Category: Tools for Writers

Evaluating Our Website’s SEO

Tools for Writers

Evaluating Our Website by Elizabeth Spann Craig

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve recently become very interested in how my site, books, and bio show up in Google searches.  This interest in search engine optimization, or SEO, has led me to make some changes on my site.

I read about a free tool called the SEO Site Checkup tool in Jane Friedman’s Electric Speed newsletter (click here for the archives to see if her newsletter might work for you).  I typed in my website name, clicked ‘checkup,’ and it delivered a list of issues that I should resolve to improve my SEO.

The way it was set up was very informative.  It provides passed checks (what I’m doing right and why it’s right,  failed checks, and warnings.  Each area that my site performed poorly on had a red, clickable box with ‘how to fix’ on it. I learned both from what I was (accidentally, I’m sure) doing right and what I was doing wrong from the fix it offered.

I read a lot of articles on the importance of search engines being able to find our books, our sites, and our bios. But frequently, the articles don’t outline ways to improve what we’re doing.  Even increasing the image size to optimize it for Google (and so that the post will stand out when being shared on social media) helped the SEO…and that was a minor, easy tweak.  Other tips involved creating a favicon for the site (icon representing the site in a bookmark or browser tab).  Others might get tips to make their site easier to read on mobile devices, etc.

It only takes about a minute for the site to check your SEO (and it’s free to check a single site):  SEO Site Checkup tool .  How does yours fare?

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Google Calendar to Simplify Life and Set Goals

Motivation and the Writing Life, Tools for Writers

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigproduction plan

I’ve become something of a Google calendar fanatic.  I’ve completely outsourced my memory to it and have it open much of the day on my laptop and phone.

I used to love having a printed calendar, but disliked having to carry it with me for those frequent times that I needed to check it when I was away from the house.  Printed calendars meant that I usually still had to keep the bits of paper clutter associated with the calendar entry (the slip that listed all the food allergies on the soccer team when I’m in charge of snacks, etc.)

With Google calendar, I either copy-paste the detailed information for the appointment or task and add it to the “notes” section of the entry, or I transcribe the details/contact info on the paper. Then I toss the piece of paper away.  Having all of the information in one place saves me a lot of time and throwing away paper helps keep my house from getting cluttered.Continue reading

Save Time with Draft2Digital

Business of Writing, Tools for Writers, Uncategorized

by Jenny Bravo, @BlotsandPlotsD2D

Are you looking for a simple way to publish your e-book? Are you frustrated with formatting and want a better way? Draft2Digital is changing the game for self-published writers.

As a self-published writer myself, I struggled to navigate the technical side of publishing. I chose to format my book myself, and I grew very familiar with the regular sight of “upload error” when I attempted to publish my e-book.

Aside from Amazon, I eventually decided to give up trying in the other, more complicated uploading systems. Then, I discovered Draft2Digital.Continue reading

Introducing the Reedsy Book Editor

Tools for Writers

by Ricardo Fayet,  RicardoFayet, @reedsyhqReedsy

When starting Reedsy, our ambition was not only to connect authors with vetted, hand-picked editors, designers and marketers. As I wrote when I first introduced Reedsy on Elizabeth’s blog, “we are a technology company at heart”. We wanted to be more than a simple marketplace, we wanted to reinvent the way authors and editors work together – let’s face it, Word wasn’t made for writing books.

That’s why we’ve spent the past several months now on something that we like to call the Reedsy Book Editor. I offered a demo of the tool at the NINC conference last year, and now we are ready to make it live.Continue reading

Apple Makes it Easier to be an Affiliate

Business of Writing, Tools for Writers, Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigitunes auto

Although I don’t make a fortune as an affiliate with Amazon and Apple, so far it’s proven to be reliable income.  And it’s  fairly passive income.

The only problem is that it’s something of a hassle.  You run your links through the retailer’s affiliate URL link-maker, it assigns your affiliate code for credit, and then if someone clicks on your link, you make a commission from whatever they buy on the site during that shopping session. I do keep my affiliate links in a document so that I can just copy/paste them without having to run through the link-maker again, but it’s still a bit of a time suck.  We also have to be careful to follow the retailers’ terms and conditions for use and be sure to put a disclosure on our site when we use these links.Continue reading

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