• Mood: creative

The Fine Art of Self-Promotion: Part Seven – Writers' websites (and why blogs don’t belong there)

I believe your writer’s website is (or should be) the center piece of your internet presence. The crown jewel at the center of your online web. All outside links should lead to your homepage. Anytime you sell a story, or publish a book, that web address should be included in the ‘About the author’ para, and a corresponding link to your latest writerly triumph posted on your site.

I like to think of it as a kind of online gallery. At the click of a button, folks from all around the world can pop in to find out about you and your writing, watch your book trailers, listen to podcasts etc, as well as follow links to your online stories and places which sell your work (at least they can if you have them).

Why then, do I think it’s NOT a good idea to have your blog there (or at least, only there)?
Because, from a strictly self-promotional point of view, there are two types of people in the world: those who’ve at least heard of you, and those who aren’t even aware you exist.

What about that mirrored site thingy? Can’t I use that?
Sure. In this technological age, it’s possible to duplicate your journal entries on several blog sites at once, including your own website, but there’s so much more to an online presence than just being there. You still need to be ‘Active in the community’, as it were, otherwise your blog is only reaching that pool of folks who’ve already heard of you, and that’s a tiny pond compared to the ocean of people who haven’t.

To me, your website is really for people who at the very least, know your name. Your blog, on the other hand, is for everyone, and that’s why it doesn’t belong on your site. It belongs out there in big wide world, where it has more opportunities to add to that list of people who know your name. It's there to let people know you exist, that you’re an interesting person, and yes, that you happen to be a writer.

From a self-promotional point of view, your never-ending goal is to increase the number of people who’ve at least heard of you, because some of those folks will remember your name when they see it on the spine of a book, or the index of a magazine, and if you’ve done your self-promotion well, and your work appeals to them, a teeny-tiny percentage of those folks will make a purchase which they would not otherwise have made.

[Edited after discussion with jimhines and saetter]
That’s why, when I update my site in the New Year, I may well mirror this journal there (if I can figure out how to do it), but I'll still think of them as seperate entities.

How about you?

Do you think a writer’s blog should be separate from his/her website?