10 FREE Surefire Ways to Promote You and Your Book – Part 1: Strategies 1-5
Posted By Karen on November 28, 2009
In today’s world where a cup of coffee can cost $3 to $5, it’s a relief to know there are many avenues available to create visibility and promotion, and establish your platform. We’ll look at the first five out of ten now.
1. Create a marketing plan. If you’re not sure what to do, just create a list of what you should be doing. You can include the steps below to start. A plan helps to keep you on track and provides focus.
2. Create a free blog using Blogger, WordPress.com, Webs.com, or Ning.com. (There are many other sites for this purpose.) This is the first step and is a must in your marketing strategy. This is the step that will launch your visibility and platform. For those who are unaware of what a platform is, it is a means of establishing you as an expert in your field.
Along with creating a blog is choosing a domain name. On sites such as Blogger, you can choose a name for free, but you should also purchase a name at this point. Your domain name should reflect you and your work. And, don’t be short sighted here; when choosing your name, think of a name that will grow with you. When I started out I chose the name of my first book, Day’s End Lullaby, as my domain name. I paid $12.95 per month for a limited usage site. I did give the site up, but still have business cards with the old url on them. I could have gone with Karen’s World of Writing and Marketing, or some other more functional name, but I didn’t look ahead at the time.
3. Post to your blog. This is the crucial step that will initially put you on the cyberspace map. It’s important to create unique, informative, and useful content; this is the beginning of establishing yourself as an expert – establishing your platform. And, it will bring traffic to your site.
A note here: There is much talk about using keywords in your content and it is so for good reason. Using keyword rich content will please the search engines of sources such as Google. Briefly, keyword rich content and titles mean you include words that a reader may use when doing a search for the topic you are writing about. What this means is if you are writing about promotion, you will include words pertaining to promotion in your title and article.
4. Write articles for ezines. This is the next step to widen your horizons and readership. Article directories such as EzineArticles.com, AssociatedContent.com, and Suite101.com are great sources to use to further establish you and your platform. As with your blog content, the article must be keyword rich, unique, and provide useful information.
If the content is useful to the reader, he/she will click on your link to see what your site has to offer.
It would be a good idea to offer a freebie on your site. There are a number of e-books floating around that writers can offer on their sites. The authors of these e-books allow others to offer them as giveaways to increase their own visibility as the authorship or byline must be included if used. Offering these freebies will entice readers to your site.
5. If your book is published, go to your local library and ask if they will carry it. You can also ask if you can give a presentation.
Stay tuned for strategies 6-10 tomorrow!
Karen
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