Google Penalizes Sites that aren’t Mobile Friendly & Other Digital Spring Cleaning

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

Time for some digital spring cleaning.

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but here in South Carolina spring is definitely here. And with it comes the inevitable urge I have to throw open the windows and get my house back in order.

But this time of year isn’t just a good excuse to shine up my house, it’s also a good time to do some digital spring cleaning. There are some changes on the horizon that we all need to be ready for, and it’s important to freshen up our social media pages on a regular basis.

So let’s get to work!

Item One: Upcoming Google Changes

Take note of upcoming Google changes.

This one’s important, so listen up. As of April 21, 2015, Google will begin penalizing websites and blogs that are not mobile friendly. And it’s not going to be a small penalty either. When someone searches for something—even on a regular computer—if the site isn’t mobile friendly it will show up much lower in the rankings. Here’s a link to Google’s announcement.

If you’re not sure if your site is mobile friendly, you can use the Mobile-Friendly Test that Google has set up.

For those of us with Blogger sites, we’re in good shape. Blogger is owned by Google and was modified to be user friendly several years ago. But for those with other sites, and with self-hosted sites, I recommend you check and see if your site passes the test.

Item Two: Check Your Links

Another thing that can drastically affect your search engine ranking is the presence of broken or dead links on your blog. The negative affects are more pronounced if the links are on one of your main pages. They’re slightly less of an issue if they’re buried within an old blog post.

I recommend taking a few minutes and clicking on every live link on the main page of your site. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it’s important that these links work. First because of the search engine issue, but also because a dead link irritates and frustrates your audience.

Update any social media changes

Item Three: Update any Social Media Changes

If you’ve added a new network to your list of go-to social media sites, be sure there’s a link to follow/friend you on it.

Item Four: Tidy Up Your Blog’s Sidebar

It’s easy for things to get out of order in your blog’s sidebar. But these gadgets/widgets are vitally important when you’re growing an online presence. Make certain they’re in the order of importance you assign them.

It’s also important to toss any gadgets/widgets that are no longer relevant. Spring cleaning isn’t just about organizing, it’s also about getting rid of the junk that’s accumulated.

Item Five: Give Your Site a Facelift

Spring is a good time to update the overall look of your site. This could be a minor font color change, or a major overhaul. If you’re thinking about making a few changes, I’d say the time is right.

All of these may seem like minor tweaks. But each one can have a major impact if it’s in disarray. Now it’s your turn. What digital spring cleaning tips do you have to share? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie 

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains ChristianWriters Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for SouthernWriters Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Don't miss her new book from Worthy Inspired, WHILE MY SOLDIER SERVES.

8 Tips to Rekindle the Romance of Writing

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

Between deadlines, edits and rejections it’s easy to fall out of love with our writing. It can get so bad that we begin to dread sitting down at the keyboard.

When that happens to me my mind begins to reprioritize my life. I can suddenly find a million things more important than putting my rear end in the chair and pounding out words. 

When I begin arguing with myself, stating that clean baseboards are more important than word count goals, I know I’m in trouble.

Today, in honor of the upcoming holiday of love, I want to share some tips that help me fall back in love with writing.

8 Tips to Rekindle the Romance of Writing

1. Realize that love is a choice—not an emotion. I know that sounds more like marriage counseling than advice for writers, but truth is truth. I’ve made a commitment to what it means to be a writer, and the means not quitting when times get bad.

2. Stop the negative talk. The more you bad-mouth writing—even if it’s just in your mind—the more you’ll begin to believe what you’re hearing. This is an important step in returning to that bloom of first love. Don’t taper off the negativity, just stop . . .  immediately!

3. Make a list of all the things that made you fall in love in the first place. There was a reason you answered the siren call of words. It’s up to you to remember it and then—write it down.

4. Set the mood. Just like a marriage is better with an occasional candle-lit dinner, writers also need a little romancing. Choose someplace you love and write there. It could be a coffee shop, or a cozy chair by the fireplace at home. Then add a little mood music. Even if you don’t usually write to music, sometimes the change can be just the spark to rekindle the love.

5. Make Writing a priority again. When we take something for granted, we tend to push it further down on our priority list. It's time to remember why you started writing and re-establish it as a major priority.

6. Dress it up—your writing space that is. This may mean sprucing up your office, investing in a new writing program (Scrivener anyone?) or it might just be a new bit of wall art. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just make sure it’s writing related.

7. Add a little mystery. Start your writing time with a writing prompt. If you’ve never used one before, you’re in for a treat. It’s something that gets your creativity flowing. You can type writing prompts into a search engine on the Internet and get thousands of them.

8. Rekindle the romance. Revisit the things you love to write. If you’re working on book revisions, take time to write a poem, or short story, or devotion. Or maybe just spend some time with old-fashioned pen and paper, journaling.

These are the things I do when I need to fall back in love with the written word. What tips do you have. Be sure to share them in the comments section below.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains ChristianWriters Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for SouthernWriters Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Don't miss her new book from Worthy Inspired, WHILE MY SOLDIER SERVES.

Sowing Faith in the Hard Times Brings a Harvest of Joy

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

There are times, when life is lived in the dark. The days are long and hard, and the rewards nonexistent. Everywhere we turn—inside and out—the landscape is bleak and barren. It’s times like these that only faith will get us through. There is no proof we’re on the right path, no confirmation that God is at work. Often, even God Himself seems distant and unreachable.

I’ve been through the those times—and come out on the other side. My time of darkness came when our oldest son was deployed to Iraq as a frontline infantry Marine. We don’t come from a military family, so everything about his choice to enlist was an opportunity for growth. Every step in his journey was a time of stretching for our family. Oh don’t make the mistake of thinking we were disappointed in his choice. We were button-busting proud of our son’s willingness to serve.

But as his mother, I didn’t want to face the prospect of my son going off to war.

I’d always assumed I’d have a grace period between childhood and adulthood, some time of transition. College would have been that time. Marine Corps boot camp doesn’t provide that grace period. One minute I was hugging goodbye to my child, my oldest son. The next time I saw him, he was a fully formed man—still a son, but without any trace of the child I’d said goodbye to.

And before that year was out, he’d be half a world away, fighting an enemy whose main focus was on killing him. It was during those deployments that I learned about darkness of the heart. I wanted to protect him, I ached to shield him from what I knew he was experiencing, but I could not. So I did the one thing I could do. It became my course of last resort because I was at the end of my own strength.

I prayed.

And I prayed.

And I prayed some more.

I learned to take my overwhelming fear to the only One who could protect him. And I left my son in God’s hands. The prayers weren’t pretty. Often times they weren’t even words. They truly were the groanings we read about it Romans 8:26-27.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was like a seed, planted deep in the ground. I was surrounded by darkness, by rough, rocky soil, pressing in on all sides crushing the life from me. But through that incredible pressure, the shell of my own strength fell away, and I slowly began to push toward the light that I knew was just beyond the darkness.

And my course of last resort became my strength, and the first place I turned. Instead of praying in desperation, I began to pray in confidence. I learned to lean into God, instead of turning in on myself.

The final harvest of that time of darkness is has come to fruition with the release of my newest book. While My Soldier Serves is a book of prayers for those with loved ones in the military. How I longed for just such a book during that dark time. Now God has taken my time of darkness and is shining it as a light for those who are also facing the incredible stress of having a loved one at war.

Never doubt that God will bring a harvest of joy, no matter how dark the days you’re facing now. 

While My Soldier Serves

Thousands of families send loved ones off to fight on a daily basis. These families spend a lot of time living in a world out of control. This kind of stress can take an incredible toll, but there is hope. When we feel helpless, we can take our fears to the One who loves us more than anything and holds the universe in His hands.

In this book you’ll find the words to usher you into His presence. These prayers are a place to visit again and again as you take your own fears to God. They’re just a starting point, written to help you find your own voice as you call out on behalf of the one you love.

As the mother of a frontline infantry Marine, Edie Melson lived this book before she wrote it. Edie understands what it is to face adversity and come out triumphant on the other side. Her years as a wife, mother, and ministry leader have given her a unique perspective to reach out
to others facing the same struggles.
She's the Military Family Blogger for Guideposts.org, social media director for several writing websites, and a popular ministry and conference speaker. Connect with her on her blog, The Write Conversation, Twitter, and Facebook.

What makes an Amazon Bestselling Novel?

By Misty M Beller @MistyMBeller

Doesn't it seem crazy how some books leap to the top of Amazon's bestseller ranking and others stay somewhere around 75,000? I've studied hundreds (maybe thousands) of books on Amazon.com, and have come to the same conclusion as many other great authors and publishers. There are four basic ingredients to success in the cyber world of the Amazon Bookstore.

1. Good cover that sparks interest and/or emotion.

The cover is your hook. Before title, before craft, before all those weeks, months and years you’ve spent perfecting the story. Your cover art will most often determine whether a potential readers skims past, or clicks your book thumbnail to read more.

So what makes a good cover? I won’t list everything here, but in my opinion one of the most important jobs of a successful book cover is to spark interest or emotion. Skim the top books in your favorite categories on Amazon.com and you’ll see what I mean.

A successful book cover must spark interest or emotion with @mistymbeller #amwriting 

(Click to Tweet)

As you can imagine, developing an amazing book cover is not easy. If you’re traditionally published, you may have little say in the outcome. But I would encourage you to make every effort possible to ensure your cover will stir the emotion that draws your target reader.

2. Good product description (back cover blurb) that shows interesting characters, a great story, and plenty of tension.

We’re all writers, correct? Crafters of words. So putting together fifty words to share the opening highlights of story should be a piece of cake. I’m sure you’re chuckling with me. J

If you were successful in drawing a potential reader with your emotion-generating cover art, this is the place to hook them with your “Product Description.” (Such a bland name for a powerful text box.)

Spend focused time on this blurb. Run it through your critique group. Seek feedback from a variety of people, especially those in your target reader demographic. Tweak it until it shines!

(Note to authors who publish independently or through small publishers: You are most likely writing the final draft of the Product Description, so you’ll want to include as many of your keywords as you can.)

3. High number of reviews and average rating.

Here's where we talk about craft and producing a well-written novel. You were afraid I wouldn't mention it, weren't you?

We all hear word of mouth is what sells books. The Amazon review is one of the most powerful word-of-mouth tools you'll ever encounter. Is your book well-researched? Your readers will appreciate that and mention it in their reviews. Did you forget to tie up loose ends in your story line? You'll be called out on it, I guarantee. Potential readers often look at the reviews to see if they're willing to spend precious money and time to read your story. Hone your craft and write the best story possible, and your reviews will reflect it.

How many reviews do you need? Many writers say it seems there's something "magical" about reaching twenty-five. After that, they seem to come so much easier and quicker. The more reviews you have with a four- or five-star rating, the more comfortable a potential reader will be taking a chance on your book.

4. Visibility (discoverability) - readers can't buy the book unless they know about it.

Now we hit the meat of it. You need a good cover, good blurb, and lots of positive reviews to help the reader make the decision to buy. But how does the reader actually find your book among the millions available on Amazon?

Great question! I'm going to mention the highlights here, but I encourage you to attend the ACFW-SC class I'll be teaching in Anderson, SC on May 23. I'll talk through these in detail and answer any questions.

In a nutshell, the ways to increase discoverability are:

• Advertising (both paid and unpaid)
• Social media (blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• "Personal" appearances (online and in-person)

There's so much more I'd like to mention about tips and tricks for book-selling success on Amazon, but I'll have to save them for another blog post. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts on anything I've shared!

Misty M. Beller was raised on a farm in South Carolina, so her Southern roots run deep. Her family has always been close-knit, and her husband and two daughters now add another dimension to her life, keeping her both grounded and crazy.

God has placed a desire in Misty’s heart to combine her love for Christian fiction and the simpler ranch life, writing historical novels that display God’s abundant love through the twists and turns in the lives of her characters.

You can find Misty on her website, blog, Goodreads, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest, and see her latest release, The Lady and the Mountain Doctor.