Gust post by Alan K’necht

You’ve no doubt spent countless days, weeks even months writing and editing your book. Along the way, you most likely had a working title, an interim title and finally the official title for your book. Congratulation all that is left is to market you book is to ensure that people who hear about can find it.

This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play. If you’re like most non-technical authors, you might have never heard of SEO or even considered it in the name of your book. Yet you’re about to come face to face with the reality of SEO. So prepare yourself and get ready to start working on it.

Even before your book is published go to Google and Bing and search on the title of your book. Take a look at what comes up in the search results. Believe it or not this is your first level of competition. When I did this search for my book entitled “The Last Original Idea” I was competing with numerous blogs, news paper articles, etc. that were lamenting that neither Hollywood nor the TV industry has had a truly original idea in decades. Many of published article/blog post had title similar to my book “what was the Last Original Idea in…”, “The are no more original ides ….”.

As a marketer I knew how to get people spreading the name of my book and that was great if people happened to go directly to Amazon (or other online books store) to purchase it, but what if they wanted to know more details about the book or what if I wanted to capture people searching for the last original idea in marketing? To ensure that my book would be found and dominate the search results, I executed a SEO strategy.

As part of this strategy, I was aware that Google will only show 2 listings per website on a page of its search results. Simply building an SEO effective website would only get me 2 spots out of the default 10 which isn’t good enough. How could I ensure that they were the first two listed? I wanted to own the first page of results and if possible the second page as well. I’m happy to report that I do and here’s how I did it and now you can you!

1. Register a domain that is the title of your book (i.e. thelastoriginalidea.com) (to protect yourself from others hoping to steal your thunder also register similar domains (i.e. lastoriginalidea.com)
2. Build a website according to SEO best practices ensuring that you are focused on the title of your book and the subject of your book
3. Create a Facebook page for your book and register a custom URL that includes the name of your book (i.e. https://www.facebook.com/TheLastOriginalIdea)
4. Start a blog that does not operate under your website. This means using a different sub-domain (ie blog.thelastoriginalidea.com)
5. Use the blog to not only post book happenings (book signings, status updates of your book, etc.), but your thoughts on related topics. This is a great opportunity to create both excitement for your book and to demonstrate your knowledge on the subject.
6. Submit your book for various online contests that will create a page about your book or at a very minimum list it as an entrant with a link to your site.
7. Contact book reviewers who have blogs and regularly post reviews. Not only will the review help get your name out there, you can easily get them to link to your site and that’s part of step 8.
8. Now get active and get links & fans to both

Getting Links and Fans

Fans

This may be harder or easer depending on how involved you are already in Facebook. Step 1, tell all your current Facebook friends about it and encourage them to pass the word on. To entice people to become fans create a simple contest (become a fan for a random chance to win X copies of my book). Don’t stop with you current Facebook friends; market this fan generating contest through your email list, twitter followers, LinkedIn account and simply by telling people you know and meet.

On your Facebook page you will of course have a link to your books website. As you get more fans the value of this link will go up and help both the Facebook page and your website rank higher in the search engines.

Don’t forget to post regularly in the Facebook page to garner likes and shares. This activity also help keep and generate new fans, Likes and Shares. Remember your blog (step 4), make sure you post a description of each blog post on your Facebook page as well. This helps generate links to your blog, plus lets people know about and encourages people to read your blog posts.

Your Blog

Ensure that in description area of your blog is a description of your book with a text based link on the books name to the books website. When done correctly, this link will appear on every blog post creating a new link to your book with each post. While not as valuable as links from unique domains, they still count and help your site rank in the search engines.

