Month: November 2019

ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT PROMOTING YOUR BOOK AS A WRITER?: HERE ARE 6 HELPFUL TIPS YOU COULD USE

ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT PROMOTING YOUR BOOK AS A WRITER?: HERE ARE 6 HELPFUL TIPS YOU COULD USE

Most of you writers have plans to birth your own book while others have written one already or are in the process of writing one. But most of you worry so much on how to market and sell these books or where to sell them before the book is completed.


No matter what kind of book you’re writing (or have written), you need to market your book yourself as a writer in order to reach a wider audience.


In this article I’ve listed and discussed 6 helpful tips you can follow to go about the promotion of your books to the right audience for increased sales. The aim is to sell your book to one person who needs it and then repeat the process, but faster than you think. Don’t be surprised to find yourself becoming a best selling author.


Start by Creating your Brand early


This is very important for all writers, most especially when you’re planning on releasing a book. Your audience and potential reader who are interested in reading your book will want to learn more about you.


You need to build a relationship with them before you start writing the book, and as you research and write, pay attention to those that are greatly enthusiastic about your upcoming book. Cultivate a brand persona and control what people see and know about you.


Target the right Audience for Marketing


How will you market your book if you don’t know the right audience you’re writing for? Where do they get recommendations for new books? If they’re mostly online, would they want to see a review of your book? 
Knowing every details about your audience will help you in the right targeting for a successful marketing.


Create an Email List


Your readers might not be able to keep checking your cites for new updates or watch out for your posts. However, if you have a list of all their email addresses you can send them updates via email. In this way, you are able to keep in touch with people who are genuinely interested in you.


Creating an email list is a sure way to secure the sakes of your current and future books. Here, you get to build real relationships with your email subscribers and convert them to paying customers. Once you sign up for an email marketing service such as Convertkit or MailChimp, you’ll have access to a sign up box that you can add directly to your website.


Remember to send out weekly or monthly updates to your list by sharing about your upcoming book or promotion.


Get Book Reviews from Amazon and other Influencers


Search out book reviewers and bloggers who read work from your niche and start asking for reviews and blurbs six to time months before the book is due to appear in stores. You could send a PDF containing your bio, a table of content and the first two chapters, but you’ll have to check first with your publisher as they’re afraid your book will be stolen if you send out the entire book.


You should also aim at getting at least 15 reviews from Amazon as their reviews are always effective.


Also, approach the influencers in your field and don’t be afraid to ask for both reviews and blurbs. No matter how busy they are they might still be able to write down few sentences.


Secure various Speaking Engagements


Having published your book, you are already seen as an author in that field. You are in a better position to speak at various conferences and organizations where you can share this and more insights that concerns issues relating to your field. You should be ready to give a 45 minutes presentation, after which it’s advisable to familiarity with the audience. Also, you could set up a table at a corner of the room where you or one of your own team members sells your books.


Build awareness through Facebook Marketing


First of all, you need a Facebook business page, not your personal profile. This is free on Facebook and can be gotten no. You’ll need to spend money to market yourself and your book, even if you spend $5 a day alone to promote your book, the most important thing is it’ll place you in front of a larger audience.


When marketing on Facebook, these are steps to follow.

• Choose a target audience that’s interested in your field. • Run an ad that targets these audiences and their interests. • Link your ad to the excerpt page on your website, which contains a link to your books Amazon Sales Page. • Regulate the costs of running the ads by running it on specific time and days. • For your call to action use ads to push click-throughs to your website.


Be sure to follow your promotion plan at least an hour a day till your book comes out. Follow up and consistency are the key to successful book promotion.


Which other tips do you use in your book promotion? How have the results been so far? Share with us by leaving a comment below.

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY MANAGE YOUR TIME AS A WRITER : 6 HELPFUL STRATEGIES

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY MANAGE YOUR TIME AS A WRITER : 6 HELPFUL STRATEGIES

You cannot manage time, rather you learnt to manage the events in your life in relation to time. Oftentimes, we wish for more time to complete some tasks but we only have 24 hours in each day. How you use that time depends on your planning and self discipline.


Time management is one of the greatest challenges faced by most writers, most especially when you as a writer is the editor, publisher and marketer. Just like money time is limited and very valuable, as such it must be used wisely, guarded and budgeted.


