Writers On The Move: purpose of a website

Before I get into why you absolutely need a website as part of your book marketing strategy, according to TechTerms.com, the definition of a website is:

A Website, or Web site, is not the same thing as a Web page. Though the two terms are often used interchangeably, they should not be. So what's the difference? To put it simply, a Web site is a collection of Web pages. For example, Amazon.com is a Web site, but there are millions of Web pages that make up the site.

BusinessDictionary.com describes a website as a “virtual location” that’s accessible via unique URLs and an internet connection.

It's kind of like your house. It has a street address that people can find using roadways. If they have a GPS, they simply plug in the address and are given a direct path to your house.

Your website is your virtual home. Rather, it’s your virtual place of business and must be ‘findable’ and accessible. The URL is your address. And, rather than physical streets, people find you through virtual roadways in cyberspace. And, they find you within seconds.

The website is a critical part of every online platform. In fact, it’s fundamental to your platform and your content marketing (and inbound marketing) strategy.

Because of this, you need to generate visibility and traffic to that site.

Why?

Well, there’s so much ‘noise’ (competition) in cyberspace it’s very, very, very difficult to cut through it.

To give you an idea of the magnitude and power of the internet, here are several statistics:

•    Worldwide internets users have reached 3,035,749.340, as of June 2014

*Source: Internet World Stats
•    1.8 Billions are on Social Networks
•    North America has 81% Internet Penetration
•    Top Social Networks added 135 Million users in 2013
•    Facebook now has 1.184 Billion Users
•    There are 6.5 Billion Mobile Subscriptions globally

*Source: The 2014 Global Digital Statistics, Stats & Facts SlideShare presentation from the guys at We Are Social

•    There are over one billion active websites (1)
•    There are 347 WordPress blog posts added each minute (2)
•    Google processes over 40,000 global searches EVERY SECOND (1)
•    Google processes over 3.5 BILLION global searches EACH DAY (1)
•    81% of businesses consider their blogs an important asset (3)
•    Of all internet users, 82.6% use search (3)
•    Studies found that online searchers are more likely to buy

(1) http://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/
(2) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2381188/Revealed-happens-just-ONE-minute-internet-216-000-photos-posted-278-000-Tweets-1-8m-Facebook-likes.html
(3) http://www.searchenginejournal.com/24-eye-popping-seo-statistics/42665/

The internet is teeming with websites, information, and searches and these statistics are OLD. And, if you’re promoting or offering anything, you must have an optimized platform that includes an optimized website. There is no way around this fundamental fact.

To get your home business or small business moving in the right direction, you also need to take advantage of marketing strategies that will bring people to your website. You need to know the basics of website optimization (easy to do stuff), blogging, email marketing, and social media marketing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author and children’s ghostwriter/ rewriter, and coach. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Writers on the Move and author online platform instructor with WOW! Women on Writing.

If you’d like more writing tips or help with your children’s story, check out: Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi.

If you'd like to take a peek at my 4-week, interactive e-class through WOW! Women on Writing, BUILD YOUR AUTHOR/WRITER PLATFORM, just click the clickable link.