Your Website

Last but not least the most critical part of the puzzle the book’s website. This is where you need to get tons of links. Here are some sure fire ways to get links:

1. Send out a press release with an established/quality PR distribution company and ensure that it has a text based link to your site in it. When done well, the press release will get picked up by 10 perhaps several hundred websites creating a large quantity of links.
2. Register your website with as many author /book directories as possible
3. Arrange for interviews that will be published online and insist that they link back to the books website.
4. Run a contest that requires people to submit written entries that will be posted on the site and voted for. This works wonders in getting other people not only to tell people where to go, but in many cases they’ll put permanent links to their content on your site (known as deep links)

The Fruits of Your Labor

If you’ve done everything well, now when you search on your books title, you should be dominating the listings (6 out of 10 on the 1^st page maybe even a 10 out of 10 on the first page). To truly reap the benefits of this effort, make sure you have a link to where people can purchase your book on each of the pages listed. After all, isn’t that the ultimate goal of all your efforts?

Alan K’necht is the author of “The Last Original Idea – A Cynic’s View of Internet Marketing” (www.TheLast OriginalIdea.com) and a founding Partner at Digital Always Media Inc. (http://www.digitalalwaysmedia.com) a full service agency specializing in search engine and social media marketing.

Five years ago today we changed Matt’s business forever.

We launched a book and his life has never been the same.

Matt had a business before he wrote this book, but the next month grew sales by 300% and then doubled the next month. In the process, Matt has become one of the best resources for authors and small resources who want visitors to their web site. He tests, and retests, and created automated process that make it easy for anyone to to succeed.

That’s the power of working a system and sticking to it..

Authors often look at the "how to make money promotions" Matt does today and ask: Do this work?

I have to say "Only if you do what he says"

You may have a business that getting a lot of attention and your web site is converting well. You may not like the style of promotion Matt does. If so, don’t watch this video.

If you want more traffic to your web site, more readers and more sales, watch this video and learn from Matt

Watch the traffic and income video

Today is Matt’s birthday. Again he’s breaking records with a huge promotional push and outstanding offers.

The "make a lot of money" and "Kill it" language Matt uses is full of hype, but what he teaches works. I know,.. I’ve worked with Matt for years, seen how hard he works at this and how much he cares about ever customer, no matter how large or small. His customer service is great and the products are true values.

Matt will tell you about selling books and product in your niche even if your own book is not yet out. Paying for your marketing and promotion and starting a relationship with your target readers… Or use the same traffic building tactics and direct the traffic to your own book or offer.

Whether you buy or not, watch what best selling author Matt Bacak does. He’s the real deal

I am a paid affiliate for Matt’s products. I rarely suggest any "make money online" products, even those that I know work.. but I’m proud to endorse this because Matt is a client, takes very good care of his customers and has always been quick to follow up on any questions or problems from authors I’ve referred to him.

Have a look. Don’t let the sales style turn you off. If you want to make money, or get a lot of traffic for your book’s web site, Matt’s methods will help you.

Watch the traffic and income video

I’ve just lined up a special FREE webinar this week for authors or anyone with a idea to share.

Willie Crawford is a legend in the Internet info-products industry. He’s been creating and selling information products based on books, or just information and ideas from experts like you.

Willie came from humble beginnings, but once he found the system creating and selling information products online, he was able to secure his financial future, write a bestselling book and start sharing his message with authors and entrepreneurs like you

We Will Share Willie’s System for Product Creating and Sales

Here is a partial outline of topics that we will cover in this webinar:

• The Secret To Making Money Online
• Why Create Your Own Product
• Why Write A Book
• How To Easily Create Info Products In Other Formats
• Creating A Product Is Actually EASY Compared To Marketing It
• Market Your Product By Leveraging The Efforts Of Others
• Finding Joint Venture Partners

New Widget Make it Easy to Get In FREE

We’re using DimDim to present this special event… a breakthrough in webinar technology.

Simply enter your email address in the widget below, and you’ll get the one click log in detail and list of the resources and websites we share during the webinar.

(notice that the widget show 7:55 pm Eastern as the start time. There’s a live chat, so come in at that time to say Hello to Willie, myself and the others.)

if you don’t see a Blue Widget above this line.. CLICK HERE

Be sure to click on the Facebook and Twitter SHARE BUTTONS so your friends can join us.

