Once your web-site is operational, one of the ways to generate more buzz about your Internet presence is to add what is called interactivity. That’s the concept that a web surfer is more likely to come back to a site repeatedly if there are activities that require his input into a situation. Those little polls on all the major search engines are not a whimsy of the HTML coder. The idea behind polls on the sites is to give the reader an idea of the major issues of the day and letting him vote on them. The same with puzzles and contests. All of these require the user to do more than just read text. They are participating in the information on the site.
So how can you get your site to be interactive? First, realize that it’s going to take a certain amount of time from you or a friend who maintains the site. It would be very expensive to hire a person to maintain a site on a daily or weekly basis. You’ll need to devote at least a few hours a week to this endeavor. Nothing looks worse than having the same poll out there for eight months.
Things have to look fresh and current.
One of the cheapest and easiest ways to become more interactive is through the use of message boards and on-line chats. Message boards, like bulletin boards before them, are merely a place where people can write or “post” messages on your website. In this situation, if the readers are asking questions of you, you have the ability to post an answer to the question for readers to see.
This can take the place of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) pages that are normally included with a site. Alternatively, you can chat with your readers on-line, in a manner similar to that of the chatrooms. All you’ll need is some software that can be downloaded from a number of on-line sites. After that, it’s just a matter of posting a time to get together and starting typing with your readers. Be sure to take time zones into account and post all chat times with the appropriate zone as well.
-
Interesting stuff, Jeff, especially since I’m thinking of revamping my website. Another things I’ve seen on Facebook are apps. Anybody have an opinion on those?
by Casey
on February 18th, 2009 at 8:32 am
-
I know how to write. I just don’t know that much about marketing and promoting. My novel THE DROWNING POOL officially is published as of today, February 18, 2009. There have been two very good reviews that I just found out about, one in the MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW and one in CRIMESPREE MAGAZINE.
I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that librarians will order the mystery novel for their libraries.
by Jacqueline Seewald
on February 18th, 2009 at 11:31 am
-
Be careful of apps. Some are fine and lots of fun. Others will hijack your friend list and annoy them with emails and messages that they don’t want or need.
Jacqueline, postcards with your reviews might be a way to let libraries know about your books. Most library sales are done from the larger review organs (PW, LJ, etc) but I’ve found that good documented reviews can help the author interest librarians.
by Jeff
on February 18th, 2009 at 11:36 am
-
I hadn’t thought of putting something like this on my website, but it’s an interesting prospect. My only problem with online chatting is my old fingers have become quite unreliable at typing in a hurry.
http://chestercampbell.blogspot.com
-
Congratulations on the publication of your book, Jacqueline!
by Casey
on February 18th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
-
Jeff,
Thanks for the ideas. I particularly like the message boards and online chat suggestions.
Thanks!
-
It seems like the message boards are sort of the equivalent of today’s blogs. The chats don’t happen in real time on a blog, but the comments section on my blog is where we can do a back and forth.
-
Thanks for the info on message boards. I’ve been looking for ways to keep the website fresh, so I’ll be checking these out.
Putting reviews on postcards and sending to libraries – great idea!!!
-
I’m a big jigsaw puzzle fan, but don’t have space in the house at the moment to lay out a big puzzle. So I do them online.
I stumbled on an author who’d used a free jigsaw creator online to make puzzles out of her books covers. So I did the same.
http://www.mahubooks.com/jigsaw/jigsaw_list.htm
It’s not the greatest applet, but it’s a little bit of fun.
