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Super Savvy Internet Promotion
hat happens if you build it this way: let’s say you build
a website and no one a wonderful store in the middle
shows up? You spend of an Iowa corn field. The only
hundreds, maybe thousands of problem is there are no roads
dollars on a site that gets a few leading to it. A tour on the ’Net
visitors at best and certainly is like paving a super highway to
isn’t selling your books. For the your “store” and to tell you the
most part, authors assume that truth, it’s really the only way
Internet promotion stops once surfers will find you.
their site is up. But the harsh
truth is that with all the sites To begin your own tour you need
popping up every day, yours will to have a good understanding of
likely get lost in the shuffle who your audience is and where
unless you promote it. they hang out on the ’Net. For
some readers it will be in blogs
Some years back, my company began (also called web logs), for
pushing authors out to the ’Net others it might be chat groups,
to help increase their exposure message boards or discussion
and get into markets they might groups but for most, it’s a
not otherwise have access to. In combination of all of these.
early 2005 I began pulling
together what we’d learned and Whatever it is, you should be
positioning it in a powerful new able to begin tracking them down
promotional program we call The by doing a quick Google search on
Virtual Author Tour™, a campaign your topic or market. Your first
that exists only on the ’Net and search will bring you back a slew
one that you can implement too. of sites, some of them great and
some of them not-so-great. The
If the thought of virtual first portion of the tour will
promotion is confusing, think of take the most time because you’re
going to have to investigate the Once you have your list of sites,
sites to see how effective they you’ll need to begin pitching
might be in your promotional them. Most often this is the area
efforts. where authors get stuck. Why?
Because they’re focused on
One way to gauge this is to see selling their books. Regardless
what their Google page rank is. of who you’re pitching, you
You can type the site into the should never, ever sell your
following link and get a fairly book. Always sell what your book
good idea of where they rank: href="http://mygooglepagerank.com me, web sites, blogs, chat groups
/" and discussion forums are always
title="http://mygooglepagerank.co looking for books that will
m/" target="_blank">color="#001000"
size="-2">http://mygooglepagerank As you’re pulling together your
.com/ or you can load tour, don’t overlook ezine
the Google toolbar into your article banks, these can be
Internet Explorer and get results powerful too. If you’re
each time you land on a page. Few unfamiliar with them take a peek
sites will rank 10, but if the at sites you’re looking at are 5 and href="http://www.articlecity.com/
above, you’re generally in the "
ballpark of sites worthy of a title="http://www.articlecity.com
pitch. We will typically toss /" target="_blank">back anything that’s 4 and below color="#001000"
unless the topic is very niche size="-2">http://www.articlecity.
and the sites don’t get lots of com/ and you’ll see
hits because of a smaller market. what I mean. This site archives
hundreds of thousands of articles
just waiting to be selected and websites aren’t nearly as “ready”
placed in ezines. The good thing as they could be. Why? Well for
about this is that you never know one your site design is really
the size of the ezine you’ll get driven by your audience. Colors,
placed in. It could have a styles, and wording will all
readership of 500 or 20,000. depend on who you’re marketing
Another good reason to do article to. Do you need lots of
submission is for the incoming information or very little? All
links. Most of the main search of this will depend on who your
engines change their algorithms reader is. My site for example:
quite frequently, doing this causes sites to go up and down in href="http://www.amarketingexpert
ranking but incoming links from .com"
websites, chats, blogs, and title="http://www.amarketingexper
article placement can help give a t.com" target="_blank">site more consistent ranking color="#001000"
rather than being at the mercy of size="-2">http://www.amarketingex
an algorithm change. pert.com is packed
with information. Why? Because
And no virtual tour would be authors and publishers arrive at
complete without a website, so my site hungry for knowledge so
let’s circle back to where we having articles, tips and lots of
started, that all important free information on there is
author site. Do you have one? If necessary to not only get my
you don’t you should not begin audience to the site, but to keep
your virtual tour until you do. them there.
If you do have one, take a long,
hard look at your site and see if Getting to know your reader is
it’s ready for virtual exposure. one of the most important
By this I mean that often times, components of any campaign and is
especially true when you’re that unlike print or broadcast
trying to go from a ho-hum site, media, every step you take on the
to one that’s making the grade ’Net leaves a footprint. And the
and converting visitors into more footprints you have, the
customers. Do you know what your more times you’ll come up in a
site conversion rate is? If you search and the more hits you’ll
don’t you should; ask your web get on your site.
designer or site host for this
information. It’s typically Also, consider this: the impact
delivered in something called an of going directly to your
Urchin report which is fairly audience cannot be overstated.
easy to read and a wealth of Rarely are you given the
information. If your site isn’t opportunity to gain direct access
up to par, consider getting it to your readers as you are on the
Internet ready before you launch ’Net. You can’t accomplish this
your tour. If you’re spending all in a bookstore or even in the
this time sending folks to your best news piece. And while
site, you’ll want them to convert traditional media and bookstore
into buyers otherwise your time placement offer great promotional
spent on the ’Net is wasted. leverage, the ’Net offers
something that no other marketing
Unlike a real tour around the programs do: a direct pipeline to
country, a virtual tour isn’t your readers. So if you haven’t
associated with any timeline per “gone virtual” you should
se and it’s certainly not as consider it. No campaign is
expensive as the cost of travel complete without it.
and lodging. The impact from a
tour, however, can be felt for a Wishing you virtual success!
long time. The reason for this is
About the Author:
Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a book marketing and media relations expert whose company has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. Visit AME
Read more articles by: Penny Sansevieri
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