When you enter your email, DimDim handles the rest. It’s private (won’t be shared) and secure. You simply click on the link in the email you get when it’s time to start.

With all the talk of social media and the dominance of Facebook in the out thoughts when we market your book online, authors have been asking me “Do I still need a mailing list?”

The answer is any unwavering YES!

In the 1990’s, just having an email address from a reader meant you had a connection. Then marketers got busy sending out offers and mailings, with some large companies reaching millions of subscribers. Spammers really added to the clutter to the point where many people shut down one email address and started over.

However, in the past decade, we’ve all come to depend on email for important communications. Most good email services do a pretty good job of catching the spam, and we’ve all learned to filter and ignore the mundane or irrelevant mail.

You Have to Be Relevant

When I talk to major marketers about their mailing lists, they tell tales of lower response rates to sales offer emails. One might think that email is on it’s way out.

Not quite, what on it’s way out is irrelevant emails.

It’s true that some young people forgo an email address to get their messages from other sources, but most everyone is getting email type messages in one or more places. Facebook has just announce integration with email systems. Emails between real people have a real conversation is alive and well.

What does this mean for an author today?

You have a major advantage when you engage readers using email. As an author you understand the power of the written word. In an age where much of the communications amounts to the written equivalent of grunts and murmurs, a little bit of attention to good writing really stands out.

Here’s some tips for getting your email read

1. Make sure your are writing as a human being. Put your own name and a return address on every email and expect that some of your readers will reply and want a response. If you have a large following, you may need some assistance, but there’s no excuse for ignoring your readers.
2. The SUBJECT LINE is the most important part of an email message. If your reader thinks it’s just another ad or notice, you’ve lost them before the message is opened.
3. An email is not a book. Keep it brief, get to the point and let your readers know what do next to continue the conversation.
4. Don’t send email just for your own goals. Pay attention to what the readers will be feeling and thinking when they get your email. What is their desire? Speak to those desires and they will respond.

How To Build Your Mailing List

When you know what your readers want, it’s easier to find other places they are reading relevant information. You can buy advertising, or reach these group in forums, chat rooms and user groups… or you can get creative…

My favorite way to find people who are anxious to read about a subject is a cross promotion with other authors in similar niches. We often put dozens to hundreds of authors together to announce a new book launch or business. We know that readers will like seeing what authors they know recommend.

Connect With the Best Authors for FREE

I set up ZeroCostPromotions.com to help authors build their mailing list when we launch a new best seller.

It FREE to join, just sign up at the link to become a PARTNER.

You’ll get the first notice of any upcoming book launch, specialized training, and an inside look at our best seller book launch campaigns.

The site is a bit dated. We are putting up the new page with paid options next month.

Become a PARTNER at ZeroCostPromotions.com to build your list with readers.

I’ve been holding off reading the NY Times Best Seller Conquer the Chaos till I knew I could give it some attention.  Well today, I got thinking that I’m going to see the authors next week and since I wanted to take the afternoon off, I sat down and read the whole thing start to finish.

That was an accomplishment. Every time I read a good business book, my mind goes off in many direction with the ideas that come to me. The best books are the ones that keep my mind racing with ideas.

I knew that would happen with Conquer the Chaos. I’ve been using InfusionSoft for many years and all of the trainings, webinars and speeches from these guys are this inspiring. Sometimes, I sit down to do a task in Infusionsoft and come up with 3 more great ideas.

Today I forced myself to read the whole book. Still, I had to pause and write down two ideas.. one of which will likely add $30,000.00 to sales in the next week.

Should you read this book? Absolutely

Marketing Lessons for Authors

Now, for authors wanting to build an empire. Here are some takeaways from turning your book into a business

1. Think of your book as a business. It is, whether you do or not
2. When you see a brilliant marketing strategy like this, take notes (they were an instant best seller)
3. Tie your book into a lead generation plan for other business
4. Plan on spending more than you make on royalties to promote
5. FOLLOW UP (read more about this in the book.. it’s where my $30k idea came from)

Are you building a business based on your book?

