Boost Online Book Sales with SEO
How to Boost Your Online Book Sales with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Techniques.
Many authors, whether self published or not, are aware of the impotence of using search engine optimization techniques as a means of driving targeted traffic from search engines to their author website or blog. Often overlooked however are the benefits of using these same SEO techniques to help improve the search viability of your actual online book sales pages on sites such as Amazon, Lulu and Smashwords, along with other promotional pages and social media posts.
This article lists a number SEO tips for authors to help improve search engine rankings for these book pages and so boost your book sales online.
1. Create a Sales Funnel not an Aimless WebAll of your Social Media efforts should have one goal, to drive targeted traffic (readers) to your website or blog. From your website the aim should now shift to driving readers to your book sales pages. Whilst it may be a good idea to provide social sharing buttons on your website, it is also a good idea to avoid the overuse and over promotion of your social media profiles from within your website, after all it makes little sense to send a potential customer away from your website once you have managed to get them there!
When a user visits your website, they should be hard put to find many other links other than those links to places where they can download or buy your book(s). It is also a good idea to make every effort to capture a visitors email address after they have arrived at your website. Trading an email address for a free book or other benefit is a good strategy for helping to build an email list. Such an email list can provide an ideal platform for promotion of future releases and other targeted promotions.
2. Define your Targeted KeywordsChoosing the right keywords you wish to target is an essential task required for the next few steps. Along with the obvious choice of book title and author name, investigate which other words people search for when looking for your type of book. This could include genre, or industry terms for non-fiction. Once you have a list of suitable words conduct some research using a keyword tool such as the keyword planner in Google Adwords to ascertain which of these keywords or phrases are searched for most often. Select the most appropriate two or three high volume keywords and add those to your list along with title and author.
3. Optimize Book TitlesYour book title is the ideal place to insert your keywords, increasing your chances of these book sales pages ranking higher in search engines. Your books Subtitle is a good place to insert additional keywords, so long as it makes sense and is related to your book. In times gone by a books title needed to capture the attention of a reader. Today the same still rings true however to be successful selling your books online you must also catch the attention of search engines. Both should be served equally by your books title.
4. Leverage the power of Book DescriptionsYour books blurb is critical to the decision to buy for your your readers, but there are some things that are often overlooked with regards to optimizing your book descriptions for search engines. Ideally you should mention all of your keywords again, including the book title and author, at least once, several times if your description is quite lengthy. This will help search engines identify these as relevant phrases for your book listing page(s).
Some publishing portals allow the use of limited HTML within book descriptions. You should use these, where available, to reinforce your specific keywords by using <b> or <strong> tags to surround your title, author and keywords. If you have more than one instance of your keywords within your description you should emphasize the next instance using <i> or <em> tags. Many portals do not push the fact that you can use basic HTML tags, however CreateSpace and KDP both support the use of limited tags. Another way to use these tags effectively is to use a different font color (the <font> tag) where appropriate, to boost your sales message or hook.
5, Quality Incoming LinksJust like your website or blog, search engines will favor book sales pages with a number of quality incoming links. In addition to the links from your own website and blog, seek other back-links to your sales pages from Social Media and other sources. If you have a video advert for your book ensure that the video title and description include your keywords, and the first line of your description contains the link to your sales page. Only seek quality back-links from related, high quality pages within your niche.
Want to know more about effective SEO techniques? Check out our DIY SEO Guide.
Did you find this article helpful? Please leave a comment and share it with your friends using the share buttons below.
Many authors, whether self published or not, are aware of the impotence of using search engine optimization techniques as a means of driving targeted traffic from search engines to their author website or blog. Often overlooked however are the benefits of using these same SEO techniques to help improve the search viability of your actual online book sales pages on sites such as Amazon, Lulu and Smashwords, along with other promotional pages and social media posts.This article lists a number SEO tips for authors to help improve search engine rankings for these book pages and so boost your book sales online.
1. Create a Sales Funnel not an Aimless WebAll of your Social Media efforts should have one goal, to drive targeted traffic (readers) to your website or blog. From your website the aim should now shift to driving readers to your book sales pages. Whilst it may be a good idea to provide social sharing buttons on your website, it is also a good idea to avoid the overuse and over promotion of your social media profiles from within your website, after all it makes little sense to send a potential customer away from your website once you have managed to get them there!
When a user visits your website, they should be hard put to find many other links other than those links to places where they can download or buy your book(s). It is also a good idea to make every effort to capture a visitors email address after they have arrived at your website. Trading an email address for a free book or other benefit is a good strategy for helping to build an email list. Such an email list can provide an ideal platform for promotion of future releases and other targeted promotions.
2. Define your Targeted KeywordsChoosing the right keywords you wish to target is an essential task required for the next few steps. Along with the obvious choice of book title and author name, investigate which other words people search for when looking for your type of book. This could include genre, or industry terms for non-fiction. Once you have a list of suitable words conduct some research using a keyword tool such as the keyword planner in Google Adwords to ascertain which of these keywords or phrases are searched for most often. Select the most appropriate two or three high volume keywords and add those to your list along with title and author.
3. Optimize Book TitlesYour book title is the ideal place to insert your keywords, increasing your chances of these book sales pages ranking higher in search engines. Your books Subtitle is a good place to insert additional keywords, so long as it makes sense and is related to your book. In times gone by a books title needed to capture the attention of a reader. Today the same still rings true however to be successful selling your books online you must also catch the attention of search engines. Both should be served equally by your books title.
4. Leverage the power of Book DescriptionsYour books blurb is critical to the decision to buy for your your readers, but there are some things that are often overlooked with regards to optimizing your book descriptions for search engines. Ideally you should mention all of your keywords again, including the book title and author, at least once, several times if your description is quite lengthy. This will help search engines identify these as relevant phrases for your book listing page(s).
Some publishing portals allow the use of limited HTML within book descriptions. You should use these, where available, to reinforce your specific keywords by using <b> or <strong> tags to surround your title, author and keywords. If you have more than one instance of your keywords within your description you should emphasize the next instance using <i> or <em> tags. Many portals do not push the fact that you can use basic HTML tags, however CreateSpace and KDP both support the use of limited tags. Another way to use these tags effectively is to use a different font color (the <font> tag) where appropriate, to boost your sales message or hook.
5, Quality Incoming LinksJust like your website or blog, search engines will favor book sales pages with a number of quality incoming links. In addition to the links from your own website and blog, seek other back-links to your sales pages from Social Media and other sources. If you have a video advert for your book ensure that the video title and description include your keywords, and the first line of your description contains the link to your sales page. Only seek quality back-links from related, high quality pages within your niche.
Want to know more about effective SEO techniques? Check out our DIY SEO Guide.
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