A friend called me the other day. She was almost in tears because everyone she talked with told her she needed to be active on the Internet in order to promote her books. Everyone told her she needed to do active social networking.

She had heard she needed a blog, needed accounts in Twitter and Facebook, needed to do videos and book trailers. How was she suppose to do all that and still have time to write?

After I talked with her for awhile, she calmed down a little. I assured her that you can’t build an Internet presence overnight. Like anything else, you can get things done a little at a time.

Since you are reading this, I know that you are further along than my friend. You know your way around the Internet well enough to read this blog.

To avoid overwhelm, map our your promotion strategy. Break the results down into smaller pieces. Then start on the first small task.

Here are some steps you might consider.

• Reserve your %%%domain name%%%
• Write a 100 word bio
• Edit your bio down to 160 characters or less
• Get an informal photo taken
• Get a Google account
• Post a profile in Google
• Set up a Twitter account

These steps will help you get started. Don’t try to do all of these steps at once.

There will be plenty of time to do the advanced tasks. Start small. Every step you take will move you closer to your goal.

Pick one task and do it. You can make great progress by accomplishing one task at a time.

Soon you will be able to use social networking to promote yourself and your books.