Tag: software

 
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Marketing to Marketers

Marketing to other marketers to make it easier to make money is great but many of the buyers never use the products and just try to pawn them off on other marketers. So you wind up with all these people selling scripts, programs, eBooks, and more to other online marketers and they profess how great they are without ever using them. They are just trying to make a buck as an affiliate of someone else’s idea.

I am all for new marketing ideas especially the ones that automate tedious tasks. I love submitting articles and use an auto submitter. RSS feeds provide news to my sites. Automatically creating links to Clickbank items based on keywords in my blogs is a godsend.

But, to me, if people donít use these products and just pimp them to others, they are missing out on the long term benefits for a quick buck.

I admit that I have done this in the past and may do it again in the future ñ but ñ I only sell products that I actually use and approve. That way I can actually vouch for them since I have used them and can speak from personal experience.

Personally, I prefer to market to the average Internet Joe. I market to people who are looking for a deal on a credit card (and I use a super script to keep my site current). I recommend hotels in Thailand and can speak from first-hand experience. I post links to hotels in Thailand forums and also have 6 Thai affiliate hotel sites.

I also write articles about Thailand and list my hotel affiliate links in the author’s resource box. These are pretty easy to write since I have been traveling to Thailand for over 30 years.

I also write the occasional marketing or credit article to get some traffic to those sites. I have about 10 article sites and advertise on those sites that others submit their articles to.

I would rather make a few bucks marketing a product to people who are actually going to use it instead of marketing to someone who is only going to try to sell it to someone else.

All of this is just my personal opinion. There is nothing morally wrong or illegal of marketing to marketers. I use many of the items that are up for sale, especially those that make my life a little bit easier.

The one thing that I do object to is the folks that market to others and make false or misleading statements indicating that they use the product and how wonderful it is when they have never used it and just want to make a buck.

Anyhow, keep coming up with all those great products that marketers can use to make our lives easier. Just market them honestly.

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Increasing Link Popularity the Gateway to the Internet

Search engines are the gateway to the Internet; they are
the first tool that potential customers use to find the
products and services they need. This is why link
popularity is so imperative. If the customers do not find
your website, you have no possibilities of making any
sales.

You’re probably wondering what the blazes is popular about
a link! Well, in a word – plenty! Link popularity refers to
the ranking assigned to your website by the search engines,
and it determines the ranking your page gets when keywords
are entered into a search engine. So, you’re probably
wondering, how do I make my link popular?

Search engines are discretionary, giving status and ranking
to sites that have links to their pages from related,
quality sites. It’s a simple formula, but a very important
one. Google created the system, and now virtually all the
most popular search engines employ it to rank your web
pages in their indexes.

The more commonly used your keyword is, the harder it will
be to achieve link popularity, but without achieving this
step, it is almost certain your site will never rank highly
on any search engine. But don’t be discouraged; there are
tried and true ways of achieving link popularity using the
most competitive keywords.

There are a few things you should be aware of. The first is
that just linking up with a large number of other websites
will not achieve link popularity. In fact, it may have
quite the opposite effect. This is particularly true when
pertaining to websites that are nothing more than “link
farms” – pages containing line after line of indiscriminate
links. Search engines may aggressively discriminate against
your website if you are associated with a link farm, so
steer clear of them!

The next thing to bear in mind is the quality of the site
you are linking to. Never link to a page you have
reservations about your visitors seeing. The last thing you
want your website to appear as is indiscriminate and cheap.
Linking to sites of poor quality will only lessen your link
popularity, if not completely destroy it.

So let’s get to what you need to do to achieve supreme link
popularity and improve your rankings to stellar status on
all the popular search engines.

The first step, and the fastest way to get your foot in the
door, is to get a listing in a popular directory, such as
Open Directory Project and Yahoo. If your site is
business-related, you will want to be listed on Yahoo, and
despite the fact that it will cost you around $300 a year,
it will be money well spent. If your site is
non-commercial, the listing will be free, but it will take
time and follow-up to actually get it listed. Open
Directory is gives you a free listing whether you are
business-related or non-commercial, but be prepared to make
a lot of follow-up inquiries before you see your site
listed.

