When it comes to promotion, authors must have a good online media center.

It does not matter if you are a new author, or a seasoned pro, you MUST provide easily-accessible details for media and bloggers who want to do interviews or query you for guest blogs.

Online media centers should include biographies, author photographs, novel covers, book trailers, excerpts, audio clips, links to previous interviews, a schedule of events and more. (Read more in by guest blog Virtual Book Tours: Why Authors Need Online Media Kits)

If you are just starting out, your media center will seem slim on information – but that is okay. You have to start somewhere. Post what you have, which should include a bio, photographs, book cover art and links to your social networks.

Two author Web sites with terrific media information:

Jennifer Ashley

Jennifer Ashley

What I like:

She has a LOT of information on this site, but it is well-organized. This author, who writes several different serials under three different names, also provides a list of each book in each series, so readers and reviewers know where to begin. She also has separate Web sites for each series, which gives each their own brand.

Ashley also offers links to her online press kit, speaker topics and FAQs, which are essential for any media person.

I don’t like the Web domain, JennifersRomances.com. I can never remember it and have to Google her name each time to find her site. However, terrific SEO brings this site to the top, so that is a bonus.

RebeccaCantrell

Rebecca Cantrell

What I like:

Rebecca is a new author, but her Web site provides plenty of information for interviews. You get a sneak peak of her book, A Trace of Smoke, along with a bio and what inspired her to write it. She has a photo of herself and her cover art available, as well as a prominent link to her book trailer – an item many authors forget.

I dived more thoroughly into the two sites on Monday. If you can stand listening to a woman with allergies talking while traffic runs in the background, check it out. (Yes, it was a typical Monday.)

Market My Novel: Online Press Kits for Authors from Angela Wilson on Vimeo.

I continue to meet authors who believe that a spend, spend, spend philosphy will make them an instant bestseller. Usually, I see these same authors a few months down the road and their excitement has waned into stress over burgeoning credit card bills and few sales to make up for the cost of doing promotions.

Unfortunately for most, throwing money at your published works and hoping it will create bestseller glue just doesn’t work. Buying into every promotional gag out there is NOT the answer to being a successful author. Doing a targeted campaign using free social media, free library visits and free bookstore signings focused on readers in your genre is the ticket.

There are, of course, a few things you should budget for. Below is a bare bones list for authors who have – at most – a few hundred dollars to play around with. (When I say bare bones, I meant it. This list is anorexic, but includes exactly what you need to get started.) I also include a list of things that – I believe – you should NOT pay a dime for.

What you should pay for:

• Domain name (I personally prefer 1and1.com because they are affordable and automatically make your information private without an extra fee.)
• Web hosting. If you have a WordPress.org blog or a Web template, you must be hosted somewhere. Blue Host and HostGator are two of the most popular.
• Web design. A quality design comes when you have the budget for it – or when your publisher plans to pay for it. Until you are financially able, use a blog program like Typepad or WordPress, which allow you to create pages within a blog. Be sure to ask your publisher if they have the budget to hire a designer for you before you pay anything.

These are the basics. Here are two other suggestions for authors who sell through their Web sites and for the not-so-social media savvy who have a little more play money:

If you are selling eBooks via your Web site, you may consider adding a subscription to Are My Sites Up? or a similar service. When your Web site goes down, you lose revenue. AMSU immediately notifies you when your site goes down. This is essential to the nonfiction author and business owner who is using a Web site for to generate revenue.

Depending on your experience with social media – and your budget – you may consider hiring a virtual book tour consultant to arrange a targeted tour. If you don’t have that kind of cash, talk to authors who have done tours and get pointers from them before you begin. Also, read this Market My Novel article on virtual book tours.

What you should NOT pay for:

• Reviews. No legitimate site will charge to review your book. Period. They may ask your publisher to purchase ad space, but NOT to pay a reviewer. See this story on Slate.com. Others feel differently. Check out this string at BookMarket.Ning.com.  Kirkus Discoveries is extremely popular, but not cost effective.  If I had to chose between a $400 review and putting that cash toward a Web site design, I’d go for the latter.
• Virtual book tour slots. I don’t believe author’s should have to pay to be featured on a blog or Web site as part of a virtual book tour. You can pay someone to organize and implement your tour, but not pay individual blogs for slots – not matter how good they say their SEO is.. I know this is extremely popular right now – especially with blogs that get a lot of hits. If a blog is that popular, however, then it can generate revenue from Amazon aStore sales or Google AdSense – NOT on the backs of authors.
• Radio interviews. As I blogged earlier, no legitimate broadcast program is going to charge you to be a guest on a program. Most programs need guests or are desperate to fill a last-minute cancelation. Think very carefully before you pay any radio program – especially those online.
• Online ads. Facebook’s got ‘em. Companies are creating them for Twitter – especially on programs like Tweetie for Mac. Hundreds of online users evangelize the use of pay-per-click and other online advertising techniques to make you a millionaire. It simply is not worth it. If you establish serious branding (i.e. name or series recognition) this might pay off. But doing this right out of the gate is a budget buster for most authors.

What promotional items do you pay for? What promotional tactics worked and what did not? What is the best use of your promotional budget funds?

Social networking is the key to your writing success. And Facebook is the hottest social network around. Without the clutter of MySpace, Facebook offers easy navigation to help you find fans old and new through friends, groups and fan pages. Through Facebook, you can promote yourself to a more mature demographic – one that reads and has cash to spend. Limiting the number of friends each user can have forces users to target their demographic – a key component to any successful marketing strategy.

Today, I chat it up with Mari Smith, relationship coach and Facebook expert. She has great tips on how to utilize this important social network.

Mari, how did you become a Facebook expert?

