[Book Marketing Expert] 20 Simple Ways to Get Massive Traffic to your Website

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE BOOK MARKETING EXPERT NEWSLETTER! A newsletter all about SUCCESSFUL publishing and POWERFUL promotion. December 10, 2009 Issue #209 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ in this issue -- Note From The Editor -- Holiday Savings! Get 2 books for $20 during our special promo! -- Featured Article - 20 Simple Ways to Get Massive Traffic to your Website -- Facebook Facts -- AME-University: Book Marketing, Publishing, and Internet Marketing classes -- Does Your Blog Post Title Grab Attention? -- Book Bits and Bites -- Quick Book Cover Tip -- Introducing Facebook Social Networking - Supercharged! -- Penny in the News -- 20th Annual Midwest Book Awards - CALL for ENTRIES -- The Publishing Insiders Show -- Five Quick Ways to Rev up Your Site's Searchability -- Promote Your Book Now -- Marketing Lessons Learned in Line at Your Local Grocery store -- Find Success With AME's Products -- Twitter Tip: My Tweetheart -- Twitter Tip: My Twitter Story -- 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, We're almost to the end of the year and I have to say: it went fast! Our next two issues will be our "Best Of," so if you're wondering what tips sparked the most interest, we'll have them for you in the last issue of December and first issue in January. So, did I mention that I'll be teaching for NYU next March and April (their first self-publishing class!)? I'm really excited, I think 2010 is going to be our best year yet. We hope the same for you. It's gone fast and a lot has happened, but a few things have remained the same: our dedication to your success and our love of books. If you're wondering what to give someone this year, don't give fattening (as yummy as it is) give enlightenment, entertainment, and educational: give a book. We're jammed-packed this week again and we're so glad to have you along for another issue. I want to thank each and every one of you for reading and for your feedback. We love hearing from you so never hesitate to drop us a line at: info@amarketingexpert.com. From us to you, we wish you a safe and joyous Holiday season. We'll see you once more before the clock turns midnight and another year is upon us! Wishing you red hot success in 2010 and beyond, Penny, Paula, Susan, Nancy and everyone at Author Marketing Experts, Inc. Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Bookgal. P.P.S. Check out our blog! We offer great tips and insights, such as: 'Bookselling by the numbers: what these numbers mean to you:' http://amarketingexpert.com/ameblog/marketing/988/ Holiday Savings! Get 2 books for $20 during our special promo! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just in time to stock up on your favorite writer gifts! As a loyal Book Marketing Expert newsletter member, you are invited to receive a personally autographed copy of Penny Sansevieri's completely revised Red Hot Internet Publicity: An Insider's Guide to Marketing Your Book on the Internet. Perfect for a gift, or to keep for yourself! The sure-fire way that will help you establish your brand and promote your books online, with over 964 of the latest and most powerful ways and places to promote you and your books online. You'll benefit from some of the most little-known blogs, social media sites and chat rooms. Penny will share her decade-plus of online book marketing and promotion expertise. Her successes include 10 bestsellers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Will yours be next? This guide will show you the way. When you reserve your advance copy within eight (8) days, your complete Internet Book Promotion Package will include: * Your personally autographed copy of Red Hot Internet Publicity, an $18.95 value, * the internationally recognized "Book Promotion Made Easy" by back cover copy expert Eric Gelb, a $12.00 value, and * The Twitter Handbook - all about how you can use this amazing medium to establish your brand and promote your books online, a $14.95 value. In all, a $45.90 value, yours now for just a $20 investment, plus $2.50 to defray postage. http://tinyurl.com/lgh8r8 This special book marketing and promotion package is available only for the next eight (8) days. So please reply now so we can speed your Internet Book Promotion Package to you today. I look forward to personally autographing your copy of Red Hot Internet Publicity. Penny http://tinyurl.com/lgh8r8 Featured Article - 20 Simple Ways to Get Massive Traffic to your Website ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Embarking on an Internet marketing campaign doesn't have to be difficult, tricky, or complicated. Here are a few simple ways (twenty in fact) that you can easily implement to get tons of traffic to your site right now! 1) Write articles: believe it or not this is an incredible tool for driving traffic. Well-written, relevant articles can net you quite a bit of activity to your website. Don't forget to add your URL in your byline. Articles should be 500 to 2,000 words in length. You can send articles to sites like: articlecity.com, goarticles.com, submityourarticles.com and ezinearticles.com. 2) Social bookmark *everything* - and I do mean everything, you can bookmark each page of your site and each blog entry you post. While this might seem tedious it's worth it. You'll see a strong increase in traffic if you social bookmark each page on your site and each of your blog entries. 