About the Author

Many authors, speakers and coaches struggle with how to use the Internet to promote themselves, build and maintain a loyal fan base and showcase their unique expertise. These individuals are highly skilled, very talented professionals who are passionate about what they write, speak or coach about and not experts in how to communicate this passion through a website. So, they often end up with websites that are hard to update, expensive to maintain and basically ineffective for the goal they initially created the website for.

Alas, web designers who understand the unique needs of authors, speakers and coaches are few and far between. So how do these solo-entrepreneurs find out what they are doing wrong and how to fix it? As well as leverage and expand upon what they are doing right?

This is where I come in. I show these individuals how to leverage the power of the Internet to grow their business. I help them develop an online presence that highlights their special expertise, builds their fan base (who then turn into clients and customers) and gives a professional first impression. I help them set up a website that empowers them to update it themselves — or hire a relatively inexpensive assistant to do it for them. I show them how to use the features of a blogging-based website to connect to social media, gain greater exposure and gain expert status. I show them how to collect website visitor names and email addresses and then use a follow up system to build a loyal fan base.

I can do all this because I’ve been there myself. From the time I wrote my first words on paper at the tender age of 3 ½, I’ve been a storyteller. Some of my early dreams included being a novelist and short-story writer.

I’ve accomplished much toward these goals. So, I have a deep understanding of the underlying drive that motivates so many authors.

In high school, I got bitten by the speaking bug (despite my introverted nature) and went on to earn a block in Speech and later my Competent Toastmaster award. So I have an understanding of the intricacies of being a public speaker. Throughout my life, people have asked me for advice. And, being the caring, nurturing type by nature, I’ve coached many people through a wide variety of tasks and situations. So I have an idea of what it is like to be a coach.
Add to that my eternal curiosity and desire to learn. Although I started college life with the goal of becoming a biologist, I eventually transformed that goal into being a science writer. I earned a Master’s degree in Journalism from what U.S. News & World Report called the #1 public relations graduate program in the nation. From there, I worked in marketing and public relations, promoting such organizations as Champagne Deutz, City of Hope National Medical Center and Blue Shield of California. I’ve won awards for my editorial work and gained exposure for my employers in newspapers such as The Baltimore Sun and the Pasadena Star-News. During an internship at The Marine Mammal Center, I even got the palm of my hand on the cover of The Marin Independent Journal!

In the mid-1990s, as the World Wide Web became more user-friendly (and commercial), I was intrigued by the potential of the Internet to connect people throughout the world and, eventually, market to them. Since that time, I’ve studied extensively the changing trends in online marketing and worked on several websites, including KidsGrowth.com and Genome.gov.

There is a lot to know and understand about how the Internet can help authors, speakers and coaches grow their business — more than I could possibly cover in just one book. So, to find out more about how you can get started — focusing on the most important page of your website, read on and discover the 5 deadly mistakes so many solo-entrepreneurs make on their home page, and how to fix them!