In the previous article, I introduced the steps needed to successfully promote your book so it has a fighting chance to get noticed and get sales. No sales, no reviews. No reviews and Google has little reason to promote your book page over other pages competing for the same search term(s).
Verified reviews are the best form of social proof there is. And social proof is important for both sales and SEO. Shares on social media offer more opportunities for social proof. People don’t generally share content that does not interest them or won’t benefit others.
But, you need more than just social proof.
Links between web pages on the internet are the #1 factor contributing to organic search results. If you don’t have other websites vouching for your content by giving you links, your chances of ranking at the top of page one for a competitive search are slim.
Guest Post Book Reviews
One of the many things you can do with your independent book review is to use it as a reason to reach out to bloggers for guest posting opportunities. Some blogs accept your article, while others take your blog post idea to create their own content. Either way, getting your book talked about on high-traffic blogs is a great way to get your book noticed.
Guest posting opportunities are in high demand. I know this to be true because people reach out to me on a weekly basis asking if I’m interested in publishing an article. These people probably get 100 nos before they get a single yes.
It’s hard work. And it’s not worth my time.
A better way is to use a specialized guest posting service that has the skills, tools, and staff to do blogger outreach on your behalf. This way you can focus on doing what you’re good at and they can bring you the best backlink opportunities possible.
TIP: Send your guest posting outreach service a copy of your press release and your independent book review (if you got one) to use as input for the guest post article. If you have a 3D image of your book or a variation of the book cover that can be used as an image on the guest post, send them that, too.
IMPORTANT: Your guest posting service will ask for the URL and anchor text that you want to use. For the URL, I recommend a combination of the different URL’s Amazon uses. Example:
- Actual book page: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Medicare-Advantage-Plans-Survive-ebook/dp/B09BWXVWDX/
- Product page: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BWXVWDX
- Direct ASIN page: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BWXVWDX
- Amazon Link Shortener: https://www.amzn.com/dp/B09BWXVWDX
For the anchor text, you can use the book’s title, your name, a naked URL, or randon text, such as:
- on Amazon
- Amazon.com
- this book
- here
- this page
- etc.
I caution you to avoid using exact match keyword searches as anchor text, as Google generally views it as trying to game the system. I prefer a naked URL, the book title, or Amazon.com. You will understand why next.
Syndicate Your Book Review
The most popular columnists, and many of the smartest marketers, syndicate their content. Content syndication is the republishing of the same content, such as an article, video, infographic, or video, on other websites.
Small and large publications love to syndicate content as it allows them to provide fresh information to their audience with very little investment. It also has the additional benefit of exposing your brand, product, or message to a new audience. It’s a win for everyone.
How do you do it?
Syndication is generally handled by the same types of networks that publish press releases. Once you find a network, you can order syndication quickly and easily. It generally takes no more than a day or two.
IMPORTANT: Be very careful what you syndicate. When you syndicate a guest post it will go out to hundreds of other websites for publication. Some of these websites will have high domain authority. If the title of a guest post includes the title of your book, it isn’t inconceivable that one of the syndicated versions of the article might out-rank your book page.
ALSO: Don’t forget that every syndicated copy of an article contains all of the same outbound links and link text as the original article. If you ignored my sage advice and used keyword anchor text, you will have hundreds of websites linking to your book page with that anchor text. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot. Use a naked link.
What About Podcasting?
Podcasting is another smart way to promote your book. There are plenty of great places to create a podcast channel for exposure. On most podcasts, that exposure also includes a profile with a link you can direct you your book page.
What if you don’t have “Mr. Movie Announcer Voice”?
No problem. I’ve been using an incredible tool that makes creating podcasts a snap. It’s called Speechelo and it is by far the best sounding text-to-speech app I have found to date. You get multiple voices, multiple languages, and multiple accents. You can even use multiple voices within the same script to create a pseudo dialogue between two people. Absolutely fantastic.
What About Video?
Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine on the planet? Knowing that, doesn’t it make sense to create a video about your book and put it up on YouTube? You can SEO a YouTube page just like any other.
There are multiple ways to create videos. One way is to use a whiteboard animator application, like Doodle, and add voiceover with Speechelo.
If that seems like too much work for you, get someone else to do a short video for you. You can have them include your book cover or 3D book cover as art, or use the graphics you received from your independent book reviews.
Word of Caution
Google is quick to tell us that link building for the purposes of gaming the system (i.e., organic search results) goes against their webmaster guidelines. But that does not mean that you should not actively promote your book. It means you should not participate in link-building schemes. Google’s words, not mine.
- Getting publicity through press releases is not a link building scheme
- Guest posting is not a link building scheme
- Syndication is not a link building scheme
- Repurposing content in a podcast is not a link building scheme
- Repurposing content in a video is not a link building scheme
My recommendation is to always make the highest quality content possible. If you commission an agency to help you will guest post outreach and content placement, only work with the highest quality websites that also publish high-quality content. High-quality content has a lower bounce rate and is more likely to be shared by others.
Invest in quality.