Mary Martin, Ph.D.

What? You Don't Have A Blog?

A baby boomer client of mine has a great business card and a fabulous logo she paid thousands of dollars for. She also has a website, thank heavens, which gives her another place to show everyone how fabulous her logo is.

But she doesn't have a blog.

Now, that might be fine if her website was interactive and she was constantly in touch with her clients and the site had some kind of mechanism for communication back and forth--not to mention a built-in reason to communicate.

But that's not quite her reality (at least not today, but by next week I'm hoping her reality will change).

Twenty years ago, you needed a great business card and a great logo to be up and running and get the word around about your services. Ten years ago, though you needed a business card, it should have had your website address and e-mail on it. That's what made you cutting edge.

Now, if you're a writer or offering writing or editing services, you'd best have a blog. Why? So you can communicate--daily if necessary--with your audience and/or clients. In this impersonal, global world, they want that vehicle that allows them to feel like you're in their living room. They want the possibility for intimacy.

And if you want to nurture your relationships with them, you need to work on your end, just like in any other relationship. You need to be in touch with them.

People work with people they like and trust. People buy from people they like and trust. Someone might even buy your book despite the fact that the subject matter doesn't interest them--because they like you and trust you.

Part of building rapport in 2008 is maintaining a blog or at least adding an interactive component to your website AND letting your audience know they have a reason to return to it weekly. After all, you can have a complex interactive site, but if no one knows that your site is anything but a showcase for who you are and what you do, it won't help you.

Your goal is for your website and your blog to work for you. To drive you business. To increase your exposure. To build relationships, if for no other reason than to connect with like-minded individuals.

What's Your Platform?

Your platform is the combination (hopefully) of ways you have developed to reach and cultivate your potential audience/customers as well as maintain relationships with the audience/customers you already have.

First-time authors cannot underestimate the importance of platform, as many a well-written book has been passed on because of the author's lack of platform. Meanwhile, plenty of decent, but not great books have been published (and their authors have received huge advances) simply because the authors demonstrated their skill at developing and quantifying their audience. It might not be fair, but it's the way it is and there's no use complaining about it.

What can you do to develop your platform?

• Create an interactive website and blog, give away some free advice or free products, and also sell products online if that's what type of business you have.
• Write articles for magazines and popular websites and blogs that reach your target market. If you'll only write if you get paid (or paid well), you won't be doing this work because it either doesn't pay at all or doesn't pay well for people who don't already have an audience. Don't forget to link whatever you write elsewhere to your website and blog.
• Do a podcast. And if your audience is particularly into/dependent on podcasts, this should be a requirement.
• Give seminars or workshops on your topic. At first, you'll be working for no pay, but that should change. Remember to refer every audience you speak to to your website and blog. You are in charge of your own promotion; make the most of it!

If you're attached to the idea that you're an expert and should always be paid for what you do, I suggest you detach yourself as soon as possible. No one wants to work with a resentful diva-type--particularly if that person isn't already rich and famous.

Furthermore, no matter what you're doing, think of a way to promote or cross-promote it. Every public appearance should be publicized, as should every guest appearance on a blog or podcast.

Finally, give your audience the opportunity to subscribe to tips or a newsletter or something you'll develop to grab their e-mail addresses so you can keep in touch with them. Most people aren't going to reach out to you unless you make it easy for them.  They'll remember you made it easy for them, and you're on your way to amassing (and quantifying) your audience before your book reaches the shelves.

On Why This is a Great Time for an eBook

Times are tough for just about everyone, right now. And if you're looking for a way to boost the traffic to your site or to your business, reach more prospects faster, or get your message out to as many people as possible, writing and publishing a book the old- fashioned way is not a good idea. After all, even if your book were already written and you already had an agent, if you're a first-time author you're not likely to have your book in hand for a year.

And you need more business now.

Furthermore, even if your book were already written, if you wanted to self-publish it that would still take a couple of months, and that's just to get the books to you. It's definitely a better idea than going the old-fashioned route, but there's yet a better way . . .

Publish your book as an eBook. Because it will already have a design, layout and index, it can also be published in hardcopy, but why not save some paper, offer a less-expensive product, and join the growing ranks of entrepreneurs taking advantage of digital publishing technology?

Here are some benefits of publishing an eBook:

• It has a fixed cost per book. Whether you produce one or 10,000, your cost doesn't change.
• You don't have to go through the obstacles and headaches involved in finding an agent and a publisher.
• You don't have to wait on what might seem like an interminable queue, until it's finally time to print your book.
• As soon as you release your book, your credibility as an expert in your field will rise exponentially.
• It gives you a reason to contact your customers and prospects.
• It can be used as a premium with a membership or subscription, and it can also be sold on your website, either as a whole or in parts.
• It creates added value for you.

