How to Optimize Your Web Traffic and Make it Readers’ Magnet

An author’s website is the most important component in attracting readers online. As such, it is the primary task of the author to ensure optimized web traffic and make it readers’ magnet.

So you
now have published work and are ready to market your book online. The first
thing you do is create your own website. The website serves as your base of
operation online and every activity geared towards promoting your book is
linked to your site. That is why your website should attract traffic or
visitors for you to reach the broadest number of target audiences. Your site
should also rank in search engines for it to be visible online. This is called
search engine optimization or what we commonly refer to as SEO.

So what
exactly is SEO?

According
to SEO blog expert Backlinko,

“Search
engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of driving targeted website
traffic to your website from search engines.”

Base on
the statement above, we now have a basic understanding that making the website
SEO-ready is the first step in our goal to attract visitors and increase
traffic.

SEO-Ready
Website

Before we
proceed with the SEO aspect of your website, let us enumerate the key elements
of a book website. When creating your website, the foremost consideration is
for your site to be user-friendly. Visitors should be able to easily browse all
the information they need related to your book. Therefore, it is important that
the items below must be present on your author website:

• Author Bio
• Book Pages
• Media Page
• Contact Page
• Left Sidebar
• CTA Button
• Search Bar
• Testimonials
• Blog Section

Having these elements on your website is just the first step.  The following are the basic SEO checklist in web traffic optimization.

1. Keyword Research. Your book is your product
   and identifying your market is the first thing you must do. Each book has
   a market niche depending on your book genre, style, or the book itself.
   Therefore, you must begin with identifying words that are related to your
   book. These are words your customers will type when searching for your
   book. This process is called keyword research.

For
example, you have a sci-fi novel titled Venus Vengeance: Alien Exile.
Your keywords will mostly include:

• Venus Vengeance
• Alien Exile
• Venus Vengeance Sci-fi
• Alien Sci-fi or
• Your name + any of the
  keywords above

In
essence, keywords are simply putting yourself in the shoes of your customers
and analyze possible words they are likely to key in when searching in Google
and other search engines for your book.

• Optimizing Pages. Optimizing pages for your
  site deals with five basic features- content, URLs, metas, headers, and
  images.

Content. Content should be aligned with
‘search intent’ and there are three types of searches visitors make.

1. Navigational: They are looking for a
   sci-fi book.
2. Informational: They are looking to learn
   about a specific sci-fi book.
3. Transactional: They are interested in
   reading or buying a particular sci-fi book.

Going
back to your keywords, most likely you will be sharing those keywords with
hundreds, if not thousands of other authors or sites. This is where making
original and personalized content comes in. The content and information on your
website should satisfy visitors in order to gain traffic and the following.

       
Brief but Descriptive URLs. Uniform Source Locator or URL address refers
to the location of a resource on a computer network. It is important that these
URL texts or web address must be able to direct users where they want to go.
Using keywords in URLs is one of the effective means to guide users.

       
Meta titles and descriptions. Creating the appropriate meta-titles is important
because it sets the name of the browser tab which Google and other search
engines use when showing the page in search results. Meta descriptions, on the
other hand, attract traffic by displaying a brief description of what users can
expect when visiting a particular page. The clear and compelling your metas,
the more likely users will proceed to your site if it matches their search
intent.

       
Headers and Subheaders. This is something that is often overlooked but headers and standard
subheaders (H1 to H6) allow search engines to better understand the structure
of your page and what each section is for.

       
Images. Everyone
loves pictures. They are easy to identify with and remember. Unfortunately,
search engines have a hard time reading them. In order for engines to
understand the image you are using, you must optimize each image by creating an
alt tag to describe and explain them. A glass of water with ice might have an
alt tag of “cold water”.

• Indexing Website. The purpose of optimizing
  your website is not solely for readers. Remember, one of your goals is to
  rank in search engines as well. This part here usually requires that you
  hire experts who can provide SEO services particularly in ensuring that
  your website:
• Has optimized Page Speed
• Is mobile-friendly
• Has an SSL certificate
• A sitemap
• Has an uploaded robots.txt
  file
• Link Building Tasks. A backlink is a link shared
  by one website from another website. If your website gets a backlink from
  another prominent website, essentially your website benefits from that web
  site’s reputation and popularity. Of course, backlinks should be relevant
  to your niche and should have the same topics. By sharing the popularity
  of a linked site, you improve your site’s prominence as well which is very
  useful in improving your site’s SEO ranking.

Another
technique in building links is through guest blogging or posting. It is done by
writing for another website within the same industry. Guest blogging can only
work if you publish relevant content with authority for both your audiences. By
linking to relevant resources on your website that will further educate your
readers, you improve your online authority and your reputation.

• Monitoring Efforts. Tracking your SEO efforts
  is easy with the help of multiple SEO tools. Measuring organic traffic can
  be done using Google Analytics. It is also wise to keep track of your
  rankings. This will help you make timely and appropriate decisions and
  adjustments for your website.

Establishing
your A.R.T.

Equally
important in making your website SEO-ready is building your A.R.T. or Authority,
Reputation, and Traffic.

For a
website to increase its online visibility, it should display itself as a
serious brand that means business. Make sure that you produce content that is
not only timely and relevant but also ones that speak with authority and
expertise on the subject matter.

A good
reputation is
something that all brands must possess. Your reputation can spell disaster or
success for your book. A way to cement your reputation is to be active in
online communities, review sites, and social media platforms. You cannot your
reputation if you stay within the confines of your website.

Increasing
traffic to your
website is easy as long as you follow all the requirements to make your website
SEO-friendly. Users are attracted to websites that are prominent, relevant, and
user-friendly.

ReadersMagnet
WTO Services

Recently, ReadersMagnet launched Web Traffic Optimization services. It aims to help start-up authors increase traffic to their website and make it readers’ magnet. What makes ReadersMagnet’s WTO service great is it’s comprehensive and follows a 6-month campaign covering the areas below:

• Keywords
• Keyword Group
• Website Audit
• On-Page Optimization
• Off-Page Optimization
• Google Tools Integration
• Social Media Promotion
• Content Publication
• Weekly Performance Reporting

With the Web
Traffic Optimization service by ReadersMagnet, authors enjoy complete SEO
services starting with keywords set which is vital in establishing one’s brand.
The website audit and Google Tools Integration ensure that authors are able to
monitor their site traffic. Overall, the ReadersMagnet WTO is not your ordinary
SEO service. It is designed so that authors get the optimum performance of
their site and the support of a committed SEO team.

Lastly,
authors can choose from 4 WTO service packages available: Bronze, Silver, Gold,
and Platinum.

For more
information about our products and services, please call 1-800-805-0762 or
email us at [email protected].