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Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru 
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Archive for May, 2010Authors: 10 Solid Tips for Selling More of Your Books on AmazonMay 27th, 2010Hi All! I’m a bit behind on by blogging because I’ve been on a much needed vacation, enjoying some sun, ocean and fun. While on vacation I read Brent Sampson’s book “Sell Your Book On Amazon“. And I will tell you it’s worth the $15 (you may even be able to get a used one for less on Amazon). Not only does he list all the strategies to be aware of, but he goes into details about “how” to implement them and provides real world examples (so that you get “why” they are important). There are TONS of strategies to get more exposure for yourself and your book(s) on Amazon, yet most authors I know only know of a few…heck, I’ve written 2 books, and they are on Amazon, and I didn’t even know about many of these tips. OR, I was aware of them but didn’t totally get the “benefit” or the strategy around them. And I will say that Brent states several times in his book that Amazon doesn’t make it easy on authors to find or execute these strategies. That’s why I liked his book! It gives step-by-step instructions for each tip he shares. I won’t go into all the “how and why to execute these ideas” here, because that’s what a book like Brent’s is for (and I don’t want to rewrite his book on my blog). But here are 10 tips (out of MANY) that he suggests, and you can research how and why they are important for marketing and selling more of your books on Amazon. You can also see my video about selling more of your books on Amazon. Click here to view it! And, please note, whether you self-published your book, or published through a traditional publisher, these tips apply. 1. Start and AmazonConnect account 2. Create an Author Profile Page 3. Make sure you upload a professional photo on your Profile Page and make sure you add a caption under it. You can include your name, book name, web address, etc. Use it for marketing! 4. Complete the About Me info on the Author Profile Page, and make sure to write a good “signature”. Your signature will show-up on all the posts you do on Amazon (e.g. reviews of other peoples’ books) so it will help market you. 5. Write “So You’d Like to…” Guides (a feature on Amazon) 6. Make sure you implement the Search Inside feature on your book’s page 7. Check out Amapedia: This is Amazon’s version of a wiki. You can post factual info pertaining to your book and info related to your topic. 8. Write as many reviews for other peoples’ books as possible…even for your competition. But don’t write one to “trash” them! If their book was good, give them a 5 star rating and a good review. And everyone who reads it will see your signature and book title in your review, and this can drive traffic to your book page. Why? Because if someone is reading that author’s reviews, they are interested in his/her topics and may want more books pertaining to that topic! Plus, the more reviews your write, the higher your Amazon reviewer ranking climbs. This all gives you more exposure. 9. Use the Tag This Product feature on your book’s Detail Page. 10. Look into, and participate in, the Listmania feature. OKAY! Those are the quick tips. So do some research on the ones that are new to you and start implementing! Or, if you are like me, and you don’t want to spend tons of time researching, just pick up a copy of “Sell Your Book on Amazon“. Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa  4 Ways to Sabotage Getting the Media Coverage You WantMay 14th, 2010Hi All! I recently wrote a blog about “How to Write a Killer Press Release & Where to Deploy It Online“. This is an impromptu follow-up to that topic, and was prompted by a consulting session I had with a client this week. My client is a (new) book author, so we wrote and distributed her first ever Press Release a few weeks ago. We deployed it online, and it was also sent to a targeted list of specific media we identified (newspapers, magazines, radio/tv shows and blogs). Fast forward to this week…she is very unhappy that her phone hasn’t been ringing off the hook with interview requests. I clearly explained that if it was “that easy” we’d all be featured in the Wall Street Journal or on The Today Show whenever we wanted. It takes effort! Here are the key tips and strategies I told her to do right after the Press Release went out…and as of this week she had NOT done any of them…hence the “not getting much coverage” issue. And, by the way, this is where most speakers, authors, small business owners and entrepreneurs drop the ball when it comes to getting media coverage through their PR efforts (so it’s not just her): 1. They Don’t Follow Up: When you send a Press Release to a targeted list of media, you have to follow up with them. And sometimes you have to follow up quite a few times. The media is bombarded daily with news, so you have to be the “squeaky wheel” to get their attention. Yes, it’s like doing sales calls, and it’s not the most fun thing to do in the world, but unless you have a Publicist to do it for you, it’s a task you must take on. It is critical!!!! 