As an author who has written an entire book you have a leg up on the task of getting your message out online: content, as they say, is king. People might hear about your book from a friend or they might hear you speak at a virtual event. But if they are remotely interested in reading your book, they are going to search you out online. And, if you search well online (largely as a result of the content you are creating and posting) search engines will reward you by ranking you and your book well in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and more people who don’t know about you and your book will be able to find their way to you.

You want your online book-related content to align with the great things anyone is saying about you!

Story telling is an ancient art form and the people who study these things know that ancient humans crouched around campfires together sharing stories of strength and valour, passion and pain long before a printing press (or the internet) was ever a gleaming idea in a questing mind.

The Vehicle of a Good Story

A good storyteller has likely been a necessity in human society since the dawn of time and unlimited wisdom has been passed along painlessly through the vehicle of a good story.

Although the way we tell our stories has changed, their importance is just as significant today as it has always been: people are far more engaged by a good story well told than they are by a simple collection of facts packed together in an orderly row.

As most of us know, life (and book writing!) is anything but consistently orderly and the lyrical surprises inherent in a good story catch our attention like nothing else can. You’ve already written a book—now I invite you to share more stories online about you and your book in order to support book sales.

Your online marketing stories (aka your online content) need to be focused on helping your potential readers know about your book while building rapport between them and you, the author.

Here are some compelling statistics about the success of content marketing from the
Content Marketing Institute, who note that content marketing is being used these days to:

• Create brand awareness
• Educate audiences
• Build credibility and trust
• Generate demand and leads
• Nurture subscribers and audiences
• Build loyalty and
• Generate sales

And, let’s face it, with internet users faced with a barrage of ads now ad blockers are in increasing use while content is rarely blocked. Many consumers will make a purchase after reading recommendations or other information on a blog and, as I mentioned, content creation is a highly effective technique for SEO.

It all underscores the fact that your content marketing efforts represent an opportunity to build rapport with potential readers (and fans) and bring a human element into what is otherwise a highly technical arena.

Your online content marketing strategy gives you a bigger online footprint than you, as an author, might otherwise generate. It should also:

• Allow people to find out more about you

• Help educate people about how you and your book might add value to their lives

• Increase your credibility and

• Invite people to buy your book or hire you for speaking engagements

If you do this well, human visitors and search engines will reward your efforts and you will generate greater revenue as a result.

Other Methods of Online Marketing

There are other methods of online marketing that have a place in an author’s marketing matrix, including paid search and pay-per-click campaigns, website development projects that include conversion strategies and conversion architecture, and more.

Without strong content that positions you as the hands-down choice for the readers you are here to serve, however, your other online marketing efforts may not succeed as powerfully as you would like.

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