If you are like most authors, your book has SOME sort of presence on the World Wide Web.   Even self published authors have their books listed on such online Super Stores as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, not to mention publisher web sites.

Unfortunately, if your book is being offered for sale on someone else’s web site, it’s almost guaranteed that the very people who are looking for your book and the solutions it offers are not able to finding it on the web!!!

Now THAT is a serious problem.

You wouldn’t go fishing without baiting your hook…. you shouldn’t launch a web presence without providing proper “bait” as well.

See, most web surfers are not searching for your book by name.  Chances are unless you or your publisher has been promoting your book offline via television, radio, newspaper and magazines, people who want exactly what your book offers do not know your book exists!!!!

Therefore, instead of searching for your book by either Title or Author’s Name, book buyers will instead be searching for the solution your book provides to solve their problems.

The first step in being found on the web is to figure out WHY web visitors would want to buy your book. 

If you do not already have a good idea of WHY web visitors would want to search for, find and then buy your book, then take time to figure it out before going further.  This information is essential for creating a web presence that works hard for the promotion of your book.

Think of your web presence as bait to lure potential book buyers past tens of millions of other web sites and into your book’s web presence.

If you’re a non-fiction author, determining the “bait” you want to use may be as easy as falling off a log!  For example, a book on Breast Feeding needs a web site FULL of content new mothers might be searching for on the web.  Perhaps a “most popular baby name” feature could act as “bait” to attract potential book buyers.   Another great source of “bait” might be diaper basics… disposable vs cloth for example.

Even if you’re a fiction author, it’s essential to figure out what kind of people want to buy your book so you can begin creating content that acts as bait.  If you’re the author of a science fiction novel, then focus on creating content that your readers already know and love.  For example, if your novel appeals to fans of the television show Stargate SG-1… then start creating “fan site” style content around the television series.  Perhaps you offer the “complete guide to Stargate SG-1 fan sites” as “bait” for your web presence.

Of course, when you’re fishing, the more lines you have in the water, the greater your chances are of catching fish.  The same holds true of your web site.  More pages = more content = more “bait in the water”.  And as any one who fishes regularly will tell you… fresh bait works best of all!

Filed under: Easy Author Book Marketing, Marketing Basics for Authors, Web Site Basics for Authors, author marketing, author promotional tool, book marketing, search marketing tools, website marketing tools