I have stressed the importance of author landing pages, but I can't help you understand the importance of one if you don't know what an author landing page is, so I'm here to explain.

In the marketing world there is a term called a "Landing Page". I will explain what a landing page is by this:

Have you ever seen a facebook ad that caught your eye--admit it, you clicked on the cute bark box ad--and were routed to another screen that popped up? You laughed at the antics of cuddly puppy picture and then you clicked on the ad. That ad brought you to a landing page! While you were on the landing page you scrolled down a bit and saw a BIG arrow or flashing lights telling you to...subscribe!! Go ahead, click the button--see the landing page...

You laughed so hard or were entertained so much that you said, "Sure!! I'll join! What other funny stuff do you have?"

You just gave that site your well earned, cold hard-email. As a marketer I understand that you're email is worth about $1 of my marketing budget.

Marketers cherish your email, they pet it and name it George, and then--they send you stuff!  You may like it, you may not like it and unsubscribe and that's okay!! Because they'd rather spend their money on true fans. True fans will buy everything they have to offer...

You get this part, you understand it because you've been the one giving your email. Now it's time to be on the email-getting side.

That page that had the "Freebie" here or "Sign-up for more laughs" was not the only page on their website. That's right you clicked on the ad and...landed on their landing page. The page that does 3 things:

1. Sets expectations. Meaning it tells you what you get (now and in the future) for signing up.
2. Gives you purpose as to why you should sign up.
3. Has a signup form. Or in other terms...gives you a place to enter in your email (if not your name too).

When someone fills out the form on my site, the name and email goes straight to mailchimp--no fuss for me and you get your free book immediately!! No waiting for the time-pressed author/publisher to get you your PDF. You also get emails from me letting you know about the things going on!!

Some may disagree, but building an email list is part of building fans. Fans want to know what you're up to. They want to read about their authors. Most my authors understand about having an email list. They think, but I put a form on my blog...I put a form on my home page, I put a form on my...

Yes, but do you have a page on your website dedicated to the WHY and WHAT a reader gets for signing up? They will see your form, but they may not realize what they get for giving their dollar to you. Imaging your fan thinking, if I give this man a dollar will he then follow me around--like Google?

So, if you're still scratching your head about what an author landing page is...it is a way to knock out all the distractions and say, this is what I want, this is what you get. Look at Gail Mencini's landing page HERE. It's a good one! Clean, fresh, explains what the book is about, what you get and what you have to do to get the six chapter sample. You're landing page is the new business card. If you want to do business, set out your business card on your online business and let people take your business card with them.

You're trying to get fans, and readers want to know they'll like you before they buy. (Yes, they are buying you--not your book).

If you attach the ad to a book on amazon...it doesn't mean that person is going to buy the book. In fact, no one is going to buy your book if you think your landing page is your amazon link.

Just because they clicked your link on the witty twitter message or facebook ad doesn't mean they are going to invest any money or even time to read your book. It means you hooked them and you better damn well let them know what the hell is going on. An explanation like "Hi! Thank you for coming, I'm going to knock you're socks off for reading this book that I'm going to give you for FREE!"

ACTION ITEM: Create a landing page so that when you put a link on your tweet or Facebook post you're not just sending them to buy your book. Send them to your website so they can decide for themselves if they want to take the time to read you!  

I have the ultimate Sylvia Day Rafflecopter contest! If you've already read "Holiday Submission" by Marilyn Lakewood and haven't reviewed it yet/or even if you have, here's your chance to win print copies of the following Sylvia Day collection!
One lucky winner will receive these items:

• Hard bound w/dust sleeve copy of "Bared to You"
• Soft bound copy of "After Burn/After Shock" compilation
• Soft bound copy of "Spellbound"
• MP3 Audiobook Download coupon for "Seven Years to Sin"
• Sylvia Day Sunglasses

All you need to do is give an honest review of Marilyn Lakewood's debut book "Holiday Submission" and copy/paste the URL of your review in teh rafflecopter submission OR like and follow Marilyn Lakewood on Twitter or Pintrest!

I know Amazon can be--difficult--so a screen shot of a confirmation for the review sent to [email protected] will due! All the others, I just need a URL of the review in the rafflecopter box and your set!!

A readers honest review is the life blood of authors, but I know it takes time and thought out of your day, so I wanted to make this prize extra special for taking the time for this debut author. If you like D/s M/F stories, this is a hot little read!

If there is anything I can do to make it easier for you, the reader, please let me know!! We appreciate your support of our debut authors! Thank you!!

My very first session at the RWA conference in San Antonio was "Blog Bites" by Lisa Wells -- hands down the most adorable speaker there! This tiny lady with a unique voice broke it down for us!

Now I know this is Tuesday Tools day, and I will pass along several tools, but since RWA had some wise wisdom, I wanted to pass that along as well.

These are the points needed to be made:

1. Title: the first 3 and last 3 words are read
2. Short posts of 300 - 1,000 words are best
3. Content is king: blog to inspire, entertain or solve a problem
4. Find your niche, your passion, and blogging will be easy
5. (This one was important to me!) It takes 2 - 5 years for a blog to catch
6. Use your tags/categories as inspiration
   
   Her session gave me the most out of the conference because while I knew many of things she said, she gave me new tools to use with them. It made blogging new! I took down 2 pages of notes that will help me through the year.
   
   Most the tools she gave us are free. One such tool was wordle.net, a website that helps you create a word cloud. Why make one? Cause it's cool. Inspirational. Creative. And makes you want to go to that word cloud again and again to give you awesome sauce. As we all know, if you spread awesome sauce all over you get success! Yes, just pour awesome sauce on your book and it becomes the NY Times Best Seller!! Okay, maybe not--but it's kinna true. One word of warning - wordle.net need Java to run so if it's disabled or you don't want to run Java, then you're out of luck.
   
   ACTION ITEM: Go to wordle.net and try it out!! Get inspired!
   

On the plane ride home I had time to reflect and soak in—not just the lessons from the convention, but the love sent my way from my authors. As someone who constantly learns from big names in the writing and marketing industry, I heard much the same tropes (write good books, the best way to market your book is write another one, there is no such thing as a bad review, etc.). But this time I could listen and hear what these speakers were not saying and what they were saying and what they really meant.

Language is funny that way, because you can get so much from inflection, tone and facial features. It helped me understand what I knew more. Meaning, I didn’t learn anything new, but I gleaned information and a higher understanding. I gained new tools while confirming the basics.

My authors in turn kept saying how they appreciated me. Amazing in this new world of “I hate my publisher”. I’m overwhelmed by the gratefulness of those around me. I’m also inspired to keep doing what I’m doing—and do more.

In the end this wasn’t a learning convention as it was a connecting convention to my own authors. I was told I was the rock in which the few authors that managed to wade through the sea and over to my solid platform (heh-heh author platform) clung to me because I was such a rock. Some might see that as a huge weight on one’s shoulders. I don’t subscribe to such thought. I’m here to tell you that a rock needs those who cling—otherwise their purpose is meaningless.