Search brings clients to your website, but how do you close the sale? Get them to buy your book, your freelance services?

All the usual SEO recommendations come into play here: make sure that the site is easily navigable, that all your internal (and external) links work, that the call to action is clear and present on every page. But conversion—getting visitors to become clients/customers—really is, mostly, about content.

What creates content that converts? How do you listen to your prospect, meet or exceed her expectations, and get her to do what you want her to do, all on a single web page? Here are some tips:

1. Make sure that keywords link to the correct landing page for that keyword, and not to the site’s main page. Let’s take an example from the world of commerce: if a prospective customer keys in “boots,” he doesn’t want to be taken to a shoestore’s main page and left to find his way to the boots section by himself. Too much work. Your goal is to make what you want the customer to do … the easiest thing for him to do. You can extrapolate this to your own website content.
2. “Click here” is so 90s, and it’s not even effective. “Buy now” or “sign up now” is better.
3. Be sure that you include incentives in your copy. Give people a good reason to buy, and a better reason to buy now. Remember the TV commercials where they used to say, “call in the next fifteen minutes and we’ll throw in an extra set of steak knives”? Make the purchase something they feel compelled to do now by offering something extra — free shipping, an extra two months’ subscription, an added-on element.
4. Revise your copy as often as you can, but keep your product names the same. This way you’ll get both name recognition for the product along with fresh copy that catches the eye and makes the customer feel there’s something different (i.e., better) being offered.
5. People who use search to find something have a goal in mind. They are looking for something specific. Relevancy is the keyword here: offer what they want, but make sure that you can. The bait-and-switch some companies use for search is nothing but legal false advertising: don’t do it.
6. Take advantage of local search if you have a brick-and-mortar venue, even if it’s just your local independent bookstore; update what is in stock and make it easy for shoppers to reserve their item online, pay online, and pick up locally if they prefer.
7. Take a moment to review your website. Does it look professional? Do the pages load quickly and easily? Is navigation easy? Is it updated regularly? Remember that your website is your handshake, and there’s never a second chance to make a first impression.

And there you have it. It’s not difficult to create and maintain a website that gets results. Use these tips, and you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

How can you best use Twitter? Here are a few quick ideas that can take literally only minutes a day:

• Follow interesting people (especially authors, publishers, and booksellers)
• Welcome anyone who chooses to follow you. It’s a great idea to have a page on your website that’s an introduction to you and your books; give out that URL when you’re welcoming a new follower.
• Tweet often, but make sure your tweets aren’t all promotional. Include tips, teasers, and ideas others can use. At least one or two tweets every day!
• Promote your book(s), but only in every eight to ten tweets, otherwise people’s eyes will glaze over and they’ll stop reading what you have to say.



• Include some relevant quotations—amusing, inspirational, interesting—each day, because people like to retweet quotes, and you can gain new followers that way.
• You cannot read the tweets of everyone you’re following, but scan them every day and choose two or three that look interesting. Follow those links and, if possible, leave a comment on their blogs.
• Read more about authors and Twitter here.

And that’s it. Quick and easy, and a great way to use what’s become a ubiquitous tool. Do that, and you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Her secret? It’s all in the scheduling.

These days, Anastasia charts out her free time so that blocks of it can be devoted to various projects and bring them to completion within her deadlines. Sounds a lot like the time issues that freelancers in general, and writers in particular, need to deal with every day!

Do you find yourself pulling an all-nighter when your deadlines are looming? Wasting time at the front end of a project and then scrambling to get caught up? Juggling several projects poorly so that none of them gets your full attention?

Scheduling may be your problem, too.

So let’s talk about creating a schedule that works for you … and your clients, as well!

The first step is recognizing when you work best. One of the freedoms of freelance work is the ability to choose your hours … so choose them! I’ve found that I am the most focused and the most energetic in the mornings, so I’m up early and at my desk before most people have even hit the first snooze. I have an artist friend who is starting to wind down and go to bed at about the time I’m waking up. We all have internal clocks that tell us when we’re at our bast: take advantage of that and schedule your most difficult, most intense work for when you’re at your best and brightest.

Block time out for social media. I’m serious. Facebook may keep you in touch with your virtual water cooler, but checking it all day is a time sink. On the other hand, social media is about the best marketing tool that many of us have, and using it consistently and correctly is a strong path to success. So block out some time and be armed with a list for what you want to accomplish during your social media marketing periods.

