Best Seller » internet marketing

Where Do The Smart Web People Meet?

warrenwhitlock — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:43:01 +0000

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.

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Best Selling Authors Add Instant Value

warrenwhitlock — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:37:51 +0000

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.

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Seth Godin Learns that Publishing is Dead

warrenwhitlock — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:01:21 +0000

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?

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The Future of Ad Online

warrenwhitlock — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:06:00 +0000

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?

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How To Get My Coaching FREE (one time)

warrenwhitlock — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:27:12 +0000

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

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Twitter Is the New Search Engine Choice

warrenwhitlock — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 17:30:57 +0000

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?

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The Entrepreneurship of Writing A Book

warrenwhitlock — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:00:00 +0000

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.

Carol Roth writes Unsolicited Business Advice (TM) for aspiring entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and other small business owners at CarolRoth.com You can find her on Twitter as @caroljsroth Carol helps businesses grow and make more money. An investment banker, business strategist and deal maker, she has helped her clients, ranging from solopreneurs to multinational corporations, raise more than $1 billion in capital, complete hundreds of millions of dollars in M&A transactions, secure high-profile licensing and partnership deals and more.

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Engage Readers Before They Buy

warrenwhitlock — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:13:43 +0000

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.

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How To Write the Perfect Article

warrenwhitlock — Wed, 05 May 2010 01:30:22 +0000

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.

Dr. Daisy Sutherland is the Founder/CEO of Dr. Mommy, LLC. Her passion for helping others succeed in life has turned into her mission. With her writing services, development /management of web-sites as well as marketing she is helping individuals discover the mastermind within themselves. Helping the online and offline business person succeed. For more information visit: http://drmommywrites.com

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Author Builds Expert Credibility Online CASE STUDY

warrenwhitlock — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:14:00 +0000

Today’s Expert Author Case Study focuses on the amazing success that balance brings to California author Matthew Sherborne.

Matthew Sherborne created his first website back in 1998 devoted to his scuba diving business. Since then he’s researched, implemented and shared a variety of profitable ways to make money online. He became a full time online marketer in early 2005 and has enjoyed helping people succeed in their own online and offline businesses.

Like all things, the key to success in article writing and marketing is balance. Matthew embodies that philosophy by focusing his articles on the needs and desires of the reader while at the same time embracing the realities of Internet and business best practices. His portfolio of articles isn’t huge, yet by balancing quality with quantity, he has achieved almost 6,000views/article!

Matt’s preoccupation with balance is evident throughout – even in his work habits – where he mixes hardcore goal-setting with a motivational self-reward system. Or in his approach to content, where he combines the wisdom of others through research with his own time-tested marketing experience.

It’s this focus on balance that brought Matthew to our attention and makes him an excellent subject for today’s Expert Author Case Study.

Matt, what sets you apart from other Expert Authors?

I always focus on what the reader is looking for. To be successful as an author I believe it’s important to focus on the readers wants and desires, rather than what you want. When a visitor lands on your article they usually want to solve a problem. You can become an instant authority by positioning yourself as the expert with the answers to their problems.
What’s your secret to article writing and marketing success?

The secret to success with article writing is to know your reader. By knowing what they want and are searching for you can put yourself in a position to provide the answers to them. You first get attention and evoke curiosity by aggravating the problem within the article. Next share a few ways to solve these problems. Finally deliver a clear call to action to get them to click on the links in your bio with the promise of instant or speedy results.
How do you stay motivated to write articles?

I stay motivated by having a goal before I start. Before writing any articles you need to know what you want to accomplish. Spend a little time finding out who your target audience is. Then find out what they are searching for. You can find out the keywords people are searching for by using tools like the Google Adwords Keyword Tool or WordTracker to help target the right keywords.

Remember the keywords you choose are very important and need to be incorporated into your headline and article to make them visible within the search engines. Practice the skill of using your keywords within your article without sacrificing the grammatical structure or its quality. To find the right keyword density you can use a free tool like Dupe Free Pro.

Before I ever start writing I write out my goals. Afterwords, I check off my accomplishments for the day in a binder which helps me stay motivated. After the work is done I set aside time to reward myself with some free time.
How do you decide what to write about?

I recommend focusing on the search terms you want your website to rank for and checking to see the demand. Always create content around a demand and you will guarantee you aren’t wasting any time.