As a writer, you have to find the best time management strategy that fits your personality depending on your level of self discipline. Hopefully, by adapting some or all of the 6 strategies below, you can effectively manage your time well and get your book or article finished in time.


Evaluate How you Spend your Time 


A great way to start is by keeping records of your activities at different time intervals of the day for a week. Then evaluate your results by checking to see if you did everything you need to, determine which task require the most time, the time you are most productive and where most of your time is devoted, which could be to your family, job or personal life.


After doing this you get to have a clear idea of the amount of time required for your usual tasks and then become more realistic on the time you should allocate to your writing.


Set your Priorities Straight


This will require you to differentiate between what is important and what is urgent. Most often we tend to spend time on activities that are not important not withstanding their urgency. Focusing on the most important activity allows you to maximize your time and help you become more productive.


One way to set your priorities straight and help you stay on track is go make a “to do” list of all your activities. It could be set daily, weekly or monthly depending on your lifestyle, then rank these activities in order of importance and urgency.


Doing this will help you mark off the most important items at the top of the list and give you the chance to avoid some activities that may be interesting but not important.

Find your Writing Corner


Most at times when I sit down on my bed with a pen and paper to write, I end up not reproductive for long periods of time. This was due to much distractions from a familiar surrounding which included my bed, furniture and room as a whole. To become more productive I had to find a neutral environment where I could write more comfortably.q


Your writing corner will be a place at is void of distractions. It could be a little corner of your home or office that will be solely for your writings. You could also take your writing out to a local area that is not heavily crowded and write.


Stop Procrastinating


There are variety of reasons why you might be putting of settling down to write. It could be that you’re writing on a topic that seem overwhelming or a topic that might not be interesting to your person. If you find it hard to get started, try creating a reward system for yourself.


Personally, after collecting the necessary materials and organizing my notes, I make sure to set aside an interesting treat for myself which could range from watch an interesting movie or a fictional novel. I use these to reward myself after writing my article.


Start with the hardest Task


You could also start with tasks that seem hard and cumbersome to you by getting them done and moving from there. Some writers refer to it as eating that frog. It simply means you get to tackle the hardest task first as this can boost your energy level up and offer psychological satisfaction for having accomplishing the hardest task, making the smaller tasks easier to carry out.


Avoid Multitasking


Whenever you try juggling so many activities at the same time in order to save time, you end up not being efficient in any of them. You tend to lose focus on the most important tasks you should have prioritized.


It is more advisable to take each task one step at a time in their order of importance as discussed in step 2.


Whichever time management strategies you decide on, be sure to evaluate how they have worked for you. Ask yourself questions like: 

• Are you accomplishing the task that is of utmost importance to you? • Do you have a healthy balance between work and home life? • Are you investing time in your own personal wellbeing?


If the answer is no in any case, then reconsider your time management strategies and select the ones that works best for you.


As a writer, which time management strategy do you employ and how has it worked out for you? Feel free to share your experiences with us in the comment box.

5 POWERFUL WAYS TO MONETIZE YOUR BLOG AND MAKE MONEY ONLINE

5 POWERFUL WAYS TO MONETIZE YOUR BLOG AND MAKE MONEY ONLINE

There are people who started blogging as a way to establish authority in their field. Most of them want their words to be seen and read, so as to gain respect in their niche. Nevertheless, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Not only isn’t difficult to drive traffic to a blog but it’s also hard to monetize that traffic.

The truth is that it takes time to build n income from blogging. First, you have to identify the stage you’re in and move from there while being patient and consistently working hard.

Below are 5 powerful ways you can use to monetize your blog.

1. AFFILIATE MARKETING

This is the most popular method used in monetizing a blog, most especially when you’re just starting out and haven’t gotten your own products or services to sell. The only thing you need to do is to create content for that product or service and market it.

For instance, if you have a fashion blog you can easily sell wears like shows, clothes, bags or accessories that go together with the wears. Another example is if you’re running a writing Blog you can easily sell books either hard copy or ebooks of some authors you know especially bestsellers. The idea is that since you already create content in these niches, selling products related to them will help you create another source of income.

2. CREATE AND SELL ONLINE COURSES

Another proven way to monetize a blog is by creating and selling online courses. If your blog receives at least 40 – 50 visitors per day, find out what those visitors want and create a course for them. You don’t need so many customers to make money with your online courses.

