So, you’re an author. That’s great. But just writing books isn’t enough – you’ve got to promote you and your books.
The first step to is to set yearly, monthly, and weekly book marketing goals. With goals, you know where you’re heading and can work toward that end.
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Marketing goals can be considered a marketing plan, and it will have a number of steps or objectives that must be set in motion and accomplished.
To market your book, you need to generate visibility for you and your platform. Six of the basic online marketing strategies to increase your visibility are:
1. Create a presence and platform.
Creating an online author presence and platform begins with creating a website. First, though, you’ll need to be sure of your niche, because the domain name, site title, and content should reflect it and/or your area of expertise.
Remember, plan first. Choose a domain name and title that will grow with you. For example, if you choose a site name like Picture Books with [Your Name], you’ve limited yourself. What if your next book is a chapter book, young adult, or something else?
As part of your book marketing strategy, you should also create a ‘hub’ site that will act as the center to your offshoot sites, such as the individual sites for each of your books.
Leave room to grow; it’s always advisable to use your name as the hub site’s title, or part of it.
In addition, with today’s gone-in-a-second attention span, it’s a good idea to keep your site simple. Marketing expert Mike Volpe of HubSpot.com points out that it’s more important to spend time, and money if necessary, on content rather than a flashy website design; simple works.
Google verifies this ‘simple is better’ strategy and notes that milliseconds count in regard to your page load time. In fact, Google gives a ‘poorer’ score to pages that are slow to load.
Sites that take a few seconds or more to load may also cause you to lose potential subscribers and buyers.
TIP: You should have an author website up and running before you start submitting your manuscript to publishers or before you self-publish.
2. Increase visibility.
Writing content, blog posts, for your readers/visitors is the way to increase visibility – content is definitely still King. Provide interesting, informative, and/or entertaining content that will prompt the reader to come back and, just as important, to share your article.
Also, be sure your content is pertinent to your site, and keep your site and content focused on your platform.
3. Draw traffic to your site with blogging.
To help drive traffic to your site, promote your posts on social media. You should also include guest blogging. This will increase your visibility reach.
This is considered organic marketing; it funnels traffic back to your site with valuable content and free offers.
TIP: When using social media, choose two or three networks and ‘work’ them. It’s important to be active on the networks you promote your books on.
For more on using social media as part of your book marketing strategy, check out:
The Social Media Marketing Smorgasborg
4. Create effective call-to-actions.
Your site must include call to action keywords that motivate readers to visit and click on your links. Keywords and phrases to use include:
– Get “DIY Self-Publishing” Now (specifically name the product you’re offering for free)
– Shop Now
– Get Started Today
– Become a Better Writer – Tips Right to Your Inbox
– Get My Free Chapter Now
– Learn Email Marketing in 30-Minutes
You get the idea: motivate the reader to want what you’re offering and give him/her a CLEAR and VISIBLE call to action. Make it as simple as possible for the visitor to buy what you’re offering.
You can also check out this article from HubSpot for more ideas on CTAs:
Great Call-to-Action Examples
5. Develop a relationship with your readers.
It’s been noted that only 1% of first-time visitors will buy a product. Usually, only after developing a relationship through your newsletter, information, and offers will your potential customer or client click the BUY NOW button or other call to action you have in place.
While implement and maintain these strategies will take time and effort, it will be worth it in the long run. Think of it as a long-term investment.
6. Create an ebook for increased visibility and opt-in enticement.
Another strategy is to offer your readers an ebook relevant to your niche. This will help to increase your usefulness to the reader and help establish your authority.
As an author, you might offer a chapter of your book in ebook format.
So there you have it – six tips that will help you generate visibility and boost your book marketing results.
The Front Matter – Before the Story Text Begins
Building a Writing Career Takes Practice and Focus
The Author Platform – You Definitely Need One and It Should Have Been Started Yesterday
I’m a working children’s ghostwriter, book doctor, editor, and self-publisher. I help turn your idea, outline, or manuscript into a book you’ll be proud to call your own—and provide hands-on guidance through every step of the self-publishing process.
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