Top Ten Reasons Why Your Book Marketing Strategy Isn't Working - And How To Get Better Results

Do you believe you are doing everything right, but feel you are still not getting the results you hope for in regards to your book marketing strategy? Listed below are 10 reasons why your book marketing plan may fail and how to fix them.

(Note: all statistical information presented in this video and article was correct as of the date of creation. These numbers will change frequently due to changes in search engine algorithms, market conditions, etc. Statistics are provided for illustrative purposes only)

1. YOU (AND YOUR BOOK) MAY BE INVISIBLE
Recent studies show that an extremely high percentage of book buyers state that the Internet is not just a choice - it is instead the ONLY choice. Even those who intend to buy books in the 'real' world often do research on the Internet before venturing out into that 'real world' to purchase books.

Book buyers must be able to find you. But they will NOT search by your name or your book's title. They will instead search using a very generic phrase like 'children's book' or 'thriller' or 'spy novel'.

Studies show that hardly anyone goes beyond page three of search engine results. So, you must be on one of the first three pages for the GENERIC SEARCH TERM (like 'children's book) that describes your book. Go to a search engine and check this. Type in the generic phrase that describes your book and see if you are on the first three pages of search engine results. If you are not there, you are virtually invisible to nearly all book buyers. If you are invisible, nothing else you do in regards to marketing your book will matter much. The Fix: Your book marketing strategy must be based on how people buy books today.

GET THE WORD OUT ABOUT YOUR WORK! Nothing is more important in today's Internet environment than creating an effective Internet publicity plan. You can get your work in front of that worldwide audience and begin to see real results starting today.  If you are not happy with your sales, you can begin to improve your results by implementing no-nonsense solutions to your marketing challenges. The no-cost, no obligation Marketing And Publicity Strategy Analysis is the first step toward creating a successful Internet marketing and publicity plan that can produce the results you desire.

Stategic Planning For: * Internet Publicity * Creating Effective Websites * Blogging To Create Sales * Social Media Strategies * Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn * Search Engine Optimization * Audio/Video Marketing * Teleseminars/Webinars * Email Marketing * Radio & Television and much more - in one all-inclusive, step-by-step strategic marketing approach

2. YOU MAY BE USING THE WRONG APPROACH
A book marketing strategy in the Internet environment requires a completely different approach. If you are using book marketing ideas and book marketing strategies proven to work in the real world in the past, these old school marketing strategies will most likely not work much at all in an Internet marketing environment. Even if you are using that old book marketing model perfectly, you can still fail miserably in the Internet environment.

The old saying 'Build it and they will come' has been changed to 'Build it and they will likely ignore you'. To achieve sales success, you must have interested traffic, and you must have a lot of it. You must know how to convert that traffic into book sales. All the traffic in the world will not matter if it does not convert to sales. Converting traffic to sales is no small task. The Fix: A good book marketing strategy must incorporate effective conversion strategies. 

3. YOU MIGHT HAVE NEGLECTED YOUR SEO STRATEGY
In the 'old days' (just a few years ago), the primary book marketing strategy was to tell as many people as possible about a book and hope that a percentage of people responded by buying the book. (this is called an outbound strategy). But the Internet is search engine driven (requiring a laser sharp INBOUND strategy).

Today the potential book buyer begins by typing a generic phrase into a search engine, in essence saying 'Here is what I'm looking for'. Your book site is then indexed by the engines based upon how important it appears to be in regards to the generic phrase entered and in regards to how you stack up against the competition for that generic phrase. This is 180 degrees from the old school, real world book marketing model.

Search engines rule this environment. THEY decide who is important and are the equivalent of the traditional Yellow Pages. However you will only be listed in THIS one-of-a-kind gigantic online yellow page directory if you understand and follow the SEO rules given you by the engines. If you don't know and understand the rules, you will be at the end of the listings. And, if you are at the end of the listings, no one is going to find you, as they will likely look at just the first three pages.

Imagine having your business banned from the yellow pages in the real world. Not having a great SEO strategy is the same thing. As far as the searcher – the book buyer - is concerned, you will not exist. This is especially true if the Internet is the only tool the book buyer will use. The Fix: Your book marketing strategy must incorporate rock solid search engine optimization.

