I recently visited an author’s website (an author I’ve known and respected for years) and at the bottom of the site there’s the standard “do not copy without written permission” but there was also “ask for permission before linking to my website.”

My jaw dropped a bit when I read that.

Repeat after me folks, link backs are not a bad thing.

In fact, you should be on your hands and knees begging for link backs. You should be actively collecting reciprocal links, writing articles to direct traffic to your site, leaving smart comments on blogs, and anything else (legal) you can think of.

Take it one step further and provide text and icons for others to link back to your site. Include a link to a page of that information titled Link to Us, so that others will know what to look for.

Trying to build your Facebook fan page? Boost your exposure by leaving thoughtful comments on blogs and using your facebook address where it asks for a website address.

It’s so nice to see authors taking the reigns of their marketing. What’s really great is when they learn how to tackle the press release.

Susan Mallery does a great job of promoting herself and her books while snagging attention thanks to a recent study that reports women who get married at 25 or older are twice as likely to stay married. How does Mallery relate her own books? She points out that the heroines in her book tend to be a little older.

She says “I believe women at this age have matured enough to know what they want in a husband, and are better at shrugging off the small stuff. Plus, they’ve been dinged up by life a little bit, and we’re all more interesting with scars.”

What’s more, she ties the press release to a holiday and what holiday is better at getting folks engaged than Valentine’s day. So kudos to Susan Mallery.

When it comes to marketing and promotion, know who your audience is so you can address them. Do you write fiction about race car drivers? Guess who you should be advertising to? Race car fans, drivers, sponsors. People who are involved in that sport.

Are you a restaurant? Advertise on local blogs, websites, newspapers, especially if they have a section on food or recipes. People reading those sites and papers are already hungry, and will be interested in what you have to offer. Better yet, offer the writer a gift certificate to come eat with you. That way they’ll be familiar with your restaurant and food.

This tip is for the authors in the audience.

When it’s time to promote your new release try incorporating a three pronged approach.

Step one is to advertise.

This provides consistent promotion throughout the advertising period. Advertising online is affordable and you can target your audience.

Step two: provide an excerpt.

Show readers what they’ll be buying. It’s like giving a reader a test drive.

Step three: give readers something new by writing an article or guest blog.

You don’t want everything to be about you, you, you. Give something back. Educate and/or entertain your readers with an informative article or fun guest blog piece.

There you have it. Three simple steps to extend your promotional dollars and the number of times a reader will see your name.

If you write romance or general fiction consider advertising on the CataNetwork, posting an excerpt on one of our sites and then guest blogging for us. It’s time to take advantage of the three pronged approach.

Security is a constant battle on the Internet. I don’t need to tell you that. What you no doubt want (and need) to know is how to secure your Wordpress installation.

Here’s a great post with 11 steps you can take to make your wordpress website more secure.

• Remember to update often. Version 2.9.2 just came out by the way.
• Make your password stronger by including numbers and letters at random.
• And follow the steps outlined in the article above.

As I was scrolling through my feed reader today I saw that one of the blogs I follow has moved to a new domain. They reminded me to update my RSS. Now, when a site moves, I generally like to visit the new site a) to check out the new digs and b) to see if I still want to subscribe to their RSS feed. Such was the case today. So I click over to the current site.

Now call me lazy, but they’re trying to get me to visit their new site. They’re trying to get my to update my feed reader with the new RSS feed. But neither of these links is hyperlinked!

Lesson here: don’t make your visitors have to work to find you. No, copying and pasting isn’t going to kill them, but how hard is it to include a hyper link? With people short on time, make it easy. With virtually every blog client out there making it ridiculously easy to include a hyper link (not to mention that the html to include a hyper link is what, 10 extra characters?) there’s no excuse not to.

If you need help learning how to hyperlink things within your blog, contact me.

A recent visit to a new-to-me blog brought an “ah hah!” moment. I love those, don’t you?

This ah hah! moment occurred as I scrolled down the blog, reading the posts, each post written by “admin.” How unique or interesting is admin? Not very. It’s more of a title than a name and tells me nothing about the author. At least “porkchop” would be entertaining. Posted by Porkchop…I can just see it now.

Anyway, the point is, when setting up your blog (or even well after you’ve started your blog) pay attention to those little details that will make your blog sing. In a recent series on my personal blog I discussed good blogging habits. Number 2 was be personable. And what’s more personable than your name?

Depending on the tone and audience of your blog, you could be formal. Dr. House, MD. or Dr. Durham, Ph.D. You could be funny. IE. Alice “Crafty Pants” Anderson. Or you could just settle for your first name. Whatever you do, give your blog some personality and lose the “admin.”

If you have a blog but have a hard time remembering to login or just don’t like the interface, there is an easier way. Various programs will allow you to write a blog post locally (from your desktop) and publish to your blog.

My favorite is called w.bloggar. W.bloggar lets me connect to all the various blogs I write for. When I open the program I’m presented with a list of blogs, I select one, and then I start writing. The large text box is very similiar to that of a word processor. I can make things bold, underline them, add images and links. I can even select what category my post should be filed under.

I can do all of this, never log on to the internet and the potential distractions that brings. Give it a try.

