Issue #897 March 7, 2015
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- Important Google Deadline
- Authors, Save the Date
- Thanks for Helping
- Hound Video of the Week
If you’re looking for an easy recipe for your slow cooker, I have a winner for you. It’s Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken, made with chicken thighs, lemon slices, fresh lemon juice and green olives. I’m not wild about green olives but I thought this dish, served over brown rice, was fabulous. Don’t use chicken breasts. They aren’t as flavorful.
1. Important Google Deadline
Starting April 21, Google is adding another important factor to its algorithm, the formula it uses to decide how to rank your website in search results.
When people are searching on mobile devices, and if your site is mobile-friendly, Google will label it mobile-friendly and rank it higher in the results.
What, exactly, is a mobile-friendly site?
It isn’t one that looks identical to your full-size standard website, except it’s a lot smaller when viewed on a mobile phone or tablet.
A mobile-friendly site looks different because it has content that’s easy to read on those small devices. It must include similar features found on a standard website, such as navigation, search options and share functions. Google prefers that it use Cascading Style Sheets to make the site appear correctly on small screens. If you don’t know what Cascading Style Sheets are, that’s OK. Your webmaster does.
Tell him or her to make sure your site meets the new criteria before the deadline. That’s what I did this week after I discovered an article about this. My webmaster, Jason Saeler, read it and asked me to tell you that it links to several other articles that explain fully what Google is doing.
You might find this topic way above your pay grade. But if you care about free publicity, you’ll hire someone to make sure your website is mobile-friendly before April 21.
For bigger websites, this can be a huge chore. Don’t contact someone two days before the deadline and expect the work to be done on time. Call now.
2. Authors, Save the Date
This is for authors who are launching a book but don’t have the time, money or patience to build a website. It’s also for anyone who can’t rely on Amazon alone to sell their books.
Based on the calls and emails I get, millions of authors fit that description.
On Thursday, March 12, I’m hosting a free webinar with Ben De Reinzo from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. He’ll introduce you to a powerful new technology that gives authors more control over the sale of their books, even if they can’t afford a webmaster and have zero techie skills.
It’s a stand-alone sales page that can get you up and running on the web, selling books and building a base of fans in only a fraction of the time, and for far less money than what a typical website requires.
During the webinar, Ben will explain why sales pages are trending up for authors, the 10 essentials of a book landing page, and how to take your sales page to the next level. He’ll also demonstrate the easiest, quickest way to create professional book sales pages on a super-tight budget.
3. Thanks for Helping
Last week’s launch of my newest product with Joel Friedlander, 17 Amazingly Simple Blog Post Templates for Authors, was a blast.
Hundreds of bundles flew off the digital shelves, into the hands of authors who are using them right now to write blog posts faster and easier.
I couldn’t have done it without the help of two groups of Publicity Hounds who I want to thank publicly.
Beta testers Kathleen Watson, Lynda Lippin, Andrea Patten, Ellen Bahnson, Julie Hawkins, Kate McCormick, Terrence Crimmins and Gail Rubin used the templates to write their own blog posts and offered feedback on how to improve the product.
Authors Anne Randolph, Betsy Robinson, Ruth L. Snyder, Cathy Strasser and Rick Hocker each gave me permission to create a template based on a post at their blog.
All deserve a special dog treat: A $50 coupon good for publicity tools in my store.
In a 12-minute video I created, I demonstrate how to use the templates.
If you missed the special sale, you can still buy the bundle at the regular price of $97, including five juicy bonuses.
4. Hound Video of the Week
On Tuesday, I showed you the Suzuki commercial featuring the Huskies and the Eskimo. Today, it’s a commercial for the Suzuki motorcycle. Be sure to watch it to the end.
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