THE
MARKETING STRATEGY
for blog & e-book. A selection of the best advice and first hand
experience from seasoned experts.
by the bbdirector Viktor Ilijev
Before we start I gotta say
THANK YOU.
This manual would not be made if it wasn’t for
these guys on the right. So a big thanks to them
and their invaluable advice, blog posts and
experience. They are the best known and
seasoned experts in book publishing, SEO, online
marketing and blog marketing. The following
slides represent a sample of their experience with
my own introduction and advice. It's what i have
been using in the last year for the development
of my website and books.
And thank you for spending time reading this. I
appreciate it alot.
http://timgrahl.com/
http://www.smartpassiveincome.com
/
https://yoast.com/
https://moz.com/blog
http://neilpatel.com/
http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/
http://www.smithpublicity.com/blog
/
CONTENT
1.
Introduction
○
○
○
2.
Who are you doing this for?
Why? Who are you?
What is the current situation? The pain that you are solving? Who is the competition?
Proposed strategy
○
○
○
Strategy mapping and timeline
Channels of communication
SEO
One quick thought
before we start
To even think about having
a bestseller
Or being popular with
100k followers
You must
understand
Marketing counts for
80% of the total
success.
3years
And marketing starts
before you even think
about launching a book
Thumbs up to Seth Godin on this great advice
The rest of the 20%?
Goes to great
writing. ling.
l
e
t
y
r
sto
Let’s begin.
What do you do in
those 3 years?
FIRST: Who?
You must know who your target audience is. Is it a her,
he, it, how old, job, appearance, preferences, wants,
needs, where does he hang out, what does he work, what
is his job, what is his wife’s name (some of us do
whatever our wife tells us to do and therefore control us).
The devil is in the detail (maybe even wears Prada)- the
more detail you know on your target, the better you will
know who he is and where to find him.
FIRST: Who?
When you do learn who he is go further and name him..
Create his world. His environment, people and home. In
other words, bring him to life.
FIRST: Who?
If you know his story then you know what to do to help
him and how to do it.
Help him? Every living being wants to be happier, work
less and enjoy life more. You are here to help him.
Why a story?
A good story is easy to remember. A great story lasts
forever.
Stories have an emotional narrative with its own hero,
world problem, and solution that the hero must find in
order to save the world.
Be the hero. Help your people achieve
a happier and joyful life. And a story
will help you do that.
A story will give you and your blog a
voice, a presence, aura, character.
Most importantly it will make you
resonate and connect with your
people (audience).
Which leads us to the next point.
SECOND: Why? Who are you?
Imagine the internet as Middle Earth from Lord of the
Rings. You are the hero that will bring peace and love to
the lands of Middle Earth once again (too dramatic but
you get the point).
●
●
Establish your own voice, character and presence.
Tell the internet who you are and that you have
come to save the day! Okay enough drama.
Be honest about who you are. Tell them your
weaknesses, your strengths. EVERYTHING. Yes
your weaknesses - it makes you look HUMAN and
people can relate to you instantly.
●
●
Tell them your purpose and
what you intend to do.
Show them some love but
always focus on your goal no
matter what.
○ What this means is do not
NAG them. Don't spam
them.
What if...
You are not the hero?
Imagine that you are just Morgan
Freeman and you are the narrator of
this great story that you are telling. A
story that follows the life of a hero YOUR AUDIENCE.
Being Morgan Freeman means you
have to be GOD. And it means that you
want to teach another future Morgan
Freeman to become just like you.
Choose your way carefully though.
Sometimes it all comes down to experience and
knowledge on the (subject) solution you are trying to
teach and sell.
If you don't have any experience: you gotta be the hero the one that will show your people how to do it through
your own experience. Otherwise just say you are Morgan
Freeman and you are good to go.
Whatever you choose...
...either way follows roughly the same strategy and execution. In this part of
the pdf, the introduction, we are forming and molding you, your purpose and
your audience.
Which leads us to the next point. What are you trying to solve? What is the
current situation that requires your solution? Does anyone else offer it?
The now, the
solution and the
competition.
THIRD: The now, the solution...
What is the current situation? Is there
anything wrong? Is there anything that
needs to be better? Is there anything that
needs to evolve? You must be able to see the
big picture and pinpoint exactly what is not
ok. (the pain, the problem). In the Lean
methodology it's called the pain - something
that is bothering the customer and that
needs a solution. It must be a real thing
though. You can’t fake reality.
Now you know what the pain is. The next
step is to paint a picture of the future - the
future where there is no pain - only pleasure.
But this future only happens because of
you/blog/book/brand. Without you there is
the deep abyss called the NOW.
THIRD: Competition.
Make friends with them. Seriously. They
offer the same products, have similar books,
similar blogs and characters - and this is
good. Because you are not here to kill each
other, you are here to to help your audience.
