A website is not just something you stare at on a glowing screen.  These days, a website is a multi-dimensional beast, a complex character that deserves thought and attention.  Great website development involves so much more than just design and color scheme.  Creating a great website is a careful, step by step process that begins with domain name selection and ends when visiting customers convert to sales.  And once your website is designed, up and running, continued maintenance and promotion is key to keeping visitors coming back for more.

Let us take you through a brief description of each step along the Yellow Brick Road of Web Design.

Domain Registration
Your domain name is what you type into the address bar of your browser (it is your URL).  It is what your visitors will be typing into their browser, so selecting an easy to type and understand domain name is important.  It is your home on the Internet. Make it easy to get to.  Some examples of domain names include google.com, and NBC.com.  You know exactly where you are headed when you type those into your browser.  However, with millions of domain names already registered, it may feel like all the good ones are taken.  But be creative and patient and the right name will come along.

Web Hosting
If your web page is like a paper flyer, than your server is like the bulletin board you stick it on.  You will need to sign on with a web hosting service so you can store your files on their server.  Your host is who makes your site available to the public, not just to you.  When choosing a web hosting company, you should take into account how much space you’ll need, how much bandwidth, access, and so on.  There are numerous web-hosting terms that may be new and confusing for you.  For example, you may come across will be “Secure Server” which you will need if you plan on doing any sort of eCommerce. Another strange term you might see is “FTP Solutions.” FTP is short for File Transfer Protocol.  FTP is what is used to “upload,” or move your site from you computer to the host computer “bulletin board.”

Site Design
Although design is not the only important aspect of creating a website, good design is still vital to having a successful site.  You only get one chance to make a first impression, and studies show that the average person’s attention span is only about 8 seconds when looking at a site.  Make those 8 seconds count by having a clean, clear, easy-to-read site that conveys information while also being aesthetically pleasing to view.

While graphics and animation are snazzy and fun, they aren’t necessary to making your website work.  Sometimes simpler is better, easier on you and easier on the customer.  If you do choose to use advanced graphics and animation, remember that good visuals should be eye-catching but NOT distracting.  Do not crowd your page with spinning vortexes and dancing bears.  Utilize appropriate graphics that go with your company.

Remember:  Sloppy website design does not make your product look very desirable.  If your website is quality, it implies your product is quality, too.

Site Layout
Your layout is an aspect of design so important we gave it its own category.  Layout, navigation, and usability are the active components of your design.  The color is important to the eye, but how your site is navigated is important to its utility and efficacy.  “Navigation” refers to how your visitor moves about your site.  What do they read?  What links do they click on?  How is information organized?  If you have lots of information, do not dump dozens of pages of links into one section; break them up under various categories to make them easier to look through.  A carefully planned website can make it easier for your customer and for yourself.  Also allow for growth, since your business will develop over the months and years, and you need your website to grow along with it.

Content/Copy
Your text, information and page layout is called your copy.  It is the words on your page, but equally the charts, graphs, pictures and the layout of all these items.  Remember that Internet copy is different than paper copy, and oftentimes a wall of words will overwhelm a visitor to your site. Keep your copy clear and concise, since visitors’ attention spans on the web are notoriously short.  Determine your site’s chief purpose, your thesis.  Are you about building your brand, selling your product directly over the Internet, or getting a buyer to visit your store?  Keep your purpose in mind as you create your website copy.  Tell it like it is.

Maintenance
Your company will be growing, so your website should as well! As you organize, allow for new categories, new products, and new links.  You should perform regular maintenance to make sure your links are working, your contact information is correct, your forms are working, and that everything is up to date, including copyrights.  You want to keep your content current.

You can also use tools that will track what is working best for your website, what is getting results, and what pages are being visited the most.  Good statistics about where your visitors enter your site and how they move through it can help you tweak your site to improve sales and to create more effective layout, copy and design.  You never know where your company may go, and good maintenance of your website will keep it, and your customers, with you every step of the way.

Marketing
You want other people to see this website you put so much hard work into, so you need to find internet marketing to get it out there.  These days one of the best ways to reach your customers is via Search Engines, because that is where customers are looking for you.

A search engine is a site such as Google or Yahoo where one can go and type in any sort of keyword and be led to sites that feature whatever they are looking for, be it “mouse ears” to “oven racks.” In order to ensure that YOUR website is among the top of the list of results, you need to practice what is called “search engine optimization.” You see, search engines rank the results they find, and if you sell staplers in Butte, you will want to be sure your site will rank well when someone types “Butte staplers” in the search box.  Search engines rank their results based on very specific information from the copy and underlying code of your website.  There are millions upon millions of websites that search engines have to sift through for each search, so “optimizing” your website will make is easier for a search engine to recognize that your site is relevant.  If you have the time and the inclination to learn, you can optimize your website yourself.  However, optimization is something many companies choose to outsource.

