Do You Have a Website?

[CharlesH]

I'm debating whether or not it's worth my while to set up a website for my writing. Somewhere to link to places I've been published, maybe post some pieces of writing directly onto the site, that kind of thing. I'm not great with this kind of thing, so I'd probably use something like this (http://website.1and1.co.uk/website-templates), as it looks fairly easy.

But would I be just as well to use social media sites like twitter/Facebook to promote my work, interact with people? Or a combination of the two? Bit new to all this so I thought I'd ask on here to see what you folks go for.

[sandy14]

The website should be the anchor of all the other promotional stuff. You can put the website on business cards and put the URL on your other stuff. Folk can visit a website and browse at their leisure, without having to join or befriend you.. Twitter can be used to give folk instant updates, or messages about new stuff, but it is a bit hard to wade through social media to find stuff. So the website should tell us what you have that's or sale, any readings/signings your doing and any creative writing courses or other stuff you are up to. Take a look at Iain Sinclair's site, or if you are ambitious Moorcock's Miscellany.

[hannah_arendt]

I used to have my webside but recently I have decided to move it to Facebook.:

https://www.facebook.com/annabanasiakthewriter

[CharlesH]

The website should be the anchor of all the other promotional stuff. You can put the website on business cards and put the URL on your other stuff. Folk can visit a website and browse at their leisure, without having to join or befriend you..

That makes a lot of sense. If possible, I'd like to avoid Facebook as I'm not a huge fan. If I could have the website, and use twitter to link to posts etc, it might be effective enough. The self-promotion bit's never easy is it?

Thanks for the advice folks.

[hannah_arendt]

That makes a lot of sense. If possible, I'd like to avoid Facebook as I'm not a huge fan. If I could have the website, and use twitter to link to posts etc, it might be effective enough. The self-promotion bit's never easy is it?

Thanks for the advice folks.

It`s not that I am a fan of facebook but it`s very popular and easy to use. However one day I would like to come back to webside.

[CharlesH]

It`s not that I am a fan of facebook but it`s very popular and easy to use. However one day I would like to come back to webside.
It seems to be a bit of a neccessary evil nowadays. I know some friends who are musicians really don't like using it, but having event pages and things like that are useful.

[The Atheist]

I'm debating whether or not it's worth my while to set up a website for my writing. Somewhere to link to places I've been published, maybe post some pieces of writing directly onto the site, that kind of thing. I'm not great with this kind of thing, so I'd probably use something like this (http://website.1and1.co.uk/website-templates), as it looks fairly easy.

I'll give my views based on the fact that I am a website expert who runs a web-hosting company.

As an amateur, by far your best bet is to use Wordpress or Blogspot. I'd always go Wordpress because I hate Google with a passion, but that's just me.


But would I be just as well to use social media sites like twitter/Facebook to promote my work, interact with people? Or a combination of the two? Bit new to all this so I thought I'd ask on here to see what you folks go for.

The only thing that matters in any internet marketing is getting people to find you.

What is going to bring them to your site? You can have the best site on the net, but if people don't know about it, and you're not paying to be found in searches, it takes a long time to build a profile and search ranking that will drive people to you.

For that reason, Facebook and Twitter are ideal, because you start with a network of people who know you. Say you have 50 friends. Each of those people will have 50 friends, and so on. You do need to talk to your friends and get them to help you with marketing, but if you have a good product and each of them promotes it, you're going to start with a potential viewer number around 2500.

If you're interesting enough, that might be enough people to start the ball rolling.

Feel free to ask more questions.

[CharlesH]

As an amateur, by far your best bet is to use Wordpress or Blogspot. I'd always go Wordpress because I hate Google with a passion, but that's just me.

Spoken to a few friends who know more about these matters on the subject, and Wordpress got recommended by them as well.


The only thing that matters in any internet marketing is getting people to find you.

That's exactly it. Much as I'd like to avoid Facebook, it seems like it's a necessary evil.

Thanks for your input. Big help.

[hannah_arendt]

It seems to be a bit of a neccessary evil nowadays. I know some friends who are musicians really don't like using it, but having event pages and things like that are useful.

Nowadays I think Facebook is more popular that webside. Very often I search for example a writer or musian on Facebook instead of looking for his/ her webside.

[stlukesguild]

I've had a number of websites over the years, including a professional one used to market the art gallery I owned and the artists we represented. I currently have a blog site on tumblr for a number of reasons. First of all, tumblr is incredibly easy to use. Secondly it is well designed for the inclusion of lots of images... and "lots of images" well describes most of my posts which deal primarily with art. Third, I have no fears of censorship from tumblr. A good portion of art history is made up of the nude... and even erotic art. Many of the free sites... including Facebook and Pinterest and even image hosting sites like Photobucket (as well as our home away from home, LitNet) have strict rules about nudity that are a result of corporate sponsors ans are often enforced by busybodies with nothing better to do than to patrol sites in search of the evil nude. I used to host images at Photobucket for use here because it easily allowed me to reduce images to a clickable thumbnail... but some time back I had images of paintings by Degas and William Blake deleted. Pinterest deleted an entire account due to a number of paintings I had posted there. Tumblr has proudly taken the low ground. The site as a whole is infamous for endless pornographic blogs. Personally, I'd rather be seen with pornographers than with middle-aged housewives posting endless images of cupcakes and bristling when they stumble upon a nude by Degas or Renoir. I often link my blog over at Facebook... but prefer the anonymity of the blog at tumblr.

http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/

[mortalterror]

I know what you mean, Stluke. I received an infraction from Photobucket back in the day for pictures of Greek statues I'd uploaded.

[stlukesguild]

Well what did you expect with all that illicit Greek Love?

[Pendragon]

ravendarkendale.com blog devoted to pulp fiction or whatever I choose. Drop by and sign the guestbook!

[The Atheist]

Third, I have no fears of censorship from tumblr.

Yet.

With Yahoo!'s ownership, I wouldn't take it for granted, so make sure you have plenty of backup.


Personally, I'd rather be seen with pornographers than with middle-aged housewives posting endless images of cupcakes and bristling when they stumble upon a nude by Degas or Renoir.

Brilliant!

Thanks for the link - I've saved that; great collection.

[hannah_arendt]

I've had a number of websites over the years, including a professional one used to market the art gallery I owned and the artists we represented. I currently have a blog site on tumblr for a number of reasons. First of all, tumblr is incredibly easy to use. Secondly it is well designed for the inclusion of lots of images... and "lots of images" well describes most of my posts which deal primarily with art. Third, I have no fears of censorship from tumblr. A good portion of art history is made up of the nude... and even erotic art. Many of the free sites... including Facebook and Pinterest and even image hosting sites like Photobucket (as well as our home away from home, LitNet) have strict rules about nudity that are a result of corporate sponsors ans are often enforced by busybodies with nothing better to do than to patrol sites in search of the evil nude. I used to host images at Photobucket for use here because it easily allowed me to reduce images to a clickable thumbnail... but some time back I had images of paintings by Degas and William Blake deleted. Pinterest deleted an entire account due to a number of paintings I had posted there. Tumblr has proudly taken the low ground. The site as a whole is infamous for endless pornographic blogs. Personally, I'd rather be seen with pornographers than with middle-aged housewives posting endless images of cupcakes and bristling when they stumble upon a nude by Degas or Renoir. I often link my blog over at Facebook... but prefer the anonymity of the blog at tumblr.

http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/

Thanks for the link :)