Marketing and Getting Your Name out on the 'Net

First let me state I am a rank amateur on internet marketing. However, I am having a measure of success in this marketing venture to get information out about my soon to be released book.

I've been busy this week, literally glued to the computer (which this time of year, when it starts to get warm and beautiful out, drives me crazy) working on marketing, placing articles and getting my name and information out there.

Besides my several blogs, I have written 34 articles since January on grief, loss and renewal. This is interesting to me since after the loss of my husband, I could not write anything for almost three years. Now, I'm writing like crazy, in a good way, and loving it. (I've always been a writer and to not be able to write was very depressing, to say the least.) This was part of my grief process.

I've been placing the articles (approximately 650-1200 words each) on the better known free article sites. (I also blog every day). I have every one of these articles placed on the top 5 sites, and last night I worked about 5 hours placing articles on 80 other sites. You have to wonder, is it worth it? That answer, for me, is definitely. My articles have been picked up by everyone and anyone who is looking for info on grief, loss and bereavement. How do I know this? I have set up through my google alerts account, notice that come into my email inbox. My alerts are keywords related to what I write about. ie., grief, loss, widows, etc. I also have keywords set up in relation to my article titles. So, anytime an article is used and appears somewhere, I can find out exactly where it is. They have turned up in amazing places -- such as online radio pages, ezines, other article sites, blogs, webpages, online magazines, etc., etc. (People and places I don't even know post my articles) Bottom line -- they have to keep my contact info in place in the article, and it all links back to my website. Simple.

My book A Journey Well Taken: Life After Loss is coming out in June and I feel it's crucial to do what I can right now, before that event, to optimize my presence on the web. If anyone is interested in what I have done to get my information out there, I am also willing to pay it forward and share everything I'm doing. You can check out my blogs and websites to see what I'm playing around with. http://www.ajourneywelltaken.com, http://www.onwingspress.com, http://www.elainewilliams.org, http://www.ajourneywelltaken.blogspot.com. I also have blogs on wordpress, authorsden, technorati, multipy, 22x2com/blogs, isnare.com, qassia, selfgrowth.com. I started this entire process the end of December, beginning of January, and I've done it piece by piece since then, building upon my efforts. I created my own youtube video, my websites, articles and check out other people's grief, loss related blogs. Again, I find alot of these sources using google alerts. I also play around with google adwords to some degree. I also have a networking site on facebook and myspace.

I have 25 book testimonials from people in the grief and loss arena, not only widows and widowers, but grief, hospice counselors and life coaches. I contacted these people by searching for grief related websites.

If you google my name, Elaine Williams, a wealth of info comes up. Keep in mind this is only since January that my presence has been created. You can also find my other writing names linked to Elaine Williams.

Is it time consuming? It can be. It depends how much you want to get accomplished in the time frame you set. When I began this, I had no idea where I was going with it all, but I feel I have come a long way since January, and still have a long way to go. There is so much out there and you can tap into whatever suits your interests. You're only held back by your own fears of the unknown. So jump in there, challenge yourself and move ahead.