[Book Marketing Expert] Ten Ways to Know if Your (Internet) Marketing is Paying Off

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE BOOK MARKETING EXPERT NEWSLETTER! A newsletter all about SUCCESSFUL publishing and POWERFUL promotion. July 8, 2010 Issue #224 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ in this issue -- Note From The Editor -- Book Marketing Expert Back Copies Available! -- Feature Article: Ten Ways to Know if Your (Internet) Marketing is Paying Off -- Leave Your Mark Online -- Join Our Channel on YouTube! -- Spread Your Influence! -- Book Bits and Bites -- How Popular is Your Topic? -- AME/LULU Webinar University -- Get Better Google Search Results -- Keeping Up with Penny -- Hear What The Publishing Insiders Have to Say -- Do Ads Work Online? -- Connecting to Conferences -- News Your Way -- Brush Up on Your Business Skills -- Twitter Tip: TwitBlend -- Twitter Tip - Chirrps -- Reader Tip! -- WHO ARE WE -- ------------------------------------------------------------ Penny C. Sansevieri, Editor penny@amarketingexpert.com Welcome to a new issue of THE BOOK MARKETING EXPERT NEWSLETTER. You are receiving this newsletter compliments of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. To opt out, please scroll down to the bottom of this newsletter. Note From The Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to another issue of the Book Marketing Expert Newsletter! Dear Author, Have you ever felt like you're spending a ton of time on your online marketing and wondering if anyone is listening? Well I sure have, so this week we're looking at some steps you can take to see if your marketing is paying off! Are you going to BlogHer this year? It will take place in NYC Aug. 5-7. If you are attending, be sure and look me up - I'm presenting on a panel on Saturday, I'd love to meet you there! Did I mention we're relaunching the AME site soon? Yes we are, so keep watching here for prizes and specials we'll be offering to celebrate our AME makeover! Here's a "don't miss" event coming up on Sept. 25 in San Diego, the 21st Century Book Marketing Event. I'll be speaking there again this year, and I'd love to see you there! (http://mixiv.com/vp/60394/19173). Wishing you publishing success, Penny, Paula, Susan, Michelle, Nancy and everyone at Author Marketing Experts, Inc. P.S. - Become someone who "likes" our AME page on Facebook, and then you'll find articles and tips from Penny, notices about upcoming webinars, Publishing Insider shows, and more: http://www.facebook.com/bookmarketingame?ref=sgm Book Marketing Expert Back Copies Available! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We're offering our 2009 Book Marketing Expert issues in e-book form. Interested in getting caught up with some back issues? Email us at info@amarketingexpert.com. Feature Article: Ten Ways to Know if Your (Internet) Marketing is Paying Off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So you're out there marketing. You're doing all the right things (or so you think). You're following the book marketing advice of some leaders in the industry. You've got a checklist and you're methodically checking off your goals. But how do you know you're doing everything right? The fact is, most of us don't. Yet we forge ahead, keeping pace with our marketing plan, without ever knowing if it's paying off. We don't see it in sales. Does that mean it's not working? Not at all. You could be seeing the effects in other places but just aren't keeping track of it. I find that especially in social media you need to keep a close eye on what's working and what's not. If you've spent *any* kind of time online you know that you can be in front of your computer for what seems like 20 minutes and yet three hours have gone by. If the three hours of marketing is paying off, then it's fine to spend the time. But you need to know the difference. Here are a few things you can review to measure the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of your marketing. 1. Jumping in without a plan: Set clear, measureable goals because most marketing is invisible. Let's face it, you send an email and wonder half the time if the intended recipient got it or if it ended up in a spam filter, never to be seen again. That's the power behind goals. You need them and you need to run your campaign by them. So what are your goals? And no, you may not say sell books. Yes, that factors in - but there are a million small steps along the way before you even get to sales. Consider these goals and see if any of them fit your book, topic, and future: a. Establish yourself as an expert or get known in your particular field. Hey, maybe you just want to be known as the go-to person for everything related to paranormal romance. That's great and it's a realistic, attainable goal. b. Increase the visibility of your brand. OK, sort of the same as the bullet before this one but more geared to the non-fiction author. c. Increase traffic and incoming links to your website. This is a great goal. Whether you are fiction or non-fiction, it's a great focus. d. Do what makes sense for your book: If your followers aren't on Twitter then why have you spent the last month or so promoting yourself on there? Mind you, Twitter works for most of the books we manage, but there are a few that don't make sense. Twitter skews older than most people think so don't be surprised if your YA reader isn't on there. Before you launch head first into a campaign, make sure it fits your demographic. 2. Neglecting other marketing: I know it's easy to get all a-twitter about Twitter, but what else are you doing to promote yourself and your book? If you're good at events and speaking, are you still focused on that? Don't get too myopic on doing just one thing for your marketing. The truth is, you need to do a lot of different things, balanced out over a week or a month for your marketing to really make sense. 3. Set goals - be clear on what you hope to achieve in social media: What are your goals for Twitter? If it's just about gathering followers then you are missing a big piece of this social networking tool. For many marketing people it's all about the number, but numbers don't make as much sense unless they are driving interest to you and your book. If the numbers keep growing, along with traffic to your website, then you're on the right track. But if you're just growing numbers for the sake of being able to say that you have 10,000 followers then it makes no sense. That's like buying a fancy car you can't really afford. Eventually the debt of it will drag you down. It's the same with Twitter and Facebook and any other social media site. It's not about the numbers. It's about the activity. 4. Be clear on who you are trying to reach: Many of you say you're trying to reach readers, but is that really true? We all want to sell books, but who are you really going after? In all likelihood you will have a variety of different targets you are going after. Consider these: booksellers, speaking opportunities, interviews, bulk sale targets, reviewers, and readers to name a few. 5. Measure effectively: In order to know if stuff is working you'll need to measure effectively. As I pointed out earlier on in this article you may not want to do that by fans or followers - instead consider these ideas as ways to measure your success: a. Retweets on Twitter: The best sign of success on Twitter is the amount of retweets. Are you getting them and if so, how often? If your tweets are good and your followers are active, you should see a few a week at least (depending on the amount of followers you have). If you're curious about the amount of Tweets that get RT'd - check out retweetrank.com. Twitter Analyzer (twitteranalyzer.com) is another great tool for determining how far tweets have traveled. b. Site hits: Are the hits to your site increasing? Are you watching your analytics to be sure? If you're not, you should be. Watch your site stats closely and monitor the increase in traffic and where it's coming from. c. Inbound links: How many new ones are you getting? Did you do a vanity search before you started this campaign? If not, do that now. Make sure you know how many new incoming links you're getting as a result of your efforts. d. Sign-ups to your mailing list: Are they increasing? If you're doing the right stuff in your social media they should be increasing weekly. 6. Increasing the contacts in your industry: Remember that social media marketing is just like going to a networking meeting. You want to expand your reach and get to know others in your industry. If you're not increasing your reach and contact base, then you need to be. This is another great way to gauge how effective your marketing is. We always want to make progress in our marketing but we're not always sure how to do it or if what we're doing is making a difference. Follow these steps and see if it doesn't help your marketing momentum. If it's paying off, you'll know sooner rather than later and you can keep doing the good stuff, and punt the bad. Bonus: additional tools for tracking marketing Bit.ly: This site serves as both a URL shortener and also as a measurement tool. Bit.ly can help get you real-time results on clicks to links you are posting to Facebook and Twitter. Google Analytics: If you don't have any back end web analytics (and even if you do), Google gives you a lot of valuable data. Trackur: This is a great monitoring site to see what's being featured on you online and off. It's not free like Google Alerts, but much more comprehensive. Their basic package is $18 a month. Leave Your Mark Online ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ready to make your own *big* impression online? We've had a *huge* success story I'm dying to share with you. A recent campaign we did got the author on PAGE 1 of Google out of 115 million competing web pages, and the best part? He wasn't even on Google when we started. If you're ready to get found online, consider one of our Red Hot Internet Marketing campaigns. Email us today for more information: info@amarketingexpert.com. Join Our Channel on YouTube! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be sure to subscribe to AME's YouTube channel; there is a lot of content coming to keep you up to date on all things book marketing! http://www.youtube.com/user/BookmarketingAME. Spread Your Influence! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fast Company has joined the social media bandwagon with "The Influence Project." Why? Because social media platforms work! Now Fast Company magazine wants to include your photo in the November 2010 issue, as part of a neat project it calls the "2010 Most Influential People." This is a terrific chance to generate publicity from a magazine with a circulation of more than 538,000, as well as knowing how influential you really are. This is what they write on their About the Project page: "We started with a simple question: Who are the most influential people online right now? That's what The Influence Project is designed to answer. By participating, you will have your picture appear in the November issue of Fast Company magazine as part of an amazing photo spread. The more influence you demonstrate, the bigger your picture will be. You may discover that you're more influential than you think. Influence is not only about having the most friends or followers. Real influence is about being able to affect the behavior of those you interact with, to get others in your social network to act on a suggestion or recommendation. When you post a link or recommend a site, how many people actually bother to check it out? And what's the likelihood of those people then forwarding it on? How far does your influence spread? This is the type of influence we're looking for. We want to find the most influential person online. Who knows? It might even be you." Go here now to get a unique URL which you can then share with your followers via email, at your website and blog, and on the social media sites. It took me only a few minutes to sign up and upload my photo. I'll look for you in the November issue! Go to http://fcinf.com/v/apb5. Spread your influence! Tip offered by Susan Gilbert, AME's Search Engine Marketing Expert and Web 2.0 company owner, http://www.susangilbert.com/, which provides Social Networking websites and services. Book Bits and Bites ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Go Team Jacob!: 27 Reasons That Eclipse the Movie Is Better Than Eclipse the Book (snarky fun slideshow!) http://bit.ly/9c9fGo. But She's Proud!: Molly Ringle Writes the Worst Sentence of 2010 (it's pretty bad!) http://bit.ly/asJQyh. Judging a Book by its Title: 12 of the Worst Book Titles Ever: http://huff.to/boL9Vu. Please Don't Try This at Home: The Most Ridiculous How-to Books of all Time: http://huff.to/aQL3Tr. How Popular is Your Topic? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One way to find out is to track it on Google Alerts. Try plugging in your keyword to see what comes up. You can access Google Alerts by going to Google and typing in Google Alerts in the search bar. Alerts are free and a really easy way to track what's happening in your market. Keeping track of what's being said, featured, and written about your brand is a good way to know how popular it is and who is saying what in your market. AME/LULU Webinar University ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AME and LULU Publishing have joined forces to present publishing seminars. These free classes are led by Penny Sansevieri and will ramp up your book marketing efforts to the next level! Webinars are held at 7 pm EST and require computer access. FMI, email lulu@amarketingexpert.com. Learn more about the Lulu webinars on their Facebook page or at Lulublog.com: http://www.facebook.com/Luludotcom?v=app_2347471856 http://lulublog.com/2010/05/04/lulu-university-classes/ What they're saying about Lulu University: You do great work, can't wait for the next webinar. I will have to catch the recording of tomorrow's session because I have appointments that conflict. But I will definitely make it a point not to miss any of yours that I'm aware of. ~Marlene Morris www.RelevantSpirituality.com July 12 - Think Outside the Bookstore Box 10 Super Savvy Ways to Promote Your Book without setting foot in a bookstore! Bookstores got you down? Take heart! There are lots of things you can do to promote your book even if your book isn't in the bookstores! This class will cover the top 10 super savvy ways you can promote yourself without setting foot in a bookstore. Did you know that only 35% of Americans get their books in bookstores? We'll talk about all of the other places you can sell your book AND we'll also look at creative ways to do non-bookstore signings and events! PLUS we'll also discuss how to promote yourself by hosting your very own virtual tour! Don't miss this exciting class! August 9 - Media Training Magic! Are you ready for your close-up? If you're not sure, then this class is for you. Before you spend valuable marketing dollars to get yourself on radio and TV, you'll want to make sure you know what you're doing when it comes to media exposure. This class will teach you what you need to know about media training. BONUS: We'll also share with you the media mistakes you'll NEVER want to make! September 13 - Getting on Radio and TV Today! Are you ready for the big time? Then this class is for you! During our session we'll unveil the secrets of getting on radio and TV - today! We'll teach you how to create a "book hook," how to position yourself onto an ongoing story and how you can get your pitch noticed for immediate results! Get Better Google Search Results ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are many ways to restrict what you find in Google to get you a better result. Check out these Google options: http://tinyurl.com/5ntf7l. Keeping Up with Penny ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Penny was quoted in the MarketingVOX piece, Facebook versus Twitter: Which is Better for Your Business? http://www.marketingvox.com/facebook-versus-twitter-which-is-better-for-your-business-047272/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=mv&utm_medium=textlink. Penny got a lovely mention on The Creative Penn blog's interview with children's author Fiona Ingram: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/06/27/podcast-writing-books-for-children-with-fiona-ingram/. Penny has a series on book marketing underway at BookBuzzr - TGIF Book Marketing Tips: Why Inbound Marketing Makes Sense, http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/why-inbound-marketing-makes-sense/ and Inbound Marketing Rocks! Now What? http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/inbound-marketing-rocks-now-what/. Penny will be a speaker at the 21st Century Book Marketing Event September 25 and 26 in San Diego, which will focus on all the latest information on publishing and marketing your book. Visit 21st Century Book Marketing's site for more information. Keep up with Penny's latest blog for Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-c-sansevieri. Hear What The Publishing Insiders Have to Say ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be in the know and hear what the publishing insiders: Penny Sansevieri, CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. - and her guests - have to offer in terms of tips and insights into the industry! Listen here. Publishing Insiders is now available on iTunes, so you can keep up with the show wherever you go! Upcoming shows: What Van Halen Can Teach You About Book Marketing - July 13, 4 p.m. Pacific Yes, we're talking rock 'n roll - believe it or not, there are lessons you can glean from Eddie Van Halen & co. So often, authors plod along, marketing and marketing - and then when their royalty checks arrive they discover that their sales are paltry at best - and so they assume that their marketing isn't working. Measuring success in sales is not a good barometer for success. There are other triggers to look for. Learn to recognize those key elements that will help you know if your marketing is working, or if it isn't - and what you can do about it. Shows available for download include: The Digital Book Revolution Powerhouse Promotion with Marci Shimoff It's Getting Hot in Here - erotica equals hot books and even hotter sales! How to Maximize Book Reviews Self Publishing Success Story E-books: the Savior of Publishing or the Foe? Special Guest Mari Smith, queen of Facebook and dubbed "the Pied Piper of the Online World" by Fastcompany.com, on the hottest new Facebook apps to what's hot and what's not in the world of social media. Special Guest Seth Godin, marketing guru and author of the upcoming book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? All Things Twitter! with Warren Whitlock, author of the first book on Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online. Do Ads Work Online? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not so much it seems. A recent study (see: http://www.clickz.com/3639797) showed that 77% of consumers (responding to this survey) ignored the ads they saw. While most of us don't mind the ads, we also don't click on them either. Connecting to Conferences ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trying to find a conference? Take a look at allconferences.com - conferences are listed by market and region. There are a lot of them on here so have fun! News Your Way ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A new way to customize your news: http://www.icurrent.com/ currently in Beta, the site allows you to pull together just the news you need to follow. Brush Up on Your Business Skills ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's a quick work break (and it's educational too!) Andrew Lock's weekly Web TV show, "Help! My Business Sucks!," (http://helpmybusiness.com/). This 10 minute show gives you some interesting marketing and business education. Twitter Tip: TwitBlend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TwitBlend: http://www.twitblend.com/ This site lets you create your own collection of tweets or tweet list. Twitter Tip - Chirrps ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chirrps: http://chirrps.com/ Learn which tweets are hot topics - or follow the breaking news - by visiting this site! Reader Tip! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you've got a Reader Tip you'd like to share, please send it to penny@amarketingexpert.com with the subject line "reader tip." Submissions should be 75 words or less. WHO ARE WE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author Marketing Experts, Inc. is a full-service book marketing, promotion, and publicity company. We serve authors at all stages of marketing and promotion. We offer a full range of packages and services to choose from. To see a price list or schedule a free consultation, send your e-mail to penny@amarketingexpert.com with the subject line "Author Services Info." You can also visit our Web site at www.amarketingexpert.com. Reprint permission ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ You are welcome to reprint any items from "The Book Marketing Expert Newsletter." However, please credit us as a source with the following paragraph: Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com ------------------------------------------------------------ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like this newsletter? Pass it on! We never rent or sell subscriber lists to any third party. Your privacy is very important to us. Always. To subscribe to this newsletter, click here: subscribe@amarketingexpert.com. --------------------------------------------------- --------- Copyright 2010 Author Marketing Experts, Inc. --------------------------------------------------- --------- Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: penny@amarketingexpert.com web: http://www.amarketingexpert.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~