Sharing with Writers and Readers: Bling Your Virtual Book Tour

Yvonne Wu is helping me with two great guest posts this week while I take some inspiration and writing time. She is an expert at helping authors market so learn more about book tours today and come up tomorrow and learn how to let them keep working for you after the fact. (-:?
Creating the Bling during your Virtual?Book?Tour

Since the mid 1990s, the Internet has been a powerful way to advertise your products or services to a global market. Virtual book tours?or virtual product tours?is a popular online promotional campaign for authors, speakers, entrepreneurs and coaches and about anyone who uses a book penned by them to advance their careers. Virtual book tours date back as early as2000. Virtual tours are commonly used to promote DVDs, CDs, ebooks, audio ebooks, downloads, memberships, community sites, training webinars, and train-the-training?programs and many of these marketing tools are used by authors.
These campaigns provide opportunities for interaction with readers and potential buyers. The virtual tour has a specific timeframe for the tour, which is usually a month.? Appearances are scheduled in advance. These scheduled online experiences create awareness about your products and services.
Here are five tips to create and keep the bling during your virtual product tour:

Approach sites for reviews, interviews and guest blogging opportunities, whose readership would have a specific interest in your product.

For example, CD?s that talk about relationship advice would be ideal on relationship sites or sites whose target market is?women or families. Write articles that reach your target audience by having them posted on sites that have a similar readership. Make sure that your articles share enough information that directly relates to the product you are selling. This will entice the reader into buying your book.

Spice up your sales page.?

Your squeeze page?or sales page?can be on your homepage or anywhere on your site. Create content about your?book to draw your readership in, create a buzz but not overwhelm them.? For example, Apple products have branded themselves to represent quality, that you are part of a club, and you are cool.? Create trust, make sure that you show your expertise by including a sell sheet or flyer and endorsements.? Provide links to press releases and scheduled speaking events that relate to the product. Social Media share buttons help visitors spread the word with pertinent information such as how to purchase your product, and pictures and dates of your scheduled tour.

Create the loving feeling with flashy videos.

When creating your tour page, consider having a video on the sales page that shows the features and benefits of using your products?a video that gives a feel for the product so that the user can imagine how it feels to own the product. Or a video that solves a problem and fulfills a need for the potential buyer. This www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mQOQX2V7KT9ZY?>Kindle video is a great example.
Look for bonus providers. Look for thought leaders, collaborators that can provide you with downloadable bonuses or premiums that enhance your product offerings. These products can be included when they purchase your products. The advantage to you is that bonus providers will advertise your tour to their mailing list or Social Media Contacts and you will do the same.
Make your contests shine.? Holding contests (eg. scavenger hunts, free downloads and free products) throughout your tour is a quick way to attract traffic to your sales page on your website, create interaction, and expand your mailing list. The contest participants may be asked specific questions or asked to join a mailing list to enter into the contest that is held for a short period of time.
Yvonne is a internet publicist, certified author and speaker assistant. She works with individuals who wish to share their message with a global market. Yvonne loves to see authors and speakers attract more clients and sell more products.? Visit http://theyppublishing.com to learn practical marketing tips.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer?s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Source: http://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com/2012/11/bling-your-virtual-book-tour.html

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