Using links to your advantage

By Andy Walsh
Posted Thursday, July 8, 2004

The idea of this section is for you to start to build useful links from your site. Do this for two reasons:-

1.To act as a resource to your visitors
2.You may be given a reciprocal link, which should increase your traffic.

Right, now begin to consider a few ideas that you could put on a web page that would enhance the reading experience.

LOCATION

Where are the main locations of the novel?

Think about this for a minute. Is it LA? Is it Paris? Is it Africa?

Now pull up your favourite search engine (I use (www.google.com) all the time – it's my favourite). Now put into the search engine the location of your book. You'll be given, hopefully, thousands of websites to choose from. Look at a few of the links. Do any seem appealing or eye-catching? If they do, add them to the links section of your website or even profile a link on the home page. You've started to broaden your books appeal already.

Example

You've written a hard-hitting police drama set in San Francisco. So, following my advice, you put the words `San Francisco' into your search engine.

What do you get?

Well, in less than a second I've found 2 million links!!!

The first link I looked at was a map of the city. Wouldn't that be great to add as a link? People can then follow the action in your book.

Then I found the official city website. That's a must have!

I trawl through a few more links then I find a site that has a series of web cams set up. Wow!

There you have it. Within a minute or so you've found three useful links for your website. Visitors to your site don't just get a feel for the book but they get a feel for the location too.

Clever, eh?

And don't forget to send an email to each of these sites to invite them to pop over to your site too!

Check out my link page on my St Brodag's Isle website:-

(http://www.stbrodag.com/stblink.html)

I've focussed on other island sites. Click on the links. Have a look at the type of links I've put on there. I haven't had any complaints from anyone yet.

GENRE

Let's think for a minute about the genre of your book.

Is it a thriller? Is it science fiction? Is it humorous? Is it literary?

Who is your favourite author?

Repeat a series of searches such as the one you did for location. Find another three or four links.

This might also highlight a series of organisations to join or online communities who share your interest. Get involved. Take part in the discussions on message boards and in newsgroups.

Try:-

(www.delphi.com)

(www.egroups.com)

(www.topica.com)

These sites host various communities. Find one your interested in.

Right. So you have built yourself a comprehensive links listing. That's a good start. Remember to ask everyone if they'll be willing to display a reciprocal link. It can never harm you to ask.

About the Author
Andy Walsh is a househusband and writer living in Cumbria in the UK. He writes novels, short stories, articles and poems some of which you can read at (http://www.stbrodag.com)