googling social

How NOT to Greet Your Followers on Social Media

Direct Messages.
I must confess that I opted out of receiving all “Direct Messages” (DM) from Twitter.  Here is the instruction to opt out DM’s for iOS and Android users.

With three Twitter accounts – @111Publishing, @ebookPR and @ebooksIntl, and over 25,000 followers it is not only very time-consuming, but also often frustrating and annoying to be bombarded with “offers”.  I could use one of these automated messages to save time, but I choose not: when I answer I do it in person – or not at all.
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There will be for sure some DM’s that I miss: the ones who are just saying friendly hello, and which I should respond to.  However the majority (approx. 95 – 98 %) are from people who follow me (and in return I follow them) send their automated welcome messages via CrowdFire, UnfollowSpy, Commun.it or similar auto-DM-sending companies. In one way or the other, they summon me to do something for them – without even knowing me or having a social media “relationship” yet.
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Examples from one of our Twitter Accounts:
I just copied / pasted the DM’s of one day. To protect the identity of these tweeps, I either deleted their twitter name or placed some dots instead of the social media account. So here it goes:
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Thanks for following me. I’d love for you to join me on Instagram as well! instagram.com/bet….oi/ : )
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Thx for following, Doris-Maria. My sci-fi novel, …anica, is a pre-teen & teen “fave read”. FB: On.fb.me/1o…..
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In my opinion, auto DMs are worse than a mild case of the flu. ‘So why have you set one up?’ I hear you ask. Well, you can blame my publisher. She threatened to beat me with a sharp stick if I didn’t write one this instant. So now that I have been browbeaten into setting one up, what should I say? I suppose I should say hello. And welcome to my twitter world. I doubt that following me will change your life, but you never know, we might have some fun together from time to time. To keep my stick-wielding publisher happy, I should probably mention my website -….msauthor.com and my blog blog……msauthor.com I have even got a Facebook page, but no one ever clicks on those links, do they? -via @crowdfire
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Thanks so much for your follow. Wishing you the best today and every day, whatever that means for you. (Send custom messages to new followers via the unfollowspy.com website)
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Hey 111publishing thanks for following! I’d appreciate your vote for my commercial fiction novel, A Dress …… of the Sky. Here’s the link! soopllc.com/blog/book-idea… Thank you!!
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Hey, thanks for the follow. If you read or write romance, thrillers, or whatever, check us out at the…..bookreview.net
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Grazie per il follow 🙂 Posso ringraziarti con un ebook fantasy? Iscriviti alla mia mailing list: https://t.co/YNc6DIrwAD O preferiresti il cartaceo con autografo e dedica?
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Hi, I appreciate the follow. If you want to know more go to markrafidi.com or follow me on m.facebook.com/MarkRafidi.aut… -via @crowdfire
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Thanks for following. I’m promoting my books. If you like gritty British thrillers, please click on my author page amazon.co.uk/…../…
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Thanks for following Author’s Info, please come join our free network author…..com where you may review your favorite books.
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Hello Doris-Maria, please connect with me on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/….etwood
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While Facebook is still a thing, why not say hello and follow my page there – no go on – facebook.com/danteh….…
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Thx for following. Check out my free, erotic short, …… on Amazon: amazon.com/dp/B00RW……
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Thanks for following me! You can check out more of my portfolio at chad-……sites.com if you decide to purchase something, please use the code MGVPZP for a $5 discount.
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Thanks for the follow!! Authors – goo.gl/1…… Sending a quick tip to help ensure you don’t lose your hard work while writing books.
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My twitterverse just got brighter now that you’re in it! Don’t hesitate to reach out and say hello ~Cheers JM -via @crowdfire
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Just letting you know Everv…..ackenbone will be Free on Amazon Worldwide 11/22/15-11/26/15 See my pinned tweet. Please add it to your calendar.
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Thanks for following me! Much appreciated! Let’s like each other on facebook!facebook.com/Te….. -via @crowdfire
