Category: Tutorials

How-to articles for writers.

Tuesday Tutorial: Shorten that Link!

Let’s just say you’ve been asked to do a blog interview, or your sending out a press release, or you’re sending out a e-newsletter. In each of those cases, you want to provide a clickable purchase link to your book. Of course you’re more than happy to do that, right? You want people to buy your book – who doesn’t? So why would you give them THIS UGLY LINK????  http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Book-ebook/dp/B007SAVB7G/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1335018955&sr=1-1-fkmr0

Ugly, isn’t it? Then don’t do it. Not only is it hideous, it looks unprofessional. But Kat, what choice do I have? you ask. First of all, you may refer to me as Czarina. Secondly, there is an easy and free option: TinyURL.com.

BITLYNow before everyone jumps down my throat for not saying the popular Bitly.com – if that’s what you’re more comfortable with, use it. Bitly does offer quite a bit of functionality, reporting and more. Continue reading “Tuesday Tutorial: Shorten that Link!”

Tuesday Tutorial – Get Exposure with YouTube

Movie Clapper BoardNo, not THAT kind of exposure. Everyone knows if you’re an author with a published book, you’re supposed to have a video trailer. It’s become virtually mandatory. But many Indie Authors can’t afford to pay to have one done, nor do some of us have the knack for doing that kind of thing ourselves. But all is not lost.

If you have a YouTube channel, and if you have videos on that channel, there is still something you can do to help steer people towards your book(s).  It’s extremely simple but most of us don’t do it. (Yes, you can even do it on your book’s video trailer if you’re fortunate enough to have one.) Continue reading “Tuesday Tutorial – Get Exposure with YouTube”

Navigating the Facebook Timeline

By now most of you have probably seen the new Facebook timeline. As a developer I’ve been using it for the past several months and have long since gotten used to it, though it did take some time to figure out a few of the settings. The most annoying of which is that Facebook would like to share everything with everyone. Big Brother would be proud.

In this Tutorial Tuesday post we’re going to guide you through the timeline settings, and in the process show you how to avoid posting something that you might not want to share with the public. Why you would post it on Facebook in the first place is a question you will have to answer for yourself.  Continue reading “Navigating the Facebook Timeline”

Tuesday Tutorial: SEO Plug-Ins

Google Search for Evil Mastermind
Be Evil, and Be Seen!

You don’t have to be an Evil Mastermind to take advantage of Search Engine Optimization tools (SEO) for your blog. In fact, you don’t have to be a mastermind at all.

While this tutorial targets WordPress blogs, the same philosophies apply to tagging and SEO for all blogs. How do I know this, you ask? As much as I hate to admit it, it’s because back in my previous life, I worked as Director of Operations for a Search Engine Positioning company in Boston. Continue reading “Tuesday Tutorial: SEO Plug-Ins”