Oct 03
You can build your own store using the WooCommerce free plugin.
WooCommerce is a free eCommerce plugin that allows you to sell anything, easily. Built to integrate seamlessly with WordPress, WooCommerce is the world’s favorite eCommerce solution that gives store owners complete control.
With WooCommerce, you can sell both physical and digital goods in all shapes and sizes, offer product variations, multiple configurations, and instant downloads to shoppers, and even sell affiliate goods from online marketplaces.
Offer free shipping, flat rate shipping, or make real-time calculations. Limit your shipments to specific countries, or open your store up to the world. Shipping is highly configurable, and WooCommerce even supports drop shipping.
WooCommerce comes bundled with the ability to accept major credit cards, PayPal, BACS (bank transfers), and cash on delivery. Need additional options? More than 140 region-specific gateways integrate with WooCommerce, including popular choices like Stripe, Authorize.Net, and Amazon Payments.
Too Install:
Navigate to Plugins in WordPress dashboard
Click add New
In search box type in WooCommerce
Install now.and activate. It comes with a handy how to guide that will guide you through the set-up
Oct 02
You can add a Buy Now Button to your website to accept payment for your product or book
PayPal is a popular choice for online payments and it is safe and secure to use.
Set up your account and log in to PayPal.
Choose Merchant Services Tab
Click on Create Buy Now Button
The rest is very straight forward . just follow the instructions
Click yes to encrypt your button as you do not want peepers to see your download page or other information.
Use default settings for Shipping and tax options.
Click the More Options button
Under the heading Customize Your Buyers Experience insert the url for the page that contains the download of your product or book.
Use the default settings for next section except for tick no shipping address (unless you plan on sending out a physical book then you would need their address but for a digital download an address is not needed.)
Click Create Button Now
You will be given some html code which you need to copy and then paste in your website where you want your Buy Now Button to go.
Click Done and your payment button is ready to use.
Oct 02
How to add audio to your website:
Adding audio to a page or post is as simple as adding an image.
Place cursor where you want the audio to be , click add media. Select the music file you want to upload from your computer.
Add a title and description (this helps with SEO rankings)
Select Embed Media Player
Click insert into Post.
To create an audio file you can use the Sound Recorder that comes with Windows to capture the audio stream and save it as a WAV . It also allows you to edit the file. This is what it sounds like:
Audacity is a free audio software. Audacity is an open source, cross-platform audio editor and recorder. Audacity can record and play sounds and import and export WAV, AIFF, MP3, and OGG files.
Oct 02
Homepage sliders can give a professional look to you website.
Sliders are usually found at the top of the homepage, and they come in various sizes. They use a slideshow style format.
One important point to remember is that your images are the correct size for the slider so they are not blurry.
One easy slider to use is Soliloquy Lite
To add Slider:
From the Dashboard click Plugins>Add New
In the search box type Soliloquy Lite
Install now and activate – the Soliloquy will appear in your Dashboard links
Click on the link Add new Soliloquy slider to begin building your slider
Add a title for slider, this will not appear on the slider itself but used by you to distinguish your slider is you choose to install more than one.
Add images to slider – the default dimensions for Soliloquy lite slider is 960 x 300 pixels.
Upload images they will appear at the bottom ready to publish. Click publish which gets your slider ready for your website.
When you click Publish, the shortcode will pop up ie: [soliloquy id=”77″]
Where ever you want the slider to appear (posts, pages, widgets, header etc ) just type in the shortcode.
And your slider is live.
Sep 29
How to add audio to your website:
Adding audio to a page or post is as simple as adding an image.
Place cursor where you want the audio to be , click add media. Select the music file you want to upload from your computer.
Add a title and description (this helps with SEO rankings)
Select Embed Media Player
Click insert into Post.
To create an audio file you can use the Sound Recorder that comes with Windows to capture the audio stream and save it as a WAV . It also allows you to edit the file. This is what it sounds like:
Audacity is a free audio software. Audacity is an open source, cross-platform audio editor and recorder. Audacity can record and play sounds and import and export WAV, AIFF, MP3, and OGG files.
Aug 11
Your goal is to sell more books, so I want to share 3 awesome ways to sell your books by getting people on your email list. Remember an email list is important to building a relationship with your readers so that they want to buy your books and interact with you. If you make these 3 small tweaks, you will start to get more sales from your existing fan base. You can also start to create a fan base using these strategies.
A powerful strategy is to link to your squeeze page inside your book. You can link your squeeze page at the beginning of your book underneath the copyright information on the title page and again at the end of you book after your author bio. From my experience having a link to your squeeze page will turn a portion of your readers into email subscribers.
If you have other published books, link to them at the end of your book. Remember, if your readers like one of your books, they will more than likely enjoy your other books and want to read them. If you only have one book right now, just remember when your second book is published, make sure to add a link to all of your published books in each book.
Reviews help sell your books. One overlooked source for reviews is your existing readers while they are reading your book. Simply insert a review request at the back of your book. For example: “Thanks for reading this book. If you enjoyed this book or found it useful I would appreciate it if you could post a short review on Amazon (insert link to book on Amazon)
There you have 3 awesome free strategies to sell more books. Leave a comment sharing your success with these free tweaks.
Jan 03
Do Authors need a website? Yes, because websites are THE best way for authors to showcase their book.
WHY?
A web presence allows writers to establish a brand, collect email addresses, sell books, blog and much more. What better way to present your book than your very own website.
Even in this age of social media, having a website is really important. A recent study by the Codex Group showed that that websites are one of the key ways people find out about books.
