Monday 8 January 2007

Work in progress

A couple I met yesterday have a website - profiling a New Zealand children's alphabet book - that they are trying to promote. When I told them what I do for a living, they asked me if I had any ideas about how they could drive visitors to their site.

I thought I'd take this on as a research task for this week.

My first Google search was for 'children's books recommendations'. One of the first sites that came up was NZS.com, 'the definitive map of New Zealand web space'. I got taken to this page, listing authors and poetry. You can get a basic link for free, while sponsored links will cost you.

Interestingly, the NZS.com claim would seem to rival what the National Library's Te Puna Web Directory is trying to achieve. This site - which I don't think is well known - lists mega-numbers of NZ and Pacific websites. You're able to suggest sites for inclusion.

Story-Go-Round is a website run by children's author Lorraine Orman. It's partly a guide to NZ kids literature, partly promotion for her own books. Great early-90s design.

My next Google search, for 'new zealand children's books' came up with the Storylines site at the top of the search. Storylines supports children's books and literature in New Zealand. They have an online database of authors, illustrators and books - although, irritatingly, the alphabetical search doesn't seem to work, so you have to go by keyword (no serendipitous findings here). No suggestion of how to get a profile, or contacts for a web editor.

The New Zealand Book Council has a page of links, which seems to mix commercial and non-commercial. Again, not sure how you go about getting yourself up there - a polite email, I guess, their contacts section is great.

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