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Online Book Promotion Beats Traditional Seven to One - Part 2
Think of Your Promotion Time and Budget Most one or two-book authors don't have a large marketing budget. Marketing their speaking leaves them little time to write and promote their books. Marketing experts say do five things a day, six days a week, which sounds pretty doable. When I followed this advice and not much happened, I turned to the net. Always ask yourself "Is this time, money and effort bringing me the sales I want?" Aren't sales what we should count? Before the sales roll in however, you need to create a foundation--"a marketing plan"--of what you want to promote, what money you want to make from it monthly, how much time you are willing to give it, and how you will get the word out to your target audience. This takes a little time, but is worth it. Just remember the plan brings you no sales. It's the action you take that does. If other marketing and promotion campaigns have brought few book sales, have left your wallet thinner, wasted your valuable time, or left you with a garage full of unsold masterpieces, you may now be ready to set up your book's virtual marketing machine--the Internet. Online Marketing Method #1 Writing and Submitting Articles to Top Web Sites and Spam-Free Ezines Online marketing can produce 7 times your book profits in just 5 months Now that you see the limitations of traditional book marketing, you may be ready to increase your book sales 7 fold by submitting how-to articles to online ezines where thousands of subscribers who want your specific topic of information a day will see your message and visit your book-selling site. Rather than a shot gun approach, I suggest this favorite and highly successful Online marketing technique. This approach increased my own second Web site sales more than 7 times in 5 months, from $75 in August to $2265 in December. In 2002, the sales soared to $3000 a month. Today my sales are over $4500 a month, are consistent and Google has made my site #1 for 4 years with "bookcoaching." That number also lists my URL on 21,000 other sites that increase by 1000 each week with a link to mine for services and eBooks. Whether you have a Web site or not, you can apply your writing ability to produce short information-packed articles to submit to hundreds of Online ezines, whose readership of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, will read some of your articles you submit. These online small business people want to know more about your subject, whether it be how to raise parrots, or how to write a book, or how to write a Web site with marketing pizzazz. Since you will include your signature box at the end of each article with your book title, your email address, free offer, and benefit statement, people can get in touch with you and possibly become buyers. After reading seven or so articles readers will know you as the savvy expert and will be more likely to buy. From my own first week's experience after subscribing to several opt-in ezines such as: aabusiness-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, aageneral-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, aainet-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com I got 10 or so responses from other publishers and Web site owners asking to post my ezines in their format. Talk about exciting. My ezine subscribers to "The Book Coach Says..." increased ten to fifteen after each article submission. You can also submit your how-to articles and tips to top Web sites who want your material. In the first year I sent articles to 12 Web sites. Now we send to 70 each two weeks. These articles help promote your business services too. If you are a coach, consultant, professional, or other small businessperson this method helps attract more clients than you ever dreamed of. From my own experience, my clients tripled to 21 in just 2 months. When you have written a well-constructed article, giving real information and how-tos, you will attract these potential buyers and clients who will eventually end up on the Web sites where you sell your books. Getting Started--Writing your Article First, create 5 to 10 articles from 200-800 words, possibly excerpted from your book, or how-to's on your subject. Write several articles and submit one or so a week. I started submitting to only five ePublishers of the opt-in ezines. Even in the first week, several publishers used my article "Sell More Books with a Powerful Back Cover." At the end of the article, I put a link to a product "How to Get Testimonials from the Rich and Famous" in my signature box, bringing increased sales. After writing 2 books on this topic, I included over 100 opt-in ezines and other publisher emails to directly send articles to. Join the Online Revolution by subscribing to several opt-in ezines. As soon as you subscribe, you'll receive one or more articles a day. Take time to read some of these articles to educate yourself about all topics that will boost your business success. See what format and content they use. This Online business marketing research is gold, because you will now be able to model your articles after successfully published ones. Now just start submitting so thousands can learn from you too. Invest in Some Promotion Time While we need promotion, how much time do we actually put into it? At first I had a learning curve that took me 12 hours a week. I learned from a techie assistant I hired from a local high school. Now my assistant does most of this work and I spend only 5-7 hours a week creating the articles she submits. The usual promotion investment for big results is 90% of your time. With Online, it's only 9%, far less, and you'll even have time for a long-needed vacation to some Caribbean island. For Online promotion you will want to check resources on how to write a publishable article and other tips to make publishers accept them. Check out a book coach, read writing ezines, and take a teleclass such as "Promote your Business and Books with Free Articles." Online Promoting is Easy, Convenient, and Profitable Better than press releases, book reviews or book signings, you can create and promote articles conveniently right from your office or home. Give this a method a chance. You'll only be sorry you didn't do it sooner! Judy Cullins ©2004 All Rights Reserved. Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people's lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," "How to Market your Business on the Internet," and "Create your Web Site With Marketing Pizzazz," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, "The Book Coach Says..." and "Business Tip of the Month" at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 155 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com.
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