"Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, what do I want to do everyday for the rest of my life? Do that." -Gary Vaynerchuk During this tough time while we all face the coronavirus pandemic together, what strategies do you use to navigate through it? I've focused on learning and applying new skills: setting goals, developing productive habits, marketing, honing my writing craft. I want to give back by sharing what I'm learning, hence the birth of my newly minted blog, #TheWriteSkills. Welcome to its very first post! Last night, the inspiration struck to carry out a spring cleaning and redesign of my author website. Authors, have you made over your online presence lately? If you're considering a fun, fresh change to your website, I hope you find some of these tips helpful. Please let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear from you! 1. Research SEO Optimization SEO optimization is one major key to your site's discoverability because it affects its rankings in the major search engines. I'll admit, it's a topic I need to research much more. When I understand it better, I'll put together a blog post on the topic for you all. One of the first things I did in overhauling my website was checking for broken links. Having broken links penalizes you. Yes, broken links left untended can cause a literal penalty on your website in terms of rankings by Google. If, like me, you haven't maintained your website recently, you'll probably find some to remove. On a longtime blog or website with many pages, you may want to use a resource like Broken Link Checker to help find those pesky broken links. So, how do you improve your site for SEO? My next step was testing out some free website diagnostic tools online, such as Website Grader and SEO Checker. They turned out to be another fantastic resource, because they showed me where I could improve the title and website description, content length, speed of loading, and other issues affecting quality and SEO. All of this led to reorganizing the pages for better flow. Be sure to tell me what you think, whether you're new here or have visited before! Another SEO optimization tip I discovered while watching a YouTube video mentioned keyword tracking tools that provide stats on the most searched keyword terms. My favorite one so far is the Wordstream Free Keyword Tool. Using the keyword terms can be a powerful way to understand what others are searching for and optimize your content so it's easily found in search results. 2. Select a Fresh New Design for the Website While it was helpful to gain a greater understanding of SEO and keywords, and I'm excited to see the results as I apply what I'm learning, I love playing around with design. After trying out several banners, I finally settled on this background. The calm elegance of flowering branches drew me in. It fits with what I want my brand to stand for -- beauty, inspiration, and growth. In redesigning your website, it's a wonderful opportunity to think about your brand and how the overall look and feel of your site embodies that. I hope the new changes have inspired you! 3. Improve Organization and Functionality Today I spent most of the day reorganizing and updating the website. I moved my book blurb back to the home page, deleted a "For Purchase" page, and collected all my short stories onto a single page. I deleted broken links and elements preventing my site from loading quickly. On #TheWriteSkills, I established its new name and wrote the blog description. Then, I added my picture and contact icons. I'm planning to monetize blog and YouTube content I create someday, so I rediscovered my old Adsense account. I added my RSS feed to my GoodReads and Amazon author profiles. If you're thinking of working on your author website, I hope you'll find these tips useful! If you enjoyed what you read today, leave a like and share, and be sure to tell me what topics you'd like to see me tackle in future posts. Your feedback will help me connect you with the skills, information, and resources you need.
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AuthorHi! I'm Lora Palmer. I wrote THE MIRRORMASTERS, a YA fantasy adventure. Contact Me
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