Anyone who has a website of any kind strives to attract visitors. Lots of visitors. It makes us feel valuable, even popular (as silly as that may sound). The best way to attract new visitors is by the strategic use of keywords that search engines such as Google pick up in compiling their rankings.

I'm relatively new to the Internet world, since this site just went live early in 2009. It takes awhile for Google to even realize you exist as a website, and the process of earning page rank isn't necessarily immediate. Google looks for consistent, relevant content rather than a site that never changes. The vast majority of websites get virtually no traffic.

Thankfully, I've acquired enough training that this site’s visitor count has been increasing on a regular basis. Some of this success is by design and some is completely by accident. Let me give you an example.

One of the pages on this site highlights my feature writing. It's under Writing Services>Feature articles>Feature article example. I've come to realize by analyzing my data that visitors don't necessarily arrive at the site through the home page. In fact, they hardly ever come through the home page.

However, because feature articles are a highly searched-for topic on Google, the vast majority of my visitors come right to that page. The numbers are really amazing.

A Google search for "feature article example" brings up 16.8 million possible results. My page is in the No. 2 position on the first page of that search. Unbelievable! And the fact this success was just this side of a complete accident makes it almost humorous.

Other closely related searches are almost as successful. "Example of feature article" brings up 31.9 million possible results. My page is in the No. 4 position on the first page. Simply changing the search parameters to a plural of the keywords – "Examples of feature articles" – brings up 14.6 million results. This site comes up as No. 7 on the first page.

No wonder I've been getting a ton more hits of late than at this point a year ago. And you can bet I'll change up the feature article on that page regularly to satisfy Google's requirement for consistent, relevant content. Come back to check out these interesting stories, and thanks for visiting.

After one of the more eventful years of my life in 2009 – both professionally and personally – it’ll be interesting to see what 2010 has to offer.

From a writing standpoint, 2009 was the year of Torture at the Back Forty, my second release through Titletown Publishing and my first true crime book. The first part of the year was dedicated to finishing the research and putting together a draft. As it turned out, an unexpected opportunity created the need for me to write about 80 percent of the first draft in eight days. Now that’s deadline pressure!

We had an extremely successful book release event on Aug. 7, and Torture was off and running from there. It became the best-selling regional book through the rest of 2009 at our local Barnes and Noble store in Green Bay, Wisconsin, selling almost 800 copies in a little over four months. The people there tell me if they sell more than a few dozen copies of a regional book, that’s considered a success. That makes the extended run for Torture “unprecedented,” which is quite cool.

Torture at the Back Forty apparently is selling well elsewhere, as well, since the national distributing company told my publisher to print up a couple thousand more copies because several hundred were on back order. That’s a good problem to have!

I have five speaking appearances scheduled in the next four months, capped off by an appearance at the Fox Valley (Wis.) Book Festival in April. These types of events tend to give the book a little shot in the arm as it’s introduced to a new set of potential buyers.

Late in the year, I picked up a major new client for my freelance writing business. This grew from a business relationship 10 years ago. You never know when a simple note reminding people of what you do for a living will result in a little more financial security. Make sure to network, people!

On a personal level, 2009 was the year of the accident. My wife and I were involved in a serious car accident less than two weeks before the release party for Torture. I managed to come away with cuts and bruises, but my Bonnie suffered a severe head injury and was in a coma for a couple of days, even on a ventilator for the first 36 hours. The good news is she was released from the hospital after 10 days and actually attended the book release event. She has since made a miraculous recovery and is back to nearly 100 percent.

The whole episode turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We appreciate each other and life much more than we previously thought possible, and we don’t get as wound up about the little things as you tend to before such a life-changing event. And who knows, maybe we’ll even get a little financial help from the other driver’s insurance company.

My advice for 2010 and beyond is for you to enjoy the journey, good or bad. You never know when one of life’s challenges will prove to be a staging ground for even greater things in your future.

Until you experience it for yourself, it’s hard to imagine how much time and effort goes into the promotional efforts surrounding a book release. There’s the push for media attention, the requests for bookstores to carry it, and various online promotions – such as writing this blog entry!

Part of the post-release festivities include distributing and mailing copies of the book to friends and family, along with some of the people who helped out during the research phase of the book.

In just the past two days, I’ve spent time at the local Barnes and Noble to sign books, given a presentation to one of the local Optimist clubs, bought padded envelopes to mail out several copies of the book (including a run to the post office with a stack of said envelopes), and communicated with other regional outlets regarding future appearances.

Torture at the Back Forty (my new true crime release) was the #1 selling title at our local Green Bay, Wis., Barnes and Noble store the last three weeks. That’s very cool, but it didn’t happen by accident. A nice newspaper review and great interview on a local morning TV show helped the cause greatly, and we have a wonderful relationship with the Community Relations Manager at our Barnes and Noble.

Within the next few weeks, I’ll be off to do appearances at bookstores in other parts of Wisconsin where portions of my book’s story took place. I’ve created a chart to track all my commitments and contact information for the various bookstores and media outlets with which I’m in contact.

