What’s on the iPod: F*ck You by Cee Lo Green
Don’t you love getting books? I’m not your Kindle type, so don’t come singing the praises of yet another computer screen to me, but I appreciate that you buy books in any form. I prefer paper. But my son and his girlfriend sent a package containing some much-wanted books: Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck, and Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner. My two favorite writerly men.
Add those to the ones I picked up at Borders on Saturday: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and Jazz by Toni Morrison (my favorite writerly female). I’m buying a lot of books – as I was piling these on the coffee table (our visual reminder to build more bookshelves), I noticed the others I’d bought: The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O’Connor and Drown by Junot Diaz. Did I really buy so many books in one month? Now the dilemma – where to start reading and when to find time.
Busy, brain-filled day yesterday. Had some small projects in the morning, then a chat with a friend/potential client over some things in the works. She’s also a marketing guru. As she looked at my site, she gave me the honest feedback I’ve been craving – my site is old-fashioned. It’s crap, I know it. But her kick-in-the-pants sent me looking for sites to emulate.
Let me tell you – we writers are not design stars. I went through a bunch of random sites (none of yours, so don’t panic), and the design makes my static site look like innovation. Worse, I’ve seen so many writers (women especially) describe in the “About” section their families, their pets, and very little about themselves that would translate into a writer I’d want to hire. And I’m not as picky as clients are.
How much business are we losing as writers because of our design or our presentation? I know I’m losing a lot if they head to that lovely, disjointed thing I call a website. There are writers I’ve talked to who get a lot of business via their website. I go there and think they must be attracting people on sedatives or those with sleeping disorders wanting a nap. We could do better.
Jenn Mattern has a great primer up on her All Indie Publishing blog. It’s specific to publishing, but the lessons apply to just about any form of what I call persuasive communication – websites should be included.
Beyond that, I have to revamp my site to make it more consumer friendly. So I’m going to ask myself these things:
What’s your sizzle? In marketing, we don’t sell the steak – we sell the sizzle. I can tell clients all day how great I am. I need instead to show them how great I am.
Why should the client care? Again, who cares if I’m a fabulous writer? How does that benefit the client?
What’s my value? This one’s tough. What is my value statement, that thing I can tell every client that separates me from the rest of the pack?
What’s the call to action? How am I getting them to buy? What’s going to make them send that email or pick up that phone?
What does your website look like? Is it appealing or scary? What sites have you seen that are terrific? Overblown? Undercooked?
22 responses to “Your Face Value”
How embarrassed am I? I don't have a website! I keep meaning to create one or pay to have one created, but I just haven't gotten it done. I really have to do that. Really!
I agree with you on not mentioning kids, but I've made so many connections with people over "dog talk." I suppose moms also connect over kids, but I agree that touting yourself as a "working mom" or "work at home mom" devalues writers. I don't see the same problem with mentioning your pet. Of course, I'm biased!
Finally, I thought everybody would enjoy this link: http://jhische.com/sneakpeek/day-ruining-invoice.jpg.
OK. Now that you have me thinking about buying books…
Is The Book Worm in Pville still open? Was thinking about it the other day but just assumed it would have closed down years ago.
My websites are very simple. I chose colors and images carefully, tried not to overdo, tried to give succinct information and make it easy to navigate. I've got a lot of compliments on them — and I've redesigned them to have a better visual punch on iWeb, so, once I disengage myself from my current hateful host holding my files hostage, I have the new sites ready to go, which will be much more appealing.
Where I fail in this is that I don't update them regularly enough. That's a habit I need to cultivate. Keep information fresh, links fresh, have interesting new tidbits so that people will want to come back.
The website doesn't generate as much business as it should — it usually is the support for either a direct mail or a query. It needs to earn its keep more. I get more business from my blog — which is updated six times a week, usually — and Twitter.
My "value statement" is in the header for Fearless Ink": "where excellent writing meets smart business for outstanding results"
And you're completely right about writer sites being poorly designed. There are exceptions, no doubt. But the majority I see look like they were put up in 1995 and never touched since. With all of the free and inexpensive options out there for better designs, there really is no excuse anymore. You don't have to know how to design a site yourself, and you don't have to spend a fortune for a custom design (although in my experience, custom designs do have an impact on traffic — either unique or customized versions of templates).
This isn't entirely the fault of writers. They also get bad advice from people who want to believe that content is more than enough. The content and copy on your is important. As a writer, it's even more important than it is for most. But that's no excuse to devalue other elements of your Web presence that have an effect on your image, traffic, and conversions. Design is a big one.
There was a post on the No Rules blog a while ago that nearly gave me a heart attack. The suggestion to try free themes was fine (within reason — some are poorly coded, not optimized well, and contain spammy sponsored links you're required to keep in the footer). But the idea that branding comes after launch rather than before floored me. And then there was the idea that you only need "sleek" professional designs if you sell a product or run a business. Um, that's what freelancing is — a business. That's what your book is — a product. Sometimes I think writers get so caught up in the writing that they forget business and marketing rules still apply to them.
Anyway, there was some good discussion as a result of that post for anyone interested — http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2010/09/17/ShouldYouHireSomeoneToDesignYourWebsite.aspx
Personally, I do design some sites from scratch because I know how to design and code. I've also hired designers for custom work. I've purchased full rights to templates (and give them away so writers have a free option for their WordPress sites without those required footer links). And I use plenty of free and premium templates either out of the box or customized. Each has its place. But with professional sites? Unique or at least customized wins hands down.
First-I'm right there with you, Lori, (again) about paper books. I had a HUGE collection, but sadly had to donate most when I moved from CA to ID. Heart-wrenching.
On the website-I use my WordPress for both my blog and static website. I get most of my business from my site. It may come through LinkedIn or some referral, but it's my site that generally gets me the call or email.
I hope it's appealing. I have tweaked here and there and will probably continue to do so.
Funny, when I was just thinking, Do I need to punch this up? I received an email from someone who "stumbled across" my site and told me she really liked my writing style, wanted to inquire about my ghostwriting services and said she really liked my marketing philosophy. She would not have known what that was without my site.
It's definitely not perfect by any means, but I do see a great value to it when it comes to getting work.
LOVE Cee Lo's uncensored version ;o) and I hear you on the books. It seems that for every book I donate/give away, I acquire two more. Do I possibly have time to read all the books I already have on my shelves? Not a chance–yet I still keep buying, and yes, I'm still staying far away from the e-reader trend.
Thanks for the advice. My website is in need of some additions, so I'll be keeping all of this in mind while I'm evaluating it.
Gabriella, that link is so funny! Thanks. I especially love the "And another thing…….for God's Sake!" notation. 🙂
Get a website, hon. And get someone to design it for you – preferably someone who knows what you need versus what you want. That was my mistake! 🙂
Jenn, the Book Worm by the hospital is still going strong. However, we're about to lose Wolfgang Books downtown. I'm sick about it. We've approached the owner in hopes of keeping it open if we volunteer our time, but he's too far removed from it now. Sad. It was my favorite bookstore.
Devon, your value statement is great. I like the Fearless Ink site for its simplicity. Mine doesn't capture who I am. There's a real disconnect.
Cathy, your site is great. I like that you've integrated it with your blog. That was my goal, but I'm just not happy with my site yet. My own fault. My designer listened to me and gave me what I'd asked for. I should have told him to ignore me and give me what I needed. 🙂
Cathy, I heard the censored version in a store and thought "Why don't they have stuff like this on the radio?" (Our radio stations are gawd-awful around here) Apparently, they do. LOL I couldn't resist the uncensored version.
Smart thinking, Lori! Good luck with your website. Don’t be too hard on yourself though. There are still lots of companies out there (big ones, even) that have very sad, lame websites. It’s not just writers. In fact, I think freelance writers are way more innovative than a lot of companies when it comes to social media and blogging. There are SO many people who still don't understand twitter at all. Most people I've encountered think twitter is only something you can do if you have a smart phone.
I have nothing much to say about the website situation, but I did want to point out that the turkey sex scene alone in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" is worth the price of the book.
Oh, I knew there was a reason I liked you so much – Toni Morrison is my favorite author. Jazz is so beautifully written – she paints such a provocative picture with words. I'm also a big Flannery O'Conner fan, and I'll have to check out some of the others you've mentioned.
You're not the only one in need of a website rehaul. I hope to start working on that soon.
Oh, you mean the website my sister – a graphic designer who creates awesome websites for herself and her clients – designed last year as a project for one of her web design classes? I asked her about that recently. Apparently the class projects weren't permanently stored, so it's gone.
The upside? She didn't care for the program the class used, so she plans to rebuild my never-before-seen site using software that's easier to use. I do have a birthday coming up next month, so, fingers crossed. (Of course last year on my birthday she dropped her dogs off for me to watch for 2 weeks, said she was going to find me a great birthday present on her European vacation…but forgot. So she owes me.)
Sarah, I know what you mean. Some companies have not just lousy design, but pathetic writing! I don't feel so bad. Thanks. 🙂
Eileen, I can't wait to read it now! LOL
Kim, isn't she amazing? Any woman with that many college degrees and a Faulkner-esque style (she's a Faulkner scholar) is going to be on top of my list. I LOVED Song of Solomon. She's an author I save for a special occasion. I don't want to read all her books because nothing else will satisfy. Knowing she's there should I hate my next book keeps me going through the pile. 🙂
Paula, you're kidding! I thought by now it was up and running!
A few weeks ago, we went skiing and I heard Cee-Lo blasting full volume out of the lodge — which kinda freaked me out, because I didn't KNOW there was a clean version.
LOL! Jake, I didn't know there was a dirty version! I was educated by the younger adults in the house. 🙂
Jenn, sorry your post was gobbled up by the Spam filter. We're afraid to spend money. Stupid, because it's deductible. And you're right that we could all do better with the newer designs.
Haha, clearly you're more mature than I am! There's a lot of music on my iPod that I'd be horrified to have my teenagers listen to…
My favorite Toni Morrison Book is Sula, although I LOVED Song of Solomon too. I didn't realize she was a Faulkner scholar. I need to reacquaint myself with his work.
One of the most visually appealing yet simple writer websites I've seen (and I've looked at a lot) is by an Australian writer, if you wanted to have a look it's here http://fleurmcdonald.com/
I have Sula! Time to read it. 🙂
Fi, it does look nice. Thanks for sharing it!
I actually own about a hundred books that I haven't yet read. Yet, I keep buying more. It's an addiction! (One could have worse addictions, I tell myself.)
Mridu, same here. Shelves of unread books. I call it my retirement stockpile. 🙂
I have a blog (thiswritingbusiness.blogspot.com) but not a website. And even worse – I haven't yet ordered business cards! (In part because I don't have a web address to put on them….)
I launched into my freelance biz with assignments already on my plate, so I haven't had a chance yet to get myself organized. I really need to do it – it'd probably enable me to handle more work!