"Rumors of War (http://www.rumorsofwar.net) is a web site designed simply
yet it
stands bold and precise in its statement. While other authors . . . have web
sites that start with 'Let me tell you about myself,' Peggy opens with the
covers of her two books--no scrolls, no ads, and almost no copy. Click on a
book and she takes you there . . . Meeting the author is last. She wants you to
know the books before you know the author . . . commendable web site . . . is
bookmarked for return. I want to read Rumors already."
C. Hope Clark's review for Word Weaving (http://wordweaving.com)

How did I generate such an awesome review of my web site? Simple--online
research. Online marketing and promotion is time consuming. You can spend
several hours just submitting your url to search engines. If you're going to
devote all that energy, you'd better make sure you have a site that's user
friendly. After all once visitors have arrived, your first goal is to keep them
there.

When I decided to build a web site to promote my novel "Rumors of War," I
researched other book sites. I found three main types--author driven, book
driven and fan driven.
Starting with Yahoo.com I found "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt among the web
pages at Simon & Schuster's site. Same with the Harry Potter series, I found
J.K. Rowling's books at Scholastic's site.

The goal of my web site is to use the Internet to help build an audience for my
current and future books. Since I'm relatively unknown, readers aren't going to
come searching for me. The best way to discover new authors is to read their
books.

While searching I noticed that movies are always promoted by title. That got me
thinking, if I'm putting my book title in front of hundreds of pairs of eyes
every day, then the title should be my domain name. I purchased
rumorsofwar.net.

Coming up with content was easy--cover image, plot summary, reviews, sample
chapter, ordering information, and a page about the author. I kept the style
and graphics simple. It's a web site about a book. Readers are accustomed to
black print on a white page, framed with an attractive cover. The banner and
side bar are colorful, but the same on every page so visitors know they're
still at my site while they're bouncing around.

Once I published the site and posted announcements via email, discussion lists,
and bulletin boards, feedback was immediate and positive. Everyone liked the
focus on the book yet gleaned enough personal information about the author that
they felt comfortable letting me know they liked what they saw.

One week later my children's novel, "Carly's Ghost" arrived from the publisher
several months earlier than I expected. Overnight I had two books to promote
and only one web site. My focus on the book title was practical in theory but
could turn out to be expensive in practice. I certainly couldn't afford to
publish a new web site every time I have a book released.

For help in solving this dilemma, I called Scott Forler at Prairie Web, my web
hosting service. Impressed with the amount of traffic at my newly debuted site,
he recognized I'd hit on something positive with my design. Building on that
initial bump, we put together a plan to cover not only the release of "Carly's
Ghost" but all future releases.

I purchased the domain name for the title, carlysghost.net. Next I replaced the
home page with a splash page featuring the cover images of both books,
accessible from both urls: rumorsofwar.net and carlysghost.net. Visitors can
click on either book cover, or the text instructions.

Each book has its own home page. The two books are together on the splash page.
The only other link between their pages is at the "About the author" page. Each
book's pages carry the banner designed for that particular book and cover
image. But I kept the side bars the same color and used the same basic
framework for both books' pages. Again to let visitors know they're still at my
site while they're clicking about.

For future releases, instead of publishing a new web site, all I have to do is
publish the new book's cover image on the splash page, and add a set of web
pages.

An attractive web site and terrific reviews definitely keeps visitors there. To
make sales you want them to bookmark your site so they'll return. The way I do
that is by updating, sometimes as often as once a week; adding reviews, sites
that feature my books, posting articles, and other news about my books.
Visitors quickly recognize fresh information. Put the emphasis on the
enjoyment of your visitors, and they'll keep coming back. That's the most
effective way to make sales.

About the Author
Peggy Tibbetts is the author of the 5 star political thriller, Rumors of War
http://www.rumorsofwar.net and the 5 star children's mystery, Carly's Ghost
http://www.carlysghost.net.