How to Hire the Best Book Promotion Services for Nonfiction Authors

We live in an online world, and the best book promotion services will be those that can help you deliver the highest amount of traffic to your author website – traffic that you can then convert into book buyers as well as clients for your business.

I’ve written this article to help you become knowledgeable about the top traffic-acquisition strategies in the industry so you can ask the right questions to your candidates.

The best nonfiction book promotion services are laser-focused on traffic generation and have an advanced level of expertise in all of the seven online traffic sources below.

7 Traffic Sources for Nonfiction Books

There are seven top sources of online traffic for nonfiction books. You’ll find them listed below in decreasing order of control – that is, you’ll have the most control over source #1 and the least control over source #7.

The right book promotion service will help you first develop and then manage these sources. Your job will then be to convert this traffic into leads, and later on convert leads into paying customers.

I won’t be doing an in-depth analysis of each traffic source but I’ll go into enough detail that you can feel confident to know what questions to ask candidates in order to help you hire the best book promotion service for your book.

Source #1: Google

The Google search engine is by far the largest global source of online traffic, with over 3 billion daily searches performed worldwide. The primary way for you to tap into this juggernaut of traffic is through the technique of “keyword research.”

In essence, users enter search phrases or keywords into Google, and in response the search engine generates pages of search results with enticing articles so that people can readily find answers to their questions.

Your job, with the help of your book promotion service, is to conduct thorough keyword research into the habits of your target audience to find the most typical phrases that they enter into Google in relation to your book’s subject.

Armed with this strategic information, you’ll compile a comprehensive list of keywords to maximize the chances of your blog’s articles appearing on the first page of search results, thus increasing your chances of being selected by Google’s users.

Author Blog

Your next step is to write high-quality articles in your author blog that address each one of those keywords. Over time you’ll be building a library of hundreds of articles that are fine-tuned for Google searches on your niche.

By creating your blog in this fashion (instead of writing articles without a search-engine strategy) you’re capitalizing on Google’s power to drive massive amounts of highly targeted traffic back to your website.

Source #2: Amazon

Amazon’s online bookstore is the largest book retailer in the world.

They currently operate websites in 17 countries, adding more countries every year. On top of that, when it comes to printed books Amazon can manufacture and deliver books locally through its Kindle Direct Publishing arm from:

• Amazon.com (USA)
• Amazon.ca (Canada)
• Amazon.de (Germany)
• Amazon.es (Spain)
• Amazon.fr (France)
• Amazon.co.jp (Japan)
• Amazon.co.uk (UK)
• Amazon.com.au (Australia)

The availability of dedicated on-demand printing facilities in North America, Europe and Japan allows Amazon to make your book accessible cost-effectively to approximately 1 billion potential customers with the advantage of local shipping rates.

In order to drive Amazon user traffic to your book page, there are three areas you’ll need to focus on:

1) User Searches

In the same way that Google is a search engine for information, Amazon is a search engine for products. People go to Amazon to search for products they’re looking for and, like Google, they do so by using keyword phrases.

In order to drive traffic to your book page on the Amazon online bookstore, you’ll need to do keyword research centered on what your target audience is typing on Amazon when they’re looking for books in your area of expertise.

When you upload your book to the Amazon platform, they’ll ask you to enter 7 keywords with which to target your book.

Your book promotion service will help you do your Amazon keyword research to capitalize on this important strategy.

2) User Reviews

The second area to focus on is user reviews. One thing is to drive traffic to your book page on Amazon, another is to convince users to click on your book’s buy button and make the purchase.

To maximize the chances of this happening, you’ll need to accumulate a large number of positive user reviews. To get a head start, you’ll need to develop an advance book review team to get reviews as soon as you launch your book.

An experienced book promotion service will set you up for success in this very important area (if you want to go more in-depth in this subject, I’ve created a separate article entitled: How to Get Reviews on Amazon For Your Nonfiction Book).

