Marketing Tip: Using Wikipedia

I'm often asked how to drive traffic to author blogs and websites and my answer is: By being a presence on the Internet.

This means commenting on other people's blogs, using Facebook and Twitter to develop relationships with readers, and also using Amazon to review and tag products.

Another way to be a presence and a great way to get people to your information hub--whether it is your blog or website--on the Web is to list your site as a resource on relevant Wikipedia pages.

Warning: Do not add your information to random pages. Do not provide a link that only goes to a page where they can buy your book. Do not create a new Wikipedia page that goes against their guidelines.

Here's how it works. Someone seeking information on a topic goes to the Internet to do research. A great place to start research is on Wikipedia. Although much of the information is infamously added by people who may or may not have factual information, it is still a great source for background information, and most people know that.

Because Wikipedia is a user-edited site, you are allowed to add helpful information to the pages. Say you've written a great book about Restless Legs Syndrome. You can go on the Wikipedia site and find pages devoted to that topic and similar concerns. At the bottom of the page is a Reference section. You can edit the page and add your blog link or website link there as well. Some sites have lots of links, some have only a few. Either way, it's one more place to reach interested parties.

And if you aren't convinced, I met a man at the Arizona Book Awards whose website--dedicated to the research of a greatly misunderstood amino acid deficiency--received nearly ALL of its hundreds of thousands of hits from his Wikipedia reference note. Not too shabby! Now if he'd only write a book ...