How-To Tuesday: Getting Found: Discoverability & SEO for Writers (Donna Talarico)

How-To Tuesdays are monthly talks on the craft of creative nonfiction, publishing, marketing and the writing life led by Hippocampus Magazine editors & contributors.

Most people turn to search engines or a specific website’s search feature to find what they’re looking for — including books. Getting found — showing up in a Google search or other search results listings — is crucial in a day of information overload.

In this non-technical talk, Hippocampus Magazine editor Donna Talarico shares tips from her day job in content strategy. She’ll give a primer on search engine optimization (SEO) and debunk some myths. She’ll also cover how to research what users are actually searching for (hint: it’s probably not your name) and how to use that data to inform content creation choices.

Attendees will leave with ideas to revise existing (or create new!) content and marketing materials, including your website, book meta data, directory/catalog listings, and more — maybe even your book subtitle!

About the speaker: Donna Talarico, founder/publisher of Hippocampus Magazine and Books, has more than 25 years of experience in marketing and communications; about half of that time has been in higher education. She serves as an editor for Link Journal (from the HighEdWeb), writes an adult learner recruiting column for Wiley, and has contributed to Guardian Higher Education Network, The Writer, mental_floss, Games World of Puzzles, and others. Her creative nonfiction appears in The Superstition Review, The Los Angeles Review, The Los Angeles Times, and Wanderlust Journal. Donna serves or has served on the faculty of graduate creative writing programs, including Wilkes University and Rosemont College, as well as at Pennsylvania College of Art & Design.