4. YOU MIGHT NOT BE COMMUNICATING SAYING WHAT YOUR BUYERS WANT TO HEAR
Let us suppose that the potential book buyer does find your website. Now what?

Understandably, many authors like to talk about themselves - but the book buyer is not really interested in your history, how you came to write the book, what lead you to write it, how you struggled. They want to know what your book will do for THEM. You must speak to THEIR NEEDS SPECIFICALLY. If you do not do this and do it well, you will have a visitor, but not a book buyer.

You must get that desired message to them in under 30 seconds. You must know what THEY really want, and you must provide it more effectively than the competition. If you are not saying what the book buyer wants to hear, they will likely never buy your book. The Fix: Your book marketing strategy must speak to the needs of the buyer.

5. YOU MIGHT NOT BE COMMUNICATING A STRONG BRAND
Remember - to the Internet searcher, you are but one of millions of authors. You may look like everyone else. Your book may be 'just another book' to that shopper. What are you telling the visitor that NO ONE ELSE is saying? Without a sharply researched brand, you will appear to be just like everyone else. The Fix: A great book marketing strategy must communicate a strong brand.

6. YOU MIGHT NOT BE POSITIONED PROPERLY
Type the phrase 'children's book' into the Google engine today (May 1, 2011) and you will get over 30,900,000 hits. That is your competition. Every one of those pages is presented to that potential book buyer. Your book is just one of them. You know your book is not like all the rest, but they do not. The Fix: An effective book marketing strategy must position you in relation to the competition.

7. YOU MIGHT NOT BE USING A STRONG CALL TO ACTION
All marketing sites are websites, but not all websites are marketing sites. A book marketing site must be sharp, clean, clear and it must brand you and position you better than the competition. You must provide a logical, step-by-step map for the visitor to follow and you must have compelling calls to action in all the right places. If you do not do this, you will end up with visitors. Remember: a visitor is not a book buyer and won't become a book buyer without a sharp brand, proper positioning and a strong call to action.

A website is a website is a website. Anyone can build a website. A book marketing website, on the other hand, should be a results-producing machine. The Fix: An effective book marketing strategy will incorporate effective calls to action in all the right places on every page of the website.

8. YOU MIGHT BE BORING THE BUYER
No, you are not a boring person. But do remember always that the attention span of the searcher is very, very short. And, there are millions of competitors, just one click away. You have 30 seconds to present YOUR brand, YOUR position and the primary reason why someone should buy YOUR book. The Fix: A good book marketing strategy will deliver a powerful message in just a few seconds.

9. YOUR APPROACH MAY BE SELLING, RATHER THAN TELLING
Effective Internet marketing strategies can be compared to fishing. When fishing, no one jumps into the water, jams the hook into the fish's mouth and tries to force it to bite the hook. This is what many book selling strategies are like.

If you yell in people's ears, attempting to jam your really great book hook in their mouths, don't be surprised when they run away. (Think about how YOU feel about spam, pop up ads, Twitter-blab and commercials). No one likes to be sold. People do however love to find what they seek.

Instead, in this environment, you must (much like fishing) offer irresistible bait instead. The fish will then come running, they will tell all their friends and they will bite willingly. The Fix: A great book marketing strategy does not yell, does not tell, but rather entices the visitor to action.

10. YOUR EXPECTATIONS MAY BE SET TOO HIGH
Don't put up a book marketing website and believe people will magically just show up. They will not.
Don't put up a book marketing website and expect people to buy. They will not.
Don't put up a book marketing website and believe you are finished. You are not.

In the real world, building a successful business takes years and a great deal of effort. In the Internet environment, building your online store will take just as long - perhaps longer. It will require just as much work to make it succeed - perhaps more. The Internet is not a magic bullet. It is a different style of business. A real world business may have a few competitors just down the street. Your Internet business has millions of competitors, all right next door, just one click away.

In this environment the whole world is your potential book buyer base. But this will not matter if you don't learn how effective book marketing strategies work in today's environment. The Fix: If you are not getting good results, don't complain - instead, get some help.