| Home| Books| Custom Publishing |Book Packaging Services |Self-Publishers' FAQ| Beagle Bay Books Catalog| Beagle Bay Books |Contact Us |
New Self-Publisher’s FAQ
Setting Up Your Website
Websites
Basic Websites
More Complex Websites
•
Making your site "Content Rich"
•
Links and reciprocity
•
Books Like Yours
Many people are of the opinion that if they put up a website, the world will immediately beat a path to one’s web-door and buy scads of books from it. They are usually confused and upset when they experience few—or even no—sales within the first six months.
The facts about Internet commerce are these:
•
There are 8 trillion websites on the Internet.
•
Google
and Yahoo are good search engines, but if
you don’t have a lot of visitors to your site, you won’t be ranked... then
no one can find you unless they know exactly what to look for.
•
While people can be driven to your site, few will want to buy directly
from you.
You need to learn how to make your site attractive to web spiders and ’bots (the programs that troll the web for new websites and new information that can be quantified and put into search engines). "Meta-tags" are no longer used, so anyone who tries to sell you their services telling you they’ll insert these for you is behind the times.
You can "seed’ search engines. This takes a certain amount of money. Or you can make your site "content rich." See the discussion below on More Complex Websites.
Linking to other websites and having reciprocal links increases your visibility. See the discussion below on More Complex Websites
As with all advertising (which a website is), a website is part of your marketing plan. You have to know who you are trying to reach. How do they like to be contacted? What can you do to interest them?
Creative Minds Press can create the perfect website for you!
A very simple website can have as few as three pages: an introduction, about page (information about the company and contact information) and a sell page (where they actually go to buy the book).
Avoid using pop-ups (ads or your own inventions), flashing lettering or pictures, unpleasant or hard to read fonts or color combinations, or music (you may enjoy it, most people don’t).
Introduction
If you are a one or two book company, don’t get fancy and have loads of text. Feature your book(s) on the opening page with a brief summary of the book, the book cover (which you have (or hired someone to) designed to look well as a computer thumbnail), the price, number of pages and a "buy now!" link.
Also on this page should be the company name and logo—usually at the top. Navigation buttons can be to the side or below or above the company name banner.
About ____ Page
This tells about your company—when it was founded, what your focus is on. You can include a small biography of all the employees. At the bottom should be an address, business phone, fax number and an e-mail address. However, given the amount of spam you will get if you simply post your e-mail address, it is better to either have your address in an embedded link, or have a "Contact Us" form that will be sent to your e-mail account.
Sell or Catalog Page
This can have the full description of the book, a cover image, facts about the book (size, number of pages, ISBN and LOC numbers), price and ways to buy.
For a simple website, we suggest becoming a member of PayPal to handle credit card sales. (Google for other website credit card processors) (In six years of selling books on the web, we’ve only received 2 checks). You can get a merchant account at your bank to handle credit cards directly. You’ll need a shopping cart system in that case. But PayPal is a low-cost solution for an entry level website.
You will also want to offer buyers the chance to use Amazon or B&N.com. Please see the discussion on why we recommend this. The short answer is, most people don’t buy off of strange websites. Not to worry, we have a way that will get you a commission for selling your own books.
Creative Minds Press can design a simple website for you today!
In selling on the web for six years (and working with Internet solutions for the previous ten), we’ve discovered several ways to increase site visitors.
Making your site "Content Rich"
What is your book about? Obviously, you’ve spent a lot of time researching aspects of it. Chances are, you’ve come up with lots of information that you didn’t use in the novel or non-fiction that would be useful to people interested in the subject. Put together a page of interesting and / or useful information on that subject. Make sure you put your book cover and let people know you, the author of that book, put together the webpage. Don’t forget to put a link to your catalog page!
There are almost certainly other websites on your subject matter. Search for all you can find and have a webpage giving these links. Perhaps include a short description of these sites you’ve visited (don’t pass judgement. If you thought a website was stupid or inappropriate, don’t include it just to put it down). Don’t forget to include your own helpful website!
Don’t forget to have your book cover and let people know you, the author of that book, put together the web links! Include a link to your website catalog page!
Once you’ve created this page, contact these other website owners. Ask if they will link to your helpful website—since you’ve done for theirs. Many will be only too happy to oblige. These links and reciprocals increase your website’s visibility.
Webrings are nice, but don’t actually help your web visibility. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t join appropriate groups.
There are usually many books on the subject of which you’ve written. Maybe you’ve used several as you did your own research. Compile a list of these books. Do small reviews, or include the short summary you find on-line. Don’t forget to include your wonderful book! Now link all these books to Amazon through your Associates' account. You’ll get commissions for selling these books and your own!
Creative Minds Press
can
design a great website for you today!
Back to Top
If I have a website, why should I send customers to Amazon or B&N when I sell it at full retail?
You can put up a website
and have no affiliate links at
all. You may even get a fair amount of sales. But you’ll get more
if you have those affiliate links, giving your buyers a choice of how to
purchase. People are a bit worried about ordering from a "no
name" website, but they have no problem buying from established names
like Amazon,
B&N, Powell’s or Books-a-Million. And you get a
commission for selling your own book!
Still not convinced? Say you set up a neighborhood lemonade stand on your
block. You sell glasses for $1. Maybe you sell 2-3. Imagine if Bobbie down
the street puts up a stand and starts selling his glasses for $.50. You
know he'll sell lots more. Enough so that the discount is more than made
up for in volume.
Return to FAQ Index
Return to Creative Minds Press home page
