One of the most important things to do when you write copy for the Internet involves using keywords. Keywords and keyword phrases are the words on your site that match search terms. Search terms are the words and phrases that people type into the search forms of search engines, like Google or Yahoo. It’s a […]
Writing for the Internet: Be Conversational
Okay! Let’s start writing that book! Writing a blog tends to be a bit different than writing a “formal” book exactly because blogging lends itself to informality. When blogging you can write as if composing an email to a friend. Blogs began as live journals, and many people considered them streams of consciousness—simply unedited thoughts […]
Writing Your Blog Posts or Blogged Book Chapters
Once you’ve created your List of Chapters, or table of contents, and written a chapter-by-chapter synopsis, or Chapter Summaries, you are ready to break each chapter down into multiple blog posts. Blog posts tend to be short—about the length of one screen, which averages about 300 words. I like to think about these blog posts […]
Creating Your Blog: You Need Pages
Before you begin writing your blogged book, I suggest you take a little time to create some additional pages on your blog. This is especially important if you plan to use your blog as your website; in other words, if you don’t have your blog hosted on a website and it serves as your website, […]
Creating Your Blog: Installing Analytics
Once you’ve got your blog set up, you can choose from all sorts of fancy and not-so-fancy “widgets” and “plugins.” They add tools and features to your blog, like search boxes, archives, search engine optimization features, and ways to “ping” your posts to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, and such. You can […]
Creating Your Blog: Purchase a Domain Name
You should purchase a domain name for your blog whether or not you plan on having a hosted blog. Should you convert from a free blog to a hosted one, you’ll need it. And if you begin with a hosted blog, obviously, you’ll need it. Purchase the same domain name as the title of your […]
Creating Your Blog: Hosted or Self-Hosted, That’s the Question
You’re ready to begin writing and publishing the contents of your book on the Internet. First, you must create a website where your book will “live.” Don’t worry. You don’t need an actual website. All you need is a blog. Blogs serve as actual websites. Better yet, they are free and easy. A blog functions […]
Planning Your Posts or Screen-Sized Content
At this point in the planning process, you know what your book is about and you’ve outlined its features and benefits. You know who is going to read it and in which what markets you will promote it. You know the competition and how to differentiate your blogged book from other blogs and books on […]
Creating a Platform for You and Your Book
The publishing world has changed dramatically over the last decade. No longer can you simply present an agent or a publisher with a good idea and good writing and expect to get a contract in return. You must prove that you already have people ready and waiting to purchase your book as soon as it […]
Are You on a Mission?
I’d just like to mention today that if you are writing a proposal, you want to include a mission statement after your author’s bio. You’ve already worked on that. Remember this post? Not every book on writing a book proposal includes the “Mission Statement” section; in fact, most don’t. It’s a fairly new section. However, […]