Remember Lord of The Rings? Frodo could
not have done it without the help of not only
Sam, but everyone that was fighting against
Mordor.
You can’t win the war alone.
Meet as many likeminded individuals and
groups. Connect with them, guest blog/podcast
with them. Do whatever is necessary to spread
the word of the solution. And then when you
are at the top, don't kill them. Do the same
things that you did when you were not at the
top.
Now that we know who we are, who is our
audience and what we offer to them, lets see
how we will reach them. How we will reach
Mordor’s Mount Doom.
Final word.
LANGUAGE.
Be consistent and focused when using your
voice and language. Your voice and language
are specific to you and the solution you are
offering.. Throughout the molding and
creating of yourself and your audience, you
find/create words that you use a lot and have
meaning to you and your audience. Use them
often. Focus on using them throughout the
channels. Why?
Because every word matters in SEO. The
more specific words you use often and
consistently the more your communication
through the channels will behave as one and
bring you great benefits in the form of
quality SEO.
LANGUAGE.
Think of Apple. Whenever Steve Jobs
announced a product during an event, he
used the same keywords in his speech over
and over again, that later were used by the
media and ultimately got stuck in the minds
of the consumers.
SEAMLESS. REVOLUTIONARY smartphone.
What is the first thing that comes to mind?
Same principle with Search engines. The
more consistent you are in using several key
phrases throughout, the bigger the chance
you will turn higher in the search query the
consumer makes.
Think of Google as the digital thought
repository of your consumers. You want to
be top of the mind always. That is why you
have SEO - which I will address later on.
Now onwards to strategy.
Strategy.
Although the internet channels
available to reach your
audience are plenty, it's
easy to map them out in
our strategy.
MAP
posts
books
n
nte
co
t
seo
b
we
live events
ge
pa
book tours
guest
blogging
social
media
email
marketing
podcasting
paid & free
PR
amazon,
and others
referrals, WoM, active in
group/media outlets/relevant
website discussions
audience
Simple. Now lets see the
overall timeline
MAP
Yr. 1
Yr. 1
Yr. 3
Web page start (content + seo)
Marketing for web page
+
Marketing for book
Book launch
150k
60k
30k
Blog followers
10k
Simple. Now lets move on
to marketing channels
overview and strategies for
each.
WEB PAGE
Your website is your home base. It’s where people land
after they Google you, and the first place they go to find
out about your books. It is your book marketing hub.
The goal is to build your website around you, the author,
instead of around any one book or series. This will be
your home base for your entire writing career.
Keep the most important information clearly visible, and
don’t overcrowd it with useless content. Check out
hongkiats list of sample author pages by just clicking on
the picture on the left.
WEB PAGE
Some of the main goals of any author’s web page:
●
●
●
●
●
●
Lets people know they’re in the right place (headshot, book covers, etc).
Lets people get to know you and and your fun, charming, unique character.
Lets people know how they can benefit from being your faithful subscribers
and buyers of your books
It’s easy for people to find and purchase your books.
It’s clear that people should sign up for your email list.
It’s easy to connect with and/or contact you.
WEB PAGE SET UP
Setup your website under your own name.
You have a long writing career ahead of you.
Odds are, your writing is going to change.
What you write about today will very likely
shift and change over time.
●
●
www.iwantmyname.com.
www.domize.com
Get hosting for your website.
●
www.BlueHost.com
Platform? Blogger, Tumblr, TextPad, and the best is
of course Wordpress - without discussion.
How will it look like? Create a simple and beautiful
design that fits your character and the overall
communication that you have with your audience.
●
How to create your website
WEB PAGE SET UP
What pages should your site have?
Homepage - Your homepage is a portal. Don’t
try to cram everything in, but don’t leave off
the important things either. Give highlights of
your most important things and allow people
to click to find out more.
●
Latest books, email subscription box,
headshot and short bio, excerpts of
other content, connect with the author.
About page This page serves two purposes. It allows
readers to learn a little bit more about who you are
and what you do. It also allows media, bloggers, etc
to easily get information and images when needed.
●
Headshot, short bio and long bio, email
subscription box.
WEB PAGE SET UP
Email list signup – Use both a pop-up and a
homepage sign-up form to invite people to
sign up for your email newsletter, so you
can contact them directly in future.
Author bio – Provide interesting
information about your past, and how you
got to where you are today.
Speaking page – Provide a speaker’s reel,
your topics, and your contact information.
Book page – Provide the book cover(s),
reviews/endorsements, and links to purchase your
book(s) online.
Blog – Provide valuable content—information your
readers will benefit from or stories they’ll
enjoy—and updates on current and future projects.
Evergreen content – Create useful content that will
stay relevant for a long time (like this article!).
Links to social media – Provide social media icons
or other clear ways people can connect with you on
their favorite social media platforms.
