There is a formula to get book sales
Conventional publicity, networking, speaking engagements…
And in today’s new “social media” econon
y – the internet is important, really critical.
Here are 12 steps to jumpstart
your book sales using the Internet:
(1) Write a web book marketing plan.
Decide how you’re going to use the web, email and social media. What are your goals and expectations?
(2) Create a favorable buying experience.
Make your site “shopper-friendly.” Make your web site easy to use and provide good customer service by shipping products within 5 to 7 days. Also, use auto responders when people make purchases.
(3) Build a list of people interested in what you have to offer.
Most people will not buy on the first look. That’s why it’s important to build a list of prospective readers so you can follow-up. Offer something for free like a special report, MP3 audio or video if vistiors provide their name and email address.
(4) Follow up with useful content.
Regularly follow-up with your web visitors by email. The service we use to manage and automate email marketing is Aweber.
(5) Make your site sharable.
Add twitter and facebook links to your site so your visitors can easily share it with others.
(6) Join discussion forums.
Discussion forums offer an easy way to stay up-to-date on your industry. There are groups for business people, pastor and authors. Search Google for “your industry forum” to get started. For training and support to reach your goals, join a Mastermind group like our Inner Circle for authors, experts and other thought leaders.
(7) Put banner ads on other sites that your target audience may visit.
Online ads can be a very effective way to promote your book and other products. These ads are usually very inexpensive. Make a list of the sites, and contact the owner about advertising. You can also use a service like BuySellAds.
(8) Update your site frequently.
Outdated information sends the wrong message. Keep it fresh. Try new things on your site like pod-casting in addition to articles.
(9) Create content that will appeal to your audience, and rank well in search engines.
What topics are your audience most interested in? What words and phrases do they type into Google to find what you offer? Use this information to create content for your site. To learn more about this, sign up for our newsletter.
(10) Add a “Press Page” to your site.
Make sure you have a page on your site for the media. Include a high-resolution photo (300 dpi), press release, history and a good bio. This makes their life easier and shows you’re a pro at handling media interviews. This would also be a good idea place to list other media that you have received, including magazine articles, radio interviews, columns you’ve had published, etc.
(11) Regularly post to your blog.
We recommend posting 2 to 3 times a week. A blog is like a personal journal online (weBLog). It is the center of your online universe. We use and recommend WordPress for setting up a blog. If you need help with this, we have a step-by-step video course or we can do it for you. Just ask using the help option at the bottom of this page.
(12) Stop trying to figure out everything on your own.
Investing a little time and money can help you skip the hurdles and frustration most people experience. If you’re planning to launch or re-launch your book, or you want help getting your message heard online, schedule an Initial Strategy Session.
Useful? Got a question? Post a comment below…
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