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I’m going through my followers list and saying my thanks once more. What I do now wouldn’t have happened without you. So thanks, Doris. Your follow means a lot to me.
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Hi! If you’re looking for web apps for business we compiled some great resources and comparisons at c….sk.com. Plz let me know if you have any feedback 🙂
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Thanks for following me! I hope you’ll enjoy my posts. If you want to get to know me better, visit me at …..ek.com, or check out my blog at …..ek.com/blog/, Facebook at facebook.com/….ek and Instagram at instagram.com/….ek. If you’d like to sample my books, drop by Amazon (amazon.com/A…..unse…). Be careful — reviewers say my psychological thriller is deadly. Cheers!
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You Rock! Thanks for the follow. More Dark Fiction at c….ero.com Tweet you later!
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Thanks for following, I support other IAs and tweet/retweet as much as I can. Also, Like me on Facebook facebook.com/D.A….uther…
\Thanks for following. Let’s link up on Facebook too. I always reciprocate. Mine is facebook.com/….ntLei… Have a great day! -via @crowdfire
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Shared @…..Tweet and said: Hey Doris-Maria Heilmann, please grab your copy of “Jack’s W….Lant….le for Halloween & Samhain)”: https://t.co/….r4Q [Today it’s #FREE] You can also RT & Win the #Halloween #audiobook of it read by an Irish ba…
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Thank you SO much for following me! Please check out my works here: amazon.com/J….ne/e/… PS. You’re beautiful!
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Thanks for following ! Check our FB goo.gl/j….5 & IG goo.gl/…JTl. Send us your links in a FB message & we’ll like back!
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I truly appreciate the follow! Would you be so kind as to like my FB page? facebook.com/….ichaelsauth…
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Thanks for following! You can follow my adventures on Facebook @ facebook.com/…ventures… or on Insta instagram.com/….ventures… -via @crowdfire
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Sincere thanks fo the follow…..truly appreciate it. Want to connect on facebook or linkedIn too? facebook: goo.gl/w3pSWH LinkedIn: goo.gl/L4RbVn or check out paulmcgillicuddy.com: goo.gl/BlM9hY Thanks! Paul
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Thx for follow – DANKE fürs Folgen! Jetzt GRATIS-Muster für Sonnenschutzsystemen anfordern => bit.ly….CH… (in German, they offer free samples of a sun-protecting home system)
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Thanks for following “Books du Jour,” all about books and the people written them. Check out our TV series at booksdujour.com . Have a new book coming out? Reach out to us via site submission page. Never know, you may end up on TV for one of our panels. Need a push to promote your book? We can help you there too. Looking forward
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Thanks for following me! Please like my Facebook author page (in progress)! facebook.com/andrescruciani… -via @crowdfire
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Hi! Please turn on my notifications! I promise you’ll enjoy my tweets 🙂 x
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Thanks for the follow! Make sure to enter our giveaway for a free PACK Organizer! bit.ly/thepacksgear
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I am truly grateful that you are following me. Join me on FB on.fb.me/1IRQJQA or my blog bit.ly/1h…o -via @crowdfire
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Hi Doris-Maria Heilmann, Pleasure to connect with you on Twitter! Are you crowdfunding? If so, you may find this article on the #1 Reason why Crowdfunding Campaigns Fail interesting: bit.ly/1LdpId5 Kind regards, Team @BookCrowdfund
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Hi, a pleasure to connect with you. acrosst…..rkness.com -via @crowdfire
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Thanks for the follow! Looking forward to interacting with you more : ). Please follow my blog @ com….egal.com and connect with me on LinkedIn too bit.ly/1…X
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Hello! It’s a pleasure to connect with you on twitter. thepoeconsequence.com -via @crowdfire
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Hi Doris, I hope you’re doing well! We’ve been connected for a while, so I wanted to reach out to you personally to see if you’ve had a chance to sneak-a-peek at Storiad. What we do is very simple: we work with authors to build long-lasting and exceedingly affordable bookselling campaigns. To do this we develop three interconnected plans: 1) a Research Plan, 2) a Networking Plan, and 3) a Marketing & Publicity Plan. When all the dust clears, you’ll have the plans, software, and contacts database you’ll need to run a creative and effective bookselling campaign. If this seems like something that could be helpful to you or your bookselling efforts, I would be happy to send you some more info by email. Just let me know. Many thanks! Bye for now.

Well, this one is especially ridiculous as from someone who has not even read the introduction on top of my Twitter page, otherwise they would not offer a book marketing campaign to a book marketing and publishing consulting firm….
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IMPORTANT: What to Avoid in Direct Messages:

  • Don’t try to sell new followers anything in your welcome DM.
  • Don’t try to summon then to like your Facebook site, follow them on other social media sites, such as Instagram or Pinterest, or to sign up to receive your blog / website automatically via email. You get a message in your mailbox that someone mentioned you. Curious, you check it; but no, you are only summoned to go to their Facebook account and LIKE their page. Or, they send you the link to their book’s sales page. Do they sign up with Twitter only to advertise their wares? My reaction is to immediately UNFOLLOW. Thanks, and nice to meet you…
  • Don’t ask them to vote for your book (which – for sure – they might never have heard of, nor read it).
  • Don’t try to get your new followers to sign up for your mailing list—this includes trying to tempt them with a free gift for a free anything in an automated DM.
  • Never, Ever, Use TrueTwit Validation Service! At first, I answered, telling them that I DO NOT use TrueTwit Validation Service, but then I gave up and just ignored the sender. The irony is that these people often follow me, and then when I follow them back, their annoying message appears! Why did they choose to follow me, and then want ME to validate??? in order to follow back. Hey, you just lost a reader, a customer, a potential fan, a potential reviewer…
  • The most successful direct messages do not come with any links at all. These are seen as more trustworthy and can open the door to further communication!
  • You don’t need to add links to blog posts that your followers would be interested in. Thanking a follower on social media is enough. Recommending an article to them can be done much better in a tweet. And if you introduced yourself professionally on top of your Twitter page, you don’t need to tell them about your own blog or website. Compare it with a party where you meet new folks. You don’t say hello, nice to meet you – and add a commercial-like sentence next.

Do What I Say – Don’t Do What I Do  : )
Try to check your direct messages regularly and respond to them if possible. This is a huge trust-builder and will lead to more engagement in the future. Good advice for Twitter accounts under 5,000 followers…

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More About this Topic:

Why Twitter should remove DM’s altogether
http://www.socialtechzone.com/wordpress/twitter/twitter_remove_dm/
Who to Follow on Twitter
https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/whom-to-follow-on-twitter/
All Mistakes to Avoid at Twitter
https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/17-social-media-mistakes-to-avoid-on-twitter-2/

What I Learned About Social Media, the Hard Way

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Social-Media

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21 things you need to know in order to avoid social media pitfalls.  Here is the list, some of which I learned the hard way, so you wouldn’t have to:
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Let’s Start With Your Introduction

  • Pick your name wisely, it’s your brand.
  • Choose a professional photo – how you will be seen by the world – people will judge / follow you by your photo
  • Use positive words to introduce yourself
  • List your website / blog / author page – as many links as possible
  • Choose an appealing background image
  • Be consistent across social networks with your name, logo, branding

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Followers

  • Not only the quantity, but also the quality of followers is important!
  • Use the search function to find suitable connections
  • Thank each one of them for following individually
  • You don’t have to be on every single social network. Pick only the ones that make sense for you
  • Just because they’re called “Friends” doesn’t mean they’re really your friends
  • Connect online but keep it going by taking it offline

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Networking

  • Be yourself and as open as you are comfortable with, and be honest
  • Be positive. Online as well as offline, people like to surround themselves with positive folks
  • Everyone has a different comfort level regarding how much they share online
  • Don’t share blindly, read the articles, check the links. Sharing reflects on you too
  • Have your own opinions but be respectful when sharing them

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Avoid these Topics

  • Such as: sex, religion and politics
  • If what you’re saying can be misinterpreted, it will be!
  • What you share on the Internet lives forever and can be used against you
  • Social media is evolving and means constant learning
  • Social media should be a dialogue, not a monologue

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Share

  • Share valuable resources that your community will appreciate
  • Ask lots of questions. It’s a great way to learn, meet people and build a community
  • Cement your relationships by keeping in touch as often as possible
  • If you’re going offline for an extended period, make it known beforehand to your friends.
  • Think beyond text – use multimedia: photos, video, etc.

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Content

  • Create culturally relevant content
  • Have a social media policy / guidelines for your employees
  • What you get out of your social networks depends on what you put in

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Don’t forget:  It is All About Relationships

Social media marketing is the darling of the marketing world. However it is NOT about selling – rather about building relationship with your readers, educating them about your writing and then making them love your books.  Avoid that all you do on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook is to hawk your book or try to interest agents and editors in your manuscript.  This is not to say you can not ever talk about the interesting things you’re doing.  You are what you post, tweet, or google+, etc.  Slow and steady wins the race.  Building a community and a following takes time.