Sometimes it’s enough to make your head spin, but it’s fun at the same time. After all, if no one wanted to carry my book or hear my story, the past year and a half of effort would’ve been in vain. Bring it on!

The final step in completing a book project is collecting comments from authors, media outlets and other credible sources for use in a variety of different formats, including the book’s cover. It can be an intimidating experience the first time through, but not as difficult as you might think.

I was fortunate to collect six blurbs from outstanding authors in the U.S. and the U.K. for my upcoming true-crime book, Torture at the Back Forty. Many of these authors have been in the same boat as me at one point in their careers – virtually unknown and in need of a credibility boost – and were happy to help. It came as a pleasant surprise.

How did I succeed in recruiting these accomplished authors to help out a newbie like me? Well, it was very complicated: I asked them. Some authors insulate themselves from the general public in terms of e-mail access, while others make it as simple as a “Contact Me” button on their website. Connections through Twitter also proved useful in this quest.

I’m told the difference between having these comments at your disposal and not can be significant, since book buyers at major outlets pay more attention to books whose authors have made the effort to obtain them. There are two levels of selling when it comes to books: getting them on retail store shelves to begin with, and getting the buying public to pay money for your work. These comments help on both ends of that equation.

We’re using two comments on the cover and several more inside, and of course I have them available to post on sites like my blog. Our distributor, Midpoint Trade Books, also passed them on to Amazon, which has included them on the book’s page under “Editorial Reviews.” Very cool.

The files are now at the printer and all systems are ‘go’ for our August 7, 2009, release date. Now the marketing push takes center stage as we prepare for launch. As we wait for the tangible results of this 18-month effort, enjoy my treasured comments from authors around the world:

“Mike Dauplaise has a microscopic ability to see and know the truth as it exists, not as it seems. He presents here a murder story that needs to be told, must be told, for it represents the worst of human nature. The only thing colder than the killers’ hearts is the blistery, frigid air surrounding Green Bay, Wisconsin, that terrible winter. Here there is no fat; the writing is lean and moves to the point swiftly.”

Philip Carlo

Author of The Night Stalker, The Ice Man and The Butcher: Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath

“With an unsparing eye, Dauplaise tells a penetrating story set in a blustery outpost of America about a murderer named Gargoyle, motorcycle gangs, an undercover operation conducted with a wife in tow, a hit man who runs out with a deposit, and a woman who deserved far better than her depraved end.”

Marek Fuchs

Author of A Cold-Blooded Business

“A despicable cast of characters, a misogynistic culture, a horrendous crime – Dauplaise lays it all bare in shocking detail as law enforcement struggles for four-and-a-half years to find justice for a brutally victimized woman. Torture at the Back Forty is a stunning story in an otherwise bucolic blue-collar town.”

Diane Fanning

Author of Edgar Award finalist Written in Blood

“While well written and a true page turner, this book is not for the faint of heart. I would prefer to fight a pack of hungry wolves before facing the men Margaret fought with on the night of her death.”

Chuck Whitlock

Author of Police Heroes and Scam School

“Keep your eyes on author Mike Dauplaise. He's one to watch. He's taken an obscure crime story and crafted a smart and riveting narrative that dares you to put it down.”
Gregg Olsen
NY Times Bestselling Author of Abandoned Prayers

“Who murdered Margaret Anderson? And why? Dauplaise vividly recounts the details of this horrific crime. He depicts a twilight world where women are second-class citizens and life is cheap. Read it and weep.”

Carol Anne Davis

U.K.-based Author of Sadistic Killers and Children Who Kill

As much as we writers like to think our abilities enable us to adequately paint a mental picture with our words, nothing can top actual photography in helping the reader really “see” our story. That’s especially true in the true crime genre, where readers want to see what the main characters looked like and not just imagine them.

We’re dealing with real people in true crime books, and actual photos serve to connect the reader on a more emotional level with the victim and other primary participants. I found that’s certainly the case with my latest effort, Torture at the Back Forty – The Gang Rape and Slaying of Margaret Anderson (due out Aug. 7 through TitleTown Publishing).

This crime occurred in 1983, meaning some of the photos and sketches I wanted to use in the book were hidden in police or newspaper archives, boxes kept by retired law enforcement officers, and old family albums.

During the more than a year that I spent researching this case, I was able to collect a rather impressive assortment that will add to my readers’ enjoyment of the book. I hesitate to use the word “enjoyment” with regard to such a hideous crime, but fans of true crime books will certainly appreciate the detail presented in the telling of this story.

As is the case with many true crime books, you just can’t make this stuff up.

As I was wrapping up work on my first book a year ago, “Bodyguard to the Packers,” with former Green Bay Packers security director Jerry Parins, we were searching for a photo that would help the book jump off the shelves. Jerry owned a great photo of Brett Favre giving him a hug after a game in which both men wore grins of pure joy and affection for each other.

