eBook Marketing Tips

As important as it to plan a marketing strategy for the paper and ink version of your book, it’s equally vital to develop one for your ebook version. A well-crafted ebook marketing plan can determine the success or failure regarding the quantity of copies downloaded and sold. Before you embark on an ebook promotion, consider incorporating some of the following techniques to supplement your strategy.

Build a Website

If hearing this reminds you of a broken record then that’s a good thing. Times have changed and it’s crucial that you have build an online home to for your ebook to reside in. Once you’ve got your site up and running, make sure that there’s either a dedicated page or subdomain exclusively for your ebook. Give readers plenty of details, features, benefits and testimonials that highlight your ebook’s contents.

Advertising

The internet makes advertising affordable and customizable for any budget. You don’t need a Superbowl-sized pocketbook to get the word out. Sign-up for a Google AdWords account and explore some of the price models and options available. The nice thing about a pay per click campaign is that you only pay for the visitors who actually click through your ad link and visit your site. Compared to traditional advertising (i.e. newspaper ads, TV spots, etc.), this is a more cost-effective way to drive traffic and create awareness about your ebook.

Connect with ClickBank

Click bank is a fantastic resource that makes it very easy for authors and writers to sell and promote their ebooks. They are connected to more than 10,000 publishers and have 100,000 active affiliates that are ready to co-promote what you’ve written. There is a small fee involved to establish an account, but it quickly pays for itself with the rapid sales of your ebook. Visit ClickBank for specific details on how to get started.

Article Marketing

Create articles that are closely related to what your ebook is about and upload and publish them to  article directories like Ezinearticles, Buzzle and Suite101. For each article that you write and publish you have an opportunity to create a short byline that can be used to promote yourself as an expert and you can include a link within the article’s contents to bring traffic to your ebook’s sale page on your website.

There are so many ways to promote your ebook. Use traditional marketing strategies and customize them to fit your needs and work in an online capacity.

eBook Marketing Plan

You’ve written your eBook. You’re ready to share it with readers. What is your next step? Promoting your ebook requires some marketing creativity and tenacity. Roll up your sleeves and put on your marketing cap. These marketing basics will get things moving in the right direction. You can always customize and build on them once they’re in place.

Start with an ebook mini-marketing plan. It doesn’t have to be fancy or deeply detailed to start. Just a nice, tidy outline that answers some key questions and lists some of your primary objectives with your ebook. For instance, who is your audience? Where is your audience? How many downloads are you aiming for per month? You can easily outline this in a simple one-sheet, but make sure to put some thought and consideration into your questions and answers, as well as realistic and attainable objectives.

Use what you’ve got. Take the resources and tools that are already available to you and use them to your advantage. For instance, if you have a blog, use it as a vehicle to build a marketing campaign for your ebook. Create an editorial calendar and start planning your blog posts around themes directly related to your ebook. Tie in a link to your ebook and a call-to-action for ebook downloads in each and every post. Make sense?

Here’s where your social media profiles come in handy. Update your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts with ebook mentions and links. Get the word out that your ebook has arrived and  that you’re ready to share it. Consider putting together a download contest and challenge fans and followers to try and be the 100th person to download. Award the winner with a prize like an iPod that includes an audio version of your ebook.

Make your ebook front and center on your website. Feature it prominently on your homepage and use starbursts and call-outs on subsequent pages to remind visitors to download a copy of the ebook. You’ll also need to drive traffic to your website. Write articles and press releases announcing the launch of your ebook and start posting and distributing them on ezine sites.

With a little effort, you can create momentum and generate buzz about your ebook and do it all with out breaking your bank.