We’re in the Market for a Freelance Programmer!Posted by Liz Bemis-Hittinger on Feb 15 2012, 3:53 pm Think you have the programming chops to meet our needs? We’re looking for a skilled, freelance programmer who is:
Preferences will be given to:
Our ideal programmer has 5-15 hours per week of availability and is ready to get started right away. Pay commiserate with experience. You must have references and online portfolio, and be authorized to work in the United States. Let us know you’re interested by filling out our online application! Read more… Introducing Web in a Week!Posted by Liz Bemis-Hittinger on Jan 19 2012, 8:00 am FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 19, 2012 Bemis Promotions Offers $499 “Web in a Week” Package for Authors Cincinnati, Ohio (January 19, 2012) — Cincinnati-based company Bemis Promotions announced today they would begin offering a $499 promotional package to authors for a limited time. For $499, authors will receive a streamlined website with a custom design to fit their brand, a free manual to their site and a business card design as part of the company’s new “Web in a Week” Package. “We view ourselves as a promotional partner. We understand the financial realities of the publishing world these days. Between ebooks and lower advances, it’s difficult for authors to put their best promotional foot forward from the get go, so we designed the ‘Web in a Week’ Package for authors who may not need the big splash of a New York Times Bestseller but still require a web presence, ” said Liz Bemis, the Creative Director of Bemis Promotions. “The ‘Web in a Week’ Package offers authors the chance to get the promotional help they need and still have a full web presence up and running in a very short time. It’s a win-win.” A leader in meeting author and small business promotional needs, Cincinnati-based Bemis Promotions is a web development company focused on providing the best promotional opportunities for their clients through web development, social media and print. For more information on Bemis Promotions or their new promotional package, visit the company website at www.bemispromotions.com. Contact Information: Announcing Business Brochure Site PackagePosted by Liz Bemis-Hittinger on Jan 18 2012, 9:26 pm FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 19, 2012 Bemis Promotions Offers $999 Business Brochure Site Package Cincinnati, Ohio (January 19, 2012) — Cincinnati-based company Bemis Promotions announced today they would begin offering a $999 promotional package to small businesses for a limited time. For $999, businesses will receive a streamlined website with a custom design to fit their brand, a free manual to their site, as well as a print brochure design and a business card design as part of the company’s new Small Business Brochure package. “We view ourselves as a promotional partner. Being a small business ourselves, we also understand how difficult it can be to start a new business and maintain it. Advertising and promotion are a big part of any business plan. There’s new competition and new technology every day, and it can be difficult to keep up,” said Liz Bemis, the Creative Director of Bemis Promotions. “That’s why we created the Small Business Brochure Package. We believe as a business you should be able to hit the ground running with a solid web presence and well-done promotions without too much strain on your pocketbook.” A leader in meeting author and small business promotional needs, Cincinnati-based Bemis Promotions is a web development company focused on providing the best promotional opportunities for their clients through web development, social media and print. For more information on Bemis Promotions or their new promotional package, visit the company website at www.bemispromotions.com. Contact Information: Hitting Refresh in 2012Posted by Sienna Condy on Jan 5 2012, 7:23 pm in promotional review, social media ideas, social media ideas for authors, social media ideas for small businesses, web ideas Is your New Year’s resolution to revive your web presence? Were you a little too lax when it came to life on the web last year? Understandable. Twitter. Facebook. Online ads. Blogs. It all can be a little overwhelming. But these days, whether you’re a newbie or a bestseller, life on the web-o-sphere is an important part of your promotional arsenal. So, what can you do?
If you’re online home is looking a little too early 90s or even too 2000s, it might be time for a re-do. Other elements, such as an out-of-date or hard-to-navigate website structure are just a few other reasons to revamp your website. Elements of an A+ Author Website: Social MediaPosted by Sienna Condy on Jan 4 2012, 10:09 pm Unfortunately, the days of the reclusive, curmudgeonly author, buried in books far, far away from his or readers is a thing of the past. Authors today have to be accessible, and one of the easiest ways to do this is through social media. No matter what social media you choose—one or two or four. From Facebook to Twitter, your social media information should be available on your website and easy-to-find. But where?
Social media endeavors should always be mentioned on the home page of your website, even if it’s just a button. If you’re new to social media and want people to know you’re there, make sure your social media information appears “above the fold” of your website (i.e. You can see it when the website opens and don’t have to scroll down.)
Want people to discuss what you’re talking about? Add a Facebook “Like” button or a Twitter “Tweet This” button your blog posts.
Although technically not part of your website, adding your Twitter handle or your Facebook URL to your promotional items, such as book marks and excerpt booklets, can help people find you. Bottom line: Make sure your readers know through your website what you’re doing. Social media can’t do its job if the people you want to be social with don’t know you exist in their sphere. Confused by social media? Contact the Bemis Promotions Team at info@bemispromotions.com to discover what we can do to help. Elements of an A+ Author Website: The Buy ButtonPosted by Sienna Condy on Dec 19 2011, 5:57 pm in author website, author website must haves, elements of an A+ author website As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts in this series, the last thing a reader wants to do when they visit an author’s website is do a serious search. A reader doesn’t want to have to think about how to find the information they need. They just want to find it—instantly. At no point on the author’s website is this more true than when it comes to buy buttons. If a reader has to search for a way to buy your book, chances are, unless you’re the latest NYT darling, you’ve lost a sale. A reader might—and I do mean might—if they’re really interested in your book, do a simple online search. But only if you’re lucky.
