The Mitten: Your Author Website: Make a Dynamic, Yet Personable, Connection by Debbie Gonzales

Debbie Gonzales has been keeping us updated on all things Pinterest, and we invited her back to share additional tips for marketing and promoting our books. How do you draw readers to your website and keep them there? Here's Debbie:

Pinterest Marketing Basics: Keep It Simple, Authentic & Fun

By Debbie Gonzales

I firmly believe that all book creators would benefit by establishing a visibility platform on Pinterest, this goes for pre-published authors and illustrators, as well. Not only is the process in establishing a viable platform highly effective as a marketing tool, Pinterest shines an authentic light on who we are and what we embrace as creatives. This reflection is digitally achieved by intentional connections between one’s Pinterest platform and their website.

Here’s how the magic happens.

Pinterest is a tool to amplify a message of service, inspiration, and encouragement for our audience. It’s a visual search engine on which parents, teachers, librarians, millennials, and teens use to find answers, products, and inspiration. Gone are the days when we had the luxury of chatting up a potential buyer at a bookstore or festival. The reality is that purchasing relationships are developed digitally. Our challenge is to first understand how our services and books meet their needs, then establish a pathway for them to land in an intriguing place where they are compelled by a desire to want more than a one-off purchase. We want to make a dynamic, yet personable, connection through our websites. Tall order, yet relatively easy to do.

Too often we focus on embellishing our websites rather than focusing on their functionality and purpose. Slow-loading websites adorned with gizmos dancing across the screen have lost their appeal. Pinterest users want what they want when they want it:

If the website seems buggy or confusing, they’ll bounce.
Conversely, if they land on captivating content they can connect with, chances are they’ll poke around the website with curiosity.
Better yet, they find the content living on the site to be so intriguing, they bookmark it! Bingo! The first steps toward a happy digital relationship have been established!

Here's an example:

Award-winning author Barb Rosenstock not only knows how to write award-winning picture book biographies, she’s savvy regarding how to maximize her web presence to assist in marketing her books and programming. Her website layout is one to consider, for sure.

The website is packed with practical content to benefit teachers and librarians, while being organized in a clear and succinct manner.
It’s attractive, loads easily, and is extremely user-friendly.
Though not glitzy, Barb’s website is a shining example of inspiration, education, and of service to those who have the good fortune to land on it.

Much like the revision process, refining our marketing message takes time, especially if we seek to establish something that is genuinely authentic. Our audience is looking for books that resonate with young readers. Take your time to become acquainted with those you desire to market to. Discover the type of content that appeals to them, then experiment with formatting that messaging on your website. The best news is that Pinterest is a long game. It’s a slow burn, which allows plenty of time to thoughtfully establish marketing strategies that edify one’s audience. Most importantly, have fun while doing so!

Debbie Gonzales is an author, educator, and a Pinterest Marketing specialist. She’s the host of Guides by Deb, a website consisting of over 300 standards-aligned educator guides for all genres. If you’re interested in learning more about Pinterest marketing, reach out to Deb. She loves talking about all things Pinterest!