This week, we feature another author who has drawn a great deal of traffic to his website. His name is Mark Hamel, and he’s the author of Kaizen Event Fieldbook. Most of us won’t understand a word of the book. But that’s okay, because what we really need to know is how he got so many people to learn about the book through his website. Here are his answers to our questions about how he did it.
Who built your website? How was the experience?
Smart Author Sites built my website. The experience was surprisingly pretty painless. I had conceptualized the layout and content and Smart Author Sites, took that and ran with it. After several iterations, a couple of emails and a phone call or two, we were ready.
Which social networking sites do you regularly participate in? Facebook? Twitter? GoodReads? LinkedIn? Any others?
I use LinkedIn quite a bit and am a low volume Tweeter. My blog posts are broadcast via LinkedIn and Twitter. No Facebook, so far.
How many online followers do you have? How many pageviews have you gotten on your website?
I do not track RSS followers, but email subscribers are in the many hundreds and the site’s unique monthly pageviews are around 3,000 …. more for total pageviews.
How has your online presence (be it through a website or social networking profiles) increased your visibility/book sales?
It’s hard to say how the online presence has increased book sales, but as one client shared, “You are all over the internet because of your blog.”
What is your “secret” to achieving this success? Were there any tricks or creative ideas (i.e. a contest) that you used?
No real secret. Just plan for the long haul, build a blog and continually add fresh and useful content for your community. Do that and people will come.
Is there anything you would do differently if you were starting over again?
I would have leveraged social media earlier.
What is the greatest lesson you’ve learned in the process of building your online presence as an author?
There’s no magic and there is no reason to be intimidated by the online thing. If you can write a book, the rest is just a matter of will.
How and where do you promote your website? Is the URL on business cards? Your email signature? Business cards, email signature, and within the book (and future book(s)).
Final words of wisdom for any new authors wondering how to get started….
Simple: 1) get started, and 2) don’t stress about being a big blogger, just endeavor to be a good blogger.
1. Who built your website? How was the experience?
Smart Author Sites built my website. The experience was surprisingly pretty painless. I had conceptualized the layout and content and Smart Author Sites, took that and ran with it. After several iterations, a couple of emails and a phone call or two, we were ready.
2. Which social networking sites do you regularly participate in? Facebook? Twitter? GoodReads? LinkedIn? Any others? I use LinkedIn quite a bit and am a low volume Tweeter. My blog posts are broadcast via LinkedIn and Twitter. No Facebook, so far.
3. How many online followers do you have? How many pageviews have you gotten on your website? (Any impressive numbers would work) I do not track RSS followers, but email subscribers are in the many hundreds and the site’s unique monthly pageviews are around 3,000, more for total pageviews.
4. How has your online presence (be it through a website or social networking profiles) increased your visibility/book sales? It’s hard to say how the online presence has increased book sales, but as one client shared, “You are all over the internet because of your blog.”
5. What is your “secret” to achieving this success? Were there any tricks or creative ideas (i.e. a contest) that you used? No real secret. Just plan for the long haul, build a blog and continually add fresh and useful content for your community. Do that and people will come.
6. Is there anything you would do differently if you were starting over again?
I would have leveraged social media earlier.
7. What is the greatest lesson you’ve learned in the process of building your online presence as an author? There’s no magic and there is no reason to be intimidated by the online thing. If you can write a book, the rest is just a matter of will.
8. How and where do you promote your website? Is the URL on business cards? Your email signature? Business cards, email signature, and within the book (and future book(s)).
9. Final words of wisdom for any new authors wondering how to get started….Simple: 1) get started, and 2) don’t stress about being a big blogger, just endeavor to be a good blogger.