Sunday 13 February 2011

If you are a writer or blogger you should know the importance of TAGS

But first what are they?

In computer terminology, a tag is a keyword which provides a visual suggestion of the number of articles tagged with a keyword. The more popular a keyword the larger it will appear in the tag cloud.

In easy-speak if you were to search the Internet for say, help or advice on blogging, you'd head over to Google or Bing and put in the search engine "blogging help" or similar. And the savvy blogger would have used your words as taglines because he wants you to visit his page.

Now, if I wanted you to be able to find my book, A Proper Charlie easily, my tags would be "chicklit" "romance" "Louise Wise" etc and your searching words would generate my taglines to be at the top, or near to the top, of your search and hopefully you'll click to be taken to my book.

On various blogs or websites taglines look like this:


The larger the word the more popular they are. Or they can be neat like an index. But either, they work the same. Tags are generally chosen informally and personally by the blogger. It's wise to chose them to best describe the article written.

For this one I shall use, taglines, what are taglines, how to use taglines etc.

If you have a book out and it's on Amazon make sure you have tagged your book. At the bottom of the Amazon page you should see "Tags Customers Associate with This Product" and then a list of taglines. These are the tags that generous people have given your book. And I say generous because it IS generous. Every little tag helps navigate potential readers towards your book.

There is an option to add your own, and I fully recommend you do so. As many as you can think of relevant to your book. Mine for Eden are: science fiction romance, romance, science fiction, survival, louise wise, love story, love, relationships, contemporary romance, best sellers, holiday read, quick read, a must read, romance novel, eden,  social media.



Louise Wise
Author of Eden and A Proper Charlie



20 comments:

  1. I was wondering what Tags did. Thanks for explaining this.

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  2. This is something I need to get better at. Thanks for reminding me!

    Stopping by to say hi to a fellow crusader.

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  3. What a great idea to use the tags from Amazon and attribute them to your book. Learn something new every day!

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  4. I've never tagged my blog posts--thank you! I will start:)

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  5. Thanks for commenting everyone. I only learnt this recently too, and thought I'd share.

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  6. Awesome post. Do you mind if I ask what your source is for this information?

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  7. Excellent information here, Louise. And it's great to discover your blog. Thanks to your networking prowess through Facebook's Literary World, I'm finding wonderful ones to follow.

    And I'm a fellow crusader!

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  8. Hi, Louise,
    I only recently lost my blogging virginity and haven't found either voice or feet in the medium yet - real life has similar problems but that's another story. I think I need to read your post a few times before I really understand it. Thanks though, I'll see if it gets lighter with repeated goings-over.

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  9. Hi Nicole, yep I'm a crusader too. Excellent idea that Rachael had, but an awful lot of work. Hope people appreciate it.

    Ceka, I've only just learnt about tags recently. Just keep posting and you'll be amazed at what you pick up. Are you on Twitter? You can connect to anyone and everyong, not just friends on there.

    Good luck.

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  10. Hi, Louise,

    I hopped over from Rach's list to introduce myself and follow.

    Today the first challenge was posted.... YAH!

    Michael

    February 18, 2011 2:40 PM

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  11. Hello, fellow crusader,

    I hopped over from Rach's list to introduce myself and follow.

    Today the first challenge was posted.... YAH!

    Michael

    February 18, 2011 2:40 PM

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  12. I dropped in to say "You've been gifted with the Stylish Blogger Award." Drop by Saturday blog post (http://www.kristalleeromances.com/2011/02/stylish-blogger-award-thanks-heather.html) to pick it up.

    Have a great weekend!
    ~k

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  13. I dropped in to say "You've been gifted with the Stylish Blogger Award." Drop by Saturday blog post (http://www.kristalleeromances.com/2011/02/stylish-blogger-award-thanks-heather.html) to pick it up.

    Have a great weekend!
    ~k

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  14. Tags, meta-tags, they drive me bonkers! Still figuring out this blogging stuff as I go along. By the way, just dropping by to introduce myself as a fellow crusader and new follower. I'm off to tackle challenge #1 now. =)

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  15. Hello fellow crusader!

    I used to tag my blog posts but then stopped - I need to start again.

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  16. Yes I've seen tags on people's blogs and wondered how to add them :O)

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  17. Thanks for the tip fellow crusader! Plus I see that on blogger you can retrospective tag post as well (handy) :)

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  18. Thanks for opening my eyes to a whole new world. Writing a book is the easiest part of the journey.

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  19. Thanks for the wonderful information. Writing a book is the easiest part of the journey.

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