Honestly, your first course may not be “terrific”, that’s okay, there’s always room for improvement. People tend to value online courses more than blog posts they believe you took extra care in creating it and conclude that it will be valuable to them. So go ahead and create your online courses, even if it’s on as wide topic. As a blogger, you can create an online course on any topic your readers are struggling with, it could be as simple as ” how to use WordPress”, just start with your best blog posts.

The fact is that your blogging positions you already as an expert, then creating an online course is an awesome way to upgrade your career as a blogger. You can create and sell your online courses on sites like Teachable, Udemy and Thinkify or using a Premium Online Course Plugin for WordPress like Zippy Courses, WP courseware, etc.

3. CREATE AND SELL DIGITAL PRODUCTS

Digital products could be a fusion of videos, PDFs, ebooks, trainings, downloadable guides or workbooks. You can practically sell any type of digital information product on your blog as long as it relates to your niche.

After creating your digital product, set up a sales funnel for it which could be you holding a webinar and inviting everyone who’s interested in your offer to join you. After giving out valuable information in this webinar you then introduce your product and upsell it to them. You could also offer a free ebook too.

When creating any digital products, never second guess yourself. You’re the expert and you’d be surprised at how much money you can make by selling these digital products on your blog.

4. SELL COACHING SERVICES

Your blog can be used as a platform to create awareness and nurture a loyal audience. Along the line, your readers will face challenges that will require direct access to your products and expertise. Here, it doesn’t really matter how long you’ve been blogging, offering a coaching service to loyal readers can bring you money.

This is true in many cases because most people want to learn me skills and improve in a particular area. You can venture into areas like Life Coaching, Fitness Coach, Accountability Coach, etc.

To use your blog to promote your coaching services, the first thing you need to do is creating useful contents on subjects or topics that matter to your potential clients. For instance, if your clients are freelance writers, the topics you can cover in your blog posts includes attracting new clients, generating leads, setting and raising rates, content creation, branding, etc.

When offering coaching services, make sure you have a unique value proposition that will give you an edge over your competitors.

5. HAVE AN EMAIL LIST

This method seems to be the less used by some bloggers. Nevertheless it remains one of the most powerful methods of making money as a blogger. But first of all, you need to build your email list and in the process you build a strong and deep connection with your readers who are ready to buy your products and services directly through email.

In this list, you can promote your blog updates or your digital products like ebooks or webinar that will attract your readers through email marketing platforms like Aweber, Convertkit or Mailchimp.

Every blogger should have a deep desire to build and nurture a tribe (an audience). Because the truth is that you can’t make money blogging alone, rather you can make money by using your blog to promote your products or services. Also, when you get lots of visitors over 1000 who visit your blog, it’ll help you rank higher with Google. The majority of successful bloggers make their money from selling products like ebooks, online courses and offer services like coaching. But most importantly, you need to be consistent. Success doesn’t occur overnight.

As a blogger which of these methods do you apply in making money from your blog? Feel free to share with your journey in the comments section and also share other methods that’s working for you.

5 CONSTANT RULES TO SUCCESSFUL BLOGGING

5 CONSTANT RULES TO SUCCESSFUL BLOGGING

It could be that you’ve just started a blog newly or you’re already an old hand at it. These fine constant rules to successful blogging should be given the utmost attention for optimal results.

1. Focus/ Attention

You need to pay serious attention to your blog while making sure your blog is properly niche so you can focused on one particular thing instead of going round in circles. If your blog doesn’t focus on any niche in particular, it would be hard to identify your target audience. But if it does your readers will keep returning to your blog when they see how it solves their problem.

2. Quality/Excellence

It’s not all about the amount of content you produce on a daily basis. The quality of your content needs to be top notch, well written and properly linked if a reference is made. Don’t overlook this rule if you aim to monetize your blog.

3. Value

What solutions are you giving out that helps solves your readers problems? What can you teach them? You could also create simple tutorials or how to posts that combines both videos and other visuals to enable your readers understand some concepts more clearly. Value should always come first.

4. Engagement

How do you engage your readers on each content you out out there? Does your blog attract readers to read your articles or watch your videos? Do you use well placed call to actions (CTA) that compels them to leave a comment or share your blog post? The higher the engagement on your content, the more likely it’ll be for your readers to buy anything you’re selling to them. For without engagement, the chance of monetization is low.