Surprisingly, in terms of new book discovery, Facebook and Twitter are much less influential than author websites because of search engine optimization and keywords. When you type in an author’s name, his/her website is first thing that comes up. To be the first result that pops up in a Google search is reason enough to have a website.
This visibility gives you the opportunity to control your message and to craft the experience that you want the person who has taken the time to Google you — to see.
A very important aspect of your website is that it gives you the opportunity to capture people’s email addresses and to build a newsletter list.
Your mailing list is extremely important, even if you’re a literary fiction writer. People who give you their names and email addresses are telling you that they’re interested in you and your work and want to know more about you; they want to be kept up to date. Even just a 100-person list matters because you can use it as a mini-focus group, testing book covers and plot ideas, and you can easily alert your fans about new releases. And over time that list will grow and grow.
Once you understand how to use your blog well, and you get in the groove (and you build up your mailing list, social networking fan base ) you’ll be able to reach your readers directly whenever, however, you want.
This is powerful because you can invite them to provide their feedback, both publicly through blog comments, Facebook message and Twitter.
Here are reasons why you need a website to promote your book..Check out my video
I can get you up and running with your very own author website design on WordPress, which is very user friendly and easy for you to maintain. No technical experience needed. For more information click hereOct 14
As an author you need a Website to develop a fan base and a platform from which to sell your books. I created a short video showing why you need a website.
Onto the 7 reasons why you need a WordPress website.
1.Ease of setting up a WordPress site.
The most important reason for creating a WordPress Website is how easy and simple setting up a WordPress site is. You do not need to know coding such as html or css languages because WordPress works with text. It was originally developed for easy Blog creation so you only need to use words to create it. There are many plugins that help with the software part of design features that enhance your WordPress site.
2. Themes
It is very easy to create a Professional looking Website with the use of Themes. Most of the Themes are customizable, which means you can add your own brand, colors and features that make your site reflect your personality. Some themes are free and some are premium themes that very in price.
3.Free to install
WordPress is free to install on a large number of hosting sites. You don’t need to pay for the software. It is actually available on the hosting site. You only have to install it. You do have to make sure your hosting company supports WordPress installation. I use HostGator.com as they have great 24/7 support.
4. Short quick learning curve
Creating a WordPress site is easy to install and creating you site is relatively easy. There is lots of help online to help you personalize your site. . I offer a free course for building your WordPress Site. http://asksusanne.com. Also have created a softcover book WordPress Starter Guide For Authors: How To Use WordPress To Build Your Author Website.
5 Easy to add photos, video, music, and audio.
As an author your main goal is to market your book and having the ability to add images of book covers, audio recordings and video trailers and to be able to do this fast and professionally. This you can do with your WordPress blog.
6. Easy to add a shopping cart or add Paypal, Clickbank or another pay service.
WordPress using plugins allows you to sell your book from your website to generate income.
7.Plugins software programs that add functionality to your site.
There are so many Plugins that can supercharge your Website, such as the following:
Building a Website is a necessity for any writer. When you publish a book, especially if you self- Publish, you need READERS!
The first steps to attracting readers is to build a Website, and start a Blog. There are many other ways to get in front of your readers, but a Website is a good place to start. Most new authors don’t consider that once the book is finished, they are in business.
If you need help or have a question, I would love to help. Just email me at susanne@asksusanne.com
Sep 19
Hemingway App makes your writing bold and clear.A few clients have asked me about tips on making their writing more clear and easier to read. For do-it-your-selvers, my suggestion is to use The Hemingway Editor. The Hemingway Editor is a unique writing app that will help develop your writing and blogging skills.
From what I understand, the Hemingway Editor is fashioned after the writing style of Ernest Hemingway. He was renowned for his economical, understated writing style. A writing style is appreciated in the Blogging World.
The Hemingway Editor measures your writing in a most unique way. It gives you a “Readability” grading, raw meta data, and then my favorite part:
You don’t need to change everything Hemingway Editor flags. But, following Hemingway’s advice in these areas you can develop your writing style by using clear concise words to get your blog content across to your readers.
You can buy the app for your device or use The Hemingway Editor straight on their website for free.
There is also a desktop version that gives you the ability to save your work, write in Markdown and see a HTML preview side-by-side.
Using the desktop app is a far better plan than writing directly into WordPress or even the free online Hemingway Editor. Being able to write posts offline and save drafts locally is a great way to insure that I don’t lose blog posts! It even includes a few other cool options that the free browser based solution does not:
Save and open text (.txt) and Markdown (.md) files.
Format with Markdown, preview it, and export to HTML.
No Internet connection required.
While I don’t always take Hemingway’s suggestions, I think it is helping me become a much better writer and blogger. This is one tool I recommend to help you write with a clear, bold voice.
Try it …..let me know what you think.
http://www.hemingwayapp.com/
Sep 17
Pinterest has improved their analytical tools. With the new Pinterest Analytics features, you can get new data about your audience which will help you can learn what your customers really want. The new Pinterest Analytics tool gives you access to a variety of data, including how potential customers interact with your pins beyond your website.
Social Media Examiner has a great article explaining how the new Pinterest Analytics Tool work. the new feature I particularly like is the new Activity From category which shows your website’s top pins and top boards and how their impressions, repins and clicks stack up.
This is valuable because you can easily tell which topics are resonating with your audience (and create similar content for even more pins). Great marketing strategy.
With Pinterest Analytics, you’ll learn:
to log in and view your analytics go to analytics.pinterest.com
Read the complete blog post here
