Don't Forget About SEO

When your comic is up and going, the first thing you want to do is make sure that it shows up high in the search engine rankings. The way it's done is with a thing called search engine optimization. 

All this means is that you've done three basic things. First, search engines consider your comic to actually be at least semi-important. It doesn't actually have to be important. It just has to basically be something that everybody's looking for. There's the three basic qualifications:
 

1) The site itself is really well organized, properly designed, and and looks great. Your synopsis and all your text is grammatically correct and there are no typos. Don't worry about how names are spelled as long as you are consistent. Sneak words in as much as possible, such as by using alt tags. 

2) You're going to want to use get the word out. You want to want to go to directories and Facebook pages, and do a little bit of spamming but not too much in order to get some buzz going on the comic; the more places it appears, the better it looks for the search engines. You need people going to that site as much as you possibly can. 

3) This also means advertising This means getting the word out. This means basically dragging people kicking and screaming to your site. Because the more visitors it the more it impresses the search engines and the more that you impress them the more relevant your site appears and therefore the more worth listening to it is. 

So don't forget about search engine optimization while restructuring your site, or you will simply get lost in the ranking. Make sure that your website is pretty well designed so that you pretty much be everywhere you can be and that you used at least a little bit of advertising. If you do that, you should be good. So don't forget about SEO. 

Use Directories To Get Out The Word

One of the ways you can get word out about your comic is to listit in the directories. A "directory" is a site that basically aggregates all sorts of comics from pretty much everywhere. It lists them according to a number of different priorities, such as genre, name, age, etc.; a visitor can then search for comics based on those priorities. This means that somebody can go to the site, look for a web comic of a particular genre, author, or other criteria. If you're lucky, the webcomic they end up choosing is yours. 

Sites like Top Webcomics, Belfry, Webcomic Index, Comic Robot, Webcomics Guide, and the Webcomic List are some of the best directories. You want to get yourself listed there as quickly as possible. You need to debate participating in whatever types of contests they have as some of these will actually help you chart your comic, showing you just how many viewers you have, and how much traffic you're actually getting, plus how you're doing in relation to other comics in your particular genre. 

So yeah, there's a definite advantage being in the directory besides just being easier to find. 

However, there will be three tips I think you're going to find useful. First, don't worry about your name. A lot of people get hung up on directory names; they think that if you don't start off with the A's or B's, a lot of people are not going to be interested in you. Trust me, you're going to find that the right directory allows for a certain level of randomness. So even if your name begins with a Z, you're going to every so often you get a lot of traffic and you're not going to be able to figure it out. So don't sweat the name too much. 

Do make sure that whatever graphic you use it fully represents your cause. A lot of people will see this really cool graphic and find out it has absolutely nothing to do with the comic and that turns them off right off the bat. Another issue that will turn people off by is having a really bad graphic. 

Lastly, make sure that the synopsis is accurate. There is absolutely no bigger turn off than to find this really great comic, at least based on the synopsis only to find out that the comic has no relation to the comic.

So wherever you don't worry about the name. Be sure the graphic represents the comic. Make sure that the synopsis is as absolutely accurate as possible. Do that you're going to find out directories help people find your comic with no problem.

Do The Impossible

"People who say that something is impossible need to stay out of the way of those doing it." It's sort of fun to watch people who keep telling everybody there's no way that something can be done and right behind them somebody's actually doing the thing. 

You want to be that person who's doing the thing. 

You want to prove people that yes, you can do what they see as impossible. You can do things that nobody else can do, that you have your own skills and abilities. You're going to show them off no matter what, and you need to not be afraid to use them to do the impossible on a regular basis. Just do

I don't care what your motivation is; everybody has their own motivation for doing the impossible. Some people like challenges so they figure it out. Others just like a challenge; they see a mountain, they climb it. Some people will do it just to tick other people off and that's just as valid. 

These are the people that will be told they can't do something because of who they are, because of what they are, because of what they're missing. Their biggest thing is at that point is to show those people that they don't care;  others don't place limits on them based on those artificial restraints, and those others should just watch their dust.

Then you have the people who just are totally insane and really like doing the impossible just because it annoys the heck out of everybody else around them. They don't have to do it, they just think it's funny to show people that thought it was impossible and it couldn't be done. 

The bottom line is it doesn't matter why. You need to figure out your reason to do the impossible and just do it. Show people that you can do whatever you can and do it well.You will find that the easiest way to shut the naysayers down is to just do it, and shutting them up is one of the most satisfying things you can do.

Have Some Fun

You should not be forcing yourself to go to the keyboard every day and type out a few pages or even a few hundred words. That way is just not going to work; you need to figure out some way to have a little bit of fun, something will keep you coming back to the keyboard. There are three basic approaches. 

The first is that something will change, such as the character, the setup, or even the genre. It is interesting to change things up just to see what will happen. In table-top gaming I usually play a young geek, but  every so often I'll play an older brick just to have a little bit of fun. When you're writing, you can change a story from horror to romance and sci fi just to see what happens.

Sure, it's the same basic story, but by changing the associated tropes while carrying elements of the former genre it's interesting to see what actually happens with them. By changing these little details we make things more fun; by pushing ourselves we alleviate the boredom of doing the same thing over and over.

Another thing we'll do is unravel the plot a bit. For a convoluted plot this is great as it allows us to focus on particular threads. Conversely, for a simpler plot it allows us to see where we can make it a little more complicated. But the bottom line is all we're actually writing, we're having a lot of fun, not only trying to set this thing up and set it in motion, but to try to figure out how to deal with it and how to actually make it all makes sense then. 

And then of course, there are goal setters, those people who set a different number of words or how many pages they're going to type. Sometimes it'll be more, sometimes they'll throw themselves into a marathon session, but they'll try to set some sort goal and it won't always be the same one. By changing up the goals you can keep things fresh, especially if you have good reasons for changing the goals.

Between messing around with the way you write, messing around with what you're writing, or just simply setting some sort of weird goal, you're able to have a little bit of fun with what you're doing, and by having fun, you're able to keep yourself motivated, which is something you need, definitely work on.

So have some fun and see what you can do. Writing shouldn't be just a job, but an adventure.