About four years ago, I designed the first iteration of the site for Chicago’s Wildcat Golf Academy. Since then, the organization has grown from one that teaches golf to kids to golfers of all ages and ability.
Wildcat asked for a site that showed off the beauty of the course they play on, coupled with modern approaches to design and navigation. We integrated their existing scheduling system into the site and used YouTube’s new playlist functionality to add video tutorials to the site.
I am constantly asked by clients why their Facebook Fan Pages no longer see as much action. Here’s an article I wrote for BookPromotion.com on what changed and how to boost traffic (with paying to boost posts a last resort).
When you first created your Facebook Fan Page, you were probably thrilled how easy it was to build your fans and easily connect with your audience. (And all for free.) In fact, I know many authors have decided to use Facebook as their exclusive Web presence, rather than building and maintaining a site on their own. It was a tough deal to beat—a free networked Web presence with an easy way to share information.
Gradually and quietly, that has all been changing. About a year ago, you probably noticed the appearance of a subtle bar below your posts on your fan page indicating how many people viewed that post. Since then, you’ve probably noticed that number steadily declining, along with an invitation to pay to “boost” your post to reach more users. You may have also noticed seeing fewer posts in your own feed from other businesses that you have “liked” on your own. This has made a lot of users very confused and angry. What gives?
Facebook is reluctant to tip its hand, but it admits, yes, they are no longer showing your page to all of your fans. AdAge obtained a leaked document where Facebook says, “We expect organic distribution of an individual’s page’s posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site.” They aren’t saying how many users are typically seeing posts, but estimates online (and anecdotal evidence from the sites I manage) suggest organic reach is between 10 and 20%. Facebook’s suggestion to reach more users? Pay to boost posts.
Certainly paying to promote your posts is not an option for everyone’s budget—at least on a regular basis. There are a few things that you can do to help your visitors see more of your posts. Then, you can create content that helps you better promote the posts that you really want to promote when you need to. And when that is in place, then you can consider paying.
Ask Fans to Adjust Their Settings
Admittedly, there are limited things you can do as an administrator to ensure fans see your posts, short of paying for them. But you can ask your fans to adjust their settings so your posts show up consistently in their feeds. This is a slightly complicated process of creating a custom list under “interests.” The best place I’ve seen it explained is here.
Familiarize Yourself with EdgeRank
EdgeRank is the algorithm Facebook uses to govern how it displays content in the user’s news feed. EdgeRank uses three different criteria to determine how things are displayed—Affinity (interaction with the users), Weight (the value of certain actions) and Time Decay (how long ago the information was posted). EdgeRank is a complex topic worthy of an article all its own, but when you better understand how Facebook parses out information, you can mold your content to engage users, and keep your content fresh. Dive deeper into EdgeRank here.
Spend Time with Your Facebook Insights.
At the top of your Facebook fan page is a link to “View Insights” about the activity on the page. Here, you will learn which posts are performing best, trends over time, and how users are engaging with your site. Something I find particularly interesting is the tab that shows you user engagement based on the type—photo, status update, or links. Use this information to serve up the content that your users are responding to.
Pay to Promote—When You Need To
All these things will help you boost your page’s performance. But the fact remains that the rules are now different. Your posts are just not going to have the organic reach that they once did. When it comes to something really important that you want to put out there—like a new book or an upcoming event, it makes sense to invest in boosting your post.
You can start for as little as $5, and Facebook will estimate your reach for that investment. (You can always increase this amount later.) You can choose to promote exclusively to people who already like your page, and their friends. Or you can choose different groups through targeting.
We know paying for posts is not ideal, but it’s worth testing out your options before abandoning Facebook entirely.
My latest BookPromotion.com article. Mistakes I see online ALL the time.
For years, Glamour Magazine has had a recurring column of “Glamour Don’ts”. The idea is that they find offenders out on the street and show their fashion transgressions, while using a black box to obscure the offender.It made me think of how I am always finding Web “don’ts”—things I stumble across online that aren’t fatal flaws, but that still make me cringe and want to stage a polite intervention. As a public service, here are some of the most common offenses I find.
Cramming everything possible on the homepage
I get it. When people hit your site, you don’t want them to miss a thing. You want visitors to get a good sense for the breadth of information inside. There’s nothing that you want to obscure. But when you load up your homepage with too much content, you’re actually having the opposite effect on your users. Studies show that when confronted with a ton of content, users tune out and (worse) leave. Studies show that users spend between 10 and 20 seconds on a homepage—when you overwhelm it with content, you’re actually making it harder for them to find what they’re looking for. Streamline copy, make your navigation direct and intuitive, and use graphics that illustrate your content. For an author site, you should prioritize the author photo, name, book title, and brief description on the homepage. Then actively link through to more content deeper in the site.
