumers often ask for a Coke when they mean any brand of cola.

So increasing awareness is important, which means measuring brand awareness to see what works for your brand and what doesn’t. However, brand awareness has always been one of the hardest things to measure. We take a look at the different ways you can monitor awareness below.

Tactics for measuring brand awareness

1. Surveys

Whether you conduct a survey by email, website or telephone, you can either ask existing customers how they heard of you or ask a random selection of people if they are familiar with your brand. The first approach will give you an understanding of how people hear about you, the second will give you an insight into the number of people that can recall your brand.

2. Look at website traffic

Measuring your website traffic over time can reveal insights into brand awareness, but it’s important you are looking in the right places. The direct channel in Google Analytics tracks the number of people who typed your URL into their address bar, used a browser bookmark, or clicked a link in an untracked email or offline document. Monitoring this over time will give you an indication of changes in brand awareness.

In the past, Google Analytics users were able to easily track the number of people using branded keywords to arrive on website.

Since Google moved to secure search in October 2011, measuring keyword traffic has become more difficult with the vast majority of keyword data hidden behind ‘(not provided)’ in the name of privacy.

This means you won’t know what proportion of people arrived through search knowing your brand, compared to those who have searched for non-brand keywords and happening upon you by chance.

Of course, not every brand will rely on a website to sell their products. Consumer goods is one example of an industry that is less reliant on direct-to-consumer sales.

The majority of Tide sales are likely to come via supermarkets as opposed to tide.com, meaning that website data might not reveal much insight into how brand awareness is driving sales.

3. Look at search volume data

Use Google Adwords Keyword Planner and Google Trends to check the volume of searches for your brand name, and to track it over time to see if search volumes are increasing.

This can be a simple but useful tool, but the data will be too dirty to use if your brand name is a generic term such as ‘Shell’ or ‘Seat’.

4. Use social listening

Perhaps the most effective tactic is to look at where people are already talking – social media and other websites.

Social listening allows you to listen into online, organic conversations about your brand across social media and the web. Listening to these unsolicited opinions allows you to hear consumers’ thoughts as they are naturally expressed.

This also overcomes one of the problems with surveys, response bias, where people may not give natural answers simply because of the format in which they are being asked.

Social listening tools, like Brandwatch, allow you to write your own refined searches that can overcome the problem of a generic brand name, allowing you to filter out all irrelevant mentions.

Which metrics should you measure?

Volume of Mentions

Simply by tallying the number of times your brand has been mentioned online you can discover the number of conversations involving your brand, and track any changes over time.

Importantly, you can track conversations that do not include @mentions or happen outside the official, owned channels of your brand.

Our analysis shows that up to 96% of conversations are outside these media. If you only use inbuilt analytics platforms (such as Facebook Insights), you can only see the tip of the iceberg.

Reach

Reach is the potential number of people that those mentions will be seen by. It takes into account the number of followers of each author who mentions you. So if someone with a million followers tweets about your brand it will spread brand awareness much more than a share from somebody who has 100 friends.

This is one of the reasons influencers are often courted during marketing campaigns; their large audience means anything shared by them has the potential to be seen by a lot of eyes.

Engagement

For some, engagement is beyond the remit of awareness – yet it can be important to track as it will provide an indicator of the effectiveness of awareness. The two do not exist independently of each other.

You want to know if people are actively digesting your content rather than watching it slip by on their news feed.

What should you be measuring against?

Benchmark

In order to track changes in brand awareness you need to benchmark against your baseline metrics, looking at a long enough time period to spot any natural peaks and troughs, as well as any anomalies.

Brandwatch provides historical data so you can easily measure and benchmark awareness over time from your very first login.

Share of Voice

Benchmarking your metrics will tell you if your awareness of your brand has increased, but you will not be getting the full picture.

The mentions of your brand could be a drop in the ocean compared to your competitors.

You need to establish the proportion of conversations concerning your industry that are centered around your brand. By tracking share of voice and the changes over time you gain context for the data.

The foundation of success

Brand awareness can be the foundation on which to build your marketing strategy.

Increasing the number of consumers that can recall your brand is usually integral to success.

In the past, the challenge was gaining an accurate insight into the level of awareness, but social listening has simplified the process while supplying richer data. Using Brandwatch Analytics to track brand awareness provides you with the tools you need to both monitor and grow the buzz around your brand.

Find out how Brandwatch Analytics can help you measure and understand brand awareness by booking a free demo.

 

Culled from Brand Watch

#brand awareness

#brands push

#Marketing

#surveys

#traditional marketing

Ten Words To Cut From Your Writing

When you want to make your writing more powerful, cut out words you don’t need – such as the 10 included in this post:

1. Just: The word “just” is a filler word that weakens your writing. Removing it rarely affects meaning, but rather, the deletion tightens a sentence.

2. Really: Using the word “really” is an example of writing the way you talk. It’s a verbal emphasis that doesn’t translate perfectly into text. In conversation, people use the word frequently, but in written content it’s unnecessary. Think about the difference between saying a rock is “hard” and “really hard,” for example. What does the word add? Better to cut it out to make your message stronger.

3. Very: Everything that applies to “really” applies to “very.” It’s a weak word. Cut it.

4. Perhaps/maybe: Do you want your audience to think you’re uncertain about what you’re saying? When you use words like “maybe” and “perhaps,” uncertainty is exactly what you’re communicating.

5. Quite: When someone uses “quite,” he or she either means “a bit” or “completely” or “almost.” Sometimes the word adds meaning; sometimes it’s fluff. Learn to tell the difference–but, when in doubt, cut it out.

6. Amazing: The meaning of “amazing” is causing great wonder or surprise–but some writers use the word so often that the meaning gets lost. How can something be amazing if everything is? Ditch this diluted word.

7. Literally: When something is true in a literal sense, you don’t have to add the word “literally.” The only reason it makes sense to use the word is when it clarifies meaning (i.e., to explain you aren’t joking when it seems you are).

8. Stuff: Unless you are aiming at informality, don’t use the word “stuff.” It’s casual, it’s generic, and it usually stands in for something better.

9. Things: Writers use the word “things” to avoid using a clearer, more specific word that would communicate more meaning. Be specific. Don’t tell us about the “10 things,” tell us about the “10 books” or “10 strategies.” Specificity makes for better writing.

10. Got: Think of all the ways we use the vague word “got” in conversation: “I’ve got to go,” “I got a ball,” or “I got up this morning.” Though it’s fine for conversation, in writing, “got” misses valuable opportunities. Rather than writing a lazy word, look for clearer, more descriptive language: “I promised I’d leave by 9,” “I picked up a ball,” or “I woke up today,” for example.

Whether you’ve been writing for a few days or for many years, you’ll benefit from evaluating the words you use. Cut the filler to make your writing stronger.

**

Credit: PRDaily

Your SEO Checklist: 4 Steps to Optimizing Your Website

In his book Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Website, SEO and online marketing expert Jon Rognerud shows you how to build a high-performance website and get top ranking on all search engines. In this edited excerpt, the author outlines a broad strategy for successfully optimizing your website.

The goal of search engine optimization is to have the search engine spiders not only find your site and pages but also specifically rank the page relevance so that it appears at the top of the search engine results. The process of optimization is not a one-time process but requires maintenance, tuning, and continuous testing and monitoring.

Below is a broad four-step process for a strategy for search engine optimization. Use this as your top-level checklist.

Step 1: Target Market Business Analysis

• Website analysis. Analysis of meta sets/keywords, visible text and code to deter­mine how well you’re positioned for search engines. For example, how much code do you have on a page compared to text?
   
• Competitive analysis. Examination of content keywords and present engine rank­ings of competitive websites to determine an effective engine positioning strategy. Pick the top five results in the Google listing results to begin this process. Expand as necessary. Use tools such as Semrush.com and Keywordspy.com.
   
• Initial keyword nomination. Development of a prioritized list of targeted search terms related to your customer base and market segment. Begin with this: What would you type into a search engine to find your business website or page? Then, ask your customers!

Step 2: Keyword Research and Development

• Keyword analysis. From nomination, further identify a targeted list of key­words and phrases. Review competitive lists and other pertinent industry sources. Use your preliminary list to determine an indicative number of recent search engine queries and how many websites are competing for each key­word. Prioritize keywords and phrases, plurals, singulars and misspellings. (If search users commonly misspell a keyword, you should identify and use it). Please note that Google will try to correct the term when searching, so use this with care.
   
• Baseline ranking assessment. You need to understand where you are now in order to accurately assess your future rankings. Keep a simple Excel sheet to start the process. Check weekly to begin. As you get more comfortable, check every 30 to 45 days. You should see improvements in website traffic, a key indicator of progress for your keywords. Some optimizers will say that rankings are dead. Yes, traffic and conversions are more important, but we use rankings as an indicator.
• Goals and Objectives. Clearly define your objectives in advance so you can truly measure your ROI from any programs you implement. Start simple, but don’t skip this step. Example: You may decide to increase website traffic from a current baseline of 100 visitors a day to 200 visitors over the next 30 days. Or you may want to improve your current conversion rate of one percent to two in a specified period. You may begin with top-level, aggregate numbers, but you must drill down into specific pages that can improve products, services, and business sales.