My background is as a Relationship Coach. I have certifications in relationship coaching, success coaching and developmental coaching. I've always been fascinating by people and relationships and I have much expertise with many personality assessments. At the same time, since 1999 I've been an internet marketer and have created many successful information products.

I felt I was running a "two-hat" business! So when I became active on Facebook in July 2007, it was such a natural fit for my personality and skillset because my two worlds merged perfectly: relationships + the internet. I quickly immersed myself in Facebook and before long my peers started asking me to teach them how to get started with the platform.

What are the advantages to using Facebook over other social networking sites?

In my opinion, Facebook is very stable and is here to stay – they will be one of the long-term giants alongside Microsoft and Google. They are rigorous about enforcing their terms of use, their platform has more whitespace and is cleaner/easier to use than likes of MySpace. The demographics show members are more mature (average age is 35), better educated and more quite collar workers.

In addition, Facebook's feeds enable members to create consistent visibility among their friends. Plus, members tend to be more responsive when you reach out to connect via a wall post or email, for example.

What are the disadvantages?

If not approached properly, Facebook can be a huge time-drainer. It's vitally important to have a strategic plan, a way to measure your results, limit your time and delegate some of the activities to a trusted assistant.

Applications are a PAIN, but many feel if they ignore a request, or block an application, that it will hurt their social networking savvy on Facebook. Is that true?

Gosh, not at all. I recommend to my students and clients they make best friends with the "ignore all" button! There are simply way too many applications to worry about using/testing them all. When you ignore a request to add an app, the friend who sent you the request doesn't receive a notification. You can block apps, ignore all app requests from specific friends or just use the ignore all button which seems easiest.

Every day, I get three to five emails from the same groups, or individuals on Facebook. I've finally started deleting without opening, because I simply don't have time to read them all. What should Facebook users know about using the email option in the site?

I'd love to see improvements made to Facebook email. It's possible to email any other member on Facebook unless (a) you've blocked them/they've blocked you or (b) they've set their privacy settings to not receive emails from non-friends. So, you could find yourself receiving a LOT of email the more active and visible you are.

Responding to email is one of the primary tasks my Virtual Assistant helps me with.

Many group members send out excessive emails to the point it feels like spam. The simple solution there is to leave the group.  If you're a group owner, keep in mind once a week is probably sufficient – and/or be sure to survey your members and ask them what they want to receive.

Is there a way to send a mass email out to everyone in your Facebook network without typing in each name?

No. This is one of the most popular questions I get. Many marketers want to be able to build a "list" and message them all at once. Facebook wasn't designed to be used this way. You can message up to twenty friends at once – but there's no BCC and the default is "reply all." So, often you may find yourself on the receiving end of an email thread that has no relevance to you. My recommendation with emailing lists of friends is to only message people who (a) have a pre-existing relationship or (b) the purpose of the email is to introduce them.

The good news, however, is there are workarounds to reaching your friends en masse. Building out your own group is a popular way as is creating a fan Page. Other workarounds, include staying active to maintain a presence in the News Feeds of your friends.

Facebook offers Fan Page and Group options. Tell us about these and how they work.

A Fan Page is one of Facebook's solutions for business. The idea is you build up fans (as opposed to friends on your personal Profile). Everyone in business should for sure create at least one Page for two primary reasons: (1) the Page gets indexed so can be found on search engines and (2) you'll need another place on Facebook to direct people once you hit the 5000 friend limit. With Pages, you can have unlimited fans.

Groups are also a must-have for business owners. I recommend setting one up for a special interest or particular focus of your business, as opposed to a Group just for your business. The nice thing about groups is they are more informal and members tend to be more active than on a page. However, I do recommend having both at least one Group and one Page for starters.

Facebook ads are becoming more frequent. Do they really work?

It depends. I have read stats that show the click through rate is lower on social network ads because members are not in the mode of searching, unlike on Google. However, Facebook's Social Ads can be a powerful way to increase visibility and notoriety. And, with consistent use, over time you may see a significant increase in click throughs. Ads are also good for promoting a one-time event, for example.

How can you make Facebook ads work for you?

Advertise something that is inside Facebook, not outside. For example, your Page, Event or Group. That way, members don't feel like you're trying to sell them something. So, you can use ads to simply build more awareness of your presence on Facebook and then use the Page, Event and/or Group to further build your relationship with your friends.

Can using Facebook mean better sales?

Absolutely. More and more business members are discovering the power of Facebook to reach targeted clients, set up profitable joint venture partnerships, and deepen relationships with key influencers in their industry. All this leads to an increase in sales.

Are contests effective on Facebook? Can they really drive traffic to your site, or increase your number of friends?

It depends on how well executed the contest is. If a contest also includes promotion on your blog, Twitter, YouTube, press releases, ads, interviews etc. then for sure you could increase your friends. However, would they be key targeted individuals? I'm a huge advocate of building out your friends organically, deliberately and strategically. With over 110 million active users and you can only be friends with 5000 of them, why not choose your friends very, very carefully!

How should you consider working your Facebook presence into your marketing campaign?

I would start with a solid blog with a design that reflects your brand. Import your blog into Facebook using the Notes application. Set up an account on FriendFeed – import every site you're on with an RSS feed. Add the FriendFeed Facebook application.

Give us your top 5 tips to using Facebook.

• Focus on quality relationships, not quantity.
• Import your blog using the Notes application.
• Be active daily, if only for five minutes.
• Include Facebook as part of your overall marketing plan.
• Start a Facebook Page to represent your business, along with your Profile.

Special thanks to Mari Smith, Facebook diva. Mari offers free Facebook advice on her YouTube channel. You can also find her on Twitter, WhyFacebook.com and her Web site, MariSmith.com.