The web runs on free. And books you can call your own are easily accumulated. There are thousands of books you can start off with, for free. I will repeat that, there are thousands of books available. If you're going to sell books from your own web site, Pick out at least ten books you want to offer. They do not have to be books that you wrote yourself. Next, you want to create at least ONE page on your web site for each title. I usually use two pages, and occasionally I have used FIVE pages. Indeed, my best selling book uses SIXTY five pages to make the sale, and it has been selling quite well for three years now, thank you. The point is, don't expect to make major sales from a thirty word ad, even if it is posted on a very popular part of your own web site. Now you also want to create one page on your web site that lists all the books you have. My traffic runs 10,000 per week; my book downloads are right at 1,000 per week. That's right; one in ten download a book. Another 1,500 read the books right on line. I give them a choice on some books because many people can not download a book, or they are at the office and don't want to. NEXT, You have probably noted that I also put ads for other products and services on each of my book information pages. Since it makes money for me, I won't bother to defend myself. Also note the links to other pages on my web site. These pages ALSO have links to other products and services. "Why have we done it this way?"
By that I mean, if your listing is for A FREE BOOK ABOUT DAVID CROCKETT it will gather a ton more traffic than TEN FREE BOOKS, with the titles not listed even though the Ten Titles INCLUDES the book about David Crockett. Now you are ready to advertise your pages on the search engines. You will get Book One advertised, Book Two advertised, and so on --
Sure you will; it's called the DESCRIPTION in the meta tag language at the top of your web page. KEYWORDS work almost as well. And TITLE comes in third. Where it might help, I even use a meta tag called AUTHOR occasionally -- like when the author is Mark Twain. Okay, now you have a number of pages ready for uploading to the real world.
"How many do I need?"
To be in this for the long haul you need something UNIQUELY yours. If your love is cookbooks, create a web site revolving around cookbooks you have read. If the love of your life is centered in your garden, create a web site revolving around it.
Ain't that awful? In my opinion, anyone who expects to earn money in any way besides working for it is doomed to throwing good money after bad for the rest of their lives. Please remember too, I am not the one who promised you -- something for nothing. Working the web is just like real life; Unless you put something in, you get nothing out. Indeed, working the web is worse than real life because in real life you can FOOL your boss into thinking you are working, and s/he'll pay you for time you spent gossiping at the water cooler. The web won't do that. The web demands value. The more unique that value is the more you will be paid. Here's the good part -- Done right, once you've got your value made and posted, it keeps on paying until your information becomes obsolete. Let's move on here. You've posted your ads to the search engines. Next you go to the free advertising sites and begin posting ads. Here's one I use for David Crockett --
If I were selling garden seeds, I'd still place ads offering FREE INFORMATION, and fill each request with a different page.
As I said before, you MUST give information that really is FREE when they arrive. The better your free information is (and the easier you make it be to find) the better chance of you selling your garden seeds when prospects arrive. Add a few tasteful ads and you're in business. |