Step 3: Content Optimization and Submission

• Create page titles. Keyword-based titles help establish page theme and direction for your keywords.
   
• Create meta tags. Meta description tags can influence click-throughs but aren’t directly used for rankings. (Google doesn’t use the keywords tag any­more.)
   
• Place strategic search phrases on pages. Integrate selected keywords into your website source code and existing content on designated pages. Make sure to apply a sug­gested guideline of one to three keywords/phrases per content page and add more pages to complete the list. Ensure that related words are used as a natural inclu­sion of your keywords. It helps the search engines quickly determine what the page is about. A natural approach to this works best. In the past, 100 to 300 words on a page was recommended. Many tests show that pages with 800 to 2,000 words can outperform shorter ones. In the end, the users, the marketplace, content and links will determine the popularity and ranking numbers.
   
• Develop new sitemaps for Google and Bing. Make it easier for search engines to index your website. Create both XML and HTML versions. An HTML version is the first step. XML sitemaps can easily be submitted via Google and Bing webmaster tools.
   
• Submit website to directories (limited use). Professional search marketers don’t sub­mit the URL to the major search engines, but it’s possible to do so. A better and faster way is to get links back to your site naturally. Links get your site indexed by the search engines. However, you should submit your URL to directories such as Yahoo! (paid), Business.com (paid) and DMOZ (free). Some may choose to include AdSense (google.com/adsense) scripts on a new site to get their Google Media bot to visit. It will likely get your pages indexed quickly.

Step 4: Continuous Testing and Measuring

• Test and measure. Analyze search engine rankings and web traffic to determine the effectiveness of the programs you’ve implemented, including assessment of individual keyword performance. Test the results of changes, and keep changes tracked in an Excel spreadsheet, or whatever you’re comfortable with.
   
• Maintenance. Ongoing addition and modification of keywords and website con­tent are necessary to continually improve search engine rankings so growth doesn’t stall or decline from neglect. You also want to review your link strategy and ensure that your inbound and outbound links are relevant to your business. A blog can provide you the necessary structure and ease of content addition that you need. Your hosting company can typically help you with the setup/installation of a blog.

Culled from Entrepreneur

Post Tags:#checklist#seo optimization#webiste optimizing#website

8 Reasons Your Book Isn’t Selling

With Amazon, and other similar platforms, self-publishing is becoming more and more popular. But there is the challenge of not making enough sales, which is one of the advantages of using a recognized publishing company (like us). Here are 8 reasons why your self-published book might not be as sought after as you anticipated.

1. Competition: Self-publishing has become so much easier and there lies the problem. The publishing world is a crowded place with books from centuries ago to the latest eBook that was published a few minutes ago. These are your competitors and there are millions of them. But you can improve your chances of breaking into the market with the right content and marketing.
2. Writing for ghosts: Many writers do not know whom their targeted audience is. Writers like this are bound to fail as they will keep writing without direction.
3. Writing for an empty market: Before you write, you need to consider the market. Check for similar books to yours and if you find out that there are little or no books in that market, it might be a signal for you to change direction.
4. Writing in thin air: Every writer should have what is called an author’s platform. This is a following on blogs, social media, etc. A following that will be eager to read your material when it drops.
5. Book Cover: The saying “do not judge a book by its cover,” does not apply to most readers because that is exactly what they do – judge your work by its cover. If it looks amateurish, then they will assume same for your work. Your cover must be classy, attractive and professional enough to catch a reader’s attention.
6. Price too High (or Low): Understanding the competition landscape is essential to knowing how much similar books to yours are priced at. But do not be tempted to price your book too low as it only tells the reader it isn’t valuable enough.
7. One thing to Write, another to market: You might be a skilled writer, the next William Shakespeare, one of the best at what you do and still sell less than someone who can’t even make correct tenses. Many skilled self-published writers do not see the need to market their work because they feel “their work should speak for them.” Most often than not, this leads to stunted sales. The trick is to put twice the effort you put into writing on your marketing strategy.
8. Maybe, just maybe, your book is bad: You might not want to admit it, but this could be a valid reason why your book isn’t making sales. In this instance, you may need a developmental editor, or better still, a reputable publishing house to turn a poorly written manuscript into a masterpiece through end-to-end services.

#book

Some Things I’ve Written to Myself About Writing

Here is everything I wrote to myself about writing last year. Word for word from my note book (with a few added headers to break things up a bit).

(Bonus recommendations at the bottom of the page.)

I hope these meditations will help you with your own writing (and life):

Authenticity is key

• Your words likely won’t resonate with others unless you are willing to be honest with yourself.
• We tell ourselves a lot of stories. About ourselves, about others, about the world, and about the meaning of life. We tend to fill in the gaps where we lack knowledge and understanding. We are so used to doing it that we often don’t realize we do it. And the gaps are many. We know far less than there is to be known. But we do experience moments of truth when we’re able to see through our own B.S. and be humbled by the mysteriousness and complexity of life. In this state of mind we are most able to resonate with others and help them enter that state of mind also. It’s about cutting through all the noise so we can hear the voice of truth within.
• The closer you can get to universal truths, the more likely your words will resonate with others. Being overly-complicated, overly-explanatory, or intentionally controversial doesn’t often help. At the end of the day, what people want the most is something that will help them breathe easier.
• If you want to have a message that no one can live without you must speak from the heart. From your own weakness and vulnerability. This will make your message more universal. It will be universal when it speaks to a universal truth — something we can all relate to. This makes you a leader, when you are able to put into words what others are thinking and feeling. It’s the one who is brave enough to speak the truth and articulate enough to express it, who will lead.
• What helps you might not help others, but you won’t know unless you share it. All any of us can do is rely on our own experience. And all we can share is our own experience.
• Authenticity cannot be manufactured. A crafted message can still be true, but it’s only authentic when it’s not premeditated. This is what separates the marketer from the writer. The marketer’s first priority is to gain a following to sell products and services to. The writer may want this as well, but the writer’s first priority is to share an important message. If the marketer doesn’t eventually make some money he will go away. But the writer will continue even if she never makes a penny.

Go with the flow

• What you write is for who it’s for. It’s not for you to decide who it’s for. Just write what is on your heart to write and put it out there.
• Write what wants to be written. Don’t take control of it. Even in the editing process only edit what wants to be edited. Most of what we do is motivated by our sub-conscious mind. Yield to the process. Sit in silence and solitude and let the words flow. This is also a good metaphor for life. You don’t have to be in the driver’s seat trying to control the direction of everything. This does’t mean that we sit back and do nothing. It just means that we live in the moment and trust our inner wisdom to guide us from moment to moment. Don’t create a life where you need a lot of detailed plans, check lists, and to-do lists.
• Don’t judge your writing. Don’t try to make it what you think it should be. Let it be what it is and use the same state of mind while editing that you did while writing. This is what resonates the most with others anyway. When you write without judgment — without inner dialogue.

Share your inner wisdom

• If you want to be a better writer, be a wiser person.
• There has to be wisdom in your words, otherwise who wants to read them? Don’t publish something just for the sake of publishing something. Don’t air your grievances and don’t speak confidently about things you know little about. Write what you know is universal — what is common to human experience. And provide the solutions that have worked best for you. Shed some light on the path, provide some sign posts to the right path. Everyone is trying to get to the same place, sometimes we are on the right path, sometimes we’re not. Sometimes we need someone who is on the right path to guide us back onto it. Sometimes we don’t even know what we are looking for, we just know we are looking for something.
• Wisdom can be distilled, and should be distilled. Long-winded essays are not necessary and can be a big waste of time. Keep it short, sharp, and to the point. Wisdom can come in small packages. More words do not necessarily mean more insight.
• There are some things that cannot be written. Some things that cannot be expressed in words. Some things that are just for you.

Purpose

• Many writers write about what we should do while we are here. Such as how to live, how to get what you want, and how to make a difference. But few write aboutwhy we are here. I’ll take that job.
• My brevity, my authenticity, and the depth of my words are what will set me apart from other writers.
• The uniqueness of your message is what counts. Your ability to go where others are not willing or not able to go. Your ability to present things from a different perspective.
• Don’t get caught-up in aesthetics, focus on your message. Be a messenger of light. Be a master of letting go and helping others do the same. Letting go is an act of faith.
• You are not a “writer”. You are a messenger. The message is for you and for all. First for those who are ready to hear and than eventually for the rest. Some people are not ready to hear, and not necessarily from me.
• It’s not necessary to be a new voice. What you write was probably written before. But you can be a voice for this era. You can be the contemporary of those who came before you. Many of whom have been forgotten.
• Are you writing to show off, or to be helpful? It matters. Are we here to massage our egos, or to learn something and share those lessons with one another? All to often success is measured by what we gain for ourselves and how much better we are doing than others.
• Use your words to bring people into your world. Help illuminate the path for others.

