Developing Your Marketing Strategy

Developing a marketing plan is an essential part of your ebook's success.
You must develop and implement a strategic plan that includes both
short-term and long-term strategies in order to succeed.

Short-term marketing strategies are those that bring you a temporary
boost in traffic. Although these techniques are very important to your
over-all plan, they are only a temporary traffic source and must not be
solely relied upon.

Short-term marketing strategies include:

Purchasing Advertising

Although there are many forms of advertising that may be purchased on
the Internet, the best form is ezine advertising. Consider purchasing
sponsor ads within a publication that targets your specific audience.

For further information, read the article entitled, "Internet Marketing
Strategies -- Purchasing Advertising."
http://www.web-source.net/pur_advertising.htm

Forums (Discussion Boards)

Participating in forums that target your potential customer is a great way
to share your expertise and make more sales. Although blatant advertising
is prohibited, most forums will allow you to include your signature.

Search Engines

Listing your ebook's sales page with the top Search Engines and
Directories will provide you with some additional traffic. However, ranking
within the top twenty or thirty search results is very difficult. You may
want to consider paying for a higher ranking. There are many Search
Engines that will enable you to bid on keywords and pay a specified
amount for each visitor you receive.

For further information, read the article entitled, "Internet Marketing
Strategies -- Paying For Traffic."
http://www.web-source.net/pay_traffic.htm

Long term marketing strategies are those that bring you a steady stream
of targeted traffic over time. These strategies will continue to produce
results even years down the road.

Long term marketing strategies include:

Opt-in List (Ezine)

An ezine, also known as an email magazine, online publication or opt-in
list is simply a newsletter available via email and/or online.

Having your own publication will enable you to build a list of targeted
potential customers.

For further information, read the article entitled, "Internet Marketing
Strategies -- Building an Opt-in List."
http://www.web-source.net/optin.htm

Free Trial

A great way to increase your ebook sales is to create a trial version of
your ebook and freely distribute it. This will provide your potential
customers with a sample of your ebook and encourage them to purchase
the full version.

Articles

Writing articles is one of the most effective strategies you can use to
increase your ebook sales. Write articles that target your potential
customer and allow them to be freely published.

For further information, read the article entitled, "Write For Publicity."
http://www.web-source.net/write.htm

By creating and implementing a balanced marketing strategy, using both
short-term and long-term strategies, you will increase your sales
considerably.

To further increase your sales, list your ebook at various ebook sites.

Listing your ebook with a number of ebook sites will increase your sales
considerably. Each site will pay you a specified percentage for each sale.
This payment is known as a royalty. The royalties paid will vary at each
site and will depend on your selling price and format.

No matter which ebook sites you choose make sure that you retain all of
the rights to your ebook. This will enable you to sell your ebook wherever
you'd like and not be limited to just one site.

Here are a few ebook sites to get you started:

InfoPost
http://www.infopost.com/

InfoPost will enable you to upload your ebook to their site, set your
selling price, and provide a description of your ebook. They take care of
the rest. They'll host and deliver your ebook and process your payments.
They pay 80% royalties and you can withdraw your earnings in cash, use
it for merchandise at their sites, or even donate it to your favorite
charity. You retain all rights to your ebook.

BookLocker.com
http://www.booklocker.com/

Booklocker provides you with a web page for you to refer your customers.
They handle all of the transactions and delivery. They pay 70% royalties
on ebooks priced at $8.95 and higher and 50% royalties on ebooks priced
lower than $8.95. You retain all the rights to your ebook. In addition,
they offer of great print on demand option. They'll print your ebooks one
at a time, accept payment and ship your book directly to your customer
(usually within 48 hours). They pay 35% royalties on POD orders.

1st Books Library
http://www.1stbooks.com/

1st Books Library is an online publishing company that will turn your
manuscript into an ebook formatted in PDF and a number of other
formats. You retain all rights to your book. They provide your book with
worldwide distribution and make it available in more than 25,000
bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. They pay 100%
royalties for ebooks up to the first $300 in sales and 40% thereafter.
They pay 30% royalties for paperback and hardcover versions.

Take your time and plan your marketing strategy carefully. Track your
response rates for each strategy and concentrate your efforts on the
strategies that work the best for you. If you've developed a quality ebook
and have followed the steps outlined within this series, you'll be well on
your way to self- publishing your way to Internet success.