WEB PAGE SET UP
Contact page - Email address, mailing
address, social media links, contact form
and email subscription box
Events page - if you regularly speak live or
have book tours.
●
●
Speaking - reel or video, contact, topics
you cover, social proof
Events - list of upcoming events and
contact.
Resources page - The place where you share your
evergreen content. Just be very specific in choosing
the posts you put here as they will be near the heart
of your character.
WEB PAGE SET UP
Write a professional and interesting author
bio.
Add a ‘Store’ page to your website.
Make your book available to purchase on
your online store.
Come up with ideas for merchandise related
to your book(s).
Host contests where your fans can submit entries
for merchandise designs.
Have pages on your author website for book
reviews, FAQs, and testimonials.
Make a ‘Discussion’ page on your website
specifically for questions and comments.
Write an advice column on your website for aspiring
authors.
WEB PAGE SET UP
●
●
●
●
●
Run a Crawl Simulation of Your Site
Test Your Design with Browser Emulators
Set Up RSS Feed Analytics
Tag the Actions that Matter
Conduct an Online Usability/Branding Test
○
●
Clueapp.com
RSS subscribers, unique visits, page views
and key social stats (tweets, links, Facebook
shares, etc) are your lifeblood.
Build an Email List of Friends & Business
Contacts for Launch
Create Your Google Alerts
Bookmark Brand Tracking Queries
Make
Email
Signup/Subscription
Available
○
Establish a KPI Dashboard
○
●
●
●
●
●
One of the most common ways to build
good lists is to offer whitepaper, e-book,
video or other exclusive content piece for
download/access to those who enter an
email address.
Form a List of Target Press, Blogger and
Industry People for Outreach
WEB PAGE SET UP
●
●
Build a List of Keywords to Target in Search Engines
Set Targets for the Next 12 Months
○
○
○
○
○
Average weekly visits (via analytics)
Average page views (via analytics)
Number of new posts/pages/content pieces produced per
month
Number of target contacts
Social media metrics (depending on your heaviest use
platform, e.g. # of Twitter followers if you're a heavy
Tweeter)
TIPS AND TRICKS.
Attract the right visitors. Choose the right keywords to match your content.
●
●
●
Responsive layout – by making your website compatible for all devices, your
bounce rate will drop. Quick navigation, easy to find search, content in sections.
Readable text – One of the main reasons users bounce away from your blog is
because your text isn’t readable. By picking a font type that is easy on the eyes and
by making your text large enough, people are more likely to stay on your website.
Speed up your site – By improving your loading time people will be more likely to
stick around.
○ Set external links to open in new windows.
○ Don't let ads distract. Avoid pop ups, self loading multimedia ads.
TIPS AND TRICKS.
Increase time on site:
●
●
●
●
●
By using more headings, bullets, blockquotes and lists, you can increase your time on
site by 17.8%.
Writing long content doesn’t mean more people will read it. Try and keep your content
under 1500 words.
Use pictures to help increase readability. But when your posts are under 1500 words, try
and limit the amount of pictures you use to 3.
By using the words “you” and “I” within your blog post you’ll create a conversation. This
will help encourage people to read your blog posts.
By writing a conclusion and clearly labeling it, you’ll get more people to scroll to the
bottom of your blog post. It will increase your scroll-ability by 10%
blog&book
content.
general
Obvious main message. Clear heads and
subheads.Tailored to intended visitors.
Stylish copy and images. Few errors. Clear
call to action, and obvious links to next
steps.
VIRAL CONTENT SECRETS
The first secret, which isn’t really a secret, is
to write great headlines. 8 out of 10 people will
click to read your content if you get it right.
Examples:
The second is to get the length right. Viral content
publisher Buzzsumo found that its most shared
posts
ranged
from
3,000-10,000
words.
And the third is to have a killer idea that is sure to
This 3-Minute Video Will Show You How To go viral. Here’s how you do that:
______________
How a 5-Minute Video Generated ____________
Visitors
In
______
Days
The Only Proven _______________ Technique That
Works
10 Weird Tricks To Get More ________________ in
Just
15
Days
_____ Ways To Work Less Than 2-hours Daily And
Still
Earn
$_____
●
●
●
●
●
●
Understand your audience
Use Buzzsumo to generate content ideas
Use Ubersuggest to generate content ideas
Generate ideas from useful comments
The more social sharing buttons you have, the lower
your conversion rate.
Include emotional videos, which is an excellent way
to motivate readers to get involved with your topic.
EVERGREEN CONTENT
First, ensure there is at least one magazine or Second, assess previous list posts with evergreen
publication on the topic/subject you want to potential that enjoyed social success. Examples
write a list post on (this reveals how popular include:
your
topic/idea
is).
