Archive for the ‘General Publishing’ Category

I’ve been working for the past two weeks updating and upgrading my list of publishers on this site. I’ve visited literally hundreds (maybe even thousands) of websites set up by publishers to sell their books and promote their authors, and I’ve noticed a few things that a great many publishers are doing, or failing to do, that limits the effectiveness of their sites.

Not Taking Advantage of Title Tags

This is probably one of the easiest things to do to improve search engine ranking and user-friendliness on a website, and yet so many publishing sites that I’ve visited have completely failed to capitalize on their title tags.

A surprising number of sites I’ve visited over the past few weeks had nothing at all in the title tag.   An even greater number of sites had completely unhelpful and unrelated text as their title tag. This is a huge problem, since search engines use the title of a site as the link in search engine results, and Google in particular still uses the title tag as a ranking factor in their results.

But even if Google can compensate for your unhelpful tags, in an Internet where tabbed browsing is the norm, it is extremely important to use good title tags because that is what identifies your site in a browser’s tab.

Take a look at the image below.  This is exactly what I see in one of my browser windows right now. There are three publisher websites tabbed on the screen.

It’s obvious what two of them are, but what is the third? It’s somebody’s home, but it’s not mine. If I were a customer who tabbed away to check something else then got distracted, this certainly wouldn’t remind me to come back and finish my purchase.

Not Using Site Icons

Looking at the tabs, you’ll also note that the University of Arkansas stands out because it uses an icon. While in past years the icon was a bit of a vanity luxury on a website that only really got seen in bookmark folders, now the favorite icon is a feature in the tabs and address bar of every major browser. This again is a simple fix, but one that very few publishers have implemented.

If you’ve got a logo that works on the spine of a book, it’ll work just as well as an icon for your site. It’s a great branding tool, and one that’s so easy and inexpensive to implement, there’s no excuse not to do it.

Missing Meta Descriptions

Although Google and the other search engines have devalued the meta description tag as a ranking tool, it still holds a great deal of value if you use it correctly.

If you know the search terms that people use most frequently to find a page, you can include those in your meta description and Google will show that description in the search results. If you have no description tag on your page, Google will grab some random text it things is relevant to the search, but if you can control what Google displays, you have the opportunity to craft some text that will compel browsers to click through to you rather than the next site down the list. If you’ve got that opportunity, it’s a shame to waste it.

Not Connecting to Social Media Accounts

I am not at all sure why, but there are a surprising number of publishers who use both Twitter and Facebook to connect with readers and authors, yet don’t have any links to their social media pages on their website.  If you’re using social media, connect your accounts with your site, and your site with your accounts. It only makes sense.

Most publishers failing to properly integrate their online properties simply didn’t have any mention of Facebook, Twitter or YouTube at all, but the one site that sticks in my mind had a “Find us on Facebook” button with no link to their Facebook page. I suppose they were serious about the finding part, and thought a direct link would be cheating?

Linking to Social Media Accounts that are Dormant

If your company is using social media, you should definitely link to it, and integrate it into your site. However, do not link to your Twitter account if the only thing there is a two year-old tweet saying, “We’re now on Twitter! Yay!”  In fact, if you’re not using Twitter or Facebook regularly but have accounts on those services, make them private until you are ready to make use of them. Social media is there to connect with your customers and fans. If you’re not connecting, don’t advertise it.

Making It Difficult For Browsers to Do What They Want To Do

Make a list of the things that people that visit your site are interested in. Writers will  want submission guidelines, other publishers or agents might want to get permissions or inquire about rights, while  a bookstore buyer or librarian will want to know how your books are distributed. If you write books for kids, parents might be looking for information about books, and teachers might want activities or lesson plans, or a way to request a school visit. A reader might be interested in writing to one of your authors, finding discussion questions for a book club, or maybe someone just wants to buy a book.

I’ve seen publisher sites with no contact information, no links to help authors with submissions or bookstores with distribution information… just a list of books.  If I’m describing your company’s site, you’re not helping your customers or yourself. Take a look at your website from the perspective of the people visiting, and make the information they’d want as visible and accessible as you can.