We talk about selling books, best seller lists, and making money with book marketing here, but I know this is not the best motivation to write a book and become an author.

Authors have valuable expertise and experience to share with readers. After speaking with thousands of authors, I’m convinced that most are writing with a passion to help others.

I did a strategy session with author Debi Silber and was impressed with her giving attitude

Debi is a Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer, Whole Health Coach, Lifestyle Expert just for moms and the author of The Lifestyle Fitness Program: A Six Part Plan So Every Mom Can Look, Feel and Live Her Best (recommended by Parenting Magazine.)

Her web site has a ton of helpful content and video along with a report I liked call “10 Tips to Avoid Weight Gain From Mindless Munching”

The giving doesn’t stop there. Each month Debi chooses a “Mom-Of-the-Month” and let’s her choose what charity she give half her profits to.

When you visit Debi’s web site, you’ll see the passion. There’s the usual design of a small business entrepreneur, but once you get to know Debi, you’ll get the passion. Sure, she wants the book sales, leads and business success… It’s just necessary to fund the passion.

Do me a favor. Take a look a Debi’s site and comment below if you see the passion.

When you are building a business, you are likely to find a lot of talk of “killing it” “attracting eyeballs” and “return on investment” calculations.  Don’t be turned off by the old school business strategies. Planning, testing and measuring what works is a big part of business success.

Just don’t let it override you passion. That the reason we are authors.

What do you do to show PASSION in all of your marketing?

There are many seminar events where you can learn more about learn about blogs, online marketing, speaking, writing and publishing, but one group stands out for having the best group of veteran web people who have been working in the trade for as long as it’s existed

The education choices at PubCon are emended, but make sure you attend the expo, the parties and mingle with the people outside the sessions too. Easy to meet people who have worked full time on designing the web for 15 years, or bought and sold multi million dollars companies.

The networking is what makes any such event. Pubcon is founded on that. It literally started as a conference in a pub when WebMasterWorld folks decided to get together to strengthen relationships formed online and help each other build better performing sites.

If you ever had a job like this, you know about PubCon. If you are new to business on the Internet, Pubcon is a great place to mingle and learn fast. That why I’ve attended for many years, and why I’m speaking at Pubcon again this year.

Come Join Me And Save 20%

When you come to Vegas, let’s plan to meet. Click on the banner above and use Code: rc-4514615 to save 20% on your already reasonably priced ticket when you order now. Then drop me a note and let me know you are coming. We can meet after my session, or at one of the tweet ups or parties.

Tweet me at @WarrenWhitlock or a comment below to let me know you will be here.

My friend Michael Port has been posting fascinating videos like the one below.

Here he talks to Bob Burg, best selling author of “Endless Referrals” and “The Go Giver” series about the similarities of these two authors books.

Selling books is not a competition. With webcam technology, you can put two authors on the screen and explain concepts from each others work with very little cost in time and effort.

If you’re not getting enough interview requests for you book, maybe it’s time you learned one of these systems and started asking other authors. I know dozens of authors, big name best sellers and up and coming smart experts who are anxious to share.

Got a video or radio interview program? Let me know. I’d like to feature best author interviews on this blog, especially topics that will help other authors. And by the way.. I’m available for interviews too :)

Michael Port and Bob Burg on Relationship Building, Book Shrinking, and More… from Michael Port on Vimeo.

Authors need to have a tribe to read what they write.

Publishers don’t build tribes, they print and distribute books.  This business model has served them well in the past when there were limits on ways authors could reach readers.  All authors and publishers would do well to study Tribes

Seth announced his intentions on his blog

Authors need publishers because they need a customer. Readers have been separated from authors by many levels–stores, distributors, media outlets, printers, publishers–there were lots of layers for many generations, and the editor with a checkbook made the process palatable to the writer. For ten years, I had a publisher as a client (with some fun self-published adventures along the way). Twelve bestsellers later, I’ve thought hard about what it means to have a traditional publisher.