3) List yourself in the best directories - you'll have to pay for this but since most people don't do this (since everyone's looking for a freebie) you could really enhance your traffic by getting a listing: http://dir.yahoo.com, botw.org. 4) Get yourself listed at: DMOZ.org - it's not easy to get listed there but worth the effort. 5) Review: if you can review hot new products or books within your market, head on over to Amazon.com and start positioning yourself as an expert. In order to do this effectively you'll want to create an Amazon profile and make sure and sign each review with a reference to your URL (your website). You can also go to epinions.com and revoo.com to review products as well. 6) Offer a freebie on craigslist: you'll be amazed at how much traffic you get from a single craigslist ad. They key here is to send people to a page on your site and make sure they have to sign up for something (like your email newsletter) before they can grab their freebie. That way you're not just getting traffic, you're also building your list. 7) Create a "recommended by" list on your del.icio.us page - you can do this by logging on and creating an account at del.icio.us and then tagging articles, blogs and other content you think is important to your readership. Then offer this page as a resource site. You can add a link to this page in your email signature line or on your website. 8) And speaking of your email signature line - do you have one? If you don't, create one. Believe it or not, people do follow these links. You'll be amazed how many folks read email signature lines. I have one and change it several times a year, depending on what we're doing or promoting or what books I have coming out. 9) Lend a helping hand: you can be an answer person at Yahoo Answers http://answers.yahoo.com/ - you don't have to spend hours on there but maybe a few minutes a week. Make sure and include a link back to your site by your answers. 10) Set up a social networking site using Facebook.com, Linkedin.com, or Squidoo. It's free and easy to do, just don't forget the all-important link back to your site! 11) Make sure your blog has an RSS feed so if you capture a reader you don't lose them if they forget to bookmark your site or blog. 12) Join relevant groups at Yahoo groups http://groups.yahoo.com/. You'll find everything from groups on growing your small business, writing books, finding your passion, even underwater basket weaving. I dare you to find one that isn't right for what you're promoting. When you do find the right group, join and participate as you can! 13) Podcasting is another great way to drive traffic. Start a podcast by going to AudioAcrobat http://bookmkr.audioacrobat.com/ - yes, this is our affiliate link. There are other programs you can use, but I love AudioAcrobat. You can record the podcast over the phone quickly and easily and then hit the "send" button on your computer once it's recorded and the system will syndicate it to 27 podcast directories including iTunes. It's a great way to let people know about you and your website! 14) Start a blog and then once you do, start commenting on other people's blogs, linking to them from your site or adding them to your blogroll. 15) Inbound links: don't squander your time (or a perfectly good link) on smaller low-traffic sites. Instead spend your time going after high traffic, high quality sites. Good sites should have a PR (page ranking) of 4-6 depending on the market. You can find out what a site's page ranking is by downloading the Google toolbar, which comes with a PR feature built in. 16) Start an email newsletter: while it may not seem like a newsletter that you email can drive traffic to your site, you'd be surprised at the effectiveness of this type of promotion. If your newsletter (like your articles) is interesting and relevant to your audience you'll find that it has a huge pass-through factor. Meaning that it is passed from one email subscriber to another. Also, if you have an email newsletter you should never, ever go to a single event without your handy sign-up sheet. Yes, you can even use offline events to drive traffic to your website. 17) And speaking of offline efforts: if you're ever quoted in a magazine or other publication, make sure and mention your URL as it's appropriate to the topic. Don't be too pushy about this, but do not forget to tell folks you have a website that may be a great resource for the topic of your interview. 18) If you have products to sell why not get a store on eBay? This site gets a tremendous amount of traffic, and on your sales page you're allowed to list your URL. Another great way to get an inbound link and a way for people to find you. 19) Load a video on YouTube and 57 other video sites - if you don't have a video or don't know how to create one, contact us and we'll refer you to our fabulous book video people! 20) While this isn't a tip per se it's still important. If you're going to go through all the trouble of getting traffic to your site, make sure your site is converting this traffic into something. Get folks to sign up for something, your newsletter, the RSS feed on your blog. Whatever it is, getting their email address will help you re-market to them when the time is right. Studies show that visitors landing on a site often don't buy the first time. That's ok! You want to get them into your marketing funnel so you can market to them again and again - not in a way that's obtrusive, offensive or downright annoying but in a way that is helping them with their own mission. An example of this might be an email newsletter. A helpful, informative newsletter is a fantastic funnel. A blog is another great way to keep people in your marketing loop without bombarding them with "please buy my stuff" email messages. Also, make sure you know what your traffic numbers are before you launch into any Internet marketing campaign. By traffic numbers, I mean how many people are visiting your site. You want to know this so you can gauge a before and after view of your marketing efforts. Facebook Facts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Did you know: Facebook has 350 million users and more than 6 billion minutes are spent on the social networking site each day (worldwide). Learn 32 other interesting Facebook facts from Penn Olson. AME-University: Book Marketing, Publishing, and Internet Marketing classes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These free teleclasses from AME-University may be just the thing to get your book marketing savvy ramped up! A new class list is coming soon so be sure to check it out! The Building Blocks of Book Marketing! w/ Penny Sansevieri When: Thursday, December 10, 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm Description: When it comes to book marketing there's a lot you can do, but what's really the most effective way to promote? The Building Blocks of Book Marketing will show you "can't fail" strategies along with shortcuts and insider secrets to getting your book noticed! We'll also look at the things you must do to market your book. BONUS: We'll share tips to getting free publicity! Book Signing Gold! w/ Penny Sansevieri When: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm Description: 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! 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! Got a book signing coming up? Want to know how to strike book signing gold, drive crowds of people to your event, sell more books AND get invited back? Then this class is for you! We'll teach you how to plan an exceptional book signing from start to finish! PLUS! 10 Super Savvy Ways to Promote Your Book without setting foot in a bookstore! Don't miss this exciting class! How to join in: To sign up or learn more about these classes send an email to author@amarketingexpert.com. The AME website has a complete class listing for handy reference: http://www.amarketingexpert.com/iclasses.html. Missed a class? Here's an easy way to catch up on past classes, just visit the AME-University All Access Pass. Does Your Blog Post Title Grab Attention? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When I'm in read-a-blog post mode, I'll patiently work my way through my feedreader - and every single time I've done that, I've been astonished again and again at how 'ho hum' the majority of blog posts are titled. Seriously! I've missed a plethora of truly sterling information because the authors made their blog post sound as exciting as tooth-brushing one of my dog's teeth after their morning meals. It is CRITICAL that you make your blog posts intriguing enough to stand out of the clutter and visually grab my eyes and say, you MUST read this!! I would truly urge you to make it a New Year's Resolution to REALLY hone your headline content at the very least. And once you have that mastered, you should also learn how to infuse your posts with emotional hooks that cause your reader to simply DO what you want them to (buy your product, sign up for your ezine, etc.). Writing in a sales copy fashion is very different than writing for a book and has great rewards after adding it to your online skill set. 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh The Stories They Tell: Booksellers, that is. Publisher's Weekly ran a recent column on The Funniest Reasons Customers Reject Books, but the best part may be the comments that followed - from other booksellers with their own stories to share. Have a laugh on us! A Feast for the Eyes: Amazon has made its selections and announced the nominees for Best Book Covers of 2009. Have a look at the 60 nominees in 10 categories - and vote for your favorite! Tired of Tiger? We won't get into the (sordid) details, but there is a book-related angle to the whole brouhaha - the book lying on the floor of Tiger's SUV appeared in accident scene photos and, as a result, has become a surprise bestseller. Not Priceless, But a Great Deal: There was a lot of online buzz when Cormac McCarthy decided to part ways with the typewriter he used for every book he's written, as well as three unpublished books. McCarthy paid $50 for the typewriter in 1958 and last week's auction brought six figures. Check it out! Quick Book Cover Tip ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Remember the old rule of thumb was that your cover had to be viewable from twelve feet away. While that's still true, there's another thing to consider when getting your cover designed. Complicated, intricate images, while they may translate well for the actual cover size, don't work well for the smaller images you see on sites like Amazon. With the ever-shrinking window of placement opportunity in bookstores, more and more shoppers are going online to find their books. Consequently, if your book cover doesn't translate well into a thumbnail image, you could be losing sales. People do judge a book by its cover, and if a potential reader can't see it, they likely won't buy it. Introducing Facebook Social Networking - Supercharged! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These 24 videos will take you by the hand and show you everything you need to know (step-by-step) about setting up and mastering Facebook marketing so you can start generating traffic and selling your books and products. It's really that simple! Don't be intimidated by the phrase "Social Networking." It really isn't as hard as it sounds. In fact, these videos make setting up, building, and profiting from Facebook as simple as tying your shoes! It is not hard to build your own Facebook empire, as long as you know what you are doing. This video series was created specifically to help people learn the right way to practice Facebook marketing. Bonus: We'll even include the two (2) ebooks: Facebook Secrets and Twitter Handbook Only $499.00 will get you started today! Visit http://www.amarketingexpert.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=105&osCsid1=c0b733defd96acc5b30e502a0b926f69. Penny in the News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Penny was quoted in this week's Orlando Sentinel in the article Authors, publishers aim to cash in on Casey Anthony. Keep up with Penny and the latest in books and marketing on The Huffington Post's Books section by subscribing to her blog posts: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-c-sansevieri. 20th Annual Midwest Book Awards - CALL for ENTRIES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Presented by the Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA) Publishers and authors are invited to enter the 20th Annual Midwest Book Awards competition for excellence in books published in 2009. The awards recognize creativity in content and execution, overall book quality, and the book's unique contribution to its subject area. ELIGIBILITY All entries MUST carry a 2009 copyright and an ISBN. New editions of previously published books are eligible. Reprints do not qualify. Entries must be PUBLISHED within the 12-state region: IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, SD, & WI. Deadline for receipt of books and entry fees is January 29, 2010. Absolutely no exceptions. Judges' decisions are final. AWARDS and BENEFITS Three (3) finalists are selected in each category. From those, one (1) winner is chosen. Finalists and award-winning authors and publishers receive certificates and may purchase foil seals for use in their marketing efforts. Winners will also receive a bronze medallion and be featured in the MIPA catalog and MIPA News, on the MIPA website, and at MIPA displays throughout the year, including the Midwest Booksellers Association (MBA) trade show. Judges' individual book evaluation sheets will be provided to the entrants after the awards are announced. ENTRY FORMS and additional information can be downloaded from the MIPA website http://www.mipa.org/Awards.html. The Publishing Insiders Show ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. Be sure to listen to the latest show, Insider Tips for Publishing Success - Special Guest - Consulting Editors Alliance, a group of experienced publishing folk who have been inside publishing houses, who have seen and worked on books that have been picked up by traditional publishers and who know what it takes to succeed in this industry, what publishers look for and submission do's and don'ts! Publishing Insiders is also available on iTunes, so you can keep up with the show wherever you go! Five Quick Ways to Rev up Your Site's Searchability ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Content is king, so are keywords. Find the keywords that people are searching on for your market and then create content around those words. 2) Don't abuse keywords. Have you ever seen those sites that seem to use keywords over and over again (i.e. keyword stuffing)? That's an abuse of keywords and while it might temporarily inflate your search engine ranking, it won't last. Once Google figures out what you're doing (and trust me they will) your site ranking will drop drastically. It's not pretty. 3) Google runs the world. Well, not really but they certainly do run the Internet. If you're going to optimize your site for ranking make sure that it shows up high on Google, in the end it's the main search engine we default to, and the one that matters to your consumer. Studies show that an average website gets 61% of its traffic from search engines, 41% of that from Google alone. 4) This stuff takes time. Nothing happens overnight, especially online (unless you're a dancing pancake video that gets sent out to a billion people in a 4 hour time span). Ranking and searchability takes times. If you have a book launching in the next 3-6 months start this work now. You'll be glad you did. 5) Update your site. While updating your site in principle might seem like an easy thing, it can be one of the biggest obstacles for a site owner. Why? Because often our website people are overseas and once that 12 year old from Lithuania goes back to school it's anyone's guess how to find him. So here's a tip: get a blog, a blog (if updated frequently) will ping the search engines and let them know you have fresh content on your site. Oh, and seriously, fire the 12-year-old and hire someone locally. You'll be glad you did. Promote Your Book Now ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Looking for inexpensive ways to promote your book? We've developed an exciting series of budget-friendly programs that still pack a powerful punch! Think you can't market your book in a tough economy? Think again - we've got the answer! Email us for more details: info@amarketingexpert.com. Marketing Lessons Learned in Line at Your Local Grocery store ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When was the last time you looked at the magazines in your grocery line? I mean really looked at them, not just scanned them for Brangalina references? Magazines are a great marketing tool and a great way to get some ideas for your own campaign. So how would you use this information? Well, you can use it in web copy, book cover copy, and any marketing materials. Think about all the places you use words to draw the reader in, that's what you should be focusing on. The next time you're in line at your grocery store, take a close look at magazines, you'll find pieces of the following list in just about all of them: Solve a problem: this is a big one and the #1 attractor to any magazine out there. Magazines know that if they're not solving a problem for you, you're not likely to buy them. A recent issue of Ladies Home Journal, for example, talked about how to use social networking to keep friendships strong. Why is this huge? Because social media is a buzz word now and staying connected to people is the primary source and use for social networking. You'll also see a lot of money-related topics (living well on less, etc). Solve a problem, preferably a current one. Tell stories: people love stories and remember more about what you're selling when there's a story attached to it. So weave your advice into a story or anecdotal piece. Magazines always use stories to and do so very well. Speak directly to the reader: if you look at woman's magazines (in particular) you'll find lots of words like: you, our, I and we. This is done intentionally and helps personalize the experience and draw the reader in. Also you'll notice that magazines never use complicated words that aren't "layperson language;" this again is intentional, don't talk over your reader. There are many more things that magazines focus on, but these are the majors and should get you a good head start on any copy you're writing for your campaign. Remember, it's all about your reader and not about you. Get your reader engaged in your message and you're more likely to make a sale. Find Success With AME's Products ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We've designed our products with your success in mind! Regardless of where you are in your publishing journey, we've got a product that will suit your needs. Check out our books, special reports, and our audio programs, all designed to help you reach publishing success! http://amarketingexpert.com/store/ Twitter Tip: My Tweetheart ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Tweetheart: http://www.mytweetheart.com Single Tweets unite! This is a singles meetup place. No kidding. Dating, microblogging style. Twitter Tip: My Twitter Story ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Twitter Story: http://mytwitterstory.com Got a good Twitter story? Then you might want to consider posting it to My Twitter Story. You can also read other people's stories and Twitter experiences. 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 2009 Author Marketing Experts, Inc. --------------------------------------------------- --------- Quick Links... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Website Products Services More About Us Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: penny@amarketingexpert.com web: http://www.amarketingexpert.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forward email