You are aiming to get listed in the highest level of
appropriate category, and this just takes some common
sense. For example, if your company ships Alpaca wool from
an Alpaca farm located in the middle of Nowhere, Tiny
State, do NOT submit your listing to “Retailers from
Nowhere, Tiny State.” BIG MISTAKE! All you have to do is
look a little deeper – and submit your listing to the “Fine
Alpaca Wool” category. You will not only associate yourself
with culture and quality, but you will be listed in a
national category.

The next step after you have attained directory listings is
to locate other quality sites that will increase your link
popularity. Try to find sites that are in some way related
to yours, so not only will your link popularity increase,
but your customer base may also be expanded. You want to
avoid your competitors and look for sites that are useful
to your site’s visitors. Let’s look at the Alpaca Wool site
example. Linking up to a site that sells knitting supplies
would be helpful to your visitors, and the chances of the
knitting supply site wanting to link up to your site are
also greater. By linking to a related site that will be
relevant to your website’s traffic, you are increasing both
of your site’s business prospects – and both of your sites’
link popularity.

Not all sites want to link to other sites, so you will have
to do some research when you are looking for possible
linking partners. Google is an excellent starting place for
your search. Make sure you enter keywords that you think
quality customers will also enter to find your own site.
Remember, your criteria are quality, highly ranked,
non-competing websites that have a links or resources page.
Go to these sites and objectively assess them. Look at the
quality of the product, the graphics, and the ease of use.
Then check out the other sites they are linked to, and
determine if your own site would fit in with the crowd.

When you decide you have found a good prospect, you must
set out to woo them. The first thing to do is to add a link
on your own links page to their site. This is an essential
first step; it shows good faith, and ups your chances
significantly of their reciprocity. After you have added
their link, you must contact the webmaster of their site.
Since this is almost always done by email, you want to make
sure it is immediately clear that your message is not junk
mail. This requires that you tell them right off the bat
that you have added a link to their page on your site. A
hook like this almost always insures the reader will read
on.

Next, be sure to be flattering and let them know how much
you appreciate their website. Make sure you emphasize that
you have actually visited their site, and that their site
is not just a random pick. Give them the address of your
links page, and ask them to check out the link for
themselves. It’s a good idea to mention that they will not
only benefit from the increased traffic your website will
direct their way, but you will also increase their link
popularity. Briefly, explain why link popularity is so
essential, but do this in a sentence or two so you don’t
sound like a professor! Finally, tell them you would
greatly appreciate if they would reciprocally add a link on
their own links page to your website.

Go through this process with as many appropriate sites as
you can find, bearing in mind the criteria of quality and
non-competitiveness. After you have emailed all relevant
sites, be sure to check these website frequently to see if
they have added a link to your page. Give it about a month,
and if no link appears, try another charming email. Then
give it another month, and if your site is still absent
from their links page, it’s time to remove their link from
your own links page. The only time you want to pursue a
link further than this is if you believe a site is crucial
to your link popularity and your business needs. Just
remember to keep all your communications complimentary and
cordial.

Then set up a schedule to check your ranking in search
engines frequently to see if your link popularity has
improved. This is not achievable in the blink of an eye. It
will take some time and a good deal of work. There is no
way around the labor-intensive quality of improving your
link popularity, which is why search engines regard it with
such importance.

By the way – make sure you have a beautiful, streamlined
site or you will never persuade anyone to link up to you.
Be prepared to keep plugging away at this process, as long
as it takes, until you achieve link popularity stardom!

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How To Sell Your Books On Radio

When my book was published I participated in eleven 15-minute live interviews on local radio over a period of just five days.

The results were highly encouraging; the book leapt from nowhere on Amazon.co.uk to position 194 out of 3123 competing titles and eventually grabbed the No.1 spot for its core keyword (retirement) where it remained for nine months.

I am shortly to repeat the broadcast exercise for my newly published tome but before doing so I am already off to a head startÖ

Although this title does not hit the bookstores until Monday 8 May 2006 it already ranks at No.47 out of 3453 competing titles on Amazon.co.uk ñ which means of course that the book is already selling in big numbers online ñ thanks largely to the success of its predecessor and the initial boost it got from radio promotion.

These promotional interviews are arranged by my publisherís media consultancy and I do not require to visit a single studio to take part; they are all conducted over the telephone, sitting at my desk at home.

