John M. Wills

Search Engine Optimization

All of us with websites and blogs constantly try to devise ways to drive traffic to our sites. Good writing, coupled with keywords, are a part of that strategy. However, the game keeps changing and what worked yesterday may not work as well today. There is a new technique known as “The Long Tail Keyword.” I stumbled upon this concept as I searched for ways to optimize my blog. I give full attribution to the website, eHow, for the following information:

The Long Tail Keyword is King

Optimizing your website with a high-ranking, generic keyword will do little to generate traffic. A generic keyword such as “tablet computer” will simply have too much competition for you to have a shot at getting into the first page of search engine results. Instead, the so-called “long tail” strategy works best — and that is to focus on longer key phrases, written in natural speech, which will be used to guide users to specific and often localized information. Of course, there is a place for the shorter keywords in each page’s metadata, although Google now puts more emphasis on actual, visible content than those invisible indicators.

Your Web page that includes the word “tablet computer” may come in on page 25 of the search engine results, but you’ll have a better chance of getting to page one if you optimize on something more specific, like “How do I fix my tablet computer,” or “tablet computer won’t boot,” or “adding games to a tablet computer.” Search engine optimization has changed significantly over the last few years, and SEO experts have to think less like a machine, and more like a human. And that’s the key to good writing.

To read the entire article, How to Use SEO Keywords, copy and paste this link in your browser: http://www.ehow.com/how_4480667_use-seo-keywords.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask

On Freelance Writing

For a freelance writer, writing non-fiction can be challenging, particularly if you’re attempting to write for profit. If you have a certain expertise, it only makes sense you’d want to write about that topic. If you’re a new freelancer, study the particular magazine or website you’re interested in writing for. What’s their style, what are the popular topics? How does your writing compare with those who’ve been published already? What about word count? (Typically, 600-1200 words for an internet article.)

Sometimes you may not have to be an expert in the field about which you’re writing. I once had a freelance job writing web content for a world-wide trucking corporation. I know very little about the transportation industry, but by studying what had already been written I was able to rewrite their web content and make it more contemporary and readable.

Another problem with non-fiction is creativity and originality. I have been writing a monthly article for a popular law enforcement website for the past fourteen years. Coming up with a hot topic or original concept is a constant challenge. How do I do it? Simply by following the news and seeing what’s current—what’s impacting the genre in which I write? However, remember what you write today may be old news by the time it gets published. So if you write your article and submit it a couple of weeks before deadline, be certain your article still has value when it appears online.

The good thing about freelance writing is there are myriad outlets to write for, both fiction and non-fiction. However, non-fiction will likely get you paid for your efforts. Regardless, seeing your byline will always have intrinsic value and put a smile on your face.

Common Grammatical Errors

Grammatical errors that bear mentioning again.

Grammar_nimishgoel Some seem like common sense, however, writers continue to make the same mistakes. I’ve listed a few of them below:

Mixing tense. This error is common.
Using too many dialogue tags, e.g., he said, she said, particularly when only two people are speaking.
Clichés—avoid them. You can program MS Word to catch them by using the Help menu.
Eliminate the word, that, whenever you can. And don’t use “it” and “thing,” they’re too vague.
It’s TV or television, but not T.V.
ID or identification, but not I.D.
These words at the beginning of a sentence do not require a comma:
- But
- And
- So
- Perhaps
- Yet
These words do require a comma:
- However,
- Nonetheless,
- For example,
- For instance,
British spellings are often different from American:

British	American
Grey	Gray
Towards	Toward
Backwards	Backward
Colour	Color
Realize	realize

Marilyn Meredith On Tour

Please welcome my friend and fellow author, Marilyn Meredith. It’s my pleasure to introduce her new book, A Crushing Death, as well as a contest readers may enter.

The Basics of a Blog Tour

Fool that I am, I decided to embark on yet another blog tour. I put it that way because it’s a lot of work. So why do it? Because it’s fun and does introduce new readers to my books.

For someone who’s never done this on their own, here are the basics of planning one.

Don’t begin until you have a firm date for the publishing of the book you’re promoting. Then, set the beginning of the blog tour at least three weeks later, just in case things don’t go as plan.

Marilyn at CRSA Confereince For each blog post you’ll need a recent bio—not too long, a short book blurb ( I say short because you’ll probably work things in about the book in some of your posts), a recent photo of yourself (I think it’s fun to use different photos for each post), links to your website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter, etc., and of course a links to buy the book, and a .jpeg of the book cover. If you are having a contest of any kind, include the rules on each post. At the bottom of the post put a line to the next day’s post.

Once you know the dates of the tour, start rounding up blog hosts. Where do you find hosts? Check your favorite blogs and email the hosts. Ask on your favorite listserves. How many? As many as you think you can write unique posts for. When asking each person, ask if they have anything in particular they’d like to write. Some hosts will send you questions or interview topics. Others have specific ways they want you to send everything in, follow their directions.

Most blog hosts would like you to put all the printed material on one page and send it and all photos as attachments.

One the tour begins you need to advertise everyplace you can think of—Facebook, Facebook groups and all the listserves you are on. This means posting every day to these places. Yes, it is labor intensive, but you want lots of visitors to each site.

All through the day, check the comments as you’ll want to reply to each comment and keep track of who is visiting. You’ll also want to keep track of which blogs had the most visitors for future reference.