What additional advice would you share on this list?

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If you would like to get a mentor and our support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer for three months all this and more for only $179 – or less than $2 per day!  Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting / Book Marketing for your success: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

To learn more about professional book marketing and publishing, please read also
“Book Marketing on a Shoestring”
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UAVL3LE

Our email newsletters with free insider tips are sent out once a month. To sign up, just go to the form on the right site of each blog post.

How to Get Your Author Page on Google’s Page 1

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Climbing-to-the-top

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Why being on top of Google search rankings is important for you as an author?
Remember what’s critical in buying property: location, location, location … in web terms it means ranking, ranking, ranking. So, if someone is searching for key phrases that are contained in your blog or in your website, they will find you on Google’s top rankings. And as more potential readers find your websites, as more they learn about you as an author and about your books.
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According to studies: No. 1 Position in Google Gets 33% of Search Traffic
To boost your website’s ranking it is very important to know and use SEO, which stands for “search engine optimization.” Basics you should know, how to benefit from regarding SEO:
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What a Google Algorithm is
Your website is crawled by Google robots, which is essentially just an algorithm that goes through different aspects of a website (keywords, quality of content, links ets) to help bring users the most relevant results. Google has hundreds of algorithms, all of which take different things into account and which they update often.
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Keywords That Affects the Google Algorithm
Keywords is one of the factors Google uses to analyze a website. Keywords that people search for and the keywords used in titles and throughout your website are all things Google takes into consideration. Watch this YouTube video for samples of finding keywords, one of many on this site.

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Why Linking Matters for Users and Search Engines
If you have different quality websites linking to your website from all over the web, Google will stop and think “this must be a great site.” You earn a higher ranking if you earn a lot of these links. You also want to link within your website so that users can get around easier, which is important not only for users, but for the Google bots who are ranking your site, based on good navigation.
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Why Google+ Matters
Google is moving toward a more social approach to ranking websites as opposed to keyword-based. Google+ is going to be the main social network Google considers. Google+ is how Google finds an author, connections, location, and interactions amongst users. It then takes this information to help create a more personalized Search Engine results for a user. For example, if you and I both typed in the same search query, we would get a slightly different set of results.
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TIPS:
Posting on your Google+ site helps tremendously with SEO and how easy your website can be found.
Always have your own domain name and domain hosting. Free websites, such as Weebly for example will never bring your websites – and your books – to Google’s first page! Free websites that save you less than $10 a month, will cost you actually: in lost readers and lost business.
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Learn more at these Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF515-0Tduk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=421aTJI2Nxc
http://www.y2m.ae/blog/the-importance-of-seo-an-infographic/
http://www.searchenginejournal.com
http://www.hubspot.com
http://www.resolutionmedia.comragan.com
http://www.ragan.com
http://bit.ly/19qmd0b
http://www.y2m.ae

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/
to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 960 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: Google algorithm, Google Ranking, increase your web presence, manipulating algorithms, Search Engine Optimization, Top Reasons to Be on Google's Page 1

The 15 World Top Websites in Alexa Ranking

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Alexa Ranking

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Alexa.com, the web information and measure company, let you know the traffic relation between your website / blog and the rest of the almost one billion sites worldwide. At www.Alexa.om you can search by country, by category and global. As lower your ranking is as better. Check out your own site: Just go to Alexa.com and type in your blog or website.
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Why is the Alexa Ranking so Relevant? 
Website ranking, as a concept, is stressed as an important component of search engines, particularly by Google themselves. Sites with higher Alexa Ranks become more likely to attract potential advertisers and/or marketing offers. And if you are looking for promotion of your books, compare the companies’ Alexa Ranking, among other variables, before you make a decision!
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The Examiner.com Wrote:
“The first thing you need to know about Alexa, that like a golf score, a lower number is better. What Alexa does is rank your website based on traffic.  Data collected provides a 3-month view of how many people visited your site, how long they stayed, how many pages were read and search queries used to find your site.  Most sites never go under 1 million, simply because they don’t rank well on search engines, others get really good scores (less than 100,000) because they are viewed so often.
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Tips to increase your Alexa Ranking:

  • The better the content of your blog or website, the stronger the readership. It would also attract good traffic and your Alexa ratings would soar. If you are a novice blogger, you need to regularly post at least a blog/day to keep your blog alive and breathing. Promote your blog on social networking sites and it will no longer clog.
  • A great way to increase the Alexa rank, is to write guest posts. The numbers of your Alexa rank will scale to a much higher level if you build the back links and your own readership will soar to great heights.
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Alexa-Ranking

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Our latest numbers on Alexa.com out of 1 Billion websites:
Global rank 105,556 for SavvyBookWriters @111Publishing
USA Rank 48,970

We welcome guest blogs from writers that fit into our topics. If you are interested, read the more about guest blogging.  Got some ideas? Drop us a line, including your own website / blog link at 111Publishing gmail com

Top 15 Websites as of October 22, 2013

  • 1

    google.com

    Enables users to search the world’s information, including webpages, images, and videos. Offers… More
  • 2

    facebook.com

    A social utility that connects people, to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and … More
  • 3

    youtube.com

    YouTube is a way to get your videos to the people who matter to you. Upload, tag and share your… More
  • 4

    yahoo.com

    A major internet portal and service provider offering search results, customizable content, cha… More
  • 5

    baidu.com

    The leading Chinese language search engine, provides “simple and reliable” search exp… More
  • 6

    wikipedia.org

    A free encyclopedia built collaboratively using wiki software. (Creative Commons Attribution-Sh… More
  • 7

    qq.com

    China’s largest and most used Internet service portal owned by Tencent, Inc founded in Nov… More
  • 8

    linkedin.com

    A networking tool to find connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts and busin… More
  • 9

    live.com

    Search engine from Microsoft.
  • 10

    twitter.com

    Social networking and microblogging service utilising instant messaging, SMS or a web interface.
  • 11

    amazon.com

    Amazon.com seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and disc…More
  • 12

    taobao.com

    Launched in 2003, Taobao Marketplace (www.taobao.com) is a popular consumer-to-consumer (C2C) o…More
  • 13
  • 14

    google.co.in

    Indian version of this popular search engine. Search the whole web or only webpages from India…. More
  • 15

    wordpress.com

    Free blogs managed by the developers of the WordPress software. Includes custom design template…More
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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.international-ebooks.com/book-promo to advertise your new book, specials or KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 900 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

.

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Tagged: Alexa Ranking, Alexa Ranking global, Alexa Ranking national, Alexa.com, Guest blogging, how to improve your Alexa Ranking, SEO, why is Alexa Ranking important

How to Overcome Anxiety as a Writer

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Overcome-Fear-and-Anxiety

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If you really want to succeed as a writer, your have to overcome many fears, from handling criticism, getting rejection letters from publishers, negative comments from bullies to the fear of public speaking at book launches or writer conferences. So what can you do to overcome these fears or apprehensions?

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How to Deal With Publisher’s Rejections
The path to writing success is littered with rejection letters. No matter if it was your first or your thirtieth rejection letter, don’t give up. Read these articles about famous authors who received dozens and dozens of these letters:
Just to show you how wrong publishers can be, see the original snarky rejection letter that Gertrude Stein received in 1912 from a jerk publisher.  Or check out an extensive collection of the some of the biggest errors of judgement in publishing history.
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And even there are barely any reasons given in these rejection letters, it can be:

  • that the publisher just worked on a somewhat similar book,
  • that they don’t have the money to take on new projects,
  • that the topic is not to the editors taste,
  • that the book would not fit into their line
  • that the publishing house is in the process of merging with another publisher
  • that your book is not written in the personal style of the editor
  • …. or any other reason

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Writing is an art, publishing is a business
In other businesses people don’t have the time to delve …. over rejections of business contracts, they just write the next query. So should you. Just keep going. Work on your next query letter and synopsis, perfect them and check out other publishing houses. Remember that only about one per cent of manuscripts are accepted and that you always have the possibility to publish the book yourself, making way more money than using a commercial publisher. How it works is described in a series …..
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Negative People
Don’t expect positive comments all the time. Negative comments should be taken as a compliment. Why? Because it means that what your writing sparked enough emotion to compel people to leave a comment. Don’t feel bad when you get negative comments, be upset when you don’t get any comments at all. Every person is entitled to their opinions. Most of the time, the reason people post negative reviews or comments has very little to do with the actual issue at hand. You never know what’s going on in a negative commentators personal life: Maybe he/she had a bad day/got fired or is bitter in general. Some commentators will leave negative comments in an attempt to draw your attention. One thing is for sure: They are poor, unhappy people and not able to be constructive. See also: “Got a 1-Star Review?
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Should you dignify their comments with a response, always be calm and respectful. Never respond with defensiveness or emotion. Instead, state the facts and be cool. And do thank the person for taking the time to comment. Handling negative comments can increase your professionalism. Sometimes you can even impress those people so much that they become your biggest fans.