So what if you self-publish your output and you donít have a publicist to arrange radio interviews?

Does that mean you are excluded?

No way; I have self-published several books in the past and managed my own promotion.

Wherever you live in the world youíll find that the majority of local radio stations are banded together into a single network for cost-effectiveness.

Here is what you do

1. Identify the controlling network;
2. Visit the corporate website containing links to all subsidiaries;
3. Pick out those stations within a 500/1000 mile orbit;
4. Visit each local station website individually;
5. Scan the daily programming schedules;
6. Highlight those programs that might identify with the topic of your book;
7. Note the presenterís name;
8. Email him/her with a well-couched request for a live interview;
9. Follow that up with an identical snail mail request;
10. Follow that up with a telephone call (youíll get to speak to someone in authority).

You know your topic inside out; speak up with confidence and youíll get your interview; maybe not straightaway but, if you sell yourself and your project professionally, youíll be logged into and up-and-coming slot in the station scheduling.

Go for it is free!

I will be reporting in a subsequent article on the outcome of my latest batch of broadcasts.

In truth though there is more to creating bestselling books than spieling about them on radio and if youíd like to learn how I manage to produce bestsellers consistently, visit the website featured in the resource box below.

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Leadership Is Based On Values – Abilities of a Bigger Leader

When we study on abilities we learn, of well simplist form, that ability is the set of knowledge, abilities and attitudes. If we go to the dictionary we can verify that the attitude is the way to proceed, to act, the behavior.

Thus being, we can affirm that the part most important of the ability its in our position. When the companies elaborate its pictures of abilities essences, those that represent its mission, principles and values, there see a series of earnings of the organization in relation its collaborators: enterprising capacity, focus in results, taking of decision, negotiation, leadership, creativity and as much others.

But, an important question fits: it will be that these abilities are really essential? If to consider the attitude as basic principle of the ability, the waited behaviors would not have more to be valued? Evident that we need professionals with focus in results, skillful negotiators, creative, enterprising, that they know to work under pressure, but we urgently need leaders with behaviors that impactem more significantly in the businesses or, at least, to give to the abilities accented connotations more.

We would have to try, in our companies, people capable to be:

* Humble

Humble not just to learn, unprovided of arrogance that the learning, humble only blocks to hear and to understand, humble to focus main and accessory, humble it not to share the knowledge, humble to understand that the weight biggest of the existence not to be in HAVING and yes in the BEING. And is good that if it does not forget that humbleness is a virtue.

* Intelligent

Intelligence that goes beyond the capacity diagnosising, to foresee scenes future, to analyze situations for different angles, that go even though beyond the ability interacting with the most diverse people, controlling impulses, to express feelings. She is necessary to sharpen intelligence spiritual, not in the direction of religiosity, but the intelligence that searchs the illumination, that searchs the wisdom, a directed intelligence to be better. As Mahatma Gandhi it wrote: “When an only man arrives at the fullness of the love, it neutralizes the hatred of many millions”

* Responsible

Not it responsibility demanded for the companies, who we are not more of the one than obligation, but responsibility for each said word, for each revealed gesture, each taken action, commentaries made for the coasts, would say more, responsibility even for our thoughts. We learn in the science that no energy if loses, all are changedded. Then, why not to place in our daily relations something that is not taught in books and nor in the schools, a little of pleasantness in the behavior, all the moments, all the levels, daily and for the entire life?

* Human being

We are human beings, we possess intelligence that in them makes superiors to other beings livings creature. The proper word human being always is associated with the goodness, to the benevolence. Then, a great leader must HUMAN BEING.

Somebody that either capable to love fully without being servile, somebody that the pardon understands and practises, that either capable to fully hear the other in a delivery attitude, that can act for internal certainty, to be sensible without to be piegas, capable to act with ethics and respect, capable to celebrate the victories and conquests unconditionally and for an obligatory one not to have, capable to review its values, capable to change its thoughts, capable to carry through a intramudanÁa, capable to give to the light itself exactly. It is important to know that the attitude, crucial point of the ability, depends exclusively on the individual.

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How To Get Your Book Reviewed In Magazines

In one of my past magazine jobs my office was next to that of the book editor. He would get boxes and boxes of books daily. There was a separate room devoted to storing these books, but that still didn’t keep them from piling up in his office. Whenever he returned from vacation he practically had to use a bulldozer to get his door open!

You see the problem, right? How do you get your book noticed, let alone reviewed, when it is just one among stacks of books in an editor’s office? Here are a few tips to help you map out a winning strategy.

1. Determine which magazines are the best for reaching your target market.

As you plan to market your book, decide first who your ideal reader is. Is it a 35-year-old urban professional man? Is it a stay-at-home mom who lives in the Midwest? Is it female college graduates who also happen to be sports fanatics? Once you decide who you’re targeting, ask yourself: What magazines does my ideal reader read? Those will be the magazines you’ll focus on. That way, you won’t waste time and money pursuing dozens of magazines which, even if they did review your book, wouldn’t give you much in terms of gaining readership. With my novel we focused on magazines with large female audiences. Ideally you should be doing this a few months before your book comes out because the goal here is to either write a story for the magazine or get interviewed in the magazine, and have the article appear before or just as your book is published.

2. Find out what the editors need.

When you have chosen the magazines, buy them and read them. Do they have a certain writing style? What kinds of articles appear in the magazine again and again? If you can, write, email or call the features editor and find out what kinds of stories the magazine is looking for. You’ll have more success if you can fill the editorial holes the magazine is already working on.

3. Let an editor know what you have to offer.

Start sending query letters to get article assignments. If you have a particular expertise, you can let an editor know that you’re available for interviews if they ever need an expert on a particular subject. Often an editor will assign a story to a writer and give them a few possible interviewees to help them get started. I contacted editors at Essence a full year before my book came out to let them know that I was working as a personal and career coach. Within a few weeks I began getting calls from reporters to interview me for working mom stories for Essence.

4. Mention your book or get it mentioned.

When your article gets published, make sure you get the little italicized blurb at the end that says that you are “a writer whose next book, The Best Book in the World, will be published this month by Big Press, Inc.” You get the idea. If you are being interviewed for an article, chances are they won’t have room to mention your book but you should still tell the reporter about it anyway. You can even ask them to put it in their notes. As the story gets discussed in meetings, someone might say “Did you know she also wrote a book?” This builds awareness.

5. Check in with your contacts, but don’t pester them.

Once your book is sent out for review, you can call or email to make sure that the editor got the book, but leave it at that. You’ve done all you can. I’ve never met the book editor at Essence, but when I heard that he was aware of my novel I was totally psyched. I kept my fingers crossed after that. You can see the review here. One last note: Some magazines and newspapers don’t review self published books. Find out beforehand so you can make your efforts elsewhere if that’s necessary.

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Learn how much money you can make selling ebooks online.

One of the most common questions we get at Ebook Architect is ìhow much money will I make selling ebooks? Well, like most businesses the answer will depend on many different factors. For example the amount of time you put into the promotion of your ebook will have a direct consequence on sales and market interest in your ebook topic is another important factor. People who are good at picking good ebook topics and promoting their ebooks usually stand to make a lot of money with ebooks.

How Much Money You Ask?

Some Ebook entrepreneurs lose money in the course of a year while some make hundreds of thousands of dollars. More realistically however is somewhere in between these two points. Many ebook authors make between $5,000 and $20,000 a year.

How to Maximize Ebook Sales

The best way to ensure optimum sales is to constantly promote your ebook. This may mean staying in on weekends and staying up late during the week. Some of the best ways to promote your ebook include buying advertising from large advertising portals such as Google and Yahoo, partaking in link exchanges, writing articles for websites and Ezines, building an information dense website and writing great ebook sales pages. Accomplishing all of this is no minor feat. You should expect to be in product development for between 1-6 months and then the promotional aspect may take another 4-12 months. Itís not necessarily an easy job but as stated above the payoff could be substantial.

Worst Case Scenario

Even if you decide half way through the process that ebook entrepreneurship is not your cup of tea, you will still have written an ebook and be selling it online. That makes you an author; congratulations. Not only will you be an author but your ebook may give you some extra pocket change on a monthly basis. If nothing else, it will be a good learning experience. You have nothing to lose, so why not give it a shot?