●
●
●
35 Blogging Tips To Woo Readers and Win Business
73 Cool Ways To Write Content For Targeted Traffic
50 Email Marketing Tips and Stats for 2014
These evergreen list posts succeeded because:
●
●
Each of them makes a specific promise
The posts are useful and address that specific promise
EVERGREEN CONTENT
You have to make sure your killer idea isn’t General tips:
already listed in Google’s index.
● Don't develop evergreen content around
● Step #1: Visit Google.com
passing trends
● Step #2: Plug your headline into the
● Do your basic industry principles as you’re
search box (in double quotes for an exact
building blocks
match).
● Don't simply repost old content
● Step #3: Check the results. If there are no
● Do repurpose evergreen content to stay
results there is no competition and a
relevant
huge opportunity to rank well in the
● Don't post only evergreen content
SERPs.
● Do keep evergreen content in your arsenal for
when you really need it.
WRITING THE BOOK.
Create a Table of Contents (TOC). Insert a page break when you’re finished with your chapter to
eliminate unnecessary white space so your reader can immediately scroll to the next page.
Finished with your TOC? Page break. Finished with your copyright page? Page break. (To insert a
page break go to “Insert” at the top menu bar, then find “Page Break”).
Do not use headers, footers, or any sexy font because it will not translate on the Kindle; they have
standard fonts.
Bold, italic, and headings translate well.
Images are allowed and should be inserted as .JPGs (more on formatting your eBook below).
Tools to download before formatting: KindleGen, Kindle Previewer
Formatting your eBook through
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A17W8UM0MMSQX6
BOOK INTERIOR.
When someone buys your book, their natural next step should be to visit other parts of your
online platform.
Make sure you invite them to move from being a reader of one book to looking more deeply into
everything you’re doing:
●
●
●
Last page – Include a link to your website on the last page of the book.
Resources – Include links to additional resources throughout the book. The end of chapters
are a great place for this.
Other books – At the end of each book, include promotions for your other titles..
BONUS BOOK CONTENT.
A book can only offer so much. What can you add to your website to provide additional content
that your readers will love?
●
●
●
●
Chapter videos – Record videos of you introducing the content of each chapter of your
book.
Downloads – Provide worksheets, discussion guides, character profiles, or other content
that didn’t make it into the final manuscript.
Offers for other books, products, and services - If people have purchased your book, they
are much more likely to purchase other things from you as well.
Images – Such as artwork, photos, and illustrations.
the other channels
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media can be useful for finding new fans and
connecting with media influencers, such as popular
speakers,
authors,
interviewers,
and
bloggers.
When setting up your various social platforms, be sure to
keep them consistent. Your profile bio and headshot
should remain the same, regardless of the platform.
You want your branding on all platforms to work
together.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook Page – With more than 700 million
members, this is the most popular social
media platform. Features include:
●
●
●
●
Custom header image
Headshot
Integrated blog and Twitter posts, so
that these automatically post to your
Facebook page
Email list sign-up form or link
Twitter – There are just a few customization
opportunities available with Twitter, so take
advantage of them:
●
●
●
Custom background and colors
Headshot
Compelling bio, with link to your
website
SOCIAL MEDIA
LinkedIn – Make sure you put your best foot
forward here, by taking advantage of all their
tools:
●
●
●
●
Fill out your profile completely, to the “100%”
mark
Link your profile to your blog and Twitter
posts so that these automatically post on
LinkedIn
Request and give recommendations
Join groups & connect with everyone you
know on LinkedIn
Pinterest – Pin your articles and related
content.
YouTube – Host your videos on the internet’s
most popular video platform.
Google+
●
●
●
●
Post your articles and related content.
Custom background
Headshot
Brief bio, with link to your website
Automate social
media
SM AUTOMATION
With a tool like Buffer, you can Even better, there is a tool called MeetEdgar.
load a number of updates all at
once, to be posted over time. It allows you to create a library of helpful and interesting
updates that automatically get posted on a schedule that you
pre-set.
It has greatly increased social media engagement, while running
entirely on autopilot.
EMAIL MARKETING
Choose an email provider
●
●
www.Convertkit.com
www.mailchimp.com
Why? Why would the subscribers sign up?
What's in it for them?
●
Offer Free giveaway such as, one of your
books, a pdf with tips, secrets or inside
information, a course or walkthrough or
interview
Write your first email.
Broadcast email or sequence email. Example;
Thanks for signing up for my email newsletter!
As promised here is the pdf that you can
access for free. You have made a great choice
trusting me with your email address. I’ll
always respect your privacy and never share it
with anyone. Also I'm going to continue
sending you great stuff that you can use.
Best!
EMAIL MARKETING
Create the two most important signup forms.
1.
2.
Website forms - through your website,
where you embed your sign up link into
posts, or as pop ups.
Link forms - by sharing your sign up link
on social media
a. Basically you create the same sign
up and share it in a post.
