Ep109: SEO for Authors (Part 2 of Marketing That You Own series)
Hello Writers and Crafters!
I'm Valerie Ihsan, And I'm Erick Mertz, and this is Episode 109 of the podcast and it's April 5, 2023 as we record this.
Main Topic: SEO (Part 2 in our Marketing That You Own series)
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Comments: email from listener:
Questions from listeners:
Announcements:
1) Next Group Coaching cohort is starting soon! On sale now for $333. April 11- June 7 weekly; Tuesdays 2:00 p.m. (day and time negotiated by cohort)
UPDATE:
Valerie: quarterly check-in and not monthly check-in felt weird; lots of knitting!; compiling a master list of business tasks so that I can prioritize them.
Erick: getting to finished points on two books, (accidental rapid release later this year)
Just finished: The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz
I'M READING: The Blackhorse by Carole Johnstone ; Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships With Dogs by Suzanne Clothier; Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life by Beth Kempton.
Up Next: audiobook library pick. I want to finish this sweater!
Erick's Reading:
Show Notes:
Make sure you have Google Analytics on website at the very least.
Search Engine = Google; Google scans All Pages On The Internet; Which page is most likely to help the searcher?
When building a page (blog, site, YT) you are optimizing that content so that Google can find it. Tailor the content for that purpose--to rise to the top of those search results.
Website = newspaper (Erick analogy.)
Write blog topics based on google search terms. (What's a hot search term right now?)
Tailor your content to the broad topic (called long tail search term) and create content based on each smaller keyword.
YOST plug-in gives you red/green lights on each page, and tells you where to naturally put your keywords.
Google crawls your site to look for new content. Goal: to rank for multiple relevant keywords. After two dozen pages of targeted content, you'll be pushed up in the searches. This marketing strategy is part of SEO. (Or maybe the other way around?)
Erick works on this quarterly and weekly. Every quarter he looks for trending search terms and plans a quarter of blog post topics; and writes one each week for his blog.
Also, thinking about how to narrow the search terms. "Ghost writer" becomes "best ghost writer for hire in Portland Oregon."
This works especially well for writers that provide author services and non-fiction authors, but what about fiction writers?
Fiction: what are your competitive keywords? Take the low hanging fruit. Be the best small fish.
"Mystery author" (competitive), "Oregon City author" is less competitive than "Portland author."
It's about branding. If "Books about haunted towns" is the search term, write a blog post on "Top Ten Haunted Towns."
You can look at SEO like choosing amazon keywords and categories for your book. Amazon book page is same as a website page in terms of content for Google to search.
Site age does factor in to the Google ranking.
Start SEO habit today, don't go back to fix old blog posts. Republishing blogs does count as new content, though.
Next Steps:
1. Install Google Analytics on your website.
2. Install Yost on your website.
3. Brainstorm for search terms. What do you want to rank for in six months? (Think highest paying job.)
4. Take each term and put it in AdWords or Keyword Planner, and it will give you fifty other terms that fit, and rank them.
5. Start with lowest competitive terms. (What does it cost to run an ad on that word?) And write a blog post on that.
Alternate topics.
It all starts with content. (There are further strategies that come beyond the page, but you need content first. This can be: blog post; pictures can have keywords, too (meta tagging); video descriptions.
Tools to use for SEO, domain analysis, and keywords: Google Analytics, Google Ad Words, Yoast, Moz.
Talk to Erick about it. Email him to start a conversation. He can help you get started.
SEO Consultants are expensive. There's a lot you can do BEFORE you hire one.
Resources:
Reading Critique Group for Writers FB Group (Jennie Komp's group)
3 Bird View FB page (Jennie Kemp's business page)
Author XP (marketing for authors) (bi-monthly promotions)
Raven Publicity (publicity for authors)
The Shades of Orange (Rachel, Book Blogger on YouTube) for book recommendations SF/Fantasy/Horror
Contact Erick for business-starting advice or building a website.
Contact Valerie for author coaching.
Other Resources:
Thomas Umstattd Jr, at Novel Marketing Podcast. Ep255: How to Create an Email Onboarding Drip Campaign
Russell P. Nohelty and Monica Leonelle's book, Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter.
Valerie's new day book for the year 2023 is: Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga by Rolf Gates.
I've published our 2022 Book List on the website: valerieihsan.com/podcast-news
Passion Planner: https://passionplanner.rfrl.co/e86j8 (affiliate link) Discount Code: VALERIE188
ProWriting Aid: https://prowritingaid.com/?afid=9378 (affiliate link)
Find Us:
Valerie’s Services: https://valerieihsan.com
Valerie’s Author Site: https://valerieihsanauthor.com
Valerie’s Facebook Page and Instagram account
Valerie's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/valerieihsan
Erick's Linktree link: https://linktr.ee/erickmertzauthor
Erick’s Services: https://erickmertzwriting.com
Erick’s free book on Ghostwriting: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/cexki4kp5n
Erick’s Author Site: https://erickmertzauthor.com
Erick’s Facebook Page and Instagram account
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