Your Writer Platform

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Audience Engagement: How to Establish a Genuine Connection with Your Readers

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Audience Engagement How to Establish a Genuine Connection with Your Readers | YourWriterPlatform.com

In part 1 of this book marketing series, we talked about how to find your ideal audience—what steps you can take to figure out who your dream reader is, where they hang out, and how you can reach out to them.

Hopefully by now you’ve had a chance to put a few of those tips into action, starting to reach out to potential new fans and attract them to your writing.

But there’s a difference between knowing where your audience hangs out, reaching out to them, and actually engaging with them.

Think of it this way: the people who put take-out menus in your mailbox know where you live, and they have reached out to you. But do you save and cherish those menus, relying on them for comfort or support, telling friends about them, and writing raving reviews about them online?

Probably not.

The menus reach you, but they don’t engage you. They don’t make you a fan.

The real secret to building a lasting author platform is to connect.

Let’s take a deep dive into how to make that happen. [Read more…]

Identifying Your Target Audience: The Top 8 Mistakes Writers Make

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Identifying Your Target Audience_ The Top 8 Mistakes Writers Make _ YourWriterPlatform.com

(Want to avoid making costly mistakes when identifying your target audience? Scroll down to grab the FREE cheatsheet!)

Defining your target audience is much easier said than done.

Many writers end up skipping this step because they fail to recognize its importance in their book marketing plans.

But the truth is, identifying and understanding the wants, needs and desires of your ideal readership can “make or break” your marketing strategy.

Without a solid grasp of what makes your readers tick – and what they are really searching for – you will waste a considerable amount of time and energy promoting your work to an indifferent market.

Or worse, you’ll begin to receive pushback or negative reviews from people that your book was never written for.

But here’s the good news…

There is a wealth of information at your fingertips, about every audience and sub-genre imaginable.

From basic demographics like age, gender, location, income, occupation or ethnicity, to audience psychographics, like personality, attitudes, values, interests, hobbies, lifestyle and even behaviour.

The roadblock? [Read more…]

Blog Post Ideas for Writers: Solving the “What Do I Blog About?” Conundrum

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Blog Post Ideas For Writers_ Solving the _What Do I Blog About__ Conundrum _ YourWriterPlatform.com

Writing your book is enough of a challenge.

Many of us have sat staring miserably at a blank screen, cursor winking mockingly, trying desperately to pull our thoughts together to form a sentence.

And then (hopefully) another.

It’s rarely easy, and even on good days when your Muse is with you, there’s still that niggling self-doubt to contend with.

I have nothing to say.

And even if I did, who’s going to listen?

But if you want to stay ahead of the curve, you also need to consistently craft mind-blowing blog content to grow your audience – while you write your book.

… Ugh.

So, the big question is this:

“What’s the most effective, most efficient way to regularly conceive and produce high-quality posts that attract more readers?”

Because you do have something to say. Your ideas are worth sharing. And people will listen.

You just need a little guidance on how to focus your creative super powers to get the job done.

How to Decide What to Blog About

Ready to solve the “What do I blog about?” puzzle, once and for all?

To do so, we need to lay a little groundwork.

Before we can think about creating amazing content, we need to know three things first: [Read more…]

How to Get Traffic to Your Author Website: 30+ Tips for Discouraged Writers

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How to Get Traffic to Your Author Website_ 30+ Tips for Discouraged Writers _ YourWriterPlatform.com

Sure is quiet out there.

I mean seriously, with a gabillion people online these days, wouldn’t a few even accidentally stumble across your website?

Isn’t it statistically impossible (or at least, improbable) that you should have so little traffic to this darn blog that you’ve spent hours coaxing into existence, one precious post at a time?

What? Offline rejection isn’t enough, now writers have to be rebuffed online, too?

😉

Don’t be discouraged, dear writer, help is on the way!

Building traffic can take time. It’s not always easy to find the people who are interested in your topic and receptive to your point of view, your voice and your style.

Plus, you also need to consider the “share-potential” of your audience. Do your readers have large followings on social networks like Twitter and Facebook? Or better, do they have their own blogs or websites?

Or does your audience (or potential audience) have small networks of the usual suspects: friends, family and a few peers?

Be careful when comparing your growth with the internet gurus. If your target audience isn’t bloggers, businesses or online entrepreneurs, the share-potential of your readers will be much lower – and your growth, therefore, may be much slower.

Consider changing your goal from quickly growing your traffic, to focusing on ensuring that the traffic you are attracting is right for your author blog. You want the traffic you funnel to your site to be targeted, invested and closely aligned with your way of thinking.

And the results you seek – increased book sales, a supportive community, authority and influence in your genre or niche – are not *necessarily* linked to high traffic numbers. [Read more…]

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up: The Definition of Marketing (Issue #28)

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The Writer's Weekly Wrap-Up #28 _ YourWriterPlatform.com

This post is part of a weekly series on YWP, aptly titled “The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up”.

Each Sunday, I will endeavour to provide you with a curated list of the best articles I have seen throughout the week that relate to building your platform.

The featured articles cover topics on book marketing and promotion, blogging, social media and self-publishing. (I may even throw in a few inspirational and fun posts, just so that it’s not all work and no play!)

Marketing May Have to Change Its Name

Marketing is simply the process and activities involved in creating awareness for a product or service, typically aimed at a specific group.

And, although there can be many definitions and variations on the theme (based on the intentions and the values of the one actually doing the marketing), the core concept itself isn’t especially unfavourable.

Intuitively it makes sense that there be a mechanism for connecting what you have to offer, to the group you’d like to offer it to.

The issue that arises for many authors is the suspicion and negativity associated with marketing that has evolved over time: smarmy undertones, cheesy or self-serving tactics, and the in-your-face aggressiveness of mediocre marketing strategies gone bad.

But, I think ‘marketing’ has gotten a bad rap.

The theory is sound, it’s the application that is–in many cases–somewhat less than stellar.

But, marketing your work as an author is a must, so if it still makes you feel dirty, just think of it this way: [Read more…]

Authors with Platforms Sell Books.

It’s that simple.

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