The secret of a good website

Happy Friday,

Let me tell you about this guy. He worked a crappy job he hated, rented a dump because it was all he could afford and his car was a used old beater.

Know what his dream was?

To be a successful author.

So he started writing. Mornings before work, weekends, sometimes at night. Finally finished his book and put it on Amazon. You know what happened, right?

Yeah. Not much.

So he worked harder. Started a second book, while also running around the internet promoting the first one. Finally, he started to see a trickle of sales. Not enough to quit the crap job or pay the bills, but a little trickle of sales. Enough to dream.

Let me tell you about another guy...

Another guy took a picture of his foot and uploaded it to Amazon. Used some tricks to push it to bestseller. Orange bar and everything. Sold 3 copies. Bestseller. lol. With three sales. It was supposed to be a cautionary tale.

But for some people, it was inspiration.

So that first guy? He used a few tricks to push his book to bestseller and launched a book marketing program. How to sell your book! Finally got to quit his job.

It’s a true story.

I’m not telling his name and if you know who I’m talking about, please do not post it in the comments. I don’t want the hassle. Public shaming isn’t the point.

The internet is full of people like that. That’s the point.

You see it everywhere. The people on Medium who earn $100 for 40 hours of work, but they’re writing “how to succeed on Medium” posts. People whose side hustles don’t pay their bills, but they think giving advice about side hustles might.

Bad advice is more common that good.

Bad websites are a symptom, not a problem

Last week I wrote about how awful most author sites are. And they are. They’re just showcases of an author and/or book that no one is searching for.

It’s not just authors.

It’s anyone who doesn’t sell stuff with doors that close. Authors, for sure. But it’s also the lady selling patterns on Etsy, the guy selling his photography on picfair, the writer on Medium, and the guy who makes stunning Victorian inspired wood cabinets.

Having a terrible website isn’t actually the problem.

It’s just a symptom of a the problem.

One more guy… an amazing fantasy writer

I will buy every book he writes, ever. Until one of us is dead. I don’t need a description and I don’t need to see a cover. If he’s the author, just give me a buy button.

But you know what? It takes him two years to put out a book.

If his social feeds were full of book promos and he started emailing me every week to update me on the progress of his book — for two YEARS — I’d start to get sick of him. Then I’d start to hate him a little bit. Finally, I’d stop buying his books.

Life is too short to be marketed at incessantly.

Bookworms like me read a lot. Good god, I do not want weekly progress reports and sales pitches from every author whose book I have ever read. Do you? No.

The #1 mistake authors and creative people make…

Symptoms and problems aren’t the same. If there’s blood on your leg, the blood isn’t the problem. The big gash in your leg, that’s the problem.

Take care of the problem and the symptom goes away.

Bad websites are a symptom. Know what the problem is? A fundamental misunderstanding of marketing.

Marketing is dead easy if you sell a program that opens up once a year, or a commemorative plate of Princess Diana with only 500 available. But the doors don’t close on books and good God, you hope to sell more than 500 copies.

The secret of a good website…

Every time I take on a new design client, which is seldom, I ask what their marketing strategy is. They never have one. They hoped building a website was the strategy.

lol. No. The website is where you implement the strategy.

Strategy is what a good website is made of. Without a solid strategy, all anyone can build you is a showcase.

A good strategy is not like pantyhose and one size does not fit all.

It fits you. No one else.

Too many marketers think “their” way is “the” way. Twenty years of building websites taught me that’s not the case. Every successful site I’ve built is based on a different strategy. Even if they sell the same thing.

I don’t know anyone else who teaches this.

Thanks to my readers, I have the title. Thank you for that. :)

Now I’m outlining. That’s where you come in. If you’re struggling with marketing, I’d love to hear your frustrations. I’d love to answer them in my workbook.

Thanks!

:)

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More reading… (friend links so everyone can read)

• Good God, This Woman Can Write. You Need To Read This.

• You Know The Old Graybeard Who Knew Where To Hit? He Was Real

• 3 Words That Weaken Your Writing

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Did you know if you click the heart or leave a comment, Substack gives you stars for being responsive? You don’t see them, but I do —so, thank you! :)

xo,
Linda