Self Publishing Your
Own Ebooks
Part 10 Developing Your Ebook's Marketing Strategy
Developing your ebook's marketing strategy is an essential
part of your ebook's success. You must develop and implement a strategic
plan that includes both short-term and long-term strategies in order to
succeed.
Short-term marketing strategies are those that bring you a temporary boost
in traffic. Although these techniques are very important to your over-all
plan, they are only a temporary traffic source and must not be solely relied
upon.
Short-term marketing strategies include:
Purchasing Advertising
Although there are many forms of advertising that may
be purchased on the Internet, one of the best forms is pay-per-click advertising.
Pay-per-click advertising programs will enable you to advertise to your target
audience and only pay for results -- you pay a set amount for each visitor
that is sent to your website. The most popular pay-per-click program is the
pay-per-click Search Engines. You can learn more about pay-per-click Search
Engines here:
http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com
For further advertising information, read the article titled, "Internet Marketing
Strategies -- Purchasing Advertising."
http://www.web-source.net/pur_advertising.htm
Forums (Discussion Boards)
Participating in forums that target your potential customer
is a great way to share your expertise and make more sales. Although blatant
advertising is prohibited, most forums will allow you to include your signature.
Search Engines
Listing your ebook's sales page with the top Search Engines
and Directories will provide you with some additional traffic. However, ranking
within the top twenty or thirty search results is very difficult. You may
want to consider paying for a higher ranking. There are many Search Engines
that will enable you to bid on keywords and pay a specified amount for each
visitor you receive.
For further information, read the article entitled, "Internet Marketing
Strategies -- Paying For Traffic."
http://www.web-source.net/pay_traffic.htm
Long term marketing strategies are those that bring you a steady stream of
targeted traffic over time. These strategies will continue to produce results
even years down the road.
Long term marketing strategies include:
Opt-in List (Ezine)
An ezine, also known as an email magazine, online publication
or opt-in list is simply a newsletter available via email and/or online.
Having your own publication will enable you to build a list of targeted potential
customers.
For further information, read the article entitled, "Internet Marketing
Strategies -- Building an Opt-in List."
http://www.web-source.net/optin.htm
Free Trial
A great way to increase your ebook sales is to create
a trial version of your ebook and freely distribute it. This will provide
your potential customers with a sample of your ebook and encourage them to
purchase the full version.
Articles
Writing articles is one of the most effective strategies
you can use to increase your ebook sales. Write articles that target your
potential customer and allow them to be freely published.
For further information, read the article entitled, "Write For Publicity."
http://www.web-source.net/write.htm
By creating and implementing a balanced marketing strategy, using both short-term
and long-term strategies, you will increase your sales considerably.
To further increase your sales, list your ebook at various ebook sites.
Listing your ebook with a number of ebook sites will increase your sales
considerably. Each site will pay you a specified percentage for each sale.
This payment is known as a royalty. The royalties paid will vary at each
site and will depend on your selling price and format.
No matter which ebook sites you choose make sure that you retain all of the
rights to your ebook. This will enable you to sell your ebook wherever you'd
like and not be limited to just one site.
Here are some ebook sites to get you started:
BookLocker.com
http://www.booklocker.com/
Booklocker provides you with a web page for you to refer your customers.
They handle all of the transactions and delivery. They pay 70% royalties
on ebooks priced at $8.95 and higher and 50% royalties on ebooks priced lower
than $8.95. You retain all the rights to your ebook. In addition, they offer
of great print on demand option. They'll print your ebooks one at a time,
accept payment and ship your book directly to your customer (usually within
48 hours). They pay 35% royalties on POD orders.
Author House
http://www.authorhouse.com
Author House is an online publishing company that will turn your manuscript
into an ebook formatted in PDF and a number of other formats. You retain
all rights to your book. They provide your book with worldwide distribution
and make it available in more than 25,000 bookstores such as Barnes &
Noble and Amazon.com. They pay 100% royalties for ebooks up to the first
$300 in sales and 40% thereafter. They pay 30% royalties for paperback and
hardcover versions.
Take your time and plan your ebook's marketing strategy very carefully. Track
your response rates for each strategy and concentrate your efforts on the
strategies that work the best for you. If you've developed a quality ebook
and have followed the steps outlined within this series, you'll be well on
your way to self- publishing your way to Internet
success.
Copyright © Shelley Lowery
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design
Mastery.
http://www.webdesignmastery.com
And, Ebook Starter - Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book.
http://www.ebookstarter.com
Visit Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips
and receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing
Strategies."
http://www.web-source.net
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print,
in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author
bylines are included.
Part Nine
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