September 21, 2011

Guest Post: How to Self-Publish Your Ebook

by Gary McLaren

Every day I receive multiple requests from authors around the world who are looking for assistance or more information on how to self-publish an ebook.

And the answer today is very different than when our Publish Your Own Ebooks website started back in 2003.

Then, your best option was to get your ebook into PDF and start selling it from your own web site. While you can and should still do that today, if you want to be taken seriously as an independent author then you must also make your ebooks available at mainstream ebook stores.

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September 19, 2011

Guest Post: Why Anchor Text Could Be The Most Important Aspect Of SEO

by Lee Dobbins

Getting backlinks to your site is great, but if you aren’t using anchor text properly, you may not be able to rank for your keywords.

But anchor text isn’t just important for getting you ranked, it’s also possibly the most important element to look at when analyzing your competition.

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September 16, 2011

WB Weekly Update: Why Novelist Barry Eisler Turned Down $500,000 to Self Publish

“Write even when you don’t want to, don’t much like what you are writing, and aren’t writing particularly well.”
- Agatha Christie

In This Issue:

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September 13, 2011

Guest Post: Use Long-Tail Key Phrases to Get a High Page Rank

By James Beswick

Although most website owners strive to reach page one on Google’s search engine results, it’s important to realize that any web page can only rank highly for a limited number of keyword phrases.

Consequently, targeting the most effective keyword phrase has a significant impact on your page’s ability to rank well. Additionally, since Google ranks pages and not entire sites, it’s possible to use different pages to rank for separate sets of keywords.

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September 7, 2011

Guest Post: Several Ways You Can Make Money from Your Website (Or Blog)

by James Beswick

There are a variety of ways to make money from the traffic on your website, which can be divided into direct and indirect methods.

Direct methods include:

  • Subscriptions: sites that provide specialized content, expert advice or niche services (such as dating) frequently charge visitors a monthly or annual membership fee to generate revenue.
  • Sales: many e-commerce sites, like Amazon, monetize their online presence by generating product sales which are marked up to make a profit.
  • Donations and Tip Jars: visitors are encouraged to make voluntary donations if they like a site’s content, an increasingly popular idea on busy blogs.
  • Premium content: in this model, a reasonable portion of a website is provided freely to visitors, and premium or exclusive content is available to paid subscribers. In some cases, forums, marketplaces, additional software and job boards may be offered for a premium.
  • Selling the site: some webmasters use domains to develop content and traffic, boosting the visitor traffic and PageRank, and then sell the entire site to monetize their work.

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September 6, 2011

Guest Post: How Important Are PageRank and Nofollow When Building Backlinks?

by James Beswick

Building inbound links to your site is a major part of search engine optimization.

This is largely due to the weight that Google places on not just the number but the quality of sites linking to yours.

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September 1, 2011

Progress Report for Month #2 (Traffic, Content & Financial Progress)

So, here it is. My second progress report since re-launching www.WritersBreak.com and launching www.ProjectJennifer.com.

A SHORT RECAP

My focus for the first 6+ months is on content generation and building targeted traffic. For example, the target audience for WritersBreak.com is writers who want to learn more about marketing and selling their work.

Whereas the target audience for ProjectJennifer.com is parents who are interested in health-related topics, want to feed their children more whole foods and design healthier households for their families.

Btw, if you just joined this blog series and have no idea what I’m talking about–but want to know–you’ll want to visit THIS page. ;)

Two very different audiences. (However, I am finding a little overlap.)

This progress report is divided into 2 parts. In Part I, I’ll go over traffic and subscriptions. In Part 2, I’ll talk financial performance.

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August 27, 2011

Guest Post: Traits That Google Looks for In a Good Website

by James Beswick

Google has an automated crawling process called GoogleBot which travels from site to site, following the links it finds, and uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the importance of any given page.

Once web pages are indexed, these are then served in search results, depending upon a range of factors such as the search terms used and the location of the user.

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August 24, 2011

WB Weekly Update: How to Sell More Books In Just An Hour and a Half a Day

“Aim to spend 80% of your workday doing tasks you love, 20% doing tasks that build your self-discipline.”
- Steve Pavlina

In This Issue:

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August 17, 2011

How to Land Guest Posts on Your Favorite Blogs

I’ve written several posts about how powerful guest posting is when it comes to generating more blog traffic or getting your brand in front of a lot of *the right* people.

