Article - Going Digital: Web Marketing Tactics for Book Publishers By Brooke Spilberg, B Line Marketing

Going Digital: Web Marketing Tactics for Book Publishers

Brooke Spilberg , B Line Marketing - Internet Marketing 0 Comments | Add Yours

About The Author:

Brooke Spilberg is a veteran in the search engine marketing industry, co-founder of eMarketingTalkShow.com and founder of B Line Marketing which is focused on helping businesses, including book publishers, develop long-term strategies, drive quality traffic, attract partners and be engaged with the online community. Our goal is to take the stress and constant upkeep of web marketing out of your business. We aim to help you be well-informed, feel in control and exceed expectations.

The publishing industry may be in the same position that the music industry is in if they don’t adapt and adapt quickly to the growing population of digital readers. Everything is going online and going digital so it is time book publishers and book authors think outside of their jacket covers and uncover additional options in how they can market and repurpose their material. Regardless of the device more content will be consumed at faster rates online. This could entail several different strategies but all of them are going to include investing more into web marketing, building closer relationships with their authors and their authors’ audiences.

It’s always been Google’s mission to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” so it should come as no surprise that more types of content are becoming accessible on the search results page of Google. Perform a Google web search for “California hiking books” and at the top of the results page are results pulled from two vertical sources, Google’s shopping engine and Google books engine. Each has its own algorithm and way of displaying information but both offer great ways for publishers’ books to be found. Google’s shopping engine is pulling in book overview, ratings and reviews from Amazon, so it’s more important than ever to utilize and optimize this content. Beyond Amazon, Google Books also affords publishers the option of viewing various editions and reviewing and rating books. Google’s own star ratings and reviews help rank the site in their own books engine. Clicking on the “Book results for California hiking books” the books with ratings (even just 1) will bubble to the top.

Fear not, Google Books is not trying to steal publisher’s content and offer it up for free. They will not display in-print books unless the publisher requests it, but what they do offer as part of their partnership program are tools to help publishers discover their inventory and getting found is half the battle. Like a friendly Librarian, Google Books can point readers to the right shelf, allow them to ‘open’ and preview the book and easily buy it online.

The preview is powerful because it simulates browsing at a book store and gives the reader a better glimpse of what they are getting and improves conversion rates. Setting this up in Amazon and Google Books will help books sell. Using Google Book search is not necessary to send visitors to Amazon to do a “look inside” to preview the book. As a Google Books Partner, publishers can Use Google’s tool and you can feature previews and full-text searches from the publisher’s own website. The publisher is still in control and can specify what type of view (full, limited preview, snippet or no preview) and what pages to be seen but most publishers offer up to 20% of the book available for preview (including previews for iPhone and Android users). For instance with the Moon Handbook: Yosemite you can preview 33 pages plus the front and back cover. Without being a partner, searchers can only see bibliographical info and short snippets of the term in context.

Search engines are not the only websites with search boxes. If there is an in-site search box then it’s going to require some SEO strategy. Of the top 10 most trafficked websites, half of them are not search engines, so it’s time to look at optimizing from a holistic point of view across all media for all websites and social networks. Web documents are no longer the only form of relevant, quality content and search engines are sophisticated enough to know this. Book publishers should also account for this and realize they are in the business of publishing more than just the printed word.

With the ease of publishing online, everyone is a self-proclaimed author or published writer with a story to tell. However, web writers and bloggers are smart in how they repurpose much of their content in various formats. This gives them an edge because they are taking advantage of Google’s blended search algorithms which pulls listings from their various video, image, news and local search engines. Publishers can learn from these bloggers by also repurposing their own content in various formats. It is well worth the effort. Search Google.com for “how to manage your money” and there is a combination of both news, images and video searches that appear in the search results page. Search for “Dr. Seuss” and information from various results from Google’s vertical engines such as: Google news, latest real-time results (tweets), images and Google Books. In the Google Books vertical there are 3 books pulled from Google Book’s engine and in two clicks the book is in a shopping cart.