Speaking of periods, many people find it easier to work in increments, rather than all at once. There are a lot of good reasons to do this. It keeps your mind fresh and your body rested. It keeps you from developing tunnel vision around a project so that you’re less effective at it. Working in pre-determined blocks of time will allow you to step away from your work, do some stretches, drink some juice, and clear your head before continuing.

While you’re blocking time out, remember to reserve some for client interactions. Again, this can take up your whole day if you let it, so resolve to check your email once an hour, and set aside the next ten minutes for responding to those emails that need instant input. Put your telephone calls together, too, and let your clients know when you’re available to them … and, perhaps more importantly, unavailable!

Scheduling your work will keep you in charge of it … and keep it from being in charge of you! Try it, and you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

One of the things I tell clients is that the best marketing doesn’t come from you, it comes from others. Whether you’re selling a novel you’ve written, your services as a writer or editor, or indeed just about anything else I can imagine, if someone has not yet heard of you (your book, your company, etc.), then it’s important to make sure they get the best possible picture of it.

I was reminded of this all over again recently, when I received a flurry of emails requesting my services, as well as an appreciable uptick in sales of one of my novels. What really stood out with this year-end activity was the stated reason for contacting me. In the case of the services, it was all about the testimonials from others that are posted on my website. In the case of the book, it appeared to correspond with a number of recent favortable reviews.

It’s all about word of mouth.

We’re fortunate to be living and working in an age where social media can help our marketing efforts. As marketers continue to puzzle out the precise return on investment they’re getting from their social media work, and fret about how to monetize Facebook, it’s refreshing to consider this newest use of the oldest form of marketing: word of mouth. We all ask our family and friends to tell us where to shop, what hairdresser to use, which book to read next. Participating in a forum where that pool of people offering suggestions is much, much larger can only be helpful to the marketer … as long as he or she is willing to put in the time and effort to ask past and current clients (or readers) for help.

The reality is that only those people who really loved or really hated something will speak up about it spontaneously. Most of the rest of us need to be prodded.

So for 2012, try something new. Ask your audience to help you. If you did a good job for them, then they undoubtedly will; if your novel was a great read, then they undoubtedly will. Make the effort to reach out and stay in touch: you’ll not only have a lot more marketing success, but you’ll also be … beyond the elements of style!

Note that I said “seen as an authority.” The sad reality is that the internet has changed the way we perceive others. The person who has invested years of her life to become an expert is easily supplanted by a Jane-come-lately who knows how to wrap Google around her little finger.

Authority is about perception. What people say about you is more important than what you say about yourself.

So whether you really are an expert, or you want people to think you are, here are some steps to getting there:

• Forget selling, it’s about teaching. The “hard sell” may still work when it’s a Jeep or a Honda you’re selling, but it doesn’t work in the internet world. What is valued online is content, knowledge, information. Use your website and your social media posts to teach people about your field of expertise. The more they see you teaching, the more authority you’ll be given.
• Content is king. Providing lots of foundational content that changes frequently will help you become the go-to authority in your field.
• Provide strong headlines. Most writers don’t think in terms of headlines, but they’re essential. Without a great headline, no one will even get as far as reading your content.
• Find your ambassadors. Every time you have a positive experience with a client, reader, or customer, use that person for a reference, referral, or testimonial. If you don’t ask, they won’t offer. Remind them to tell others about how great you are.
• Make them ask for you. In the heyday of direct-mail marketing, the power was in the list. Guess what——it’s still true! Whether you manage an opt-in email list (you can call it a newsletter if you’d feel more comfortable with that), have people subscribing
  to your blog, or accumulate followers on Twitter, the more people request contact from you, the higher your authority ranking will be.
• Don’t neglect SEO. Search engine optimization is still real. It needs to be integrated with social media, but it’s still one of the most important things you can do to boost the authority of your site.
• Take care of your people. Getting followers and subscribers is just the beginning. You need to be available to them, keep your updates current with them, and interact with them. The more you do, the more they’ll follow.

And that’s it. Not all that difficult, is it? The key to becoming (and staying!) an authority isn’t any kind of esoteric knowledge, but just going through these simple steps … and then doing them over and over again. Try it and see how it works for you! And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!