If You Need Help

SEO expert Ian Scott has been helping my site recover from Google’s algorithm changes from a few months back, and has done wonders in restoring my rankings and traffic. If you need a hand with your own site, I highly recommend his services.

• How to Navigate a Changing Business?
  Children’s Agents Shed Some Light http://t.co/gPOXHYMV via @publisherswkly 

• Penguin Severs Ties with OverDrive
  Penguin strikes another blow against libraries by severing ties with ebook provider  OverDrive http://t.co/cVp9REGM via @publisherswkly 

John Curran and Caroline Todd discuss the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie pt.1
Agatha Christie historian and Bestseller Caroline Todd talk about the life and works of Agatha Christie.

MPA – 2011 Overall Magazine Advertising Revenue Flat
The consumer magazine industry generated $20,086,199,882 in full-year 2011 print advertising revenue, a slight $8 million increase compared to 2010’s advertising revenue of $20,078,0916,149, according to the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB).  Pages dipped 3.1% from 169,552 in 2010 to 164,225 in 2011.

Thrown Overboard: Publishers Feel Abandoned by the U.S. Postal Service
Until recently, Postal Service executives talked about periodicals as “the anchor in the mailbox.” But lately, says one publishing executive, it seems that “the USPS just tied us to the anchor and threw it overboard.”

• RT @MichaelHyatt: Who reads more,e-reader owners or physical book readers? [Infographic] | http://t.co/7vA2ASQR ->the answer is obvious
• RT @tonyeldridge: How Much Should You Price Your E-Book? http://t.co/eVWINIkc -> Thanks. Some good ideas here.
• RT @e_reading: Amazon’s Android Kindle tablet: coming on Wednesday to New York? http://t.co/EaIxRz0i <–Can’t wait to see it

• The Most Powerful People in Books Don’t Write Many Books – Entertainment – The Atlantic Wire http://t.co/onupzWQe

• Amazon founder heads digital advance on Guardian books power list http://t.co/BJNGfH19 via @guardian

A recent report by media and publishing forecast firm Simba Information found that even though bookstores have lost some of their customer base over the years, the channel feeds into the e-book universe by serving as a ‘book showroom’ for the roughly 10% of U.S. adults who buy e-books.

“Believing that adults will begin taking to e-books in large numbers because of Borders’ liquidation is a dangerous assumption,” said Michael Norris, senior analyst of Simba Information’s Trade Books Group, commenting on the report. “Since most adults buy books from multiple channels and enjoy using bookstores for browsing, the loss of a ‘book showroom’ can impact print books and e-books in unexpected ways.”

Data from Simba indicates that the more channels a consumer uses, the more likely he or she is to buy — even though bookstores are sometimes cut out of the action. In a Simba survey of over 110 bookstores across the country, 38% indicated that their (former) regular customers who own a Barnes & Noble Nook or an Amazon Kindle ‘often or very often’ return to browse without buying anything. 43% of the same booksellers also said non-regular customers often or very often come to browse before leaving to buy from another retailer.

“Publishers should be working around the clock to find ways to make chain and independent bookstores stronger, and not for reasons having to do with sentimentality,” Norris said. “If the only retailers left selling books are those that don’t need to, publishers will lose their power and relevance overnight. I genuinely worry that books may follow the same dreadful path of music, where gadgets like the iPod spring up to make consumption easy, the showrooms for media discovery close, piracy becomes a cultural expectation and the market shrinks by billions as more people buy less.”

The report, “Trends in Trade Book Retailing 2011,” also shows the interconnected world of retailing with thorough profiles of the bookstore, online and other major retailing channels, outlining key demographic details and trends unique to each, including the gender, age, household income, education level and purchasing habits of the buyers. The significant influence of non-bookstore physical store retailers like Walmart and Target and the influence of e-book sellers like Amazon.com are also covered.

SOURCE: Simba Information