The internet

• Your world is not “online”. But it will become your world if you allow it to. If you have something to share with the online world, share it, but don’t live there. If you have wisdom to share you are not going to find it by being on the internet all day. It’s your platform, not your world. Your world is at home. With your family. With yourself in silence. Sometimes in books. And sometimes in the community. The internet is a community too, but it’s less personal.
• Don’t waste your time in the comment section. Start working on the next post. This is actually a good metaphor for life also. Don’t waste your time listening to the naysayers, patting yourself on the back, or having debates. Move on to the next thing.

Writing as an art

• A painter doesn’t paint to replace photographs. A painter does not try to show an image of the world exactly how it is. He is showing an image of the world as he sees it. Or is presenting it in a unique way so others see reality in a different way. It’s metaphorical. That’s what art is, it’s metaphor. And that’s what writing is. As Chuang Tzu said “words exist because of meaning. Once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.”
• Life is mostly an art. Artists create. Artist’s dance. Artists sing. Artists explore. You don’t have to literally dance and sing, but they make great metaphors for living. What I’m writing right now is my version of singing.
• What is art? Art is sharing a part of yourself or your world view with those who need to experience it. Art is unique expression. Expression of something that is not easy to describe. Unique, in that you have a way of helping people see things from a different perspective. Or to open their eyes to it for the first time. Or to give a name to something that others have experienced but were not able to identify.

What more can I give?

• The power of the pen can create opportunities you wouldn’t have if you remained silent. The power of the pen allows you to release ideas into the world that change the way people think. I give people bits and pieces of information to contemplate. But what can I give them in a more comprehensive set of instructions to deal with a specific problem?
• Write more often, write longer, write better.

The purpose of my blog

• What is my blog about? Why the name Living With Confidence? It’s about helping people break free from religious oppression and find peace within themselves. To have a different view of God. One related to grace, rather rules. Also to help people be more accepting of themselves. To live a more meaningful life. To be more optimistic about the future. This is all based on my own experience, my own struggles, and some of the solutions I’ve been able to find. Or that have found me by God’s grace.
• I’m looking for readers who are willing to come on a journey with me. If they are looking for me to say all the right things they are coming to the wrong place. If they are looking for dogma they have come to the wrong place. But I do prefer to keep it positive, in a realistic way. If they are looking for nuggets of truth to help them live with more confidence, they have come to the right place. I will give them my best.

Try not to be divisive

• Use words that transcend religions and ideologies. Speak in a language that’s more universal. Have the guts to tell your story. Share your experience. This is how you’ll resonate with others. Not by being polarizing, but by being inclusive. Not in the sense of trying to appeal to everyone, but in the sense of avoiding language that is sure to be polarizing. Sometimes there’s no way around it. Sometimes you will turn people off. This will happen even if you tell the truth. But chances are if you speak your truth in a thoughtful way you will earn the respect of a lot of people.

How to avoid writer’s block

• Put your thoughts down on paper, whether they are true or not. You can look at it later and decide at that time if what you wrote is true. The main thing is to get it out, so you can look at it. If you don’t, if you insist on only writing what is true, you will likely get writer’s block. And you’ll miss out on the benefit of flushing out some unique thoughts. As you write, you create a flow and one thought leads to another. An untrue thought can lead to a true thought. Sometimes your pencil has a life of it’s own, let it live!
• There’s lots of stuff in the vault. You just have to keep writing and it will make it’s way to the surface. You have as many thoughts and ideas as there are stars in the universe.
• There’s always more to write, because there’s always more to learn. And there’s always more ways you can say the same thing. Always more ways that various ideas can intersect with one another. The combinations are infinite.

Be a maverick, but make it about helping others

• If you are going to write according to other people’s rules, its going to be watered down. Writing for attention and popularity lacks soul. It’s not something you can be proud of. The same thing happens when you try to turn everything into a masterpiece. Good writing requires you to be a bit of a maverick, ditching conventional wisdom. But you don’t want to be such a maverick that you are willing to say anything. At the end of the day good writing is still about helping the reader, not about airing your grievances.
• If you want to write the truth, you have to write in a way that does not fear reprisal.
• Be willing to write from the heart. Be willing to be a heretic if necessary. You can’t lead if you are afraid to be yourself. The world doesn’t need you to be a writer or a leader if you’re not going to say what needs to be said. You have an insight and a way of articulation that most people don’t have. It’s okay to be controversial sometimes. It means you are saying what others are afraid to say. Be their voice.

Thanks for reading. I hope you got something out of this.

 

Credit: Personal Growth

• WRITING