Get your first 1000 subscribers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Have your free giveaway ready
Invite your social media followers
Add it in the email signature
Add it on the website
Put it in the book
Ask new subscribers to share
EMAIL MARKETING
What do you send your subscribers?
1.
2.
3.
Send them useful and entertaining stuff.
Set a schedule - 2 times a month.
a. Stick with it for 6 months and don't
rush.
Don't spam them before the book comes
out. Remember that marketing begins
three years before the book comes out.
Which
means
build
relationships
between you as an author and them as
the audience.
Content?
1.
2.
New blog post, short story, whatever it is.
Send them an update of your work. You
are an author and they want to know
what you do as an author - your progress.
EMAIL TRAFFIC GEN.
Build a specialized or ‘elite’ list and nurture your subscribers so they always open and act on
your emails. Why do you want a list for a “privileged minority”? Because you don’t need
everyone on your list if you want to succeed.
The steps you need to take to build an elite list through your blog:
●
●
●
●
●
●
Define your main goal
Create a special landing page
Guest blog on targeted A-list blogs only
Research blogs with social influence
Check the top ranking sites
Pitch
PODCASTING
Podcasting is currently exploding in popularity; Benefits.
more people than ever are tuning in. It’s your
chance to connect with fans who would never Multimedia – Turn your book content into
hear about you otherwise. podcast episodes.
New audiences – Do a short-run 8- to 12-week
As a bonus: it’s easier and cheaper than ever to series to get noticed in the iTunes New &
get a podcast up and running. Noteworthy section.
Writer network – Help out your fellow writers by
inviting them on as guests.
Fast content – It’s often much easier to record
new audio than it is to write new content.
HOW TO.
Podcasting is something you must commit to.
It's easy but it requires a lot of energy.
The basics: record, name your recording
properly and upload it.
Pat Flynn has a great post on this one here and
how you should set up each podcast properly.
How to launch on Amazon.
Have as many reviews as possible. Reviews
reap sales.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ask people to give you a review. Friends,
family whoever you can find and do it at
least 3 months before you launch.
Make a list of these people
Offer them a free copy
Ask them for Amazon reviews.
Put them on an specialized emailing list
to let them know of the upcoming
publish and say thank you.
Email them day before and hours before the
launch. It creates sense of importance in your
early reviewers.
Tim Grahl has a great package containing email
samples and spreadsheets to keep track of who
received your emails, here
EXTRA: Flood amazon on an exact date and time
with your peeps buying the book and you could
get to #1 that day easily.
Kindle select 90 day.
Makes your book exclusive to the Kindle Store
for 90 days and includes it in the Kindle
Owner’s Lending Library, where thousands of
targeted readers can borrow it for free. You can
even run a free promotion for a paid ebook for
5
of
those
90
days.
There are two simple ways to use your Kindle
book to drive traffic to your blog or landing
page:
Link directly to your website inside the book
Use
a
free
giveaway
Giving a freebie to book buyers. When they buy,
they see a “free gift” message, with two links to
the author’s landing page. This is a simple and
hugely
effective
technique.
But that’s not all. Use Amazon’s “Look Inside”
and “Download a Sample” features to give
readers a free report. Add a call to action on page
4 of your ebook (the last page in the preview)
and link this back to your landing page or blog.
Every 30 previews send about 10 visitors to your
blog
.
Goodreads.
A social media site for books and reading with
more than 20 million members. One of the
most important elements of the site—from a
marketer’s perspective—is the Goodreads star
rating, which is based on reader reviews.
Goodreads has been one of Kaye’s favorite
tools for getting the word out and generating
pre-publication buzz.
BOOK TRAILER.
Creating a trailer for your book or blog is all the
rage now. But be aware that it can also be a
huge money pit that doesn’t impact sales at all.
If you decide to create a trailer, first write
compelling script that moves people to buy the
book or visit your blog. Then decide how you
are going to produce it. You can produce it
yourself, hire a production team, or hire out
certain parts of the production process.
Script – Think through how this video is going
to be used to sell your book/blog. Don’t talk
about your book’s/blog’s features. Talk about the
value and benefits people will obtain from
reading it.
Production – Produce it yourself with a video
camera or iPhone and iMovie, or hire a
production crew to do it for you.
Cheaper option? Hire a freelancer who knows
good design and making a movie maker video.
Marketing for fans.
Offer your devoted fans sneak previews and
advance copies of your new book.
Have a page on your website for short stories,
and add a new one every week or month
depending on your schedule.
Host a contest for topic suggestions for your
weekly short story.
Host a contest for the best short story where
the winner will have his/her story featured on
your website.
Link to the winner’s story on your social media
pages.
Have free book giveaway contests for your fans
and website visitors.
Celebrate your fans by featuring a Fan of the
Month on your website and social media
profiles.
Host a contest for the best illustration of a scene
from one of your books where the winner will
have his/her illustration featured on your
website.
Link to the winner’s illustration on your social
media pages.
Marketing for fans.
Create fan pages for the main characters in
your best sellers, especially those in your
series.
Ask fans to post pictures of them reading your
book.
Get to know your fans even better by polling
them on their likes, dislikes, and opinions on
your ideas for books or promotions.
Write a book specifically for your fans.
Write a book that your fans can customize by
picking what happens next.
Host a contest for the best book trailer where the
winner will have his/her trailer featured on your
website.
Link to the winner’s book trailer on your social
media pages.
Host a contest where your fans can submit a
movie of them acting their favorite scene in one
of your books and feature the winner on your
website.
Link to the winner’s movie on your social media
pages.
BOOK INCENTIVES.
What can you give away as an incentive for people to buy multiple copies at once?
●
●
●
●
Joint venture launch – Partner with another author or expert to promote your book and
their products together.
Book clubs – Provide discussion questions, or even offer to Skype in and talk directly with
the group.
Product sponsorships – Invite companies to give away products to your book buyers in
exchange for promotion of their product.
Digital products – Provide free downloads of ebooks and other digital products to your book
buyers.
MEDIA OUTREACH.
Media coverage, both large and small, can play a huge role in selling books.
Make sure you are focused on providing fantastic and exclusive content, and not only on
pitching your book:
●
●
●
●
Media list – Create your list of media outlets and find potential contact information.
List of pitches and angles – Create several ways to present your book and your
expertise—create several different pitches from different angles, to appeal to different
media outlets.
Email templates for outreach – Write templated emails that you can customize and use
multiple times, to reach out to similar media outlets.
Spreadsheet for tracking – Keep track of every media outlet, contact name, date contacted,
response, etc., in a spreadsheet.
FREE PR.
www.24-7PressRelease.com
Free
release
www.Free-Press-Release-Center.info
distribution
with
ad-support
www.1888PressRelease.com
Free distribution, paid services gives you better placement
and
permanent
archiving.
www.ClickPress.com
Distributs to sites like Google News and Topix.net, Gold level
will
also
get
you
to
sites
like
LexisNexis.
www.EcommWire.com
Focuses on ecommerece and requires you include an image, 3
keywords
and
links.
www.Express-Press-Release.com
Free
distribution
company
with
offices
in
12
states.
Distributes your release, offers a web page with one keyword link to
your
site.
www.I-Newswire.com
Allows for free distribution to sites and search engines, premium
membership differs only slightly in adding in graphics.
www.NewswireToday.com
All the usual free distribution tools, premium service includes logo,
product
picture
and
more.
www.PR.com
Not only will they distribute your press releases, but you can also set up
a
full
company
profile.
www.PR9.net
www.Free-Press-Release.com
supported
Easy press release distribution for free, more features for paid
accounts.
European-based free press release distribution site.
press
distribution
www.PR-Inside.com
Ad
site.
FREE PR.
www.PRBuzz.com
www.PressAbout.com
Completely free distribution to search engines, news
sites,
and
blogs.
A
www.PRCompass.com
www.PressMethod.com
Free press release distribution no matter what, but extra services based
on
the
size
of
your
contribution.
Distribute your press release with a free or paid version,
others
can
vote
it
up
ala
Digg
style.
www.PRUrgent.com
Not only distributes your release, but attempts to teach
you how to write one, and even offers downloadbale
samples
for
you
to
work
with.
www.Press-Base.com
Submit your release for free and get on their front page
and the category of your choice.
free
press
release
service
formatted
as
a
blog.
www.PRLeap.com
Free distribution to search engines, newswires, and RSS feeds. Fee
based
bumps
get
you
better
placement.
www.PRLog.org
Free distribution to Google News and other other search engines.
www.TheOpenPress.com
Gives free distribution
HTML-coded
for
plain
formatted
releases,
fees for
releases.
ADDITIONAL SITES.
Sites that have discussions pertaining to CEO and
entrepreneur related subjects, and where the book
and blog can be promoted:
●
●
●
●
●
https://growthhackers.com/
www.Medium.com
http:///quora.com
www.scribd.com
www.Slideshare.com
Sites specifically tailored to promote the book
www.addictedtoebooks.com
www.Mediabistro.com
http://authormarketingclub.com/members/submit-your-book/
http://blog.booksontheknob.org/subscribe-about-contact/subscri
be
http://digitalbooktoday.com/join-our-team/12-top-100-submit-yo
ur-free-book-to-be-included-on-this-list/
http://ebookshabit.com/for-authors/
http://ereadernewstoday.com/bargain-kindle-books/
http://www.ereaderperks.com/authors/
https://www.facebook.com/galleycat/app/-/
http://everywritersresource.com/selfpublished/
PAID ADVERTISING.
Be careful not to overspend, and make sure that
you have a clear call to action that you can
track results on. If your advertising efforts
aren’t building your permission list or selling
books, kill it quickly. Starting with online ads is
fast, inexpensive, and easy to track.
●
●
●
●
●
Google Adwords
Facebook ads
LinkedIn ads
StumbleUpon ads
Price promotion – Sites such as BookBub,
Book Gorilla, etc.
BOOK TOURS.
Online
●
●
●
●
●
●
Interviews on podcasts and
blogs
Guest posts and articles on
other websites
Live chats, both video and
written:
Facebook events
Google Hangout
Webinars
Offline
Choose the right locations for events – Only consider
towns where you know you can draw a crowd, and
locations that are perfect for your readers.
Make connections and set dates – Get date
confirmations, and coordinate with the venue to ensure
they are ready for your event.
Pre-plan and book your travel itinerary – Make sure all
of your plane tickets, hotels, and local transportation are
all booked well in advance, and are well organized.
LIVE EVENTS.
Speak at conferences, conventions, and festivals. What conferences and conventions are your
readers attending? Submit proposals to speak at these events.
Host events at conferences, conventions, and festivals – If you can’t be a speaker, set up your
own event off-site! Host an event through Meetup.com or throw a party.
Hire a speakers bureau – A speakers bureau can open doors and raise your profile in a way that
you may not be able to do on your own.
NETWORKING.
●
●
●
Long-term network of colleagues and
coworkers
Family and friends
Additional groups and connections – Are
you in a local cycling club, or do you
volunteer at a nonprofit? Make sure they
know
about
your
book!
PROMO MATERIALS.
Book one-sheet – this is a sales page for your
book. Include the book’s cover image, and
provide a brief description of the book, your bio,
and
endorsements
and
reviews.
Author Q&A – Provide several pre-written
questions and answers about you and your
book.
Press kit – Provide more detailed information
on the book, and your full author bio. Include
links to download hi-res images and other
ancillary
content.
At last,
interlink and
optimize your
channels.
why?
Search engines want to
help you by putting your
content higher in the
rankings.
But they won’t
If you don't have the proper
linkage and optimization
between and inside everything
you got on the internet.
Each channel that you
occupy on the web, needs
to talk and walk the same
way.
When one speaks,
the others speak as well.
One voice. One clear,
understandable
sentence/paragraph/text
with specific, simple
keywords.
Just like your body.
If you don't talk the way
you walk, you do not stand
out. So help the search
engines and stand out by
talking in unison and
walking like one.
SEARCH ENGINES.
The search engines' primary responsibility is
to serve relevant results to their users. So ask
yourself what your target customers are
looking for and make sure your site delivers it
to
them.
Although search engines have become
increasingly sophisticated, they still can't see
and understand a web page the same way a
human can. SEO helps the engines figure out
what each page is about, and how it may be
useful
for
users.
The Limits of Search Engine Technology
The major search engines all operate on the same
principles, as explained in Chapter 1. Automated
search bots crawl the web, follow links, and index
content in massive databases. They accomplish
this with dazzling artificial intelligence, but modern
search technology is not all-powerful. There are
numerous technical limitations that cause
significant problems in both inclusion and
rankings.
To perform better in SE,
your most important content should
be in HTML text format.The easiest
way to ensure that the words and
phrases you display to your visitors
are visible to search engines is to
place them in the HTML text on the
page.
Keywords domination
If you want your page to have a
chance of ranking in the search
results for example "dog," it's wise
to make sure the word "dog" is
part of the crawlable content of
your document.
One of the best ways to optimize a
page's rankings is to ensure that
the keywords you want to rank
for are prominently used in titles,
text, and metadata.
Keyword research
It's not always about getting visitors to your site, but about
getting the right kind of visitors.
How to Judge the Value of a Keyword
Is the keyword relevant to your website's content? Will
searchers find what they are looking for on your site when
they search using these keywords? Will they be happy with
what they find? Will this traffic result in financial rewards or
other organizational goals? If the answer to all of these
questions is a clear "Yes!" then proceed …
Keywords domination
Use the keyword phrase: At least once in the alt attribute of an image on the
In the title tag at least once. Try to keep the page. This not only helps with web search, but also
keyword phrase as close to the beginning of the image search, which can occasionally bring valuable
title tag as possible. More detail on title tags
traffic.
follows later in this section.
Once in the URL. Additional rules for URLs and
Once prominently near the top of the page.
keywords are discussed later on in this section.
At least two or three times, including
At least once in the meta description tag. Note that the
variations, in the body copy on the page.
meta description tag does not get used by the engines
Perhaps a few more times if there's a lot of
for rankings, but rather helps to attract clicks by
text content.
searchers reading the results page, as the meta
description becomes the snippet of text used by the
search engines.
Keywords domination
Title Tags - an accurate, concise
description of a page's content.
●
●
●
●
Be mindful of length
Place important keywords close to
the front
Include branding
Consider readability and emotional
impact
URL Construction Guidelines
●
●
●
●
Employ empathy
Shorter is better
Keyword use is important (but overuse is
dangerous)
Go static
Rich Snippets . Rich snippets are a type of structured
data that allow webmasters to mark up content in ways
that provide information to the search engines.
LONG TAIL Keywords domination
Step #1: Google Autosuggest
●
Example: “fat burning supplements for
women”
Step #2: Google Keyword Planner
●
Copy the long tail keyword you selected
above into the keywords search box and
click “get ideas.” You will get a list of
related long tail keyword phrases you
could use.
Step #3: Write
Long tail keywords often convert better, because
they catch people later in the buying/conversion
cycle A person searching for "shoes" is probably
browsing, and not ready to buy. On the other hand,
someone searching for "best price on Air Jordan
size 12" practically has their wallet out!
Resources | Google adwords/trends & Bing ads
intelligence
General SEO tips
Ensure a clean, keyword rich URL
structure is in place.
Make sure content is not buried inside rich
media (Adobe Flash Player, JavaScript,
Ajax) and verify that rich media doesn't
hide links from crawlers.
Create keyword-rich content and match
keywords to what users are searching for.
Produce fresh content regularly.
"Build for users, not for search engines."
There are three types of search queries people
generally make:
"Do" Transactional Queries: I want to do something,
such as buy a plane ticket or listen to a song.
"Know" Informational Queries: I need information, such
as the name of a band or the best restaurant in New
York City.
"Go" Navigation Queries: I want to go to a particular
place on the Internet, such as Facebook or the
homepage of the NFL.
General SEO tips
Good sites have these things in common
●
●
●
●
Easy to use, navigate, and understand
Provide direct, actionable information
relevant to the query
Professionally designed and
accessible to modern browsers
Deliver high quality, legitimate,
credible content
Signals of Quality Content
●
●
Engagement Metrics
○ Search engines seek the "long click" –
where users click a result without
immediately returning to the search
page to try again.
○ If you click and immediately bounce out
- it's not good
Linking Patterns
General SEO tips
Link building basics.
"Natural" Editorial Links Links that are
given naturally by sites and pages that
want to link to your content or
company. These links require no
specific action from the SEO, other
than the creation of worthy material
(great content) and the ability to create
awareness about it.
Manual "Outreach" Link Building The SEO creates these
links by emailing bloggers for links, submitting sites to
directories, or paying for listings of any kind. The SEO
often creates a value proposition by explaining to the link
target why creating the link is in their best interest.
Examples include filling out forms for submissions to a
website award program or convincing a professor that
your resource is worthy of inclusion on the public syllabus.
General SEO tips
Link building basics.
Self-Created, Non-Editorial. Hundreds of thousands of websites offer any
visitor the opportunity to create links through guest book signings,
forum signatures, blog comments, or user profiles. These links offer the
lowest value, but can, in the aggregate, still have an impact for some
sites. In general, search engines have been known to penalize sites that
pursue these links aggressively. Today, these types of links are often
considered spammy and should be pursued with caution.
General SEO tips
SEOs rely on a number of signals to help build a
rating scale of link value. Along with the data from
the link signals mentioned above, these metrics
include the following:
●
●
●
●
●
●
Ranking for Relevant Search Terms
Competitor's Backlinks
MozRank
Number of Links on a Page
Domain Authority
Potential Referral Traffic | Links that send high
amounts of direct click-through traffic also send
targeted, valuable visitors to your site
Search engine tools and services
●
●
●
Sitemaps - have a great and easy to
crawl through
○ Sitemaps come in three varieties:
■ Xml, rss and txt
Search Engine Tools
GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS
General SEO tips
SEO metrics to track
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Search Engine Share of Referring visits
Direct Navigation: Typed in traffic, bookmarks, email links without tracking codes,
etc.
Referral Traffic: From links across the web or in trackable email, promotional, and
branding campaign links
Search Traffic: Queries that sent traffic from any major or minor web search engine
Search Engine Referrals
Visits Referred by Specific Search Engine Terms and Phrases
Conversion Rate by Search Query Term/Phrase
Number of pages receiving at least one visit from search engines
To sum up,
in order for all of this to
work, you need to start
right now. As a matter of
fact - start from yesterday.
Ask yourself,
What would future me think of present me,
if I don’t do what I have envisioned to do?
Why would present me be so cruel to
deprive future me of the benefits of making
my vision real?
Thank you.
click
Be sure to check out my personal website
www.bbdirector.com where I share the
secrets of the bb way of life. Or my
slideshare profile where i share similar
presentations.
Cheers.
bb