Traditional book publishers use techniques perfected a hundred years ago to help authors reach unknown readers, using a stable technology (books) and an antique and expensive distribution system.

The thing is–now I know who my readers are. Adding layers or faux scarcity doesn’t help me or you. As the medium changes, publishers are on the defensive…. I honestly can’t think of a single traditional book publisher who has led the development of a successful marketplace/marketing innovation in the last decade. The question asked by the corporate suits always seems to be, “how is this change in the marketplace going to hurt our core business?” To be succinct: I’m not sure that I serve my audience (you) by worrying about how a new approach is going to help or hurt Barnes & Noble.

We know that publisher can still serve an author. If you have build a two way dialog with your tribe (say, you are on TV but have never blogged) then a large check from someone betting on your title to click with their distribution is a no-brainer.

Seth has been teaching us to build a tribe for years. Now he’s broke ties with the old model that used to serve him. No doubt he’ll do well.

What’s your strategy to build a two way dialog with your readers?

Twitter, Linkedin and Zynga (makers of Farmville and MafiaWars) have business models that do not rely on advertising.

Marketing and advertising in the future will not be interruptions.. we expect that users will be able to engage with useable content the want to view.

So much opportunity here. Half a billion people on Facebook, 100 million playing Farmville, Movie releases get 5-6 times as much Twitter buzz with an ad.

How are you planning to use online ads for your book or business?

I help authors sell books, build a business and take their messages to the world.

We do that in two ways here.. a lot of free information on the web, and high paid clients. Unless I get a crazy idea to test new software and give away the paid consulting.

I am trying out a new webinar system for my private coaching sessions. So you get this same ME, hopefully a great show, and the fun of watching me bumble through with new technology (OK.. you can get that anytime)

The only catch.. I’m just doing this ONCE.. it will NOT BE RECORDED (no evidence if I screw up) and it is on SHORT NOTICE.

Friday at Noon Eastern (9am Pacific) on July 16th (yes, that is tomorrow.. I did say SHORT NOTICE)

Grab a slot here –> Warren’s free coaching session

I’m going to share some new tests from what is working on FACEBOOK, how partners are getting 10x the publicity on the MEGA SUCCESS DAY promo for next week and other freebinarific advice. I may talk about Twitter if you twist my arm.

I will answer ANY question… show any secret site.

You can still ask your question in a comment, on Twitter or whatever.. but you won’t get the real live me with a mouse in my hand showing you exactly what YOU need to succeed unless you register here

Reading tweets and stories that @Biz reported that Twitter search is up 33% in a month (and it’s a month old data). So I started exploring related posts.

SearchEngineLand does a great job of analyzing it (using the month older data)

Twitter does 18 billion searches a month, working off the 600 million per day figure? Williams said the monthly figure is closer to 19 billion.

How’s that compare against the major search engines? Working off comScore figures from December 2009 for worldwide search queries, we have:

• Google: 88 billion per month
• Twitter: 19 billion per month
• Yahoo: 9.4 billion per month
• Bing: 4.1 billion per month

Where do you search?

Both new businesses and new books often start with an idea that you just can’t shake.  I have spent a lot of time talking about how entrepreneurs should approach a new business and have found that there are a lot more parallels between starting a business and launching a new book than you might imagine.  Below are a few insights from my recently becoming acquainted with the book launching process and the similarities that exist with entrepreneurship.

What’s Your Purpose?

Deciding to start a business is different than deciding to start a successful business.  The plans to open one store vs. a goal of creating a massive nationwide retail chain vary significantly.  It is hard to know what steps to take if you don’t know your end goal.

The same goes for your book.  What’s your end game?  Are you using it as a calling card to get more clients?  Are you seeking a label of achievement (like “best seller status”) for your brand?  Are you hoping to make gobs of money from it or are you using it to spread a message (by the way, if your goal is make gobs of money, you might want to chat with a few industry professionals first)?  These goals will significantly impact the planning and strategy of not only your manuscript, but the launch and marketing of your book.