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How to Market and Price Your Ebook

You’ve written and compiled an ebook. Now you have to
decide how much to charge for it. Finding the right
price is essential to the success of your product. If
you charge too little, people will think it’s of
little value, and they won’t purchase it, or even it
they do buy your book, you will have to sell thousands
of copies to get to the point where you can begin to
see a profit. If you price it too high when compared
with your competition, you will find yourself steadily
lowering the price, which will cause you all kinds of
new problems in the future. For example, if you sell
your ebook at first for $39.99, and later reduce it to
$24.95, don’t you think the people who bought it for
$39.99 are going to be PISSED?

Choosing the right price for your ebook is one of the
most critical parts of the marketing process. The
first rule of pricing ebooks is to never underprice.
Determine the highest price your audience can afford,
and then if you find your book isn?t selling, you can
always reduce the price. Before you take that step,
make sure you are promoting your book like crazy on
the Internet and on websites. The price should be
aimed at bringing in profits, but you should never
forget that price is one of the factors that people
use in judging the value of your ebook ? before they
buy it. So always start with the highest price, and
then launch a mega-marketing campaign.

Pricing an ebook is particularly difficult because
ebooks are a fairly new commodity. Since they are
digital, the value of an ebook is as confusing as the
understanding of what digital actually is to the
average layperson. This means that we must look at
ebooks in a different light in order to determine
their actual worth in this brave, new cyber world.

Let’s look at the difference between a book in print
and an ebook. A printed book is an object you can hold
in your hand, store on your bookshelf, even hand down
to the next generation. It is priced on factors such
as paper stock, design and production costs, and
marketing.

But the fact that unites ebooks and print books is
that they are composed of ideas. It is the ideas in
these books that have the ability to change, or
possibly transform, people’s lives.

What do you think an idea is worth when evaluated
against the cost of paper and ink?

It is the IDEAS that are valuable! That is how you
determine the cost of your ebook.

What should I charge for my ideas?

There are all different formulas and methods for
determining the correct price for your ebook. Let’s
begin with honing in on your ultimate goals.

Decide if your goal is to get wide distribution and
maximum exposure. This goal is aimed at drawing
customers to your business or service, or to
establishing the credibility of your reputation. If
this is your main goal, you should aim to keep your
price on the low side. Some authors have even priced
their ebooks at a profit loss to draw a high number of
new customers. The key is to find a price that
maximizes your profits and the number of books you
sell.

This is an excellent pricing strategy if you are
looking to acquire long-term customers. Long-term
customers are extremely likely to buy from you again
and again ? as long as the first ebook they buy is of
exceptional quality and beneficial to the customer.

However, if your book contains valuable ? and more
importantly NEW information, references, or techniques
? then you should aim to price it on the high end.

After you figure out your goal, you must figure out
what your audience’s need is for your ebook. For
example, does your book solve a particular problem? If
it does, and solves it in a way that hasn’t been
written about in one hundred other ebooks, you will be
able to achieve high sales at a high price. If your
book solves a problem or answers questions in a new
and unique way, you should price your book as high as
you can go. You will achieve larger profits this way,
but bring in fewer customers. Just make sure the
question or problem that your book solves is one that
is important and relevant to the majority of your
market audience. If your ideas are not common
knowledge, or you are presenting a brand new
technique, you will be able to sell books at a high
price. Just be prepared for your competition to
undercut you on price as soon as they hear about your
book.

Keep in mind that the above pricing strategy is
temporary. Eventually, you will cease to sell books at
this high price. So figure out in advance how long you
plan to offer your ebook at this high price, and when
that time is up, change your pricing strategy.

If you want to see large profits over customer draw,
aim for an audience that is looking for easy solutions
to their problems at a low price. If your book is
aimed at solving one particular problem rather than
general advice, then you can charge more. Start at the
highest price the market will bear to bring in the
largest profits, and plan to discount the book a
number of times throughout the year.

Marketing Strategies

The key that unlocks the sales potential of your ebook
is to find a single sentence that becomes your selling
handle. This sentence states what question or problem
your book answers and the benefits your ebook can
provide. Then be sure to use that sentence in every
piece of sales and promotional material, and every
time anyone asks you about your ebook.

Besides promoting your books assiduously online, there
are several other strategies that can help you sell
more books.

One is to give something away for free with your book,
such as a valuable bonus item. Or bundle several
ebooks under one price, which lowers the price for
each ebook if they were sold separately.

An effective technique for figuring out a price is to
send out a survey to your current customers. If these
customers have already bought an ebook from you, ask
for their opinion in terms of price. Do this by
creating a sales page for the new book, but don’t
include a price on that page. Instead, add a number of
links to survey questions that ask pointed questions
to aid you in assigning a price to your ebook.

Another strategy is to test out prices by creating a
number of duplicate sales pages with different prices
on each page. Make sure your sales copy is exactly the
same on every page, and includes your selling-handle
sentence. Then figure out for each page the conversion
ratio between visitors to your site and sales of your
book. This will tell you what your optimum price is.

Ultimately, if you’ve written a book that solves a
problem or presents a new technique, your book will
bring in both traffic and profits. So be sure to write
that selling-handle sentence that sums up what problem
your book solves and what the benefits of your book
will be to the customers who purchase it. And then
watch your market come to you!

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Earn $100,000+ For Your Book

Every writer fantasizes about getting that big fat advance so they can take a little dream time, write, relax, or put their kids through college. But what most writers donít know is it takes a heck of a lot of work to get to the point of being worthy of a publisher handing you the equivalent of the golden egg. Whether youíre a doctor with the latest get thin quick diet or a mom who has a foolproof way to turn brats into angels, you must be willing to do the work-alot of it.

What separates the six-figure advance earners from the mid-list authors are two things.

1. They think of their book as a business.
2. They have a huge built in audience.

Think of your proposal as the business plan for your book. Your book is an integral part of your overall career which includes speaking, products, and more books. Authors are constantly in search of ways to expand their audience.

Agent David Hale Smith of DHS Literary, (he represented New York Times Best-selling author Cheryl Richardson) says he wants his authors to be financially independent people who see their book as part of a larger successful career. These are qualities he and other agents and publishers look for in their budding celebrities.

From my own experience media coaching and creating marketing plans for authors who get six figures Iíve found that they do three things right.

1. Six Figure Authors React Instantly.

When I asked Rich Fettke, author of *Extreme Success* to prepare the answers to the questions he thought heíd be asked by editors he was flying to New York to meet, he had them ready the next day. And yes, often editors want to meet you-if they think youíre going to be their next golden boy or girl.

This instant reaction reflex comes into play later when your publicity begins. When an authorís topic is hot, theyíre often asked to jump on a plane at a momentís notice to appear on TV, radio, take a print interview or speak at an event or charity function. If you hesitate, the opportunity vanishes.

Publishers who have invested the big bucks in you wonít stand for it. And rightly so. You have an obligation to them to earn back that hefty advance (which sadly, most authors donít).

2. Six Figure Authors Speak.

Gone are the days when writers can cozy up in their garrets and write. To be a successful author today you must become a public person, and more than that, an entertaining one.

A major publishing house hired me to media coach one of their rising star authors. Her book was getting major national press-but she was dull. And they were worried that her lackluster personality would effect her book sales. We worked until she got comfortable on camera while speaking vividly in 15 second soundbites.

3. Six Figure Authors Get Media Coached.

With some media coaching you can morph into a mediagenic maven. But it does take practice and sincere commitment. If you canít afford a media coach, get out that video camera and do mock interviews with friend. A lot can be revealed and ironed out just by seeing how you appear to others on the big screen.

That said there are 5 critical elements that determine the size of your advance.

1. Your platform.
2. Your endorsements.
3. Your publicity plan.
4. Your sample chapter.
5. Your audience.

1. Your platform.

When I interviewed editors at top New York publishing houses like Simon & Schuster & HarperCollins they told me repeatedly that the most important thing a writer can have today is a strong *platform.* A platform is a plan of how you are going to reach your audience to sell books.

Prove you have a following. Publishers want to know who has bought your books or products in the past–and they want to know how many. Can you show that you have a track record of selling your goods to people across the globe, or at least in your community? Maybe youíre not as far along in your career as one of my clients who is a $12,000 an hour speaker who put in his proposal the fact that his audiences range from 100-10,000 people, and he speaks 250 times per year.

His speaking bureau typically sells his video and audio tapes to those audiences in advance when they book his talk. What you want to show is how you can secure sales in large quantities to people you know will buy from you-because they have bought already. Or how audiences similar to the ones who have purchased are primed to buy your book.

