Promoting and Marketing Your Book Online: 8 Things You Can Do Tomorrow

Marketing your book (or other product or service) is critical for success and Internet marketing is an area you’ll not want to ignore. Your own author Website is a great start to having an online presence, but actively developing a more diverse online presence through book marketing will produce greater results. To see results from your book marketing activities, you must set time aside each day (or other regular time period) to work on two to five marketing activities. To that end, take a moment right now to block out time for online marketing over the next six months.

Use the time you’ve set aside to execute Internet-based programs in your book marketing plan. No plan yet? No problem. You will of course want to finish your marketing plan so you can refine your activities, but begin tomorrow by starting on one or more of the following:

Volunteer for Online Interviews

We are all familiar with television and print interviews. What you may not realize is that podcasts, Webcasts, blogs, RSS feeds and newsletters (ezines) are all venues for online interviews or discussions. You'll want to approach publishers who conduct interviews with authors or guests your area of expertise, so finding opportunities will take some research. Do this by searching general search engines (such as google.com) or directories. Some directories to get you started: podcast.net (podcasts), ezinehub.com (ezines), syndic8.com (RSS feeds/blogs)

Identify 10 Bloggers Interested in Your Subject

Then send them your book as a gift. The idea is to expose your book to influencers in your category by giving them an opportunity to try it free. If they like it, they may give it a mention in their blogs. Note that this is a subtle online marketing technique. Unless the bloggers do book reviews, the idea is NOT to advertise to them, ask a favor of them or ask them to blog about the book. Choosing to mention (or not mention) it should be solely up to them.

You can find and read blogs by searching blogging directories such as technorati.com.

Seek Out Online Book Reviews

Some Website publishers and bloggers who publish reviews also write them.  Others seek out book reviews from independent reviewers. This means gaining online book reviews is a two-pronged approach: (1) Send review copies directly to online publications that accept them and (2) send review copies to independent online reviewers.

The better you target your review requests, the more likely reviewers (and their readers) will be interested in your book. When searching for reviewers, include your subject matter or category together with book reviews in your search terms. Examples: children’s book reviews, business book reviews, etc.

Rather than search in the big search engines, look in directories such as those mentioned above in “volunteer for online interviews.” Also, some article directories and many major directories have book review categories. For links to some of these, go to: http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/SLPA#Book Marketing - Reviews

Join an Online Network

Online social networks allow you to set up a profile page and interact with others who have your same professional or personal interests. Each caters to a different type of audience and there are do's and don'ts, so you'll want to read about a network before joining, read some of the profiles and learn a particular site's rules before plunging in. Some networks to explore: linkedin.com, ryze.com, myspace.com, orkut.com, friendster.com, tribe.net, tagworld.com 

Write an Article or Book Excerpt

There are many free content article directories on the Web that allow authors to post articles or book excerpts (Some have a book review section also). At the end of the article you are allowed a resource box where you can tell about yourself and your book. You will also want to link to your author Website or other online store where people can get more information or buy your book.

In return for being allowed to post your material, you must allow it be reprinted in publications at no charge. This can dramatically expand your online presence.

Go to http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/SLPA#Article Directories for links to article directories.

Create an Exclusive Offer On Your Website for a Specific Target Audience

Time-sensitive promotions give people a reason to act – a reason to buy your book NOW. Offering promotions exclusively to a group (a trade group, your newsletter subscribers, festival-goers who visit your booth, etc.) is even more compelling. It is relatively easy to set up a custom page online for each group.

Test Two or Three Versions of Your Book Sales Page

Unlike printed brochures, you can easily adjust any element of your sales page and test its effectiveness with page rotator software (or a script). If you set up your buy links (or other call-to-action) so that you know from which version an order or action originated, you will know which version is better at converting your visitors. Several page rotators are available online. Search on “Page rotator.”

Find Out Why Your Website Visitors Aren’t Acting

Visitor surveys can uncover issues or gaps in your Website, which lead to opportunities for improving your Website conversion rates. Attention spans are short on the Web, so keep it simple. For example, here is a quick 3-question survey that can result in much insight:

1.      "On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to ___________."
(Fill in the blank with your call-to-action – what you want visitors to do after they arrive on your Website).

2.      If you answered 6 or less to question 1, please tell me why.

3.      May I email you later with follow-up questions? If so, please fill in your email address (note, your email address is strictly for follow-up to you and will not be shared with others): ________________________

Over time, you will notice one or more issues arising in the responses to question 2. These are keys to improving your Website conversion rate (For an easy and free way to survey your Website customers, visit surveymonkey.com). There you have it - eight ideas for improving your online presence. Choose one and get started tomorrow!