Method #3 – Press Releases

Authoring and publishing your own book takes allot of effort, the success of your book hinges on how well you’ve targeted your market/niche and marketed it effectively. If you plan to sell many copies of your book, you’ll need to take advantage of every tool/resource available.

With so many other books having been published and many that are probably sharing/teaching similar stories/content as you, what is there that will set your book apart from the pack?

One simple answer should be the content of your book. People like to read well written books that have plenty of useful/enjoyable information but which they also have a genuine interested in. If you are able to provide this you’ll be well on your way to selling books and doing so successfully.

But what if you want to take that extra step to make your book into a successful bestseller? There is one simple tool that you can employ if you want to ensure that you will get more people to purchase from you – create an eMail list that potential customers and current customers can sign up for.

The mailing list allows you to do something that most stores wish they could do: attract visitors and then market products to them on their schedules so the hard sale does not seem so hard to swallow in their eyes.

Even with a small eMail list you will have a much higher rate of sales than if you were to forgo the eMail list all together, so what do you say – perhaps it is high time that you create one for your book/website.

Unfortunately we cannot go around and simply collect random names and eMail addresses to add to our eMail database, so it is up to us to first generate enough traffic for our website and then convert those visitors into eMail list subscribers.

There are tons of different ways in which you can get traffic to come – some ways, like pay per click advertising cost you some money while others like search engine optimization are totally free so long as you know what you are doing. However, both of these techniques are totally passive.

Try as you might, it may take you weeks or months before you actually see any of these techniques come to fruition as actual inquiries on your eail list. Instead, if you want to grab the ‘proverbial bull by the horns’ and rake in people by the droves right away, then you will have to do something a bit more drastic!

Bring In Press Releases!

There is a method that’s a tried and true technique that has been employed by businesses of all types for centuries. It’s Known as the Press Release, you can use this method to drive people to your book’s website almost instantaneously the moment someone picks up and publishes the release.

At this point you are probably thinking that such a technique is too good to be true and would be impossible for an indie author/ publisher like yourself – but the good news is that anyone can draft a press release and submit it to many of the major daily publications, both online and print based.

All it takes is a little bit of time and some know-how of what you need to include in your particular press release.

Drafting Out Your Press Release

The first aspect of a press release that you need to concentrate on is the actual content of the release itself.

Nobody wants to read some drab, boring press release – and certainly nobody will want to publish it in their periodical, so consider jazzing it up to include a lot of content that people who would be interested in your website would want to hear.

Include facts, figures, statistics and even plans of action for what you and your business plan to do in the future in an attempt to get people to check out your website.

Remember: DO NOT make it a sales pitch! People expect something newsworthy when they read from a Press Release.

While you should make the content as interesting to your potential customers as possible, it is important not to lie as chances are that your potential clients will check up on you over time to make sure that you are backing up what you say in press releases with what you are actually doing or have done.

Also, when writing the content, be sure to address your possible clients personally instead of addressing them as some vague demographic as far too many press releases tend to do. This will make the reader feel more comfortable because it’ll feel like the message has been personalized and will likely make him/her more inclined to visit your website.

Secondly, if you plan on submitting your press release to mostly websites who will publish it, then you should try to optimize it for search engines as much as possible.

Remember that the more aligned your press release is with certain keywords – the more it will be read by people in your target market, your subscribers & readers to your eMail list, your fans and your potential customers. By knowing/planning this ahead of time, your Press Release will be more effective.

However, do not overuse the keywords you have decided to focus on, as it will make for a very dry, boring and uninteresting press release that will not allow you to get the maximum number of visitors.

Once your press release has been written and edited, you will want to find some spots to post it. I recommend some of these:

http://www.prweb.com
http://www.imnewswatch.com
http://www.i-newswire.com
http://www.prlog.org
http://www.prnewswire.com
http://www.marketwire.com
http://www.express-press-release.net
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com
http://www.businesswire.com

Be sure to get into contact with places that you know will be able to distribute your press release to the masses, but also try and find some avenues of distribution that take advantage of RSS or Atom feeds.

Using RSS or Atom will allow your press release to be sent directly to the masses like the top headlines for the New York Times or Google News and it’s a great way for your book website/s to get the right kind of publicity. Taking advantage of this type of technology will help grow and develop a well-targeted responsive eMail list.

So there you have it, the basics for using a press release to gain as many visitors to your book website as possible.

Since you are looking to establish an eMail list from many of those visitors, be sure to have the link from your press release pointing to your Subscription List Page, your Opt-in page or Landing Page, as you do not want people to diddle daddle around on your website and lose interest before they sign up for your eMail list – and you will quickly find that your website will be successful in much less time than you ever thought possible!