REFLECTION: Google Ads Keywords

*Note: This is a required post for my web business creation class. If you're not Br. Scott, skip it. It will mean nothing to you.

This was a tough week for me. I was already behind because of the writing conference I had been to the week before and then I came home and immediately got COVID. It was a really tough case too. I can only sit up for short periods of time. The good news is that I still completed my assignments.

I've been reflecting on the keyword planner a lot. I'm having difficulty coming up with appropriate keywords, especially negative keywords. I don't know if this is because I am terrible at using the keyword planner or because Google Ads is not the typical way that authors use to get their work out there. In the fiction writing industry especially, there is almost a parallel economy going on. We are a close knit group too and tend to share what works.

As far as ads go, most authors feel that Facebook Ads bring better results than Google Ads. They also swear by mailing lists to communicate with their super readers directly. These super readers are like a street team that get the word out for you. Another important tool is Bookfunnel that allows us to give away free stories and build our mailing list.

It used to be that you could depend on your publisher to do most of the marketing work for you. Unfortunately, these days, unless you are what is known as the "super lead", which is the top author for a publishing house, you're not likely to get any marketing money put toward your work.

If there is an effective way to leverage Google Ads toward this and I learned it, I would be a hero in the writing industry as I passed on the information to other writers. If you have some ideas, I am all ears. In the meantime, I am doing the assignments and seeing if I can discern something useful for this venue.

REFLECTION: Legal Structure

*Please note this is a required post for my instructor that we have to do through a blog. It is not my normal type of post. Skip it if you're not Brother Scott, unless you like reading random things...

This week we learned about legal structures with business. As an author, I don't technically have to set one up. However, I have been advised by many highly successful authors that as my publications increase as well as my IPs, I will want to set up an LLC. In Arkansas it only costs $45 to initially set this up unless you're paying an attorney to do the paper work for you. If you're using an attorney, expect to practically empty your wallet. Some will charge up to $400 just to file the paperwork. I won't go that route.

If that were the only expense, I'd just get it over with and do it. However, there are also $150 annual franchise fees here, so I will wait until I am in actual need of one.

Another consideration is I need a physical address for my Registered Agent. While I can serve as the agent myself, I'm not sure if I'll be moving in a few years so will need to figure out if it is as simple as just a change of address form.

On a completely separate legal issue, I'm just doing an amazon affiliate program until I can get my own anthologies and books up there. As I was building the website this week, I remembered that I needed to put that disclaimer that I am making money off of qualified purchases on each page of the site where I have an affiliate link. I discovered that it is important to keep a list of tiny details that are required because in the stress of getting everything set up, it is easy to drop a ball that can get you in a LOT of trouble. At this point I have a list of lists I need to find a good way to keep organized and easily accessible. I'm thinking Notion or Airtable may be the way to go. If you have a recommendation, I am all eager ears.

Reflection: PayPal Buttons & STRESS

*Please note this is a post for my instructor, that we have to do through a blog and not my normal post. Skip it if you're not Brother Scott.

I honestly don't know whether the PayPal Button instructions were way harder than the assignment demonstrated or if the tech has changed and the course needs to be updated again, which you are likely as frustrated about as we are, Brother Scott. I'm a software Development major and don't know how someone who had no web backend training could have done that. Even I am befuzzeled. As I have to build my site soon, I'd better figure it out, though.

However, the biggest learning experience for me this week was trying to balance work and school while at a week long writer's conference. I tried my darn diddliest to get a week ahead in all my classes before I left, but life had other plans. I've been trying to sneak in moments, ten minutes at a time, when we had our 15 minute breaks between meetings. I did have to use the other 5 to actually get to the next meeting location.

While stressed, I thought about how a business you own doesn't just pause because you have another responsibility to take care of. In my case, it was more training. For others, it might be a family vacation. Either way, the business has to be run, so you'd better find ways to run it from where you are or hire someone to do it in your place temporarily (school work is, of course, excluded from that latter suggestion).

Reflection: Choosing Site Host & Builder

Note: This is for my web business creation class and not my typical blog post. If you're here and you're not my instructor, you can totally skip this. There are plenty of more interesting posts.

This week we researched site builders as well as hosting platforms for websites. I had already been doing this because a mentor had been nagging...I mean reminding... me that I need to get my author site done.

The hardest part for me was the fact that I am also a software development major so part of me had been like, "I want to build this site myself from scratch." Yet the reality was between working my content writer job, my fiction writing, going to university, and still having one child left at home that I homeschool, there really wasn't much time to build my site. Because this class requires us to get a site up rather quickly, a site builder suddenly became very attractive.

I decided to pick a builder that would allow me more flexibility in customization, so I feel like I'm doing something creative with it. I can still build a site from scratch and switch it over when it's ready but have something which will get that site up quickly and then this mentor will shut up... I mean feel satisfied.

The host I chose would have been the same regardless of how I built the site, so there was no internal angst on that one.

I'd say the biggest takeaway from this week was in deciding on metrics to compare companies. Was bandwidth or price more important? Did customization matter more or the number of templates? What was their tech support like when things glitched? There were so many factors. We could only pick three metrics, so which were more important to me? Forcing me to prioritize was a great exercise in decision making.