Imagine you are doing a radio interview and you hear the closing music start to play. The host asks you to give your website one more time. What do you say?
#1 Repeat Your Domain
On average, radio listeners listen for about 5 minutes at a time. So If you are in a 30 minute interview and you mention your website twice more than half of the listeners will
never hear how to get more information. Don't wait for the host to remind you to push your site.
#2 Include a Goodie
You want to give the listeners a reason to visit your website. I'm not just talking about a sample chapter here. Give them something they can
only get on your website. This tip alone can more than double your hits after an interview.
Whatever you give away make sure to get it professionally edited. Then you can setup an auto responder so that anyone who signs up for your newsletter gets it for free. Or just add it as a pdf download.
Fiction Goodie Ideas
If you write fiction take some of that back story you cut and put it together into an interesting 10 page short story.
Or put together some short stories from your box of short stories.
Non Fiction Goodie Ideas
Non fiction has a ton of potential for creative goodies.
- Writing a book on marriage? Put together a 10 Dating Ideas for Married Couples guide.
- Writing a book on parenting? Write up the 7 Funniest Things Children Say.
- Writing a book on music? Include a free mp3 download.
- Writing a book on personalities? Include a free personalty test.
Be creative. This is also a chance to supplement your book with videos, music, tests and other media that paper cannot convey.
#3 Buy YourBookTitle.com
You don't need to build a new web site for this step. You can buy YouBookTitle.com from
NameCheap for $9.69 and have
NameCheap forward visitors to your real website automatically. The benefit of pushing YourBookTitle.com is that it makes people twice as likely to remember your book and your website. When you push one, you push the other.
#4 Don't Say "Http://"
Saying "http://" is code for "zone out now." Don't do it. They don't need to type it. You don't need to say it.
#5 Don't Say "www" Either
People know to type the www. And, even if they forget they will go to your website anyway. Don't believe me? Type "YourWebsite.com" into your browser and see where you land.
#6 What to Say
What not to say: "For more help about (book title) visit my website at http://www.mywebsitename.com"
What to say: "For more info about (book title) visit BookTitle.com. And while there don't forget to downlaod my free short story about Carl the cowboy ninja who falls in love with a pirate princes..."
Do you see what just happened? You were able to mention your book title
and your website twice right at the end of the show. This is a double win. The listeners are much more likely to remember your title and website than they were zoning out to "http://www."
#7 Repeat Your URL
We are not kidding about this tip. If you want people to visit your site they must know about it. Repeat Repeat it as often as you can without becoming obnoxious.
What do you think?
This is really an excellent list. I wish I’d read it before my radio interview this morning! I’ll definitely be reviewing it before the next one, and just sent it to some author friends as well. Thanks!
Jennifer (a fellow Austinite)
Thanks, Thomas! Got a bunch of interviews lined up in June for Shades of Morning. AND, because of our talk at Mount Hermon, I've got vividgod.com and ShadesofMorning.com lined up too. Now, I just need to do my little e-booklet (or whatever) for giveaway. So much to do!
Tried my website name (www.sueannbowling.com) without the www and got a "can't find server." Sometimes that www is critical, unless you're doing a search. When I googled my name all of the top 20 hits were my sites or book sites and most had links to my website.
Susan, you want to ask your web guy to setup a "302 Redirect" so that it will work. This is also important for your Search Engine Rankings.
My recent post The Problem With Power
I host a daily online radio show and help authors, who want my help, do better interviews. These are all very good and basic tips. Generally I will tell people to make your website url as easy as possible so that you don’t have any problem with a person getting there. Another tip is to talk to your host and let the host pitch your book and website numerous times during the show. I always do that for my guests because generally authors are nervous when giving an interview and they forget. You also don’t have to go to that site, just go and buy your domain name 🙂
Great tips, Stacy! Thanks for sharing them!
Great tips, thanks. I’ll remember these for the next radio interview I do!