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Writing Critiques / Editings
The most important step is: don’t take critiques personally, especially not when it comes from an accomplished writer or a seasoned editor. Even bestseller authors find lots of “red ink” in their manuscripts when they are returned from the editor. Everything in life is a learning process, and you don’t pay an editor to praise you, you pay to have your writing criticized, to improve your style, develop attention to detail and most of all, to help you polishing your writing to the very best it can be.

See it as improvement and growth.
Thank the editor or beta reader and revise your work. If you don’t agree with the way they edited your manuscript, open up a constructive discussing and you might get very helpful insights.
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Shy Writers
Reaching success is possible for a loner, so get out there and start networking. Reaching out to other people or speaking publicly may be out of your comfort zone, but it’s absolutely necessary for you as a writer. It is something that you must do again and again throughout your career because it’s the only way to find new readers / customers. Help others, give them positive affirmation and it will come back to you one day when you need it. Growing your contact list is essential especially when you’re looking to promote your work or to collaborate with others. Again: “Writing is an art, publishing is a business.” And every new business owner needs a while to adapt to their new role.

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Who can help you with that level of anxiety?

Writers groups
Breaking through writer’s block is a good reason to belong to at least one (better several) writing groups. Chances are you’ll hear something that will help. You can also tell the group your problem and get lots of suggestions. You will discover that many other writers struggle with the same fears.
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Counseling
Writer’s block or anxiety can, if it goes on and on for weeks and months, can be a sign of deeper problems. Working with a professional counselor may be in order. A good counselor can be a miracle worker.
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Don’t miss these great articles:

20 Ways to Overcome Shyness

Shyness and Social Anxiety

Best tips of all: Remove the use of avoidance and safety behaviors and gradually confront your fears.

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.international-ebooks.com/book-promo to advertise your new book, specials or KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 900 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
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Tagged: Books Rejected, Funny Book Rejections, Funny Rejections, negative comments from readers, Publisher Rejections, rejection letter, Shyness, social anxiety, The Shy Writer, writer's fear

Thoughts on Halloween: A Perspective on Time

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A compelling journey to follow … for the right audience.

Humans are good at a lot of things, but putting time in perspective is not one of them. It’s not our fault – the span of time in human history, and even more so in natural history, are so vast compared to the span of our life and recent history that it’s almost impossible to get a handle on it.

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A Perspective on Time

by mayra.artes.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

 

Published by Wait but why
Designed bymayra.artes

Tagged: Halloween thoughts, infographic, mayra.artes, putting time in perspective, WaitButWay

7 Top Reasons for Writers to Be on Goodreads

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Seven-Top-Reasons
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How Can Goodreads Help Your Book Take-Off?
Goodreads is a kind of Facebook / Google+ for people who love to read books. A free website for book lovers. Bookshelves, reviews, ratings, reader communities, author pages, book giveaways  … all this is Goodreads. There is more offered on their website: join a discussion group, or start a book club, contact an author, and even post your own writing. More tips about the benefits of joining Goodreads and how you can use Goodreads to promote your blog.
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1. Goodreads Author Program
Use it to promote yourself and your books. What is the Goodreads Author Program? It is a
completely free feature designed to help authors reach their target audience — passionate
readers. This is the perfect place for new and established authors, to promote their books. What
Can You Do as a Goodreads Author?

a) Show Your Author Profile

  • Add a picture and bio.
  • Share your list of favorite books and recent reads with your fans!
  • Write a blog and generate a band of followers.
  • Publicize upcoming events, such as book signings and speaking engagements.
  • Share book excerpts and other writing.
  • Write a quiz about your book or a related topic.
  • Post videos. Add the Goodreads Author widget to to your personal website or blog to show off reviews of your books.

b) Promote Your Books

  • Sign up to advertise your book to up to the Goodreads Community—16,000,000 readers!
  • List a book giveaway to generate pre-launch buzz.
  • Lead a Q&A discussion group for readers.
  • Participate in discussions on your profile, in groups and in the discussion forums for your books.

How do I join and who can join is explained in detail in one of our former blog posts about Goodreads.
The Author Program is designed for people with published books, or who are just in the process of
publishing a book. It’s best if your work is on a bookseller’s website, such as Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, but Goodreads will accept any author who has published a book. This includes authors from
other countries as well as authors who are self-published. If your book is self-published and is not yet in the Goodreads database, you may manually add it.

How To Use the Author Program
Learn more about how to promote your books with special tools on Goodreads. Each slideshow
demonstrates a different aspect of our Author Program.
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2. Reader and Writer Forums
Did you realize how many writer forums and groups are on Goodreads? Just go to the top of each page and click on Groups. A new page opens and shows “Recently Active Groups”, “Featured Groups”, “Goodreads Author Groups” etc. and one the right hand site of the page “Browse by Tag”. This is were all the groups are listed by over 1,000 keywords. For sample:

  • Book Club
  • Historical Fictionistas
  • Non-Fiction
  • Young Adult Book Groups
  • Suspense
  • Super-Natural
  • The Perks Of Being A Book Addict
  • Womankind Worldwide Book Group

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As you can see, when you scroll down on the right hand site, there are ten-thousands of groups!!!
Books & Literature (26598) Business (1393) Entertainment & Arts (2222) Friends & Common
Interest (6914) Geography (490) Goodreads Authors (2535) Just for Fun (22709) Organizations
(3365) Student Groups (6129)
There is even a group that encourages Author-Publishers (Indies) to promote their books – a rarity
at Goodreads, were obvious self-promotion is not well received otherwise. These groups are a hidden gem to meet readers and reviewers. Almost all are public groups. Anyone can join and invite others to join. However, it’s not a place to blatantly tout your books, with the exception I just mentioned. ”Authors are welcomed and Goodreads supports authors in many ways, but the groups are primarily geared towards readers. Authors should join and participate in the group as a reader first.” Once you are known in these forums, your author site and your books will automatically be read – and often reviewed.

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3. Get and Give Reviews
When I was talking recently with an author, who desperately wanted more reviews. When I asked him how many reviews he has written in the last year, he stumbled … and said: “well, NONE so far”. Shall I say more? Don’t forget: To be a Goodreads member and to benefit, especially from reviews, requires that you are a bit more active on this site, for sample in shelving books of other writers, in participating from time to time in forums, read books and review them. How could someone expect to receive reviews if they are not writing some for others? Be a good pal in this book community!
From a Goodreads statement: “Books with no written reviews are added, on average, by 7 people, while books with just five written reviews are added by more than 40 people.”

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4. Friends Can Recommend Your Book
And you can recommend books from your writer friends? To send out a book recommendation, go to the book’s page and click on the “recommend it” link at the top right side of the page. A new site appears with three possibilities: “friends” “manual” “facebook“.

Under the icon “friends” your Goodreads friends are listed and you click next to the name to whom
you want to send your book recommendation. Enter under “manual” single email addresses of readers that are not yet on Goodreads. The “Facebook” icon lists your FB friends, who are not yet members of Goodreads to recommend the book to.
Click on “My Books” in the top navigation menu and add away! You can add books into read, currently reading, to read categories or edit your bookshelf to add your own categories. Once you read them, write a review!  Many authors who’s books you recommended will return this favor to you.