And while you are at it, you might as well set the biggest goal that you can.  Nothing happens if you don’t achieve your stretch goal, but as Wayne Gretzky says, “You miss 100% of shots that you never take!”

Know Your Customer

I am always preaching in business about how important it is to know your customer, but my first book manuscript go-round was somewhat lacking in this department (which got fixed in the second go-round, thanks to great feedback from industry folks!). 

To be successful in business, you have to know what pain point you are solving for your customer and how you are delivering value.  Plus, if “everyone” is your customer, you are going to have a hard time reaching anyone at all, so having a focus is critical.  The same goes for your book (particularly non-fiction books).  Ask yourself what tangible benefits your reader will take away from investing their time and money into your message.  Who is your specific reader and what quantitative and qualitative benefits are they seeking?  This will shape not only how you deliver your message in the book, but also how you plan to market your book. 

The Idea Isn’t Valuable; It’s The Execution

In an era where we have access to virtually everything we want and need, plus a whole bunch of crap we don’t care about, it is hard to have a truly novel idea (pun intended).  Having the idea for a business isn’t valuable; it is executing on the business plan every day.  The same goes for a book.  Once you have the idea, you have to write the manuscript and then market, market, market!  Most publishers care at least as much, if not more, about your marketing plan than the content of the book.  So, even if you have a great idea, if you can’t or don’t want to pound the pavement to meet your goals, there isn’t a lot of value there.

The Day You “Open For Business” Is Where The Hard Work Starts.

Conceiving a business idea and writing your plan is a cakewalk compared to what you have to endure day in and day out to make your business successful.  The same thing goes for a book.  The common misconception is that you are done when you finish writing- not so!  Writing the manuscript, as daunting as it may seem, is easy compared to everything that comes next.  Prepare to devote a lot of time, effort (and depending on your goals, money too) AFTER the book is written!

The takeaway: Make sure you evaluate and prepare for launching a book, just like you would a business, if you want to be successful with it.

Please share any other similarities you have found between starting a business and launching a book.

You want a best seller. That’s for sure.

Selling a large number of books is great, but engaging the readers will build a long term relationship that will sell the next book, create leads for your other products and services and give you the basis for an army of friends who will spread your message.

A just watched a fabulous spoof on a TV show.. I will leave off the title of the show and the book. If you don’t know the show, it’s still entertaining.. and by the end of the video, you’ll know the book.

Guest Post by Dr. Daisy Sutherland

I chose Dr. Sutherland from the authors visiting this blog as my Blog Reader of the Day. After visiting her web site, YouTube channel and Facebook page, I just had to share some of her writing with you.

Now that I have your attention, I must confess that a PERFECT article does not exist, but I will share tips that will make your articles more enticing and enjoyable.

If the articles you are developing are meant for marketing of your business it is important that they are informative and of the highest quality.  Remember the articles you produce will be a reflection of your business and service or product that you provide, so let’s keep the following tips in mind:

• Share your knowledge: Write about what you know, the article will flow nicely and will be easier to write.  If you are writing on a topic you are unfamiliar with, be sure to research, and write the article when you are confident on the topic.
• Make an outline: When developing an article it is important to plan, and write an outline first.  Doing this will ensure that your article flows nicely and will keep the reader enticed and motivated to continue reading. Nothing is more annoying than reading an article that is scattered without a flow that is necessary, it is not only confusing, but it will more than likely not get read and your goal is to have your articles read, right?
• Be informative: Many articles are meant to share information whether it is teaching, how-to or inspiration. When sharing information, share examples that the reader can associate with. This can be in the form of stories.  Think back to the text books you read in school; sure they were informative, but they were also very BORING.  Be witty in your articles and your readers will crave more.
• Avoid sales pitches: No one wants to read an article that has a sales pitch through out its content.  If you must add a link, add it to the end or add a resource box or area.  The resource area can include your name, title, as well as website information.

Writing a perfect article will not be difficult if you put some effort into it, and simply let it flow.