Internet Marketing for eBook Writers: 9 Ways to Readers & Revenue
In the world of cheap desktop publishing that we live in, it has become relatively easy and vogue for bloggers and subject matter experts to create their own, saleable, written works of value. Authors can not only take advantage of low-cost, limited run publishing of hard copies, but can also keep the book in the cyber-universe and create and market an eBook to the audience of the author�s niche.
The goal for every eBook author is to get noticed, read, and earn a profit on the fruits of her labor in producing the book.
Sounds simple? It is, but it isn�t easy. Internet marketing an eBook involves a series of complementary strategies to get eyeballs popping and wallets opening. You can buy standard advertising in print publications and classifieds, but let�s limit this discussion to the online world. The following 9 best practices will help any author attract readers and revenue:
Every unique product you make can have a landing page if not multiple landing pages. This is the eBook specific website (myebooktitle.com) that uses either a written or video sales letter format to talk about all the reasons people should buy your eBook. Landing pages are a discussion unto themselves, but should have as many 3rd party testimonials raving about the book and its content as possible. Every landing page culminates in a call to action to buy the book online, for a limited time discount price.
Note that landing pages don�t have to be on your own domain. You can create a fan page on a site like Squidoo that is free to set up and hitches a ride on the SEO and traffic that the main Squidoo site already has.
Wherever your landing page is, make sure it is SEO optimized around keywords and even your geographical area, like San Diego SEO. This gives it a fighting chance for high organic search engine ranking.
Don�t have an email list? Shame on you! Your personal or business website should have an email sign-up list where people opt in to hear from you. But why would they do that? I�m sure you�ve seen sign up forms that say, �Register for our email list!� Gag me with a pitchfork! Unless the site carries gravitas and heavy name recognition, no one will sign up for your list without a lead magnet. A lead magnet is the freebee, the giveaway that intrigues the reader enough to part with his email address to get it.
If you just wrote an eBook, your lead magnet is 1 or 2 free chapters of the eBook. Collect email addresses while impressing people with the free chapter content, tantalizing them for more. You, of course, now send them customized email messages from your email marketing partner (Constant Contact, I-Contact, MailChimp, etc.) that are timed autoresponses from the date they first accessed the chapters. Each follow-up email gives them an opportunity to click through to your landing page and buy.
If you don�t already have a large email list, it will take a while before you have any scale to make any headway with email marketing. That�s OK. Take advantage of business newsletters (start with the ones you subscribe to) that complement your subject matter to use their already large distribution.
How?
Contact the publisher or author and offer a commission for the favor of that person or company to promote and provide an ad about your eBook. Find out how big the list is. You can rent the list as well, but may be able to get free access to it using the commission strategy. Don�t be stingy; give the list owner 50-75%. It�s an eBook! Your cost of delivery, once written and online, is zero.
Just like the JV example above, offer your book with similar commissions to affiliates who can sell it on their own websites. Google search affiliate marketplaces or simply go to Clickbank, the largest affiliate marketplace for digitally downloadable products, and follow their set-up procedures to get your eBook listed and available for internet marketers, most of whom you will never meet. Make the commissions attractive to get affiliates that will produce. To use this strategy like a pro, you�ll want to produce several static and/or dynamic banner ads in standard sizes that your affiliate prospects can download and use on their websites to market your eBook.
Locate outlets for articles you can write to provide information while stealthily promoting the eBook. You can use article farms like Ezine Articles or Articles Base, but you can also search Technorati for related blogs online to your topic that have tons of traffic and accept submitted content from authors. Your submissions may contain text links or an author�s box that links to your eBook landing page(s). You have a couple of strategies here:
1. Submit articles that are free chapters from the eBook. Never give away the entire book, but a great chapter that provides value and teases the reader for more.
2. Write a review about your book using an author alias, so it isn�t you reviewing your own book in the eyes of the online world. You can find 3rd party reviewers for your book by Google searching or going to gig-oriented sites like Fiverr.com.
Write a press release or a series of them about your book, its release and availability, and submit to paid press release sites like http://www.prnewswire.com/ and/or low-cost/no-cost outlets like http://PR.com. Make it compelling and link to your landing page for purchase.
Using Google Adwords or any other online ad forum, promote your eBook within your allowable daily budget to drive people to your landing page. Facebook Ads, for example, can be very targeted based upon attributes of the members in their database, segmented by age, region, language and interests. Now your ad is only served up to those who match the criteria, increasing the odds that any visitors are really interested in your eBook and not just money-wasting curiosity seekers.
Capitalize on the ridiculous amount of traffic that Amazon.com has of people interested in finding books and register as an author. Amazon has a detailed policy for getting your eBooks online and priced on their website, and for this strategy you don�t even need to handle the ecommerce. They do. As an Amazon.com affiliate, you can list your eBook along with any others you are interested in on your website and earn commissions when your eBook is clicked through and purchased.
This one is obvious. Promote your eBook landing page in your Tweets , on your Facebook page, in LinkedIn groups, your Youtube channel, and on any other social media outlets where your book can be seen, forwarded, re-tweeted and more. Don�t rely on this as your primary tactic, but if you have great content and a catchy message, you just may go viral and then the sky�s the limit.