An easy way to see what people want is to select a topic you’re interested in, then find an article, and scroll to the bottom where it shows the most viewed EzineArticles for that category. Next take a look at what is popular on the EzineArticles website. Analyze what they are doing with the headline, take note of what is popular, and recreate your own articles on those subjects to generate similar results.
How do you balance writing for quality and quantity?

I don’t view quality and quantity as opposing forces. There needs to be a consistent amount of each to make your article work with the reader and make them want to take action to click through to your website. Know your topic well by doing a little research and get the main points you want to address before you begin writing.
How has using EzineArticles affected your traffic?

EzineArticles has provided my web pages with increased authority in the search engines and tons of visitor traffic. It’s a good idea to use the keywords you want to rank for as your anchor text from your authors bio. This technique can help you archive a higher quality back-link to promote your website.

Another tip that works well is to create a strong call to action from your bio. This can be the promise of the answer to the biggest question related to the article to encourage click-throughs to your site. Adding the lure of a free pdf, checklist, or video can definitely increase your CTR.
How does article marketing fit into your overall marketing plan?

I believe article marketing is a necessary part of marketing. A great way to help increase the potential of your articles and make them more effective is to spend more time promoting them. You can submit your articles to social bookmarking sites, and post them to Twitter or Facebook for better exposure. Getting your articles to stick in [the search engines] will help drive up page views and send much more visitor traffic through your links.
What EzineArticles tools do you find the most beneficial?

The tools I use the most are found within the author tools –> view article reports section. Looking at the amount of article views can tell you the popularity of your article and help you decide what you are doing right. If an article is doing well you can create additional articles on the subject.

Another helpful tool within this section is the article click rate. Knowing the click rate helps you determine the percentage of visitors clicking your bio link. This knowledge is invaluable for letting you know if your article bio is effective and getting people’s attention.
If you had to start over again, what would you change?

Any time you are article writing it’s important to manage your time, and resist the temptation to procrastinate. It’s far to easy too get carried away with research and actually forget what your overall goals are. Don’t think for one minute that the amount of time spent in front of your computer equals productive time. You have to focus on the actions that create real results. Once you are getting results it’s just a matter of replicating what works in order for you to be successful.
What advice would you give newbie article marketers?

I recommend staying focused and setting realistic daily goals for yourself. It’s much better to set your goals conservatively at first to avoid writing burnout. Stay steady, focus your attention on proper keyword research, create interesting article headlines, use a strong call to action within your bio, and take constant action.
Anything else you’d like to share?

If you are just starting out writing articles find the most read articles in your market. Study what they are doing right and spend time studying headlines that make people want to open articles. Just getting people to click your article is the most important part. You’d be amazed how much the article headline can impact the success of the article.

A great tip you can use for best results in the search engines is to put your keyword phrase at the beginning of your article. Another effective technique is to focus on niches that have people that desperately need solutions to a painful problem. Focusing on helping people overcome their problems is a sure-fire way to create a great income.

Matthew demonstrates one of our key principles for success: Balance. But he also demonstrates many of what we consider to be the the best practices for an article writer and marketer:

Focus on the reader by positioning yourself as the expert and solving their problem.
Deliver a clear call to action.
Know what you want to accomplish before you start to write. Define the goal.
Research your topic, what’s worked for others and the associated keywords.
Promote your articles on other sites and services.
Figure out what works for you and keep doing it!
Set conservative goals. Work those goals. Reward yourself.

Put some of Matthew’s best practices to good use today by writing a set of original, high-quality articles. And leave a comment for Matthew. He’d love to hear from you. :)

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Why You Need a Facebook Author Fan Page, and How To Create One

warrenwhitlock — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:09:00 +0000

By Kristen Eckstein

If you’re an author and you are not taking advantage of the publicity Facebook can give you, you’re missing out on some serious promo! It isn’t just a playground for teens and college kids anymore. It is full of adults and businesses, and is a great place to market your book. In fact, the demographics of Facebook are mostly college graduates and their parents—a well-educated crowd always seeking to learn. This is a crowd of book buyers!

The best way to promote your book on Facebook is with an author fan page. Yes, you will have to ask others to become your "fan," but the truth is you probably have a few fans already, so why not use it to your advantage and get the word out about your book at the same time?

Here are 3 easy steps and reasons to create your author fan page on Facebook:

Step 1: Sign In or Sign Up! If you’re already a member of Facebook and have a personal profile, all you have to do is sign in to your account and begin the fan page building process. If not, you’ll have to first go to http://www.facebook.com and sign up for your Facebook account. (FREE!) They make it super simple, so don’t be scared.

*Reason #1 to have a Facebook fan page: It’s FREE promotion! (Who doesn’t like free?)

Step 2: Build it so they can come! Next, you’re simply going to build your fan page. Once signed in or signed up on Facebook, you need to go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php to set up your page. You will want to be sure to include a professional picture of yourself and links to your official website, and of course info about your book. Note: when choosing the primary "profile" picture to use, avoid using your logo or book cover. People want to know you, the author, not just your book. If you have more than one book, it’s an even better reason to use your personal photo.

*Reason #2 to have a Facebook fan page: People want to get to know YOU, and this makes it easy!

Step 3: Promote, promote, promote! After you’ve built the page, you’ll want to put it to work for you. Promote it, share it, tell everyone about it. As you get connected to "friends," invite them to become fans. Share it on your blog, put a link to it in your sidebar, share it on message boards, Twitter, and even offline. You can always put the URL to it on your business cards or any fliers or bookmarks you make to promote your book. And Facebook makes that easy with their "vanity" URLs. Once you have your fan page set up and 100 fans, go to http://www.facebook.com/username and create a custom URL that is easy to advertise. And while you’re at it, check out http://www.facebook.com/writingfan and become an official fan of writing! (See how that works?)

*Reason #3 to have a Facebook fan page: It gives you more places to share your book.

Studies show that it takes a person eight times of seeing something before they take action on what they have seen. That means a person may have to see you and/or your book eight times before they’ll decide to buy it! You want to help contribute to those eight times and a Facebook fan page can help. It will give you yet another place to communicate with those interested in your topic, allowing you to send them updates and information. It will also drive traffic to your website or any other social media site you are on. And it’s an excellent way to promote book signings, workshops, or other events you may have planned. So what are you waiting for? Go sign up, build, and promote, promote, promote!

Kristen Eckstein has been coaching writers through writing and publishing their books for almost 8 years. She is honored that authors have trusted her with their most valuable resource—their knowledge. Kristen’s biggest thrill comes when she sees YOU graduate one of her programs and hug your book for the very first time! Learn more at http://www.ultimatebookcoach.com

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Is Your Book Referenced Here?

warrenwhitlock — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:44:00 +0000

Enter a book you like and the site will analyze our database of real readers’ favorite books (nearly 70,000 different titles so far, and more than a million reader recommendations) to suggest what you could read next. (You can register on the results page and build your own favorites list.)

Another free book marketing resource http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/

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Numbers An Author Should Know

warrenwhitlock — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:57:16 +0000

We know that bookstores, publishers and old media are in trouble.

But not authors. There are more outlets begging for content than ever before. If you know a subject well enough to create a book, you are going to do just fine.. if you cater to the exploding global audience.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

del.icio.us Tags: book marketing online,internet content,blogs,facebook authors,writing social media,social media growth,networking,creaing onlne content,best seller books

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Wishing You a #Happy10 (Happy New Year 2010: The Year of Giving)

warrenwhitlock — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:52:43 +0000

As we prepare to go into 2010 I want to share with you how we can make a real difference and help each other.

This time last year I had an idea to give away some gifts for New Year’s Day. I wrote this blog post on Twitter Handbook and started using the #Happy09 tag on tweet for a little contest.

Soon it seemed that everyone on Twitter was using #Happy09 and it became the most popular term on Twitter for 3 days.

We had a lot of fun, and soon went way beyond the contest to talk about what we thought was really important.. conversations, relationships, happiness. I ultimately gave away the gifts to April Tara when she asked if it was okay to share all the gifts (April got the message! Read her post about it here).

Since #Happy09, I’ve heard from the people involved many times. New friendships were made, joint ventures started and even some new clients for myself and others, but Twitter has grown by over 1000% and it’s very unlikely that we’ll ever see this again.

But why not try?

Yesterday, I got thinking of what would make for a great #Happy10. The hashtag (that’s the made up word staring with #) was easy enough to come up with and I felt a contest wasn’t right. What we need today is a way to share the spirit of GIVING that makes social media perfect for authors and others sharing a message.

For every business person that want to succeed in the age of social media

I connected with @ThomScott, Colleague of @BobBurg who co-authored the best selling book The Go-Giver with John David Mann. Thom is one of the most giving people I know. I asked if he and Bob could join me on Friday night for my Twitter radio show and do a special on giving and show an example of how Twitter users are going to give more in 2010. Thom and Bob said yes and the #Happy10 idea was good to go.

We will have lots of examples of authors, business people and entrepreneurs who have used GIVING to get more results in marketing and can say they have a more fulfilling life. I’ll also be asking Thom and Bob about their philosophy of book promotion and how they have sold hundreds of thousands of copies of Bob’s books and made multiple best sellers.

Important Notes for Authors, Book Marketing and Others Promoting on Social Media

What you’ve read above is exactly what happened. I didn’t have to rent space, pre-order equipment or get an approval for Twitter or a government agency. More important.. I absolutely did not, and will not set hard and fast rules about how the promotion needs to go.

I have objectives.

I want to see my readers, listeners and everyone get the message of “giving”

I hope to see Bob and Thom sell a few more books and some people remember the radio show

It will be nice that some new people read this blog post and notice what business I’m in

That’s about it. All this will happen and MORE. I can imagine hearing stories in comments here, tweets on Twitter and likely will run into people during the next year who will say “Hi Warren.. You don’t know me but I watched #Happy10.” I also fully expect to see an outcome I have not thought of. I know this can happen because it always does.

Social media marketing is not something you can or would want to completely control. The thousands (and sometimes millions) of people that get involved will have ideas you could not dream of and will carry your message far beyond what you expected.

Please join me in sharing #Happy10. All you have to do is add “#Happy10” to any tweet you think appropriate. There are NO RULES… If you have an idea of how we all can give more for 2010.. more value, more service, more love, more sharing, more content.. just tweet them to me (use @WarrenWhitlock in the message if you want to make sure I see it) or comment here.

Share a link to this blog post by using the RETWEET button or the sharing options below… then watch for #Happy10 tweets using TweetChat or Twitter Search. When you see someone talking about giving (or whatever interests you) REPLY to them and start a conversation. If you use the #Happy10 tag for these conversations it would be nice.. but please don’t feel you have to (NO RULES).

Let me know if you have a positive outcome. I’ll be doing interview on the Social Media Radio Show and will be looking for authors and entrepreneurs who find new people they can help, readers or business ideas so I can feature you in an upcoming blog post.

Most of all.. HAVE FUN… Share your ideas about GIVING and have a prosperous New Year (or #Happy10 as we say on Twitter)Popular Posts:

Does an Author Need to Build Email Relationships?

Warren Whitlock, Book Marketing Strategist — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:59:58 +0000

the age of social media, we often hear that email is dead or at least an outdated technology for connecting with your readers.

True, email mailing response is down, but unless you have a huge following online already, you need to have a mailing list and stay in touch with readers and prospective readers.

Even more.. people working in publishing, vendors, media and a large number of readers (your end customers) will still want have a way to connect with you and stay in touch that they are comfortable with. For the time being, that certainly includes email.

I recommend building a database of those that opt in to hear form you, answering email enquiries as fast as you can, and giving readers in any medium easy ways to close the loop and stay in touch. Communicate on your blog (and others through comments), social media, and email.

To grow your mailing list with people that would like to hear from you, join my FREE Email List Buliding Network

Here’s some help managing the email overload we all face today.

Read Keith Ferrazzi’s blog post on email. These 7 Mistakes to Avoid from a best selling author and master networker, inspired this post
Be careful about auotmatic replies on your email. When I read a “I’m swamped and only read my mail…” message, I question whether the person has the bandwidth to take on new business or grow. A “vacation reply” politely tells others about a temporary hold on responses
Nothing wrong with setting a policy that you’ll check once a day, have reader emails screened or assigned to others. Just be authentic, and remember that each writer took the time to reach out and will appreciate a human response.
Use a ZeroInBox strategy. I’ve increased my own capacity to handle mail volume each time I put strategies like this in place.

Think of email as if you were are store with customers coming in the front door. A busy store will hire help, change pricing, set hours or publish guidelines on signs, but never think of closing the doors when customers are flooding in.

Like the store with vistors, buyers and VIP customers, put policies into place to handle everything.

Most of all, don’t wait till you are on top of the best seller list. Building capacity to handle the crowd will be a key asset in getting you there.Popular Posts: