Monday, January 19, 2009

Book Marketing - 3 Ways to Drive Sales Using an Effective Book Cover Design

The cover of your book is a critical component of your book marketing strategy.It is the first impression people will have of your book and it may be the last.So it's essential that your book cover does more than convey your book's title.

Your book cover is your silent spokesperson and your mini-billboard.

So here are 3 ways in which you can maximize the impact of your book to help boost sales:


1.

Add Your Image


Naturally, this is not appropriate in all cases but it can work effectively whether you are well-known or not.

If you are well-known and your image is part of your overall branding then incorporating your image on the cover of your book will give your book brand recognition.Take Donald Trump for example.He incorporates his image onto the cover of all his books for to quote one of his book titles - "There's no such thing as over-exposure".

If you are well-known then your book represents a great opportunity to increase your recognition.People are generally curious to learn more about an author and to see what they look like.Authors are seen as very special people - celebrities even.Allow potential buyers and or readers to connect with you.So even if you don't want to include your image on the front cover of your book make sure that your image can be readily found.For example, consider including it on the back cover or on the inside flap if your book is a hardcover version.

2.List relevant awards or distinctions


If you have received a significant award for your writing or your work in the subject matter of your book then you can include this information on the cover of your book.

By distinctions I mean something that is worthy of note.For example, if your book has a TV connection your book cover is a great place to mention it.People have a tendency to believe what they see on television which is one reason why this is such a power medium and any TV links will massively boost the saleability of your book.

For instance, Dean Graziosi on his New York Times best selling book "Be a Real Estate Millionaire" mentions "As seen weekly on national TV since 1999".This instantly gives him a ton of credibility even if you've never actually seen Dean Graziosi on television yourself.

Another example is the book "Think Yourself Rich" written by the award-winning author Sharon Maxwell Magnus."Think Yourself Rich" was a major BBC television series and this was mentioned on the front book cover not one but twice.

3.Direct people to a free recorded message


Think of your book as a lead generator.

Your book should be just the first stage of a journey a reader shares with you.Offer your readers different ways to interact with you.

So you can use your book cover to invite potential buyers and or readers of your book to phone you using a free phone number where they can listen to a pre-recorded message.Your pre-recorded message can outline a special product or service you might have and a special offer that is only available to individuals who purchase your book.

You might even want to run a special competition in association with the launch of your book and use your pre-recorded message to give details about this.People love competitions and structured astutely a competition that is run as part of your book launch can generate massive publicity for you, your company and of course, your book.


About the Author

For a great opportunity to learn first-hand about expert book marketing visit Book Marketing University.

And to listen to a FREE teleclass on how you can turn your book into an Amazon Bestseller visit Becoming An Amazon Bestseller.

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Sunday, November 16, 2008

Law Firm Marketing Tip: How Personal Injury Attorneys Can Optimize Their Websites For Results

As a personal injury attorney, marketing your law firms website is the most important part of your online business. Not only is it meant to provide prospects with information about you and your services, but it is also intended to turn them into clients.

If your website is failing to consistently convert prospects to customers, then it is time to find out what is wrong.

There are a number of things a personal injury attorneys website needs in order to be successful. Here are the top six ways to improve it so you can maximize its performance and boost your law firms internet marketing efforts:

1. Understand the Problem: Before you consider putting anything on your website, you first need to find out what your prospects are looking for. If you dont understand their issues then you wont be able to provide a solution. And even if you do understand their issues but dont respond to them on your homepage, you risk losing visitors because they werent able to find what they were looking for. Give visitors a clear indication of how you can help them.

2. Provide the Solution: After addressing your prospects concerns, it is time for you to offer a solution. Your front page should discuss easy-to-understand benefits that are both tangible and believable. Do not focus on your services; focus on the benefits, value and results you can achieve for your clients.

3. Establish Trust: Beyond addressing the problems your clients have and offering the solutions they need, you must prove yourself to be trustworthy before theyll ever consider contacting you. There are a number of ways you can do this: include testimonials or impressive statistics on the front page, a section that discusses your awards and results, an about us page that is easy to navigate to and from, and a number of resources such as white papers or blog articles they can research so they can discover what makes you such a great personal injury lawyer.

Also, dont forget to include links on the bottom of your site to a privacy policy and a terms and conditions page. While people hardly ever read these pages, they play a significant role in establishing credibility.

4. Make it Easy to Navigate: Dont try to be fancy, you need to make your website as easy to navigate as possible. This means you should have a navigation menu either on the top of your page beneath the banner or on the left hand side. Besides that, your pages should load quickly; even with a slow internet connection. The easier your site is to read, the more likely your prospects will stick around and explore.

5. Use a Professional Designer: While some personal injury lawyers dont believe its necessary to spend money on professional web design, they dont realize what theyre missing out on.

In real life, when you meet somebody in person for the first time they judge you based on your appearance. If you show up in ripped blue jeans and a tank top, you wont get the same response as you would have if you were wearing a suit and tie. Its the same with your website.

When people visit your homepage they quickly judge your services based on your presentation. If your site looks like it was developed by a high-schooler in 1995, your prospect will quickly leave without ever finding out that youre the best personal injury attorney in town. However, if you site looks professional and pleasing to the eye, you will instantly improve your image.

6. Test Rigorously: There are so many things you can test on your website, so it might seem like an overwhelming process, but its not. With free tools such as Google Analytics you can find everything you need to know about your website and visitors. You can find out how people went to your homepage, what city they live in, how long they stayed on each page, what links they clicked and more. When you find a page that isnt performing well, you can make the necessary changes and see your statistics improve.

By understanding what your prospects are looking for and presenting yourself as a personal injury lawyer they can trust, youll greatly increase your chance of earning new business through your website.

Much like creating a brick and mortar business, establishing an effective online presence takes time. However, if youre willing to put in the effort to consistently improve your reputation and presentation then you will have no problem emerging from the pack of personal injury attorneys and marketing your law firm on the internet.
About the Author

Stephen Fairley is CEO of LawFirmMarketingStrategies.com and The Rainmaker Institute, the nations largest law firm marketing company that specializes in helping small law firms. Attorneys visit

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