I might have been guilty of putting the cart before the horse with my previous post, Getting Published. Naturally, first I have to get noticed, which, to be fair to myself, I did declare was the intent behind creating my own website. Well, there's one thing creating the website, and quite another getting it noticed and thereby getting me noticed. Of course, thanks to friends and acquaintances who have flocked to the site in support but as yet no one in the literary publishing world seems to have noticed.
I've been updating the site with a view to improving its visibility. I've added a biography page and mentioned lots of places where I've lived and worked, having read somewhere that that tends to help. Some people may search for "Sunderland" my home town and the search engine algorithms might notice I've mentioned the place quite a bit, though I think it's not quite so random as this having read a little bit about SEO. I'm not a computer geek, far less a webpage maestro, so a lot of this SEO stuff goes way over my head. Frankly, a lot of it is plain incomprehensible. I think the message I'm getting is for high visibility I'll need to engage one of these SEO wizards and spend a small fortune I don't have. However, success it seems can still be a bit hit and miss and there are lots of practitioners out there that are little more than shysters. So I think I'll keep my pocket money in my pocket and see how it goes.
I've also added a Review page where I pompously pontificate about books and films I've enjoyed for some reason. (I'll be posting a music (review) page soon.) I've done ten of each so far, but I haven't decided how far I'm going with this and exactly how I'll manage the pages, how often I'll update etc. I figured if I was going to be so egotistical as to build my own website I might as well go the whole hog and spout off about what I like and why I like it. I might in future venture into things I don't like and why I don't like them, but that's a trickier business. No matter how artlessly you compliment someone or something it's always appreciated. But no matter how sensitively and truthfully you insult something the reaction is always going to be hostile and negative, and I suppose there's always the chance of getting sued.
I'm getting into the website hosting service's Analytics in a small way. I'm getting back figures on how many hits my site has been getting, how many unique ones. On these figures I see quite a few folk I know must have visited, and outside that community, not many, if any. I had hoped the blog would provoke responses from somewhere, but the hits there are very low, and no feedback like a comment. I see there's a log in/sign up facility on the blog page - pre installed, part of the hosting website template I chose. I know people often get put off if they have to sign up/sign in to have their say, but I have no idea how the facility can be switched off, or even if it can.
Still, it's early days and I shall have to sit back and see how things pans out. Comments anyone?
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