Redemption Press Blog

Lasting Impression: Package Yourself With Class – Part Four

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During this post we’ll cover your internet presence, pretty much everything except social media, which we’ll cover in the next post. Before now we’ve covered:

  • Part One — Bio, Headshots & Business Cards.
  • Part Two — Elevator Speech
  • Part Three — One Sheet

Part Four: Internet Presence

It amazes me these days how many people do not have a presence on the internet. With the way things are going, without some sort of presence on the internet, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. If you want your message to reach those who need to hear it, then having a website, or at the very least a blog, is imperative.

BE EASY TO FIND

It’s important for people to be able to find you when they type your name, your book title, or your topic into a search engine. And while this post is more about how you package yourself than what your actual content is, I need to say that it is vitally important that you determine the key words that relate to your message, speaking ministry, book topic, etc., so that those words are included in the content of your website.

GET A GOOD DOMAIN

If you’re going to have a website, make sure you purchase your name as a domain or another name that relates to your topic. For my radio show, I was unable to snag the domain name alwaysfaithful.com but I was able to land www.alwaysfaithfulradio.com. Even if you only have a few pages on your website, make sure it has enough about you and your book/ministry along with contact information so folks are able to connect with you easily. A good example of this is a simple website we created for Redemption Press author, Jeremy Reynalds, Founder and CEO of Joy Junction, Albuquerque’s most successful mission to the homeless. Check out www.myhomelessjourney.com to see what I mean.

LOOK PROFESSIONAL

It’s important to make sure your website looks professional. I’ve seen so many amateurish websites in my day and it makes me want to scream! Just like with a one sheet, it’s not worth cutting corners to end up with a presentation that will push people away instead of draw them in.

My friend Shannon Ethridge has a wonderful website. It presents her well and is consistent with her brand. She has her blog included inside her website as opposed to having her blog tab take you to a different site altogether. I just love how I have watched her brand and ministry grow over the years. We used to talk about her “Women at the Well” curriculum long before she ever had her first publishing deal and I almost had the opportunity to help her get that into print. Then she was asked to team up with Stephen to create the Every Woman’s Battle series. Now she has over 20 books in print and has sold millions of copies of her books. Her brand is unique and she offers resources in many ways to equip the body of Christ.

Shannon Ethridge website home screenshot

Athena Dean Holtz home page screenshot

I’ve also been working hard at finally developing my personal website right here at www.athenadeanholtz.com where my blog is included in the site. But another way to establish an internet presence is to simply create a free blog and customize it so it looks like a website. I was able to work with a good friend who knew WordPress well enough to be able to help me create a blog/site on a shoestring. Go on over to www.alwaysfaithfulradio.com and you’ll see what I mean.

Always Faithful Website and Blog screenshot

A few more items to cover with relation to your internet presence:

Develop and Offer Resources

As a long term strategy, begin thinking how you can develop free resources to offer on your site. If all you do at your website is sell your book then there’s no reason for people to continue visiting your site. But if you are constantly developing resources that will encourage and empower your audience, along with helpful content in your blog posts, this will engage your audience and help you establish your expertise in your area of focus. The image below shows how Shannon offers her resources. If you go to my site, you’ll see how I’ve arranged my resources as well.

Shannon Ethridge online resources

EMAIL SIGNATURE

Before we move onto social media in the next post, we’ll wrap up with the importance of a quality email signature. Be sure in every email you send out, all your vital information is included, including your website (linked, of course), tagline, phone numbers, and any other pertinent information.

Some folks include links to their Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and other social media accounts. Since I have links to all those accounts at the top of my website, I don’t include them in my signature. But remember, utilizing your email signature as a mini-advertisement for your book, new release coming up, speaking ministry, or business is a great way to make the most of every opportunity. You never know who it will get forwarded to, and you always want to be as easy to reach as possible.

It’s all part of your consistent message online … and that’s important!

See you next time with part five of this series! You can view the entire Lasting Impression: Package Yourself with Class series or subscribe to our RSS feed in your favorite reader so you won’t miss an update!

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Meet the Publisher

I've been around Christian publishing since 1987 when I helped our ministry self-publish an important resource for Vietnam veterans and their families. That book went on to be picked up by a royalty publisher and has since sold over 250,000 copies with a million in print.

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