2. Your endorsements.

To instantly establish your stature put these accolades on page number one so theyíre the first thing an agent or editor sees. Endorsements need to be from celebrities, best- selling authors and well-known experts in your field.

Show that youíre respected in the world. Endorsements show that high-level people believe in you, that youíre a good bet. They also go on your book cover jacket and help sell your book-and in todayís competitive marketplace itís essential. Donít say youíre *actively seeking endorsements.* Leading with the endorsements makes sure an agent or editor gets that youíre a big shot-or soon will be.

One secret that many authors donít know is the best blurbs are written by the writers themselves. Donít expect famous people to read your tome. They donít have the time or the desire. And please donít send your book to them unsolicited. Ask permission. Then do the work for them and ask them to sign off on that perfect gem-the one youíve written-touting the marvels of your work.

3. Your publicity plan.

Publishers are looking for people who know how to promote themselves and will take responsibility for doing it themselves.

Map out your strategy for selling books. Are you giving keynotes, seminars & workshops to hundreds of people every month? How many people subscribe to your online newsletter, visit your web site, buy your products? Do you have big name clients who will host seminars at their companies for you where youíre guaranteed to sell books?

4. Your sample chapter.

*Once youíve established that the author has some sort of a platform, that they have some voice in the world beyond their circle of friends, I go straight to the sample chapter,* says Kelly Notaras, a Senior Editor at Hyperion.

Prove you can write. *I want to know if they are a good writer, because an agent can tinker away with the rest of the proposal and make it sound really good,* Notaras says.

What if youíre not a great writer? Hire a ghost writer. Remember platform is non-replaceable. You, the personality, the presence, is what publishers are investing in. Good writing can be bought. Star quality canít.

5. Your audience.

Prove you have a media track record. Who knows you already? What magazines have your written for or appeared in? What TV and radio shows have you been a guest on? Are those producers aching to get you back on their shows as soon as possible? Do you have established relationships with them? You guarantee to a publisher that youíll reach your audience by showing who you have successfully reached in the past.

If you haven’t done much media and aren’t yet well-known in the public the quickest way to do so is to join PR Leads, (a service that reporters and producers use to send out queries (requests) to interview experts for stories theyíre working on.)

They are typically on tight deadlines so you need to respond as soon as the queries hit your email inbox. As founder Dan Janal says, *Reporters donít care if you work for a Fortune 500 company. If they need an expert and you can show them you are one, that is all they care about.* Using this service you can become an instant expert in a matter of weeks and build your platform in short order.

Once you can say you’ve done a lot of media and you plan to do more of the same type of media you’ve had success with in the past, you’ll be on your way to creating an impressive impression-one that says that you’ve got 6 figure author potential.

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How can we make our Advertising as Effective as Possible.

The answer is to test. Test again. And then test some more. If ad ìAî receives a two percent response rate, and ad ìBî receives three percent, then we can deduce that ad ìBî will continue to outperform ad ìAî on a larger scale.

Testing takes time, however, and can be expensive if not kept in check. Therefore, itís ideal to start with some proven tested known ideas and work from there.

For example, if testing has shown for decades or more that targeted advertising significantly outperforms untargeted advertising (and it does), then we can start with that assumption and go from there.

If we know based on test results that crafting an ad that speaks directly to an individual performs better than addressing the masses (again, it does), then it makes little sense to start testing with the assumption that it does not. This is common sense.

So it stands to reason that knowing some basic rules or techniques about writing effective copy is in order. Test results will always trump everything, but itís better to have a starting point before you test.

Sometimes a little tweak here or there is all that is needed to increase response rates dramatically.
When a prospect reads your ad, letter, brochure, etc., the one thing he will be wondering from the start is: ìwhatís in it for me?î

And if your copy doesnít tell him, itíll land in the trash faster than he can read the headline or lead.

A lot of advertisers make this mistake. They focus on them as a company. How long theyíve been in business, who their biggest customers are, how theyíve spent ten years of research and millions of dollars on developing this product, blah, blah.

Actually, those points are important. But they should be expressed in a way that matters to your potential customer. Remember, once heís thrown it in the garbage, the sale is lost!

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