In a bookstore the book cover art and title is most important to attracting readers, but in the digital world it’s the keyword style guide that attracts readers. Researching, categorizing, prioritizing and the selection process may sound like an archeological dig but this is a process that is critical for uncovering relevant, popularly searched content and help authors get discovered by new audiences. Publishers would have an edge if they optimized their biographies, book overviews, link back text and even their chapter names and book titles. Selling related books will also help publisher’s better cross-promote their books within Amazon, Google Books and other databases.

Pictures can be worth more than 1000 words if repurposed properly online. Using a book’s digital images can easily be shared and formatted in numerous ways so use them as teasers for the book. Images and small amounts of content can be formatted into a public slideshow like slideshare.com or social media networks like Flickr. There are almost 25 million monthly unique visits to Flickr.com. It makes a great source for picking up page rank and referring links and most importantly it helps images get ranked in Google Images which commands 70 million monthly unique visitors. They are seeking pictures to tell stories or convey a feeling or share an idea. As kids we liked picture books and as searchers we also like them, so it makes perfect sense to have book cover art and glossy photos to show up and appear in these and all other image search engines such as Flickr, Picasa, Imagery, Yahoo Image search, MSN Live Image Search among others.

Specifically to optimize images it is imperative to carefully craft title, tags and descriptions. Since Flickr has 24 million visitors per month, publishers will want to take advantage of the descriptions in Flickr as an opportunity to describe the company and link back to preview pages or book overviews (source:comScore 2/2010). It is pleasantly surprising how these links become great referral sources. Consider a book’s front cover, back cover, table of contents and select glossy pages as images to be included.

Outside of your imagination, how can a book create high-flying action? With easy access to video cameras, readers or authors can create video footage on the fly. With over 104 million monthly visitors YouTube.com stands as the 5th largest search engine right under Yahoo (Quantcast 2/2010). Book publishers should consider tapping into this growing search engine by advertising relevant content. Offer a video promo on the Amazon product page and more than just a “look inside” preview. Video testimonials, recordings of book readings and running contests for fans to create videos of related content. One great example is Lonely Planet’s use of a video contest http://www.youtube.com/user/LonelyPlanet that attracted over 500 videos and 40,000 video views and 784,000 channel views (as of March 2010). Use these videos throughout the sales funnel by embedding links into product pages, social media posts and Amazon product pages.

Take advantage of online communities and user generated content. Most social networks have groups or communities of people who fit the publication’s target audience. Use these audiences to build trust, hear their feedback and learn their interests and uses of digital content. Encourage authors to engage in these communities and create profiles with links to their books. Amazon draws 60.6 million visitors each month (source: comScore 2/2010) and offers more than book reviews. Take advantage of “listmania”, “guides” and their recently launched “Amapedia” as ways to personalize how you like to use, recommend and group your favorite Amazon products. There is no one stopping publishers to create lists of their own. Of course under the radar there are other networks beyond Facebook and Amazon to check out. Consider Scribd.com, Smashwords.com and Squidoo.com as good alternative sources to host additional multi-media content. With all of this content floating around the web, close the loop and create links to social media releases and a community page on publishers’ sites. This hub would explain how readers can help spread the word, rate, review, get involved in discussions and build fans of their own.

Consider the 2.0 media tour. Instead of using the traditional media for the launch of a new book and pitching newspapers, magazines and television, go direct. Talk directly with readers, loyal fans and influential bloggers who engage with publishers and have followings of their own. New York Times best-selling author Seth Godin has successfully implemented this into his PR campaign. There are plenty of bloggers who drive more traffic than the New York Times or Wall Street Journal, so it makes sense to reach out to vocal bloggers who cover a particular niche. He also subscribes to the idea of offering free content as a way to wet reader’s appetites for more. Leaving the reader hungry for more is a tactic also employed by Random House Publishing which is providing free e-books to owners. Partnerships with review sites like TripAdvisor.com provides great branding opportunities and is a win-win for both companies.

Breakthrough innovations are coming to book publishers with digital content. Later this year, expect to see Google Editions which aims to bring e-books to all digital devices. The hope is to store book content in the cloud so that regardless of whether readers buy a printed or digital book it can be accessed anytime or anywhere on any device. This would even include iPhones, tablets, laptops or e-readers. How profits are to be shared and divided with publishers and authors and book sellers is yet to be determined but you can bet it will make reading and traveling with books very easy and accessible.