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5. Share This Book
Another hidden gem on your Goodreads page, that your visitors, readers and friends can use in order to promote your books: ”Share This Book“.  Did you realize that everyone of your Goodreads book’s pages has share buttons to submit your book to Google+, Pinterest, Twitter and to their Facebook page, even “like” it on Facebook?  Go to the right hand side of your books page and scroll down, until you see the button: ”Share This Book
There is another possibility to spread the word about your book:  Next to these Social Media icons are two unassuming words: Your Website. When you click on it, a window appears with some code that one can be easily copy and paste onto their blog or website and will show an image of your book and a link.  Another way to spread the work about your book! Let your friends ping to Google+ and FB
On the left lower corner of Goodreads are icons to these two websites to which your friends can send your image, books name and a link for your book – as well as a comment, such as “must read”, “great book” or “you will love it”.
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6. Advertise Your Events for FREE
Goodreads encourages you to publicize upcoming events, such as book signings and speaking engagements. This is a feature, similar to the one which is offered on Google+  -  see our blog
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/announce-your-book-signing-on-google-for-free/. Start about 3 weeks before your book launch with your event announcement. Use Goodreads’ event listing form to start the process. It has an RVSP feature and people can state if they are “coming”.
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7. Give Away Copies of Your Print Book.
It makes sense to give away books – if your goal is to get reviews. More than 50% of giveaway winners review the books they win, so the more books you offer, the more reviews you are likely to get. Run your giveaway for two weeks to a month. Goodreads says, “Giveaways less than two weeks run the risk of not getting enough entries, while a four-week giveaway will generate more entries.

Goodreads recommends even two giveaways: one about three months before publication to build pre-release buzz and reviews, and a second to increase awareness when your book hits the stores. Both will result in a lot of people adding your book to their to-read shelves – visible for all their friends.” Read more about Goodreads Giveaway rules in a former blog post.

 

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.international-ebooks.com/book-promo to advertise your new book, specials or KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 900 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

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http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: Goodreads communities, Goodreads forum, Google+, share button on Goodreads, Show your book on Google+, Slideshare, social networking, spread the word about your book, use Goodreads to promote your book

What is Your Reason for Blogging?

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Blogging Stats, published by Technorati:

The only way to become a better writer is to write – pages and pages, day after day. That’s exactly what an active blogger spends her or his time doing. The more you blog, the more you write – and the better a writer you become. Additionally, you can sell your best articles to newspapers and magazines, even getting more attention to your writing and more authority.

Search engines are looking for results that are helpful to their users.  When you write a series of in-depth, valuable articles around a topic, Google’s Search Engines take notice.  Each high-quality blog post that you publish is another opportunity to get traffic from search. It’s called CONTENT MARKETING.
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The State of Blogging

by jxtr.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

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Who Are the Most Avid Bloggers?
13% of the blogosphere are entrepreneurs, or individuals blogging for a company or organization they own. 84% of these bloggers blog primarily about the industry they work in, with 46% blogging about business and 40% about technology. 76% blog to share expertise; 70% blog to gain professional recognition; and 68% to attract new clients for their business – or readers and reviewers for their books.
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Static websites don’t attract many new clients or customers. However, a regularly updated blog can produce a constant stream of good leads from all around the world.  
Blogs have so much influence on purchase decisions. A blog allows the luxury of space and the time to develop a writer’s points of view.  Blog content provides added value and it will always trump advertising.
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Sometimes a blog starts out as a hobby only to become a full-time business. That type of growth is not typical – only if you are willing to commit to it. Trust is a rare and valuable commodity online. You can’t buy trust. It has to be earned by demonstrating your commitment to your readers, time and time again.
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Blogging is the foundation of Social Networking:
“The richest people in the world build networks. Everyone else looks for work.”  - Robert Kiyosaki

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Tagged: active blogger, blog have lots of influence, blogosphere, earn trust through blogging, Reason for Blogging, use your blogs to feed social media, why blog

3 Top Reasons to Be on Google’s Page 1

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Search Engine Optimization, short SEO,  is not about tricks or manipulating algorithms. It’s about understanding the online landscape and evolving to meet your customers where they are. It is essential to establish and/or increase your web presence as a writer.
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Why it is so Important to Be on Google’s Page 1:

  • 60% of clicks go to the Top 3 of the search results
  • 75% of all users never scroll past the first page of search results
  • 42% of all users click on the top-ranked result and only 23% on ads

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Think Seo Doesn

Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
Source: http://www.y2m.ae/blog/the-importance-of-seo-an-infographic/

Sources:
http://www.hubspot.com
http://www.resolutionmedia.comragan.com
http://www.ragan.com
http://www.y2m.ae

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/ Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.
Or visit http://www.e-Book-PR.com/book-promo to advertise your new book, specials or KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 880+ of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

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http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: 175 Millionen Searches/hour, Google algorithm, Google Ranking, increase your web presence, manipulating algorithms, Search Engine Optimization, Top Reasons to Be on Google's Page 1