Every speaker and most entrepreneurs can benefit from writing a book. For some, traditional publishing is the way to go. For most, self-publishing is the best route. But everyone can benefit from an eBook, as they're not mutually exclusive of hardcopies, and they can help you reach (or create) your audience faster and more efficiently.

Do You Need a Blog?

If you're an entrepreneur and/or an expert in your field--or someone trying to position yourself as an expert in your field--the website is a no-brainer. Everyone has to have a presence on the Internet in order to be taken seriously in 2008.

Whether your product is a CD, a book, a widget or your consulting services, a simple, clean website that tells the world who you are and what you do is like a business card or brochure. Anyone, anywhere can find out much of what they need to know about you, on their own time.

What about a blog, though? Do you think a weekly blog (don't do it unless you can commit to writing once a week) can help you and your business? Here are some things to think about:

• Can you commit to blogging regularly?
• Do you want feedback from your customers? (The comments section of blogs is great for that.)
• Would it help you develop relationships and build your prospect list if you could answer questions or give away free advice? (Readers can subscribe to your blog by e-mail.)
• Would you like a way to be a regular presence in the lives of your customers and prospects?
• Is what you do or what you sell something that generates a lot of questions or has an air of mystery (that you can demystify, which is a great service)?
• Are you willing to give away a lot of advice, particularly if you're accustomed to getting paid handsomely for what you know?

If you answered yes to the first question and then yes to any of the others, a blog might be a great idea for you. You can link your website to it easily, and here's what you might expect in terms of results:

• Knowing more (and faster) about what your customers need and what they think about your products and services.
• Building more relationships with more prospects than ever before, without ever leaving the house.
• Appreciation from people who are used to paying a lot of money for the advice of an expert.
• Time efficiency with new clients, as their learning curve about you and what you offer will steepen because you're offering so much timely, valuable information for them before they ever hire you.
• Improved ranking, as hits to your blog translate into hits to your website.
• Your writing will improve.

It's 2008 and I don't think it's aggressive of me to say that every person offering themselves as an expert and/or consultant needs to have the finger on the pulse of their industry and their customers by utilizing three vehicles: a website, a blog and a book.

On Valentines and Books

First let me say Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Quirky Alone Day.

If your book idea can be linked to an existing holiday, such as a relationship book for a day like today, you have a built-in market and a built-in launch date.

Let's say you've got a unique take on dating when you're a single parent, and you have a website or blog where you've been sharing your thoughts. You can spend the next year building your platform and ultimately position yourself as the expert du jour. If you play your cards right, next Valentine's Day you could be one of the people interviewed on all the morning talk shows about dating when you're a single parent. Or your articles could be on websites and blogs that get millions of visitors, thereby dramatically increasing your exposure and traffic.

Your launch date is around Valentine's Day, 2009, therefore your automatic time line is from now until then. If you are self-publishing it's easily doable, and the same is true for an e-book. If you'd like to go the traditional route, you'd have a lot of work to do in a short time to make your deadline.

Very few books will go from idea conception to printing in one year in the world of conventional publishing--unless of course you're a celebrity or already a best selling author. For those people, rules are bent, rewritten, and sometimes completely discarded.

So assuming you'll be self-publishing, in print or not, you have exactly one year to write your book, have it edited, laid out, indexed and printed, not to mention have a cover designed. Though jumping in to write your book is a fine idea, you should devote some time to determining how long it will take to get the rest of the items on your to-do list accomplished. For instance, who will be printing your book and how long does it take to get books in your hands? Who will be doing the layout? The index? How much does all of that cost, anyway? And what is an ISBN and how do you get one?

In addition to all of that, you must remember that if you have a target date, such as Valentines Day, 2009, you need to have at least a sample of your product available to interested parties well-before February 14. For magazines, you might have to have queried up to four months prior to a holiday. Television producers can book at any time, but you should definitely be ready to go by the end of the year.

Your deadline has just shrunk, now that we've considered some marketing and promotion. You now have no more than 10 months to complete your book and have it in your hands.

Do you have what it takes?

Today's freebie tip: If you can tie your book to a holiday, a month (National Foster Care Month is May, for example), or an event (the Olympics is every four years, as are elections for President of the United States), work backwards from that date, month or event. And remember to create a schedule that factors in plenty of time for advance promotion.