One last tip. If you run a contest, don’t have the prize be the book you’re promoting—the idea is to intrigue the visitors enough to buy the book you’re promoting. You could offer an earlier book in the series, or a prize that has some relationship to the book, or maybe an Amazon gift card.

Scroll down and you’ll see what I’m offering for a prize.

F. M. aka Marilyn Meredith

A Crushing Death

A pile of rocks is found on a dead body beneath the condemned pier, a teacher is accused of molesting a student, the new police chief is threatened by someone she once arrested for attacking women, and Officer Milligan’s teenage daughter is has a big problem. A Crushing Death Right

F. M. Meredith: also known as Marilyn Meredith is nearing the number of 40 published books. Besides being an author she is a wife, mother , grandma and great-grandmother. Though the Rocky Bluff she writes about is fictional, she lived for over twenty-years in a similar small beach town. Besides having many law enforcement officers in her family she is counts many as friends. She teaches writing, loves to give presentations to writing and other groups, and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, three chapters of Sisters in Crime and on the board of Public Safety Writers Association.

Website: http://fictionforyou.com

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

Facebook: Marilyn Meredith

Twitter: MarilynMeredith

Contest: Once again, the person who comments on the most blogs during this tour, can have a character named after them in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery. Tomorrow you can find me here:

http://www.jacquelinevickauthor.blogspot.com/

and

http://cncbooksblog.wordpress.com/

Thank you, Marilyn, it’s always a pleasure to host one of your tours! FYI, to purchase copies of A Crushing Death, here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/Crushing-Death-Rocky-Bluff-P-D/dp/1610092260/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457618775&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Crushing+Death+by+F.M.+Meredith or click on the title throughout this post.

Meet Pat McCarthy

Hi Pat, I’m honored to host you on my blog today. Having been a Chicago police officer myself, I was anxious to read your book. I found it drew me in immediately with its action and authenticity. The cop jargon, in particular, is spot on and pulls no punches. Please tell my readers a little bit about yourself and your journey in writing your first book, Chicago Street Cop.

Thanks, John. I’m a lifelong resident of Chicago and a retired Chicago police officer. My great grandfather came from Ireland in the late 1800’s and became a Chicago cop; my father was also a Chicago cop. My son Ryan is the 4th generation Chicago police officer in my family.

I grew up about two miles from Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. From my earliest memories, I always wanted to be a cop like my dad and great grandfather. I remember watching my dad suit up to work the streets, and I’d stare out the front window and watch him drive away in his powder blue 1959 Chevy to police the mean streets of the Windy City.

I admired my father and knew some day, I too, would become a cop. The dream came true when I finally pinned on the star. I truly believed it was my destiny—my calling in life. I enjoyed every day I was a cop-even the bad and sad days I endured. The fact I was paid to live my dream was fantastic. Truth be told, I would have been a cop even if they hadn’t paid me, it meant that much.

In the back of my mind, I always knew someday I’d write about my experiences. Throughout my career, particularly when I worked undercover in the gang unit, people told me I should write a book. I’m glad I took their advice. Chicago Street Cop is about the crazy and often unique incidents I was involved in during my career. My journey involved stints as a uniform patrol officer, gang specialist, undercover in the gang unit for five years, six years on SWAT-three as a sniper, eleven years detailed to the FBI on three separate federal task forces-six years on the Asian Gang and Organized Crime Task Force, two years on the FBI’s I.C.E ( International Criminal Enterprise ) Task Force, and three years on the Violent Gangs and Hispanic Task Force.

Like many first time authors, when I began writing the words flowed easily. Then, they slowly tapered off, and at times I didn’t write for months. Having never before written a book, I found it a bigger challenge than expected. Life and my police training business also got in the way. I was traveling 30 weeks a year across the country presenting my three-day Street Crimes Seminar.

One day I had this crazy idea to travel overseas to concentrate on my writing—no distractions and no excuses. I went to Australia and Thailand twice, then to China, once to Beijing and once to Hong Kong. I went to these countries simply to write—no site seeing, no vacation. I know it probably sounds a bit bazaar, but I totally concentrated on writing my book. I’d write as much as possible on both the flights from Chicago and the return flights home. I’d hunker down in my hotel room and do nothing but write for five days straight.

Finally, when I thought the manuscript was ready, I hired an editor who referred me to content editor, Jill Welsh, to evaluate my book and offer some advice. At first, it was tough to hear, but she told me my manuscript was written like a journal rather than a book. She also said it was much too long.

Additionally, she said I needed to include dialogue. My stories, though interesting, would probably not work well without it. That turned out to be great advice and believe it or not, I read a couple of books to understand the dialogue concept. One of the books was Dialogue for Dummies, and it really did help hone my writing skills. Jill was also helpful in providing advice on what to keep and what to eliminate.

The most exciting experience of the process was when I received my first physical proof. As I leafed through it, I felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment. I realized with just a bit more work I would have my first book published and be able to proudly say, “I’m a published author.”

Presently, my book is only available in e-book form, but the hardcover version is in the printing process and will be available soon. Once the hardcover is out, I plan on scheduling signings and events.

I’m working on a second book titled, Chicago Gang Cops. I’ll take what I’ve learned from my first book and make my second one even better.

Thanks, Pat, for sharing your experience about your career and book. I’m certain readers will enjoy your honesty and marvel at your courage as they read Chicago Street Cop. I understand the book is available on Amazon and from your website, streetcrimes.com. Thank you for your service, my friend.