by Hallee Bridgeman, @halleeb
Almost 20 years ago, my husband and I switched to a real-food diet. We avoid processed and packaged foods that have questionable ingredients. One thing that we also did was agree that if I can make something, I make it instead of purchasing a pre-made item. That reduces our waste footprint, saves us a lot of money, and gives us the healthiest options when it comes to a lot of standard things like bread, condiments, sauces, spreads, etc.
When I go into marketing, I have the same kind of mindset as I have with cooking. My goal in marketing and platform building is to drive people to me – to my website, to my books, to my creations. Which means that if I have a link to click, I don’t want to direct traffic to someone else’s platform – I want to direct traffic to me.
One example is the Draft2Digital Books2Read links. I know a lot of authors who direct traffic for a book to that spot in the world wide web. It’s a terrific tool – all of the links for your book go to the correct country for your reader, and you can use your own affiliate links with it.
That’s great, but you’re driving hundreds, if not thousands, of people to a platform that isn’t yours, to a place for which you have no control.
You can create a page on your own website that can do exactly what the Books2Read pages do, and then you’re driving people to YOU. Your creation. You can have items in sidebars that can draw attention like newsletter signup and special events and news. The reader might click a link and go read a blog post that inspires another link clicked and another. Using StatCounter and Google Analytics, you can track activity, monitor traffic, and see what works and what doesn’t – because that is your site and you are the one in control of it all.
Another example is the link aps for use in Instagram. Because standard Instagram posts don’t allow for linking, there are many, many options for things like “Link Tree” – which give followers a list of the links you’ve mentioned and used in your Instagram stories and feed.
When I was researching which app to use, it occurred to me that all of them take you away from Instagram to another website. They’re not integrated with Instagram. So, why not drive your followers to your website? I created a “links” page on my site. When a follower clicks that page, it will show them the links to my newsletter signup, my store, and then any recent links I’ve mentioned on Instagram.
It’s very simple to go into that links page any time I mention a link on Instagram and update that page. Then, using things like Stat Counter and Google Analytics, I can track what readers came from Instagram and see what they do and where they go from there. And, the best part is that I’m keeping my readers inside my realm and not sending them anywhere but where I am.
It’s not a lot of extra work once things like books pages and links pages are set up, and in the end, I’m drawing my readers to me instead of to somewhere else.
Daisy has had a crush on Ken since high school, so going on just one date with him can’t possibly hurt, can it? Even if she’s just been painfully dumped by the man she planned to spend the rest of her life with, and whose unborn baby she carries? Just one date?
With nearly a million sales, USA Today bestselling author Hallee Bridgeman writes action-packed romantic suspense focusing on realistic characters who face real-world problems. Her work has been described as everything from refreshing to heart-stopping exciting and edgy. Hallee has served as the Director of the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference, President of the Faith-Hope-Love chapter of the Romance Writers of America, is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), the American Christian Writers (ACW), and Novelists, Inc. (NINC). An accomplished speaker, Hallee has taught and inspired writers around the globe, from Sydney, Australia, to Dallas, Texas, to Portland, Oregon, to Washington, D.C., and all places in between. Hallee loves coffee, campy action movies, and regular date nights with her husband. Above all else, she loves God with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength; has been redeemed by the blood of Christ; and relies on the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide her.