Infinite “coming soon” text
I’m OK with a “Coming Soon” page if something is, indeed, coming soon. (Like within the week.) But leaving those pages empty for weeks, months and even years frustrates users and makes you look bad. This isn’t to say that you should wait until you have every last piece of content before launching your site. Quite the contrary. Keep in mind that it’s easy to add new menus and pages if you’re using a CMS like WordPress. Launch with what you have an keep an eye to content that will help your site grow in the future.
Badly out-of-date information
In my opinion, nothing on a site looks worse than woefully out-of-date content. Maybe it’s a long-neglected blog. Or a page promoting events that have past. Or the obvious omission of something new. (I can’t tell you how many authors’ sites I find that don’t list their most recent titles or articles.) Updating your site content isn’t just a good idea, it’s necessary. When you update your site, you are telling search engines to index your site, you allowing your brand to grow and evolve, and you are (most importantly) providing your visitors with accurate, up-to-date information that represents you well.
No obvious contact information
The main point of having a site is to make a connection with someone. When you obscure or outright omit contact information, you are missing an opportunity to connect with your audience. Obviously, not just anyone should have your home number or personal email. But there are lots of opportunities for people to connect with you in less obtrusive ways. One of the reasons why sites like Twitter have blossomed is that it allows people to have a direct line to someone who is important to them in some way—so use your Twitter feed as a contact point. You may not want to use your personal email as a contact address, but using a separate email address specifically for Web users can help you filter messages and pick them up as you need them.
Out-of-date software
This one is subtle, because it isn’t always obvious. But more often than not, when I look “under the hood” of a new site I’m taking on, there is outdated software. Keeping your software up-to-date is so important that I wrote a whole article about it. If you are using a Web-based content management system like WordPress, and not keeping your software up to date, you are putting your site and your content at risk. Click above to discover ways to keep your site software updated
The Historic Island Dairy is located on Washington Island, in Door County, WI. Formerly a working dairy farm, the space now serves as a beautiful spot for events, an art gallery, and acres of surrounding lavender fields.
The owners wanted a site that demonstrated the natural beauty of the setting and how the property comes to life when occupied for different events. We ran the photographer’s gorgeous photography full bleed and put the site copy on top, integrating it into the photography.
Eric Stonestreet says, “Johanna Stein is like Erma Bombeck crossed with Louis CK, but without all the f*cking curse words,” which pretty much sums it up.
I met Johanna after a standup piece she did for The Moth where she confessed to having impure thoughts about Steve from Blue Clues. Her book (How Not to Calm a Child on a Plane) pubs next month and I was lucky enough to build her site. I had no idea when I met her how accomplished she was/is.
She writes for major channels (HBO, Nick, Oxygen), collaborates with big stars (Alanis Morissette, Jeff Garlin), and has done some hilarious video shorts. Spend some time on the site–she’s got tons of hilarious videos, excerpts from her book, and an excellent blog (Mother Eff’ed.)
I’m super excited about the launch of this site. Vicky Vlachonis is an osteopath who has worked with everyone from Princes William and Harry (!) to Elton John (!!) and Cameron Diaz (!!!). Gwyneth herself is such a fan that she wrote the foreword for her new book. Here, you can learn some common causes of–and treatments for–pain. Better, she provides a strategy for living a healthy, pain-free life.
I have worked with author Sara Paretsky for years–she was one of my first clients in my new business and has endured as one of my favorites. I love how creative she is whenever she is promoting a new book. In this piece I wrote for BookPromotion.com, I interviewed her about the online-only epilogue she wrote for her new book that was published exclusively her site, the link given only to her most loyal readers.
Lynne Raimondo started her career as a high-powered lawyer both corporate and government clients. In 2004, she took what she thought would be a short sabbatical, after years of late nights and living in hotel rooms. Now, she is a published author with two books and excellent reviews for her mystery series featuring blind psychiatrist Mark Angelotti as her protagonist. I redesigned her site in anticipation of her new book and spruced it up with some social media integration and new photography.
Johnny Dodd is a staff writer for People Magazine who has traveled the world interviewing fascinating people, both famous and infamous. He is currently in Sochi covering the Olympics, and was on the Today Show this morning as a correspondent. We got this site up in a week in anticipation of both events (an Olympic feat itself). You can read more than 30 stories and read more about books he’s written on the site.
I used a raw wood background coupled with a typewriter font to contrast the difference between the experience of digital and analog. For the logo, I used a cool CSS trick that make it look like his name was being typed out. And we brought the Twitter front and center so he could issue dispatches from the road.
I love it when my clients return with ideas to redesign their site or somehow make it better. When I first designed Pamela Druckerman’s site, she had a new book coming out (Bebe Day By Day). Recently, she took on a role as a columnist for the New York Times, and wanted the site to help her promote articles as they came out. We brought the blog to the homepage. We also added pages for all the many translations her books have been published in–from the Ukraine to Korea.