2. They Don’t Share With Their Social Media Communities: Once your Press Release is done, share the link to it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. First of all, you don’t know who may see it and share it. Secondly, you have no idea who are all the followers your followers have. For example, on Twitter, I had someone retweet a tweet of mine about a Press Release. One of her followers is the host of a very popular BlogTalk Radio show, that reaches my target audience, and that person contacted me for an interview. I also was contacted by a reporter from the NY Times, and have been interviewed by her several times, because of a retweet. 3. They Don’t Post On Their Website: When you write a Press Release, create a page for it, optimize it with keywords and phrases, and upload it. Not only can it get found in search results for on-going traffic generation, but it’s important to share the news on your website. And even when the Press Release becomes “old” it can still drive traffic to you and attract media interviews for you. 4. They Don’t Post It On Their Blog: Use your Press Release as a blog post. It’s okay to occasionally promote news about yourself there. And if you’re on WordPress, and have added the All in One SEO Pack plug-in, this will also help get your news found online. So, there is your crash course in what to do AFTER your Press Release has been written and distributed. It takes EFFORT to get media interviews (unless you have truly earth-shattering news or you’re fairly well-known). But, the media is always looking for news, they have a lot of air time or pages to fill, so you can get your share of coverage if you’re consistent and persistent! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa I’m Conducting a Teleseminar Series in June: Branding, PR/Publicity and Social MediaMay 08th, 2010Hi All! This is a blog post for a bit of self-promotion. Hey! I gotta spread the word, right?? Here’s info about the really cool teleseminar series I’m doing in June…pulled from a Press Release I’m sending out to promote them: Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru, is conducting three teleseminars in June for small business owners, entrepreneurs, speakers, industry experts, and authors who want to build their brand awareness and increase sales. The three teleseminar topics are: Brand Building, PR & Publicity, and Social Media. Each one will provide attendees with tips, strategies and advice they can implement immediately, even on a tight budget. The Promote U Business Building Teleseminar Series will be conducted in June 2010, and the dates are: Promote U Through Brand Building, June 8th; Promote U Thru PR & Publicity, June 11th; and Promote U Thru Social Media, June 16th. Each teleseminar is from 10:00 am to 11:00 am PST. And, because these are teleseminars, attendees can attend from anywhere from their phone. Internet and computer access are not required. The event website with details of each teleseminar: PromoteUGuru.com/teleseminars “Lisa knows her stuff and so much fun to work with! I can’t believe how much she has improved my brand positioning, sales, marketing and social media strategies, and PR efforts,” shares one Orrell client, Karin Piper, Author of Charter Schools: The Ultimate Handbook for Parents. “So I can tell you the content she’ll offer in these teleseminars is going to be very helpful…no fluff!” The upcoming teleseminar series is being sponsored by: PersonalBrandingBlog.com, WeMeUs.com and 428Designs.com. And the cost to attend individual teleseminars is $29, or people can choose to attend all 3 for a special package price of $69. “Prior to launching my Promote U Guru business, I ran an award-winning ad agency in Silicon Valley for 20 years. So I have been helping larger companies with branding, marketing, PR and social media for a long time. But now I focus on working with small business owners and individuals, and my vast experience benefits them immensely,” explains Lisa Orrell, a Branding Expert, Marketing Consultant and Business Coach. “Plus, aside from being a business owner for over 20 years, I’m the author of 2 books and a professional speaker myself. So I understand the challenges of those individuals who are trying to promote their books, build a brand platform for speaking, and/or who are trying to grow their small business (in any industry).” Based on her 2 decades of business and marketing experience, Orrell has been interviewed by, or written articles for, a wide variety of media, including: ABC, MSNBC, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, WomenEntrepreneur.com, U.S. News & World Report, The Silicon Valley Business Journal, China’s Her World magazine (for professional business women), PersonalBrandingBlog.com, BNET.com, and countless others. I hope to see you in my “virtual” classroom for 1, 2 or all 3 of my teleseminars! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa How to Write a Killer Press Release and Where to Deploy It OnlineMay 01st, 2010Hi All! If you’re like a lot of the clients I work with, you probably don’t have a lot of experience writing a Press Release…if any! So I’d like to provide you with some very helpful tips for not only crafting one, but also where to deploy it on online so that the media actually sees it…and so that it shows up in Google searches to provide on-going traffic to your website. Ready? Let’s get started… 1. Make Sure It’s Newsworthy: Some people want to write a Press Release about everything and anything they do, and that’s not a good strategy. Save writing one for big, worthwhile news: Your new book, landing a significant client, an event you’re conducting, etc. And they are not meant to read like articles! They are meant to be “news”! 2. The Headline: Make sure it’s short, effective, and not like the headline of an ad, eblast or direct mail piece. A Press Release is not a “marketing” promotional piece; it’s meant to share news in a factual, straightforward way. 3. The Body Copy: I have read many Press Releases that read like an ad or marketing brochure. Wrong! Using hype, exclamation points, marketing speak, etc. is not appropriate. 4. Basic Structure: Headline, intro paragraph that covers the “5 W’s” (who, what, where, when and why) because some media may only run your first paragraph and not the whole thing, second paragraph with more support info or a quote from you, a third paragraph with more support info and details, a fourth paragraph with a quote/testimonial from a client (or expert) about you, a fifth paragraph with boilerplate info about your company, and a short final paragraph with contact info. Keep the paragraphs short and try to keep the length to around one page. Click here to see a formatting example. You can use variations of this! 5. Add Testimonials: It’s always good to include one Testimonial so that someone else is quoted in it saying how great you are. It gives you more credibility. 6. Get Client, Organization or Individual Approval: If you want to mention a client, or any other organization, business, or person, in your Press Release, get approval first! This is BIG. Example: You may have just landed a big newsworthy client, or landed a keynote speech for a high profile company or organization, and want to tell the world about it. Yes, this type of news would warrant a Press Release, BUT those entities may have strict policies about being mentioned in someone else’s Press Release (mandated by their legal departments), and you can get into A LOT of trouble sending out a Press Release with them mentioned in it without approval. A LOT of trouble. 7. Optimize Your Press Release: Add 5-10 keywords or phrases that have received good search results because when you deploy your Press Release through an online service, those keywords will help it get found by people doing searches related to the topic of your Press Release. Click here to use a free keyword search tool that Google offers. You can type in keywords and phrases into this tool and it will tell you how many searches were done that month for them. This will help you determine which ones are worth putting in and it will also provide you suggestions that are variations of the ones you came up with. Online Deployment & Distribution: Okay, so now your press release is written…now what? You’ll want to deploy it through an online service. There are tons of these Press Release distribution services. Note: They vary in cost, so it will boil down to your budget. But most of them enable you to choose the industry(s) and media you want to reach, add keywords, select the date of deployment, and add pictures, images and logos to the upload. Here’s a few that most PR pros I know use, and ones I use: PR9.net is super cheap, around $15 per Press Release. Even when I use one of the other more expensive services listed above, I always deploy through PR9.net, too. I do this because I find my Press Releases do show-up in Google searches through their service, so that’s worth $15 bucks. Also, in addition to deploying it online for mass coverage and distribution, you’ll want to create a targeted list of media you want to reach. Then you can email your Press Release to them and do follow up calls and emails. But don’t attach the Press Release to your email! Paste the Press Release copy into the body of your email to them. OKAY! There is your crash course in writing a killer Press Release, and where to deploy it. I hope you found this helpful! Good luck! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa |
