How to Market Your Book with StumbleUpon Pt. 2
In the first post of this two-part article on How to Market Your Book with StumbleUpon, we discussed what StumbleUpon is and how it can bring lots of fairly targeted visitors to your site if the right people Stumble it and give it a thumbs up. If these visitors are impressed with what they see, some of these people may go on to buy your book. Since this is a form of marketing that costs you nothing, you can’t really lose (and you might win big).
How do you get people to like your site and give it a thumbs up though?
That’s the key question.
If you’ve made a StumbleUpon account before just to Stumble your book promotion page, you know you didn’t get any real traffic that way.
That’s because you were a nobody in the StumbleUpon network. No friends, nobody viewing your StumbleUpon home page, nobody reviewing you…. Hey, don’t take it personally, we all start there.
You either need to build up a network of StumbleUpon friends (and do some Stumbling yourself), or you need to find somebody who has already done that.
Think of StumbleUpon like highschool. For something to catch on, it needs to be adopted by one of the popular kids. It also needs a “cool” factor in and of itself.
The first half of the equation is relatively easy. Join StumbleUpon, join some communities related to your niche, and “friend” some of the most active Stumblers who are also interested in your niche. Leave positive reviews on their Stumble user pages to attract their notice. Also make sure you’re Stumbling some cool pages in your niche (don’t do yours yet) that others will find of value. When it’s time to promote your page, you can send the link to your new friends and ask them to check it out.
But before you do that, there’s something you need to do with your website.
Remember the second half of the equation above? Cool factor!
On the Internet, “cool” can just mean buzzworthy. If a site has some great value or is humorous or inspiring to a lot of people, it’s buzzworthy. People love pointing out great finds to their friends, so they will naturally want to share such a site with others.
If you’ve come across the term viral marketing, this is what it’s talking about. Something is so cool/valuable that everyone wants to tell everyone else about it. (If you can get your site into this category, you’ll get links and visitors from lots of sources, far beyond just StumbleUpon.)
Note that I’m talking about sites here and not books. Your book may be a great resource, but if people have to buy it to read it, they’re probably not going to Stumble your book’s promo page. Not unless you’re JK Rowling anyway.
That doesn’t mean you can’t use StumbleUpon to sell your book, so stick with me.
Now, chances are the front of your author site isn’t extraordinarily cool. It’s a business page, after all, right? It probably has some information on you, your book, and a link where visitors can buy it online.
This isn’t the kind of page people thumbs up on Stumbleupon.
Does that mean you need to redesign your whole website? Of course not. It just means your home page probably isn’t going to be the page you want to get Stumbled.
Instead, think of a new page you can create on your website or blog. If you’re a non-fiction author, this page will probably give out valuable information on the same topic you cover in your book.
Lists are popular, since they’re easy to read quickly (time is everything on the Internet). You could also try putting a negative spin on your article or list. For some reason we’re drawn to those negative headlines (I’ve seen them attract a lot of attention on social bookmarking sites).
For example, if your book is on dieting, you could write a list with a title such as “10 Reasons You’re Getting Fatter Everyday.” That’s a little more provocative than “10 Diet Tips” and even if it’s the same sort of content in the actual article, the difference in the approach can rocket your page from ho-hum into “cool.” And remember, cool pages get thumbs up Stumbles.
So, what if you’re a fiction author?
You could also write an informative article based on your experience (10 Reasons Why Your Agent Rejected You, How to Self-Publish Your Mystery Novel, etc.), you could post a short story, or really you could write anything creative that gives people a hint of what they’ll get when they buy your book.
I recently Stumbled across a short science-fiction story that I enjoyed and gave a thumbs up to: Terry Bisson’s They’re Made out of Meat (this isn’t the version I originally Stumbled, but I remembered enough of the story to find it again on Google so I could mention it here).
Don’t feel you have to be limited by text either. Videos are hot on the Internet right now (there’s even a specific Video section of StumbleUpon for those who want to Stumble videos), and they can bring a lot of traffic. If you have a camera and a knack for performing, give it a try.
Whatever approach you take, make sure your “cool” contains a prominent link back to your book promotion page. Once you create a fan of a random visitor, you’ll want them to be able to find out how to buy your book.
Remember, the whole idea here is to use StumbleUpon to sell more books!
How to Market Your Book with StumbleUpon Pt. 1
This is the first post of a two-part article on how to use StumbleUpon to market your book. In the first part, I’m going to talk about what StumbleUpon is and how it can drive visitors to your site. In the second part, I’ll talk about how to get people to “Stumble” your site naturally and how to convert visitors into book buyers (yeah, you knew there was a reason you were reading this article).
First off, StumbleUpon is one of the social bookmarking sites that has really taken off this past year. Members click a “Stumble” button and are delivered to sites in the StumbleUpon database, and if a visitor gives a thumbs up to a new site, it’s then entered into the collection for other users to stumble upon (hence the name, eh?).
Stumblers can Stumble (this is turning into a tongue twister) by category. For example, if they choose Science Fiction, they’ll land on random sites that other folks have Stumbled and labeled as SciFi.
You may be getting an inkling of how this can work to bring visitors to your site. If someone Stumbles you, your site will enter into the StumbleUpon collection, and in the future, others will Stumble across it.
Let’s break down how the program works from the user side and from the marketer side (AKA the person who is hoping to get free traffic from StumbleUpon).
How StumbleUpon Works from the User Perspective:
- You visit StumbleUpon and create an account.
- You download the toolbar, which then appears at the top of your browser for easy access.
- You set up your preferences, i.e. choose the categories of pages you’re interested in seeing when you click “Stumble.”
- You can rate the site you’re dropped off at with a thumbs up or thumbs down or even review the site.
- You can join groups with similar interests, Stumble other Stumblers, add friends, etc. etc. The more people who review you, friend you, and thumbs up your home page, the more people that will be paying attention to what you’re Stumbling. Friends may even send you links to cool pages to check out (and you can do the same for them).
How StumbleUpon Works (the Ideal Scenario) to Send Visitors Your Site
- A StumbleUpon user visits your site and gives it a thumbs up, a review, and tags it with the appropriate category labels (the right label is key, as this will bring you targeted Stumblers, people actively seeking sites in your niche).
- That Stumbler is popular and has many friends watching what he/she Stumbles, so they also visit your site.
- Many of them like what they see and give your site a thumbs up.
- Since more people are thumbing up, reviewing, etc., your site will become more highly ranked in the StumbleUpon database, so more people will land on it when they choose to Stumble. (If just one person without many contacts Stumbles your site, you’ll probably only get a few visitors, but if a big dog Stumbles it and lots of others follow suit, you can get hundreds or even thousands of free visitors a month in perpetuity).
That should give you an idea how StumbleUpon works. If anything is murky here, you can also read the company’s official explanation on How StumbleUpon Works. Of course, the best way to get a feel for the program is by signing up yourself.
In the next post, I’m going to cover how you as an author looking to promote your book can specifically use this tool to your advantage. In the meantime, you may want to check out the following posts on other people’s blogs:
5 Tactics For Driving Traffic From StumbleUpon
How to Increase StumbleUpon Traffic
Go on to How to Market Your Book with StumbleUpon Pt. 2
Podcast Covers Tips on Blogging to Sell Your Book
I enjoy listening to podcasts, since it makes me feel my dog-walking time is more productive. Exercise for myself and Goblin is all well and good, but why not learn something at the same time? For many of you, the same probably goes for that time you’re commuting in the car. Think of how much more enjoyable sitting at red lights can be when you can listen to information on internet marketing. Ok, maybe “enjoyable” isn’t a word you associate with studying marketing, but I bet you’ll be interested in the topic this podcast covers:
Blogging Can Help Sell Your Books
The interview is with Yaro Starak, who is one of the bloggers I’ve watched come into his own over the last couple years. He’s studied internet marketing in depth and now makes a good living from blogging, and he’s recently started a subscription site that teaches people how to make money with their blogs.
I listened to the interview yesterday, and I definitely recommend it, especially if you’re struggling to get traffic to your blog and folks to buy your book through your blog/website. If you haven’t started a blog yet for book promotion purposes, then the interview will also help you see why a blog can be such a boon for book sales.
Giving Away Your Best Information to Sell Your Book
Many author websites consist of little more than a couple of pages offering information about them and about the book. Maybe there’s a blog, but it’s as likely to be full of personal information as the sort of juicy advice that convinces a reader to buy the book (see my post on Using Your Blog to Establish Yourself as an Authority).