It was a great photo, and we decided that with Brett’s unprecedented popularity (he had just “retired” from the Packers), it would help sales more than any marketing campaign ever could. We had a whole chapter in the book dedicated to Jerry’s relationship with Brett and his family, and Brett even helped us with a comment for the book jacket.

Everything was coming together for a successful first foray into the book business – or so we thought.

My, how things can change…

By the time the book came out in late August 2008, Brett had unretired, gone through a bitter divorce with the Packers and become a member of the New York Jets. There were mixed feelings in Packer Nation about Favre, which have only deepened with his recent dance with the hated Minnesota Vikings, and our “blessing” of having Brett on the cover  had turned into a full-blown curse.

“Bodyguard to the Packers” remains a great book for fans of the Green Bay Packers, law enforcement and cancer survivors, but that cover photo long ago ceased doing us any favors.

Oh well.

Probably the most attractive aspect of being a writer is the freedom to work on your own and contribute to a variety of clients.

I worked in a newspaper or corporate setting – real jobs – for more than twenty years before taking the plunge and going solo. Of course, I made this decision right as we were moving into a brand new house with a big new mortgage.

Thankfully, my supportive wife encouraged me to go for it, and I’ve never regretted that decision for a minute. Once a bird is out of its cage, it’s hard to get it back inside.

Writing isn’t one of those jobs in which you can just sit at the computer and work non-stop for eight hours. At least I can’t. It’s nice to be able to get up and mow the lawn or go for a run or otherwise fit some downtime into the day without asking permission. OK, that part’s really cool.

While my primary client provides steady work, it’s not always the most stimulating. That’s where it’s nice to have additional clients and book projects to keep the day fresh. During the course of a single day, I can work on projects for two or three completely unrelated companies, and make progress on promotional efforts for my two books, “Torture at the Back Forty” and “Bodyguard to the Packers.”

I don’t have employer-sponsored benefits or guaranteed work, but I’ve got freedom – freedom of time; freedom of projects; freedom of income with no artificially imposed ceiling.

It’s hard to put a price on that.

I can still remember the day, thirty years ago last week, when I was hired as a part-time member of the Green Bay Press-Gazette sports department. It was a month past my sixteenth birthday, and I was paid a whopping (for that time) $4.50 an hour to take phone calls from high school sports events and write up short summaries for the next day’s paper.

I was very excited and my work felt important. After all, people like my dad read the paper every night. They’d be seeing my work! (My first bylined story was probably one of the most exciting days of my professional career.)

What I didn’t realize was how much I had to learn. Luckily, the Press-Gazette had a large part-time sports staff at the time, and the senior member of that group was instrumental in my development as a writer. Lisa (Foth) Hildebrand went through many of those little game summaries with me, highlighting the good and offering advice on how to fix the not-so-good. The combination was a perfect fit for my desire to be a better writer.

In addition, I had the opportunity to work full-time in the city news department during the summers of my college years. Not only was this great exposure to whole different part of the newspaper world, but other media members who walked the police beat showed me the ropes, as well.

Recently, I began providing a little mentoring help to a student at St. Norbert College. I had forgotten just how much an editor can mean to a writer’s early development – not just to work on articles, but also to provide the “why” behind the suggested fixes and other assorted pearls of wisdom.

I may not be the most skilled teacher yet, but I’d like to think I’ve learned a few things over the course of my career that I can impart on someone just starting out. It seems like I was in that position not that long ago. Thirty years already…. Sheesh!

You wouldn’t think coming up with an imaginative title for a blog would be that difficult of a task, but it was.

In fact, I struggled so much with alliterations and other lame attempts to be catchy that I finally opened it up to an online brainstorming session. The result is a combination of my friend Robin’s suggestion and a little addition from me to produce, “A Bunch of NounSense.”

Now, you should know that the word “Noun” has deep significance in my world beyond the obvious writing connection. I participate in a fantasy football league with my friend, Mark, who is a police officer. Our team’s name is The Noun Police. Part of it is a play on our careers, and the other refers to my tendency to edit postings on the league website for grammatical penalties.

And some of you thought I was incapable of having deep thoughts ….

The true crime story that would become “Torture at the Back Forty” began the night after Christmas, 1983. Margaret Anderson was a divorced mother out on a date in Green Bay, Wisconsin, when she met her tragic and horrific end.

Her story would dominate the local news for the next three years as local law enforcement agencies and the Brown County District Attorney’s office worked to bring her killers to justice.

My involvement with the story began in 2004, when I began working as a co-author with Jerry Parins on his book, “Bodyguard to the Packers – Beat Cops, Brett Favre and Beating Cancer.” Jerry, who went on to serve as the Green Bay Packers’ security director, was one of the lead detectives on Margaret’s case during his career with the Green Bay Police Department. His description of the investigation is a chapter in “Bodyguard to the Packers.”

After “Bodyguard to the Packers” came out, my publisher, Tracy Ertl at TitleTown Publishing, suggested I continue on and put together a true crime book solely dedicated to the Margaret Anderson case.

As much as I thought I knew about the case from Jerry, the next year and a half of investigative work proved to be one of the more fascinating projects of my 30-year writing career.