Remember your website is not like a printed document.  It is not a one-dimensional, non-interactive page.  Your website is a completely new kind of marketing medium and must be approached as such.  From choosing the right domain name to converting visitors into buyers, through the creation and implementation of your navigation, copy and design, from choosing your host to search engine marketing, every aspect must be carefully considered. Best of luck!

About the Author:
Wintress Odom is a professional copywriter with over half a decade of experience in writing technical and advertising copy. She runs a successful copywriting agency, The Writers for Hire.
Article Copyright © 2007 The Writers for Hire, Inc. All rights reserved

These days, the exciting visuals on websites have started to overshadow the meat of the content, the words. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but really, how many words does a dancing monkey or rotating starburst convey to you? How can that bouncing frog in the upper left hand corner of the page tell you what you need to know about, say, lawn care? Not much, though he may be cute to look at.

The website is a new medium in the world of television, newspapers, magazines, and radio. This form of communication is something of a combination of all of those that have come before it. Needless to say, when there’s a new kid in town, new rules apply. But we can’t throw all the old rules out either.

The copy (text) of your website is where the action is. This is where you hold the attention of your audience, and this is where your word choice and grammar are critical.  People can think your exploding fireworks graphics are cool, but if you misspell your product caption “cheep fireworks,” they are going to laugh at you and click the back button.

There are several mistakes that should always be avoided when writing your website copy. But if you follow these basic guidelines, and always keep your visitors in mind, you can come up with something that will wow and amaze even the most jaded web surfers.

Tip 1: Please, please, please be careful that your spelling and grammar is correct. If you are writing your copy on your own, you may wish to consult something like the Associated Press Style Guide, Strunk and White’s Elements of Style or another solid grammar guide. They are quick and handy references in case you are unsure if you should use a colon or a semi-colon, and they can help you keep all ten thousand comma rules straight in your head.  Also pay attention to your spellchecker. Almost all word processors have them nowadays. Good grammar and spelling is not only expected of you, but it gives your site an air of professionalism that customers deserve.

Tip 2: For Pete’s sake, keep the exclamation marks to a minimum! They sound overly dramatic! They make people antsy! They make you sound like a guy wearing a clown suit on a used-car commercial! It’s annoying! And, bottom line, exclamation marks don’t make your sales pitch more effective.

Tip 3: Keep it simple. While we stress the importance of words, we don’t suggest you use too many of them, either. A customer faced with a wall of words before them may be too bored or too busy to read them all. People have short attention spans in this click-click net navigating world, so keep that in mind. Use simple, concise, easy to understand words and you’ll do much better than if you try to talk your website visitors to death.

Tip 4: Keep it scannable.  White space is your friend. It’s hard to read online, so you want to keep eyestrain to a minimum.  Be a razor-sharp editor and cut out anything that might be dragging down the rest of your copy. Don’t use run-on sentences. Don’t make your paragraphs too long and bulky. Use big text, descriptive headlines and short paragraphs. Use bold text to help make your copy scannable, but use it judiciously. If you make everything bold, it defeats the purpose.

Tip 5: When it comes to word choice, choose words that are descriptive and helpful. Be specific. Words like “great,” “awesome,” “super,” “new” and “improved” don’t tell you much.  But words that explain just why your product is great and improved are much more helpful. For example, if you sell shampoo, and you want to tell everyone that it is now “new and improved,” explain that now it has a cleaner, fresher scent, won’t leave a greasy residue, and won’t spill if you drop it in the shower. Now that’s something that tells me what I want to know!

Tip 6: On a related note, don’t use words that are too flowery or colloquial. Write appropriately for the subject. If you are selling cowboy boots, you can probably throw a few “pardners” and “l’il doggies” in there, but that probably isn’t so impressive if you are writing for your office’s money marketing page. Also, while you may have a well-versed Harvard vocabulary, many of your customers may not. If you are inclined to use words such as “sycophantic” and “pedagogy” or “fungible,” you might consider leaving them out. Also, though you may really want to use the word that means, “to swarm like ants,’ you probably ought to avoid having your visitors read, “The 6th graders formicated all over the playground.” Your site’s readers may not have a dictionary handy.

Tip 7: Organize your information.  Start simple, and then get to the details. There’s no need to tell them everything at once. While your homepage is really like the welcome mat to your Internet abode, the rest of your pages are like the rooms. Make sure they are friendly and inviting and organized, not a cluttered, musty mess like at your Uncle Leo’s house. Your homepage should focus on telling your visitors specifically why they want to enter your home. What’s in there for them? On your inner pages, you can go into more detail. A lot of information is good, but break it up into well thought-out, organized pieces that are easy for your visitor to handle. Who wants to tackle a page 10 scrollbars long? But 10 pages, correctly organized, can help your visitor find the information they need and will make them comfortable, happy customers.

Tip 8: Lastly, if you are not fully confident that you can create the exact kind of copy you are looking for, you can always hire an experienced professional to help you. They may help you see potential for your website you might never have thought of on your own. And they can help stop you from making a fool of yourself if you accidentally say, “all sinners will be vaccinated on Tuesday” when you meant to say “all seniors”.

You can have the greatest layout, the prettiest shade of background color, the easiest navigation bars, but if your copy is messy, hard to read, or uninformative, your website is going to tank.

About the Author:
Wintress Odom is a professional copywriter with over half a decade of experience in writing technical and advertising copy. She runs a successful copywriting agency, The Writers for Hire.
Article Copyright © 2007 The Writers for Hire, Inc. All rights reserved

Hook
Your homepage is the first thing that your website visitor sees, so it better be good. It’s your hook. But contrary to popular belief (and sometimes natural intuition), your goal for a homepage is not to inform or to tell anyone anything. Your #1 goal for a homepage is for your website visitor to click forward and not back. That is, it is to convince them that you have something on your website worth spending their time on.

If you’ve ever taken a sales class in anything, they’ll tell you the first step to selling is making the customer say “yes” to something, anything. That’s why telemarketers always ask you stuff like, “What would you say if I told you I could save you 10% on your phone bill every month, and it would only take you 10 minutes of your time today?” Because what are you going to say? I don’t want to save 10%? Of course not. You have to say, “Well, I guess that sounds pretty good.”

Clicking is the web version of saying “yes” in the sales world. So your first step is to make the customer want to click forward. Fortunately, you don’t need to tell them much to do that. To do that they only need to be able to answer two things:

What’s in it for me?
Where do I click?

If they can answer those two questions quickly, then you stand a darn good chance of selling your product. If you babble too long…Well, unfortunately web surfers are finicky, impatient creatures that are all too happy to click the back button.

Once you can get them to start clicking, then they have already taken a proactive approach to your site, and they will start reading deeper. So don’t cram your homepage with too many details. Tell them just enough to make them click forward. Don’t worry, once they get interested, website surfers will read deeper.

Line
Once you get your website visitor into your site, you need to make sure they feel comfortable and welcome and that they follow the line you want them to take: to the telephone, to the order form, to the buy now button… To do that, you need to know how to write website content.

Website content should be some 50% - 75% shorter than content created for print. Font’s should be larger, sentences more concise, paragraphs shorter, and space should be used frequently (but not after every other sentence). Why? Because reading on the web is hard. Computer screens just don’t make comfortable reading platforms. So, concentrate on making it easy for people to scan pages. Break things up with headers and well-considering spacing.

Easy and short, however, does not mean that you can leave out the details. Once you get your visitor to start clicking, then they are going to want the details. They better be there, and they better be easy to find. The web is a medium for propagating information: So give it to them. If you don’t, they’ll buy from someone who did.

So how do you get a lot of content onto a short web page? You don’t. You create a lot of unique web pages.

If you have 10 products, make a main products page and 10 products web pages. Don’t try to cram all the details about every product onto one page. If you have a long industry article, break it up into several shorter pages and provide a way for readers to click forward or backward within the article at the end of each article page. If your services require extensive explanations, break up the info. If merited, each service can have its intro page, benefits page, installation page, FAQ, order form, whatever.

But beware. There is a careful balance between short and stupidly short, between breaking up pages and breaking up flow, and between giving your reader places to click and confusing them to holy heck with too much navigation. The solution? Never lose sight of your reader. Put a little thought into how you are going to break up your pages. In fact, put a lot of thought into how you are going to break up your web pages. Professional website content writers spend as much of 1/3 to 1/2 of their time plotting navigation, creating outlines and drawing page layouts before they write the first sentence.

And Sinker
The goal of your homepage is getting your visitor to click forward. And the goal of your site is to get your visitor to take action. That is, to buy your product. Your ordering process must be simple. And, if at all possible, it should be automated and online. If your product or service doesn’t lend itself to a shopping cart system, then at least make sure that you’ve got a simple online request form where potential customers can input answers to some basic questions about themselves and request a free quote or a call from a customer service representative.

During the ordering process, never ask your customer to fill out more than you absolutely need to complete their order. If you can get away with asking for just a credit card number and name, do it. Loosing people that already decided to buy because you just had to know their demographics is not a good thing.

Not sure if your ordering process is simple enough? Here’s a stretch: Go through it yourself. Too many website owners have never once been through their own ordering process. Still not sure? Ask your son or daughter. If they can’t do it. It’s too complicated.

About the Author:
Wintress Odom is a professional copywriter with over half a decade of experience in writing technical and advertising copy. She runs a successful copywriting agency, The Writers for Hire.
Article Copyright © 2007 The Writers for Hire, Inc. All rights reserved

After you’ve completed a website, don’t look at it. Leave it for a couple of weeks, then come back, pretend you are a potential customer and ask yourself these 10 questions.

Does your text sound hype-filled and salesy? People hate to feel like they are being sold. Sure, they want to buy. But they don’t want to buy from someone who sounds like a used car salesman. They need to trust a website, and they will trust a website that gives them concise, honest, and unbiased information. There is never any reason for a double exclamation mark!! AND RARELY IS THERE A RIGHT TIME FOR ALL CAPS. You’re excited about your products (or at least you should be), so let your natural enthusiasm show. Don’t try to dress it up with overused sales jargon.

Count the number of times you said “we” in your text rather than “you.” Did you use the word “we” more than you used the word “you”? People don’t care about we. A common mistake of first-time website content creators is that they tend to want to talk about themselves. We offer __________. We are the only company that __________. We have unparalleled ________. Sound familiar? But what people really want to know what’s in it for them. Start a few sentences with “you” and you’ll be surprised how much more likely people will be to buy.

If I had never been to this site before, would I know where to click to buy? The action your potential customer should take should be clear from the homepage. Never, ever let your customer get lost looking for the “buy now” button.

If I was visiting this site for the first time, would I know what it was selling and would I be able to find what I need? A visitor should know what you’re selling and how they can benefit from it by the second line, preferably by the first. Don’t babble. Get to the point. Once a visitor knows what you’re selling, he should be able to find the answer to any additional questions within just a few clicks. And remember, just because he can get to the information in a few clicks doesn’t mean he will be able to find the information in just a few clicks. Make sure your navigation is straightforward and consistent throughout the site.

If I read my navigation for the first time, would it be clear what information is behind each link? Your navigation should be conventional and easy to understand. Don’t label your products page “goodies” or “wares” unless you have a darn good reason.

Are my prices displayed? Do NOT expect the customer to call you for prices. Always always always always display prices. Always. If it has to be custom quoted, display example quotes, display hourly rates, display ranges of rates for example jobs, but display something.

Does it look like the website creator paid attention to detail? Check your details. Check each link. Run the spell check. Check your website on different screen resolutions. Check your website in different browsers. Make sure the text font, color and size is consistent on all web pages. Pay attention to little things, like text wrapping around graphics in a less-than-conventional manner, or too much space at the bottom of a page, or your text running farther down the page than your navigation bar. Little things can spell the difference between a clean, professional looking website and a sloppy looking one. If you aren’t being a perfectionist about your website, then people will assume that you won’t be a perfectionist in your business, either.

Can I glance at the headers, scan the page and get the gist? Research had shown time and time again that readers on the web do not read. They scan. They scan headers and first lines of paragraphs. Only if they see something that catches their interest, will they read deeper. Do not expect every line of your text to be read, but write every line as if it will be read.

Did I build my website with my user (and not myself or my company) in mind? If you did, then your user will probably never realize it. And that’s a good thing. The website should feel smooth to him, natural. He should navigate through the site almost as if it were second nature, like a favorite pair of blue jeans.

Is the order process simple, straightforward and fast? Once the client has decided to buy, the process should take no longer than a couple of minutes. Don’t ask him for any information that you do not directly need to complete his order. Keep it short, sweet and super simple.

About the Author:
Wintress Odom is a professional copywriter with over half a decade of experience in writing technical and advertising copy. She runs a successful copywriting agency, The Writers for Hire.
Article Copyright © 2007 The Writers for Hire, Inc. All rights reserved

There are sites on the net that serve tons of traffic everyday. Traffic you wish you had, right?

The web is made up of billions of links, much like a spider’s web but on a larger scale. Search engines spider the web looking for new content to add to their massive databases so they can rank how relevant it is to particular search phrases.

What are the search engines looking for?

New content! In order for any search engine to provide relevant results to their visitors (so their visitors will repeatedly use them) they must provide the Continue Reading »
Article Marketing for Search Engine Traffic

If you want to make it as a professional writer, you will eventually need to be branch out into the world of magazines. While many new writers are intimidated by the major magazines and editors, it is important to realize that they are not so different from any other publication. Aside from the fact that they print monthly, most magazines are just looking for knowledgeable writers who have a passion for their subject. If you want to write for magazines, or any other publication, simply write what you know and the rest will fall into place. As you progress through your career, you may want to experiment with subjects that require research.

The best approach to writing Continue Reading »
Writing For Magazines

Copywriting has again transcended from its usual form and practices into the new internet era; Copywriting as utilized by the Professional SEO business is also known as Internet Content Writing, Web Content Writing, amongst other terms.

This article will try to tell you about the basics of copywriting and its advanced application on the SEO aspect. This article aims to provide the beginners in the Search Engine Optimization industry, an in-depth but friendly guide to seo content writing, as well as providing the more advanced copywriters with a guide to remind them of the several tricks they might have forgotten about the craft.

This guide shall be divided into the three parts of the copywriting process: the before, during, and after. This is the first part of the guide dealing with the things a copywriter must do BEFORE writing the copy. Succeeding parts shall be posted separately because of the size.

Before Writing

Before doing any writing you should first know the purpose why you’re writing that content. Your purpose should be clear and definite so no equivocation of ideas will exist that might confound your readers. Is the writing for sports? Is it for entertainment? Is it educational? These things should be clear on your mind before you write your copy, so a natural flow will exist as you write.

Another thing to consider is to know whom are you writing for and who are the people you wish to convey the message to? Knowledge of your audience will give you many benefits: people with different cultures only respond to a specific approach you use, technical terms would be very trivial when talking to beginners while spelled out and explained details would be very time consuming for experts. The internet is used by a vast network of people and your target may only comprise a very small minority. It is important that you address your target effectively if you want more conversions (making site visitors into customers) on your web site.

About the resources

Knowing the right information will certainly give you the right results. Knowing what people want and what they are searching for will be one of the keys to make it big in this business. One of the things that can help you acquire this information is through case studies, surveys and polls that can be found all over the internet. Most of these studies provide general demographic information about internet users. If you’re lucky enough (since it is discouraged), you might even stumble with information regarding the searching habits of different demographics.

Once you have decided to use particular information from the internet, make sure that it is from a reliable author or source. Incorrect and inaccurate data proliferates all over the internet and it happens that you may be misled by others to use them, so, see to it that the articles or studies you are about to use are made and conducted by certified educational institutions or known private companies so you will not have any problems about their authenticity.

Another effective source of information from the internet are pages which rank high among search engines especially those that are related to yours. Analyze and learn the effective things they have done to increase their PageRank and apply them to your work. You could also check out the pages of your top competitors, you might learn a lot from them but be careful not to copy their stuff as it is since they will be constantly checking out their competition. Copyright guidelines are finally catching up with those who replicate content, ending blacklisted by major search engines.

SEO forums are also helpful in guiding you about the latest trends in the Search Engine Optimization business. Experts usually crowd in these forums to discuss the tricks and trends of the business. Moreover, new updates and trends about Search Engine Algorithms and Technology can be found on these forums so it is highly advisable that you check out those forums. However, the forums might be a little too complicated for beginners as terms often become too technical to understand even by seasoned users.

About the words

Now let us go down to business! It is time to know what are the keywords and keyphrases Continue Reading »
A Comprehensive Guide for SEO Content Writing

Copyright © Shaun R. Fawcett

One of the most common weaknesses I see in day-to-day writing is poor logical flow from one idea or point to the next. This usually takes the form of a bunch of seemingly unrelated phrases thrown together with little or no sense of sequence, continuity, or relativity.

Although the overall subject may be obvious, the words to describe it seem to be scattered on the page like an almost random set of unconnected thoughts. On a regular basis, I see letters and reports in which each phrase seems to be independent of the one before and the one after, when in reality there is an actual sequential and/or logical flow.

Consider the following three sentence example:

1. The entire building had to be searched.

2. They started the search on the third floor.

3. It took three hours to complete the search.

Notice that the three separate statements are all valid sentences. They convey the bare essential facts of the situation, but nothing more. In fact, they raise almost more questions than they answer. For example:

- Was it a serious incident?
- Had it ever happened before?
- Why did they start on the third floor?
- What about the first two floors?
- Is three hours a long time for that?
- How long does it usually take?

These are all logical (and obvious) questions that the average person might ask when reading a paragraph made up of the three sentences above.

Now, let’s transform these three statements, using transition phrases, as follows:

UNLIKE the previous minor incident, this time the entire building had to be searched. BECAUSE the fire was still smoking on the first two floors, they started on the third, working upwards, covering the first two last. CONSEQUENTLY, it took them a full three hours before they finally completed the typical two-hour job.?

Notice the use of the transition Continue Reading »
Write With Transition Words and Phrases

You would be amazed at some of the pure gibberish that arrives in my e-mailbox on a regular basis.

I first published a version of this article three years ago, but based on what comes into my e-mailbox every day, many people need a refresher on the basics of composing e-mails.

When sending e-mail, some folks seem to think that because they aren’t dealing directly with another person (or as directly as they would be face-to-face or by telephone), all forms of civility and basic respect for the other person (i.e. the recipient), and the English language, can go out the proverbial window.

Not true! Writing e-mails is still communicating. Both the recipient and the language still deserve your respect.

The following list of e-mail Dos and Don?ts has been adapted from a chapter in my eBook titled Instant Home Writing Kit.

DO Use A Descriptive Subject Line
There is nothing more annoying than receiving e-mails in your e-Inbox with no heading, or a heading that does not explain what the contents of the message is about.

When one receives multiple messages every day, the subject-line is important when reviewing and prioritizing e-mail that is in one’s mailbox. Also, if you include a descriptive title, your message is almost guaranteed to be read before the ones with blank or meaningless titles.

Tip: I even revise the Subject Line when I am sending a Reply; to clearly reflect the essence of my response. This is especially useful if it’s one of those e-mails that travels back and forth 3 or 4 times. Often, there is little relationship between the point of the first message and the later ones. So, try revising the Subject Line slightly each time to reflect the content of the current reply.

DO Use Opening And Closing Salutations
Some people have forgotten that e-mail is interpersonal communication between human beings. Basic civility still applies.

There is nothing much more impersonal than receiving an e-mail that doesn’t at least say “Hello” or “Hi” for the opening; and “Regards” or “Thanks” or “Take care” or “All the best”, or something similar as the closing. We can?t personally sign the note by hand Continue Reading »
E-Mail 101: The Dos and Donts

This is the first in my series of articles that explain the Online Publishing Model and how small-time authors and/or self-publishers can use the OPM as a viable alternative to the often archaic and dysfunctional traditional book publishing model.

Typically, you will create your book/ebook in a source word processing program such as MS-Word or WordPerfect. Once you have converted it into PDF format youll be ready to start selling it via the three primary channels that make up the Online Publishing Model: 1. Sales-Mini-Sites, 2. Digital Download Distributors, 3. Print-On-Demand (POD) Distributors.

This article explains the three primary channels of the Online Publishing Model (OPM).

After a number of disappointing experiences using the traditional book publishing model I decided to see if I could find a way that would eliminate all or most of the downsides of that conventional approach to publishing. After almost three years of trial-and-error experimentation (not to mention a few thousand dollars), I did manage to come up with a real, viable alternative to the old way.

It?s called the Online Publishing Model and its pretty exciting!

Based on my experience using the OPM since that time, I am truly convinced that it is the KEY to publishing success for small time authors and/or self publishers in the Internet age.

THE ONLINE PUBLISHING MODEL - THE NEW WAY
The Online Publishing Model is a combination of online digital download delivery and print-on-demand (POD) paper book publishing that sidesteps most of the pitfalls of the traditional book publishing model.

It offers small-time authors/publishers an excellent alternative that will give them more control, and will increase their sales and profits by using little known online channels when publishing their books/ebooks. Here’s how it works…

OPM: THREE MAIN DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Using this model, once your book/ebook is written, there are a number of online channels through which you can distribute and sell your book/ebook, as follows:

1. Dedicated Sales-Mini-Site
First and foremost, once your book/ebook is written you need to create what’s called a “mini-Website” (i.e. sales-mini-site) for the sole purpose of selling your product. Trust me, this is the only way to go. You MUST have a site dedicated to the sale of Continue Reading »
Boost Your Sales With Online Publishing