And if you use a different desktop blogging application, I’d love to hear what you think of it.

Are you developing your newsletter? Wondering what should go in a newsletter or how it should look? There are plenty of great resources out there to give you tips and how tos.

Here’s another:

Look at the newsletters you enjoy reading. Are they visually appealing? Is the size good? What about the content? Informative? Brief? Enticing?

Take those lessons and use them in your own newsletter. Now, I’m not saying to copy, but take elements you like and make them your own.

Come back on Friday for another Tip!

Some days I ask myself why I’m still doing xyz. Why do I keep going? Why do I keep promoting, writing, designing, etc.

I’m sure you’ve had those days.

Days when you’re discouraged and wonder “what’s the point?” But don’t give up. Keep moving. Promotion, like many things takes dedication, time, and perserverence. Same with writing. Selling real estate. College.

There are, of course, times when it’s smart to quit, but that’s another post. For now, don’t give up. Find a new angle. Find your passion. Keep going.

Start with content.

While most everyone wants to go after colors, imagery, and awesome design elements, it’s better to develop the content for your website and let that determine your layout and design. How much content you have can determine your layout and even your design. Will you offer lots of video clips? Is it important that those clips are as large as possible? Then you’ll need a wider layout.

So, content first. Determine the number of pages/sections you’ll need. Get everything you want included down on paper. And then start daydreaming about colors, fancy bullet points, and other flashy things.

Time to update your wordpress installation. One feature I’m sure many of you will be extra excited about: a built in image editor! Yay!

Download 2.9 here and many thanks to the awesome programmers over at wordpress.org.

The New Year isn’t here yet, but that’s no reason you can’t get a jump start on your goals for 2010. Start today. What do you want to achieve next year? And what will it take to make those goals happen?

Create a list of last minute gift ideas for your niche and post the list to your blog or website. Announce the list to your newsletter. Include pictures if you can. And if you’re an affiliate of the site that sells those items, include the referral links too.

Throughout the month/quarter, keep a running document of content for your next newsletter. Including press or media attention, newsworthy items, reviews, testimonials, an introductory letter, or whatever else you think will be of interest to your newsletter readers. Then when you go to put your newsletter together, pull the best content, format it, and send your newsletter.

Do one thing each day to promote your business, even if it’s just including a brief signature in an outgoing email.

You don’t have to have a fancy press kit on your website. In fact, depending on where you’re at in your career, a small, one page Press Kit may do the trick. The key here is to make all your Press Kit copy clean, typo free, and ready to be copied, pasted and redistributed by those who can promote you and your business/organization.

For authors, I suggest a minimum of a brief bio, photo, recent cover, book list, review teasers and a fun fact or two.

For unpublished authors, same thing minus the recent cover and booklist. If you’ve won contest, include those instead of review teasers.

Real Estate agents will want to include a bio, photo, sales statistics and areas you work in.

Restaurants: a blurb about your restaurant, information on the owner & chef, photos, a sample menu, reviews.

Churches: a blurb about your church, information on Pastors/Priests/Elders, photos, service information

Every press release should also include contact information. Make it easy for others to promote your business/organization.

You’re busy. You have a lot going on in your life. I have a tip for making life a little easier. Make use of RSS. RSS isn’t just for blogs anymore.

Idea 1: Use an RSS reader (like Google Reader) to subscribe to blogs you often visit. By subscribing, you’ll see all the latest articles from those blogs each day when you check your RSS reader. A great way to stay on top of what’s new in your industry and community.

Idea 2: If you watch TV on your computer via hulu, tv.com, or one of the other networks, see if they publish as RSS feed for each show. You can get a notice in your feed reader each time a new show is ready to watch. This saves you from having to scour the web to see if there’s a new episode ready for viewing.

Idea 3: Keep a google calendar with your events, appearances, deadlines, or specials. Then use an RSS feed or the generated XML to display those dates on your website. (Hint: If you use Wordpress, check out this plugin.)

No matter what industry you’re in there’s probably a blog or two (at the very least) that you could guest blog on. Guest blogging entails writing a thoughtful, well put together essay style article for another blog. Either you or the blog owner posts your piece, hopefully others will come and comment on your piece, and then you’ll join the discussion.

What does this do for you and your business? It spreads your name (increasing name recognition), establishes your as an expert (increasing your value), and creates good will within your community.

Most blog owners are willing to bring in guest authors as it provides content for a day (or a week or more) with very little work on their part.

When you contact the blog owner, be professional, courteous. Explain that you’d like to offer yourself up to guest blog for them. Share a few well thought out ideas you have for a piece and ask if they have anything they’d rather see you write. Mention a few dates that work for you and be prepared to submit your piece well before an agreed upon publish date.

For more tips on guest blogging, I recommend this article on problogger. Tip: Don’t make your blog post a promo piece for yourself. Consider your audience and make is helpful, useful, and timely.

Do you spend a lot of time on the computer? Wonder how much time is spent on productivity vs. games or internet? There’s an application I use to help me stay on top of everything called Rescue Time. You can use it to rescue your time too. Check it out and see where you’re losing valuable hours and minutes.