Here’s the problem with that style:
There’s nothing there to convince me that you have anything I want.
There’s a wealth of information available for free on the Internet these days. Why should I pay $20 for your book on dog training when there are hundreds of sites out there giving away information on the same subject for free?
You can send out copies of your book for various people to review offline and online, but even if you get positive reviews, the problem still remains. To many it may seem that there’s no reason to buy a book on a subject where there is so much information available for free online.
So, what’s the way to convince readers to buy your book instead of surfing endless websites for what is probably lesser information than you have to offer?
Give away information on your website and/or your blog.
And don’t just give away paltry tips, hoping to “tease” the reader into buying. Give away some of your best information. Give away your biggest secrets. What’s the one huge secret that will allow me to see huge success training my dog?
If there’s one message you want readers of your book to take away, post it in your blog.
I know, it seems crazy. Why give away all the good stuff?
You know that your information is valuable, and the natural human tendency is to want to horde it or at least to put a price on it. You spend a ton of time researching and writing your book. Why give away the biggest secrets for free?
Here’s the reasoning:
If I come along to your website and I see this awesome information you’re just giving away, I’m going to think, “Wow… if this lady is putting stuff that good up on her blog, imagine what kind of great information is in the book.”
On the other hand, if you give me the same kinds of dog training tips I can find anywhere on the Internet, I’m not going to be convinced you offer anything that’s worth paying for.
One of the perks of the give-away-your-best-secrets strategy is that you can often get away with charging more for the book, since you’ve won the reader over with the great information you’ve offered.
For those of you working with publishers, changing price may not be an option, but if you’re self-published, it’s something worth tinkering with.
Don’t assume your book has to sell for $12.95 or whatever the POD publisher suggests setting your book at for a certain page count. If you’re able to convince the reader that you have incredible information in your book, you can get away with charging more.
Why You Should Be Writing & Syndicating Articles to Promote Your Book
This is a pretty basic tip in the world of search engine optimization and website promotion, but not everybody lives and breathes this stuff (as amazing as it is to me, not everybody finds internet marketing news scintillating bedtime reading), so I think it’s worth mentioning in this blog.
Let’s assume you’ve created a website and/or blog to promote your book. Part of marketing your book online is realizing you need to promote your site at least as much as you promote your book. Bring visitors to your site, and they’ll buy your book.
One way to promote your site is to write articles related to your niche (AKA what you wrote your book about) in order to get links to your site and to establish yourself as an authority in your field.
These articles should be in the 500-word range, though there are no hard and fast rules. Make sure they are helpful, as someone may read your article on another site and, based on it, decide whether or not to click through to your sites.
To ensure those readers find you, you’ll include a resource box/author blurb at the end of each article. This should include one or more links to your site.
Submitting Articles
Once you have a couple articles, you’re ready to submit them to article directories and well-known content sites that allow visitor-submitted information.
The article directories act as sort of a backwards bank. You make a deposit (your article) and someone else collects (a copy of your article).
People take your article, and they can use it on their site or in their newsletter. In exchange (it’d be a crummy bank if you didn’t get at least something out of the deal), they are supposed to keep your resource box with your links intact (enough people do to make this exercise worth it).
The well-known content sites don’t allow people to take the articles, but they receive a lot of visitors, so your article will get exposure. If you write a helpful article, some of those readers will doubtlessly click through to check out your site, and maybe even buy your book.
Article Directories Worth Submitting to
- http://www.ezinearticles.com
- http://www.goarticles.com
- http://www.articlecity.com
- http://www.articledashboard.com
There are a lot (and I do mean *lot*) more article directories out there you can submit to, but in my experience it quickly becomes a game of diminishing returns. The less well-known directories get very little traffic, and it’s less likely your articles will be picked up and used. Also, there’s always the possibility Google and other search engines will frown upon your identical content showing up in 200 different places with identical links back to your site. At best, a lot of it will be ignored.
So use the article directories I listed and maybe a couple more if you like, but don’t go overboard.
Content Sites Worth Submitting to
- http://www.buzzle.com
- http://www.associatedcontent.com
- Any authority site in your niche that invites user-submitted articles and will keep your links intact
Parting Tip: Not all of the links in your resource boxes need to go to the front page of your site. In addition, consider linking to your blog, good articles on your site, etc. Most article directories allow three links in the resource box.