3) Bestseller Lists

Finally, to get increased visibility for your book on Amazon, it’s critical that you place it in the right category. Amazon has a bestseller list for each of over 3,000 categories and subcategories of nonfiction books.

Some sub-categories are highly competitive, but some others have very little competition, allowing you to break into a bestseller list much sooner if you do the right category research.

An experienced book promotion service will help you identify the sub-categories that are easiest to qualify for as a bestseller, which will give a significant boost to your marketing efforts.

Amazon bestsellers naturally drive more book sales, but they can also drive higher paid-speaking fees, higher professional rates and higher interest from the mainstream media to interview you as an expert.

Source #3: Social Media

You can generate a significant amount of traffic to your website it you make your nonfiction book visible on the social media platforms that are frequented by your target audience.

Your book promotion service will help you identify the best social media sites for your nonfiction book and then help you become active through a number of outreach techniques, including:

• Blogging (e.g. LinkedIn Publishing)
• Posting (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest)
• Dedicated book pages (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn)
• Group creation and moderation (e.g. Facebook)

Source #4: Online Influencers

Another strong source of traffic can be developed through creating relationships with online influencers who cater to your target audience but who are not in direct competition with you.

Most of these influential bloggers derive a significant percentage of their income through revenue-share with advertisers and they’re constantly looking for new and fresh content to share with their audience.

That’s where you come in. Your book promotion service will help you develop connections with these influencers so that they’ll link back to key articles in your blog, which will drive traffic from their dedicated audiences back to you.

Source #5: Q&A Forums

Another source of traffic is online question and answer forums. There are many of these available depending on the subject matter, but below are the key ones that are a must for nonfiction authors.

The top Q&A site is Quora. This is a platform where people ask questions for expert members to answer. Your goal is to enroll and then search for and answer questions in your area of expertise that relate to the content of your book.

As part of your answer you’ll be including a link back to your blog or your book website for people looking for more information, driving more traffic that can be converted into leads.

Other popular forums are Yahoo Answers and Fluther.com (owned by Twitter).

Source #6: Alternative Media

As a nonfiction book author, you’ll be recognized as an expert in your field. As such, you’ll have the ability to attract the attention of the alternative online media.

Unlike mainstream media, the barriers to entry for these news sites are lower but, in the aggregate, they can still deliver a significant amount of traffic back to your author website.

A book promotion service will help you reach out to these alternative news sites to get interviewed as an expert.

Source #7: Mainstream Media

As you get more and more exposure through all other outreach activities you’ll become more seasoned in the expert interview process and become ready to attract mainstream media attention.

If you land a mainstream media interview, especially with the major newspapers, magazines or blogging sites like The New York Times, Reader’s Digest or Huffington Post, you’ll get a very powerful type of link back to your website.

Google ranks your website not only based on the number of other sites linking back to it, but more importantly on how high those other websites rank themselves.

A link from a New York Times article will not only bring you more traffic but will also help you rank much higher too.

In Conclusion

The best book promotion services for your nonfiction book will be able to help you develop the above sources of traffic for your author website so that you can then convert it into book buyers and leads for your business.

Now you have an overview of the 7 top traffic sources for your author website, so you’re better equipped to identify the best book promotion service for your nonfiction book.

Good luck on your search!

If you enjoyed this article and are in the process of publishing or promoting a nonfiction book, be sure to check out my free nonfiction success guide, drawn from years of experience editing books for bestselling authors (including a New York Times bestseller) and ghostwriting for CEOs and politicians. Simply click here to get instant access.

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

The 7 Most Effective Book Promotion Ideas For Nonfiction Authors

Learn How to Market a Nonfiction Book to Get Solid Results

How to Promote Your Nonfiction Book to Rank High on Amazon

How Can a Marketing Consultant Help You Promote Your Nonfiction Book

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of six books published through Harper Collins (New York) and Titan Publishing Group (London). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press, editor for multiple bestselling authors (including a NY Times bestseller), ghostwriter for CEOs and politicians and the founder of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, marketing, printing and distribution.