5. Authority

How well known are you in your field? What are you an expert at? Because the more authority you have in a specific niche the more likely you are to monetize your blog. For instance, if you’re a best selling author or an expert in a field like creative writing and you’re already an authority in that field, all that’s left for you is to leverage on it. If you have a large Social Media following or an active Facebook group and you decide to launch a blog or already have one, you can drive traffic quickly from there to your blog.

These rules have been a helpful guide to me in this blogging journey but I’ll love to know what other rules you follow that’s made your blogging successful. Kindly share with us in the comments section and share this post with others if it has benefited you in one way or the other.

TOP 10 TIPS ON WRITING A CAPTIVATING LIST POST

TOP 10 TIPS ON WRITING A CAPTIVATING LIST POST

Who doesn’t love reading a top 10 list? Almost everyone does. It could be the list of the top 10 musicians in the music industry, the 10 richest men in Africa, top 10 features of the latest iPhone, whatever the topic, a top 10 list is definitely an attention grabber.

You might be wondering what’s so special about a top 10 list. Here are some of the reasons

  • They are easy to scan through and allows the readers to jump to whatever section of the list they are most interested in.
  • It makes it easy to understand complicated topics which can now be broken down into smaller sections for easy consumption.
  • Whatever your niches, the format is very flexible, your to 10 lists can be in form of texts, images or videos which can be used to entertain, educate or inform your audience.

These are some of the reasons most businesses are creating more list content. Depending on your content there are many ways you can write your top 10 lists. Below are top 10 tips to on how you can write a captivating list post.

1. Select the right Topic

Your content should answer a question your readers are asking. In those sea of questions you can then select a subject or topics for your top 10 posts that will stand out among others. Some of the trending topics we see today includes, 10 ways to create Z, 10 tips on becoming Z, Top 10 things to know about Z, and so on. The possibilities are innumerable.

2. Write Attention grabbing Headlines

After you’ve decided on a topic to write on, you need a headline that will grab your readers attention. This is extremely important and very challenging at times. If your headline fails to attract your readers, no matter how great your content is, it won’t grab their attention for a long time. The best headlines are optimized for search, and a great top 10 list will attract a lot of shares.

3. Make your format in Bold Letters

Having a bold format will make your subheadlines very visible thereby increasing visibility. Just like I used in this article, each subheadline has a line to itself, in bold letters and a larger font style than the rest of the article. This will help lay more emphasis on each point being made and direct your readers to sections that interest them.

4. Arrange your Top 10 List

If you’re writing a list that involves step by step direction, you should always place the important tips first. But if it doesn’t you can decide on which tips goes first and which comes last. I’m saying this because people often scan through lists a lot, myself inclusive, so to grab your reader’s attention on the spot always put the most important tip first.

5. Avoid creating Sublists

Creating lists within your lists will look confusing and I organised to your readers. Always avoid this mistake, rather you can emphasise that point properly in that section without creating additional bullet points for it within that same list.

6. Always place your list at the top of your article

This simply means that your introduction should be kept short so as not to discourage your readers form reading the rest of your article. It is always best if your list is at the top of your article so as to grab the attention of your readers with short attention span.

7. Use Visuals

We as human are visual beings. We love to feast our eyes on appealing visuals and images. When applying this, whatever pictures you’ll be using should match the topics in your list. You could combine the pictures with your list or give a top 10 list of amazing pictures.

8. Be Consistent

Your lists will be easier to read if you follow a consistent format. For example, if you’re writing a list of 10 books that increase productivity and underneath the list you place a link to where they can be gotten, the same should also apply for each list in the 10 section of your list. This format will make it easy for your readers to know what to expect from the rest of your list.

9. Express your Opinion

Everyone has an opinion in any discussion. Your top 10 list is a way of expressing your opinion which can ignite a conversation in your comment section, especially when your audience relates extremely well with the post.

10. Remember to edit

After you’re done writing, check your work for spelling and grammatical errors. If you don’t have a professional editor, ask someone you trust to go through your post before publishing your content. Mistakes could hurt your reputation or even cost you a reader.

Writing lists are always easier than writing other types of articles as they’re easier to read and digest. But first make sure a list is suitable for your content.

I hope this list will guide you in creating your own top 10 lists. Do you any other tips for writing captivating top 10 lists? What format works best for you? Feel free to share them with us in the comments section below. 

Kindly share this post to people you think might need to see this also.