How to Pitch Blog Owners

By simply spending a day or two writing a quality, targeted post for a popular blog, you can attract thousands–sometimes tens of thousands–of new visitors to your own blog.

Visitors who are likely to be interested in your products or services.

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August 11, 2011

WB Weekly Update: 7 Tips for Building Your Blog’s Readership!

“Luck is the residue of design.” – John Milton
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In This Issue:

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August 6, 2011

Guest Post: 7 Tips to Building Your Blog’s Readership

by Mike Seddon

Attracting traffic to a blog or a web site is challenging enough.

So from the very beginning, when you start to see visitors coming to read your blog, be sure that they feel comfortable to stick around. And there are a number of ways you can help them to do just that.

Here are seven vital ingredients for building a successful blog with a loyal following.

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August 6, 2011

Guest Post: Master Your Workday Now!

by Steve Pavlina

I recently had the privilege of reading the book Master Your Workday Now! by Michael Linenberger. I daresay this is the best book on workflow management I’ve ever read — and I’ve read a LOT of books on that subject.

I met Michael at a leadership retreat in January, and we spoke on the phone for about an hour last week to discuss some of his ideas. He shared what I considered some truly elegant workflow management strategies, so I was eager to read his book and learn the whole system he developed.

I’m seldom impressed by time management books these days since I’ve read so many of them, but I must say that Michael’s Workday Now system impressed the heck out of me.

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August 5, 2011

WB Weekly Update: 5 Tips for Getting Things Done Before the Deadline

I’ve been reassessing this past week & have begun to realize that I can’t keep working at my present pace.

I’ve been working with incredible efficiency, scheduling everything back to back for 4 months now.

Juggling the blogs, preparing for a book launch, managing a very busy household & being an extremely active, hands-on mommy to my twin toddlers.

Not to mention, I’m still catching up on the remaining loose ends from my 4 1/2 month hospital stay last year w/ my twin pregnancy and the boys’ stays in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) in Dallas.

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August 2, 2011

Jen’s ePubli$hing Experiment: Time for a Little R&R

(Update on 8/9/11: Aw! I’m feeling much better. I rested for a few days and am MUCH more invigorated. I also found an easy way to organize my writing inventory by using posters. When I’m organized, my mind is much clearer and I’m much less stressed. I’ll share my technique with you next week. I’ve also vowed to slow down and STICK to my 15-hour a week rule.)

I’ve been reassessing this past week & have begun to realize that I can’t keep working at my present pace.

 

I’ve been working with incredible efficiency, scheduling everything back to back for 4 months now.

Juggling the blogs, preparing for a book launch, managing a very busy household & being an extremely active, hands-on mommy to my twin toddlers.

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July 28, 2011

Weekly Update: 7 Tips for Writing Faster!

Wow. Another week’s already flown by.

Silly boys.

My friend, Sage, flew in from L.A. to see the twins this weekend. She was hoping that they’d start walking while she was here. She left a day too early.

They started walking the very next evening.

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July 28, 2011

7 MUST-READ Posts for Aspiring Bloggers

So you want to blog for a living.

You want to work remotely.

Pick your own schedule.

Generate income from your words. A GOOD income. Or maybe even a GREAT one.

I’ll be honest. It’s possible, but it’s not easy. There’s a lot of work involved… especially upfront. And most of it involves learning. Learning what it takes to create a successful blog. How to monetize it. How to drive the “right” traffic.

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July 21, 2011

Weekly Update: Q&A with Horror Novelist Michael Laimo!

As I type, I can hear his perfect little baby hands slapping the floor.

He’s crawling across the hardwood in the living room. The slaps get louder, then, abruptly, stop.

He’s outside my office door.

I stop typing and listen.

“Da daa??” he calls. But I know he means “Mama.”

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July 21, 2011

Q&A with Horror Novelist Michael Laimo

Bram Stoker Award Nominee Michael Laimo is the author of 7 novels, including one of my favorite horror titles of all time, “Deep in the Darkness.”

I first interviewed Michael for WritersBreak.com six years ago and as most of you know, since that time the publishing industry has experienced massive change, becoming a very different ball game for experienced and new novelists alike.

In this interview, Michael is candid about the state of the publishing industry and his opinion on what it means for an established novelist like him.

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