Links to places to purchase your latest book should be clearly displayed on the home page of your website. If you have a splash page before a reader enters your website, include buy buttons there too. A large chunk of the readers coming to your website are looking for your latest book and when they see it and want it, you want them to be able to complete that planned or impulse buy right away.
As a reader, nothing makes me more frustrated than a buy button that takes me to a place I DON’T need. For example, a buy button that takes me to Amazon when I have a Nook is useless.
Is your book available for Kindle or Nook? Make sure there’s a link for that. More and more often, authors are telling us that people are asking them whether their books are available as ebooks. Don’t make the readers wonder. Make it apparent with a button to a link directly in the Kindle or Nook store. Note: You do not need a link to every place on the web that has your ebook. Include the ones you’re seeing big sales at such as Kindle, Nook, Smashwords and/or your epublisher, if applicable and move on.
Too many buttons and links to buy your book can be as detrimental as not enough, so keep that in mind as you’re adding information. The purpose of buy buttons is to make it easy for the reader to purchase your book, but too many options can make it harder than it needs to be, which can also cause a reader not to buy. Want to encourage your readers to buy more? Contact the team at Bemis Promotions at info@bemispromotions.com to find out what we can do to help you. Elements of an A+ Author Website: Covers, Blurbs and ExcerptsPosted by Sienna Condy on Dec 14 2011, 3:33 pm If you talk to book buyers these days, three things, other than recommendations, typically persuade readers to want to buy one book over another. Those things are book covers, book blurbs (otherwise referred to as the back cover copy) and excerpts. All three of these should be found on your website.
Even if a reader has come to your website for something specific, such as information on a specific book, an interesting book cover on a books page or in a booklist can draw their attention to another title or series and may influence them to buy more than one book.
Your latest title, along with the cover and blurb or back cover copy, should always be displayed prominently, preferably on the home page. Most readers coming to your website for specific information will be looking for information on your newest title, so you want to make it easy to find. Information, like the book cover, on your newest title, should be available at least a month or two in advance, if at all possible. If your publisher is heavily promoting your title, you’ll want to make this information available on your website even sooner—preferably six months or more before the publication date.
If I’m a reader coming to your website to look for a book, I don’t want to have to think too much to find what I’m looking for. Links to excerpts, blurbs and your full booklist should be relatively prominent and easy to find, along with any series information. When including a series page, be sure to include information on the order in which the books should be read.
When in doubt, when it comes to excerpts or blurbs, keep it short. Book blurbs or back cover copy should typically be no longer than two or three short paragraphs maximum. Book excerpt length is a little more open to interpretation, but keep in mind people will be reading the excerpt online, where short and sweet tend to win the day.
When you go to an author website, what do you like to see? Chances are, your readers want the same thing. Have a question? Email the Bemis Promotions crew at info@bemispromotions.com Elements of an A+ Author Website: The BooklistPosted by Sienna Condy on Dec 12 2011, 3:31 pm Perhaps the most important part of the author website is the booklist. Your website—more than anywhere else—should be the be-all and end-all resource for your books. This means you need to have a full and complete booklist available on your website at all times. Sure, sometimes Amazon’s going to get the jump on you and get that pre-order button up earlier than you anticipated. It happens, but overall, if I come to your site, I should be able to easily find everything you’ve ever written under that name or in that genre. Yes, this includes that Comanche romance you wrote in 1985 that you wish you had never released into the world. If I can still find it on Amazon, get it as an ebook or find it in a used bookstore, it should be on the list. For highest reader satisfaction and usability, a printable booklist should also be available, as well as a separate list for books by series, if applicable. When NOT to include a book on your booklist:
Example: If you wrote one romance in 1985, and then started writing a gruesome NYT best-selling series about serial killers, you probably don’t need to include the one romance on your booklist.
Example: You currently write inspirational romances, but in your youth, you wrote and published several erotic, science-fiction romances featuring alien babies. You might want to include a section under your bio saying you once wrote sci-fi romances (if you’re using the same name), but you may not want to include the alien babies.
This is becoming less likely as ebooks become more prevalent in the book market, but at this point, it’s still a possibility. If there is no way I can get a book unless I fall through a time portal into the past (i.e. impossible at this time), then you do not need to include the book on your booklist. Need help getting your website in tip-top shape? Email the Bemis Promotions crew at info@bemispromotions.com. Elements of an A+ Author Website: Author Website Must-havesPosted by Sienna Condy on Dec 12 2011, 3:26 pm Unless you’re doing a spectacular promotion on your blog (i.e. giving away an iPad 2), there are three main reasons most people visit an author’s website.
What do these items tell us? The professional author website is both an informational and a promotional tool for the author. In order to buy your books, readers must be able to obtain full and complete information about your books (including any information on series or continuities), and the easiest way to do this should be through your website. (Sorry, Amazon!) So, what kind of information do readers want to see? And, what type of information is going to help your reader or potential reader go from “thinking about buying your book” to “bought it”? The Booklist Blurbs Covers Excerpts Buy Buttons Social Media For more information on A+ author websites, email the Bemis Promotions crew at info@bemispromotions.com. Bemis Promotions Gazette Crossword AnswersPosted by Liz Bemis-Hittinger on Jun 3 2011, 5:55 pm The much-anticipated answers to the Bemis Promotions Gazette Crossword… Didn’t get the Gazette? Click here!
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