Author Site And Book Site - Multiple Sites Bad Idea?
-
The question:
I've been doing work for authors lately and a common question is if they should have a site for their book and a site for themselves. Separate sites with different domain names.
At first I thought this would be a bad idea. Why spread information across two sites if they can be related and used together in one?
But I see a lot of authors doing this and some with marketing companies. One site for the author with information about them, their books, their social media presence.
Then another site for their book, with new social media accounts, other info, etc.
What do you guys think? Has anyone tried both and seen any pros and cons? Is there a perfect answer?
-
In SEO there's no perfect answer since the environment always changes.
I think that you should bet on one site and build there the whole value. Give to your authors a page where they can build their profile and link them to their g+ page (if they don't have it recommend them to build one) in that way you'll achieve extra exposure in serps with the tiny image of the author.
Then for the book try to rank both for their name a ISBN code which is more long tail always useful. You may also try to boost the traffic to those pages using some tiny adwords budget, so more authors may join your community and enlarge the authority of your site.
-
I think one site would make sense.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Best review sites for SaaS vendor
My client is a SaaS developer and I would like to begin some review acquisition activity. Just wondering if there is any knowledge out there with regards to what review sites google scrapes or uses as an indicator for such products (Yelp and Yellow pages not too helpful in this scenario). I have narrowed down Capterra, G2 Crowd and GetApp as having a good following - but any insights would be much appreciated.
Branding | | P.Myers0 -
Re-directing Multiple Sites to a Single Location
Hello Mozzers! So, I have a client whom has purchased a number of different domains that they want to re-direct to their main website. Their thinking is: that by doing as much, they will increase their opportunities to rank for related KW terms. To the best of my recollection, that is not the case, especially if they are not posting any content on those other domains, but simply redirecting the page to their "main site". I am very concerned, however, that by doing as much they run the risk of receiving a penalty from the Google Search team. I am a little hazy on this issue, as it's been some time, but to the best of my recollection doesn't this constitute "spammy behavior". Again, since it's been so long since I've had a client try to implement a strategy like this, I'm a little unfamiliar with how it may play out in the current landscape, so I'm eager to hear all of your opinions on the utility of such a strategy and whether or not it will spell doom for my client. I'm anxious to hear what you think, thanks for reading!
Branding | | maxcarnage1 -
What is The Time/Cost For SEO In Rebranding A Large Site
From an SEO agency perspective. What would be the estimated man hours and hard cost to rebrand a large site (1000+pages)? And all that would go into it, like 301 redirects and etc.? I have a pretty good idea, of what it would take and how perilous it could be from an SEO perspective. Because of anchor text / 301 redirects / organic potential traffic loss and etc. I just don't know the man hours and hard cost would be.
Branding | | SMG-Texas1 -
Tips for promoting the blog section of our eCommerce site
Hi, With the recent Google updates we're thinking that unique content is more important than ever in order to gain high quality, natural links from genuine users. As such we're thinking that our blog (http://www.refreshcartridges.co.uk/igloo/) might be more important than ever. Don't be put off by the lack of Page Authority or Google Page Rank; we've only just moved to this address from the subdomain igloo.refreshcartridges.co.uk. The content is certainly rather niche; an article like http://www.refreshcartridges.co.uk/igloo/how-to-the-reset-purge-counter-on-a-brother-printer-with-a-numerical-pad/ will be helpful to thousands of users who own this particular range of printer but it's debatable as to whether it is sufficiently mainstream to be openly shared and linked to. We ping to sites such as Technorati, produce videos to accompany much of the content (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dxmm4-blN8&list=UUH93Kwax4CcEIAOsXWb6CiA&index=1&feature=plcp for example) and provide easy sharing buttons. I do however think that we could be doing more to actively ‘push’ this content on to potential customers. I'm not naive enough to think that niche articles like this will be enough to get hundreds of links and tens of thousands of reads but printer news, reviews and support is pretty much the only thing we can write about while being relevant to our core business. I would however like to get the best exposure that we can for these articles which is why I’m asking for your advice today. I would really appreciate any ideas you may have as to how else we could gain the best value from these unique articles and videos. I apologise for this being such an open ended question but any and all advice on how to maximise this resource would be appreciated. Many thanks!
Branding | | ChrisHolgate0 -
One writer, multiple brands - optimizing rel=author across several blogs
Our company has a few different brands, each with their own domain and site. These are not microsites intended to drive traffic to a main site; they all have independent e-commerce functions, full product lines, etc. Imagine we run Plumbing Widgets Inc, Kitchen Remodeling Company, and Springfield Countertops. It's not immediately obvious to surfers that one parent company operates all of these brands, and we're fine with that. Considering that it enables us to own a lot of SERP real estate for some money KWs, we're more than fine with it. We'd like to create a blog for each of these sites/brands. Here's where it gets tricky. After doing some reading, I am persuaded that using rel=author will help us with SERP CTR and possibly rankings themselves. I am going to be writing all of the blog content, at least to start. I don't think I want to rel=author myself on all of these discrete blogs, do I? And surface the fact that one person is the head writer for the blogs of all these brands? Creating blogging pseudonyms doesn't seem like a good idea, since part of the value of rel=author is genuine social engagement, and creating social personas that seem genuine is probably more trouble than it's worth. (Not to mention icky and dishonest.) Should I choose a customer service rep or manager for each brand and use their names and social identities (with their permission, obviously)? It seems like that would involve challenges of its own. I've ghostwritten for one business owner before, but this is on a larger, more complex scale. Any insights are appreciated!
Branding | | CMC-SD0 -
Is it a good idea to participate in review / giveaway bloggers
Hi, I sell Gift Baskets for children and the best customers are Moms. Is it a good idea to participate in review / giveaway mom bloggers? The way it works I give the blogger a product to review. They write their true experience with the Gift Basket and they link to my site Then we do a few product giveaway to moms / (bloggers subscriber) once a month. Then moms will review the winning products. To participate in drawing moms will visit my site, follow my tweeter. Like or dislike me on Facebook……. For each action they do they will get one extra chance on drawing. In here I will get few links to different page of the site. Are these links are good links? I am not paying cash to buy the link. But I give them product to review and they get to keep it. Simply Sassy Media at http://simplysassymedia.com/ is a good example. they manage and connect me to a lot of the blogger sites.
Branding | | giftbasket4kids0 -
Any reason not to use rel=author?
Hi Like everyone I've read a lot about rel=author but is there a reason not to use it? For instance, if you're running the content, as I am, for a travel company, we have individual writers writing the content and guides to cities/hotels/tours etc, but none of our competitors are using rel=auithor, so we certainly do stand out. But does the "personal" touch of rel=author dilute trust in some cases? For instance, if you're booking a specific hotel in London and you type in the hotel name looking for the best rate, do you really want to see a face you don't know beside a "corporate result"? Is anyone in an industry where rel=author is being used in conjunction with products/product reviews. It will work for Gary V and wine, but will it work everywhere? Rel=author is touted everywhere as a sure fire bet... but are there times to back off from using it?
Branding | | xoffie1
