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In a recent teleseminar about the importance of creating a focused brand and website, the presenter of the class happened to pull up one of my sites. She quickly noted a couple of obvious errors that I let slip by.
While I really should have known better, it seems as we get caught up in our writing careers sometimes it’s easy to forget to remain focused.
That’s a no-no! It’s important to present a focused brand and site.
Okay, so what were my possible money costing mistakes?
1. Create a website or blog using your own name.
I created my first site before I learned the ropes. Jumping in feet first, without any thought of future endeavors, I named my first site based on my first children’s book. It happened I had a co-author and I used both our names for the site.
So, you may be asking, what’s the problem with this move? Well, nothing, if all my future books, articles, and other writing endeavors included that co-author.
But, as any writer can tell you this is usually not the case.
While you can redirect one site to another, it’s not the same. You end up possibly confusing readers or new visitors. And, if you don’t redirect to your new site, you’ll dilute you traffic.
The simplest fix to this problem is to avoid it.
The purpose of having your name as the site name is to create a specific brand/platform that is YOU. And, having your name as the site name will also make it easier for people searching with your name as a keyword to find you.
This is not to say that you can’t have a site/s specifically for your book/s, but it’s important to also have a site with your name as the domain name as the core. Remember, you are branding you as an author.
2. If you are branding yourself as a children’s writer, keep your site specific to writing for children.
This holds true for whatever your platform is – keep it focused.
This was another of my big mistakes that I let slip by. As I progressed in my writing, I ventured into a number of writing arenas including ghostwriting, freelance writing, and even copywriting. Instead of keeping those areas separate, I brought them into my children’s writing site.
So, why is this a mistake? Simple. Dilution of expertise.
In the subheading of the children’s writing site, I mentioned ghostwriting and freelance writing. Now, this may not be too far fetched because I do ghostwrite children’s books, but that shouldn’t be the emphasis at that site.
If you are branding yourself as a children’s writer, the focus of your site should be children’s writing. If you promote yourself as doing this, that, and the other thing, you’ll become known as the jack of all trades and master of none, thus creating dilution of expertise.
This goes for any specific genre you are writing in, if you intend to establish yourself as an expert in that field. You need to keep your site focused. Establish your brand and promote it.
If you are involved in other writing arenas, create a separate site for promoting yourself as an expert in those areas.
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Karen Cioffi
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