Recycle, Reuse, repurpose

Excuse the dust. We're under reconstruction.

The Hen House Publishing website is being revamped, reorganized, re-everything. The changes, while irksome for the duration of renovation, should bring the site more in line with today's styling and visitor expectations. We're optimizing SEO--that's "search engine optimization" for those not hip to the lingo.

Don't worry, we employ only white hat tactics. Nothing underhanded here. I wouldn't tolerate it.

Myself, I only learned the terms "white hat" and "black hat" (as applied to SEO rather than old westerns) earlier this year. That certainly doesn't make me an expert, but the terms are fun to throw around. The imagery that the terms evoke appeals to me.

Some of the little quirks of this site will disappear, but the chicken theme will remain. More than one person has asked me how I came up with "Hen House Publishing." Here goes: Are you familiar with the term "chick lit?" Chicks refer to women. Adult women are often referred to as hens. Hens read romance. I write and publish romance. A business that publishes books is called a publishing house. This publishing house serves a primarily female audience.

The circuitous train of thought might baffle some, but I found it entertaining and enjoyed applying the chicken theme to various aspects of the site. For instance, I call this blog "Eggs." Hens lay eggs. Eggs are food and the blog is "food for thought." Those thoughts--like eggs--come scrambled, sunny side up, hard boiled, etc.

This all shows that you're not imagining things: I really have cracked. Hah!

The oddball humor doesn't necessarily translate into SEO, but we'll do our best to keep it, because all work and no play makes Jane a dull girl.

You'll notice that yet another image will replace the recently uploaded top banner image. It's more dramatic and eye-catching, yet it continues the somewhat rustic theme and the idea of books and the tagline "Escape with Us." The top part of the home page will be devoted to the business aspect of the site: the freelance writing and editing services that pay the bills and buy the groceries. Here we'll locate the portal to the services offered and project samples with a few testimonials. A brief "tell me about your project" contact form will be added.

Below that, we'll segue into a less dramatic image to something sweet and pleasant without being sappy or too biased toward a specific genre. The second section focuses on my books. That's where you'll find the latest releases, the "Book of the Month" and a link to the entire book catalog. We'll throw in some positive reader reviews, too. After all, I wouldn't keep doing this if readers in general didn't like what I write.

Progressing to the third section, visitors will come to the events portal: "Hens roost here, there, and everywhere." This section will give visitors a quick update as to the next event where I'll be performing ... er ... signing books. (Well, it feels like performing.) It will also lead them to the events web page with a complete roster of upcoming and previously attended events. By the way, the Summer Book Fair still has two vendor tables open. Registration ends on July 31.

We go back to business in the fourth section below the two author-focused sections and focus on client testimonials: all the customers satisfied with the service provided. The home page will begin and end with business. Somewhere in there we'll insert a portal leading visitors to the blog.

So, there it is. The Hen House Publishing website reorganization plan under way. We'll continue to tweak it once the chicken coop becomes habitable again.