A Website is the Foundation for all Your Marketing Activity by Lena Claxton and Alison Woo:

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A website is the most familiar aspect of online marketing but like a book, once you publish it, you must have an audience in order to flourish.

In the not so distant past, it was enough to have a website that functioned only as an online brochure. You'd get credit just for having an online presence with static information.

But today, with the advent of Web 2.0, everyone is interacting and connecting online. The website is now the official home for all of your online activity. All roads (links) from your other new media tools lead back to your website where you inform, elucidate, and educate your audience on what you offer.

The website has morphed into an active, collaborative medium where you not only speak directly to your audience but you can also interact with them as well as promote and sell your products, books, or services.

Websites now offer Web 2.0 features such as:

Forums and message boards that maintain the flow of conversation and feedback.
Audio and video testimonials that significantly boost the trust and credibility factors.
Interactivity in the form of delivering your message with video and audio that appeal to your audience's various learning styles. Offering them interactive quizzes, polls and assessments.
Transparency in the varied ways that your audience can reach you.
Language that speaks to the core of your audience's challenges rather than using "me-centered" language.

Today's websites are highly evolved and focus on your audience's needs. As an author, your website offers untapped potential to deliver added value so that you can attract more visitors. You can:

Write articles on your topic and archive them on your site.
Give background information on the setting of your story.
Use photographs and videos to highlight what you discuss.
Provide interviews and press coverage on your book.
Develop a contest and special offers
Offer a free, automatic download of an excerpt from your book
Create a book trailer that intrigues and titillates your audience to learn more.

The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Whether you want to inform, educate, or entertain, a website allows you to reach your audience and tell your story in your own unique way. With the unlimited interconnectivity that is inherent in Web 2.0 communication, it doesn't matter whether your audience is around the corner or around the globe.

Harness the power of your website and make it work for you. Use it as a branding tool, create compelling content, convey important values and much more. Read more about promoting with a website in How to Say It: Marketing with New Media: A Guide to Promoting Your Small Business Using Websites, E-Zines, Blogs, and Podcasts.

Lena Claxton and Alison Woo

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