The I-Don’t-Have-Any-Time Hour-a-Day Book Marketing Plan, by John Kramer

Here’s my I-Don’t-Have-Any-Time Hour-a-Day Book Marketing Plan:  Do one thing a day. Focus on creating relationships with high-traffic targeted websites (targeted to your audience or your topic). That’s it.

Week 1: Research

Each day this week, do some research to find at least one high-traffic targeted website related to your book’s topic. If, while writing your book, you’ve already discovered some such websites, find more of them. The more, the merrier. Or ask your friends what websites they like to visit or spend time on. What websites related to the topic of your book do they like to visit?. Or use Bing or Google to search for such websites and blogs. Ignore the Amazon, Wikipedia, and similar pages (unless, for example, you have a reference to your website on Wikipedia).

Most of these larger sites don’t really let you interact very well with the people behind the sites. Nonetheless, you can complete your Author Connect page on Amazon, make sure your book descriptions are actually selling your book, etc. Similarly, you can ask a friend who is an active editor on Wikipedia to create a Wikipedia page for you or your book. If they can’t create a page for you, ask them to cite your book or you as a resource in the listings of relevant topic pages within Wikipedia.

For the most part, though, you want to go for high-traffic targeted websites that already reach the audience you want to reach. Go for the websites that often use outside content (articles, reviews, interviews, Q&A, etc.), especially those that feature other authors and related books.

Time to carry out this task: 1 to 2 hours per day.

Week 2: Follow the Links

Most websites have links to other related websites and blogs. These links are often at the end of articles, on resource pages, on blogrolls, on directory pages, etc. Follow those links to discover other high-traffic targeted websites for your book, your topic, or your audience. Track down at least one new related high-traffic targeted website each day this week. In week 1, you discovered some high-traffic targeted websites. During this week, you’ll discover many more related high-traffic targeted websites.

Time to carry out this task: less than 1 hour per day.

Week 3: Locate the People Behind the Sites

Now take one website per day that you’ve uncovered and dig through the website until you find out who edits the website, blogs on the blog, or writes a column on the site that would be appropriate for your book. Try to find out their email address or phone number or other contact information.

Also note their Twitter handle, Facebook Page, Google+ profile, Pinterest boards, LinkedIn profile, and any other social networks they are on that you enjoy using (YouTube, GoodReads, Instagram, etc.).

By the end of Week 3, you should have the following information for at least seven high-traffic targeted websites: name of website, URL for that website, phone number and/or email address for one key contact, their social profile URLS.

Time to carry out this task: less than 1 hour per day.

Week 4: Connect with People

Each day, go to the websites you identified during Week 3. Comment on one of the articles or blog posts written by the person you want to connect with. Tweet their article. Like it or share it on Facebook. Pin their article or blog post on one of your Pinterest boards. Plus One their article or share it on Google+. Share it on LinkedIn. Blog about their article.

Also carry out a few of the following acts connected to their social profiles: Retweet their tweets. Favorite their tweets. Respond to one of their tweets. Like their Facebook posts. Comment on their Facebook posts. Share their Facebook posts. Like one of their pins. Comment on one of their pins. Repin one of their pins.

Comment on one of their LinkedIn posts. Do the same for Google+ and any other social network you share with them.

Each day this week, repeat and rinse. Spread out your comments and interactions over this week so the person gets to know you before you make your offer during Week 5. During this week, connect with 5 to 7 influential people every day via their content and their social networks.

Time to carry out this task: 1 to 2 hours each day (if you don’t lollygag on the social networks).

Week 5: Make an Offer They Can’t Refuse

Contact the people you identified during week 3 and offer them some great content. Note: High-traffic targeted websites love new content that targets their daily visitors. They need new content every day to keep traffic (visitors) flowing to their websites. Offer to write an article for them. Offer them an excerpt from your book that they can reprint on their website. Offer to do an interview with them (where they interview you): an Internet radio show, podcast, teleseminar, webinar, Skype interview, Google Hangout, or even a written Q&A interview. Ask if you can interview them for your blog. Offer them a review copy of your book.

Or think even bigger: Ask them if you could do a Q&A column for their website on a specific topic related to your book and/or expertise. If your topic is general, try to drill down to a specific topic that you could do a Q&A column on. Make this offer via a short email note or via a phone call. If calling, be sure to have an already prepared two- or three-sentence message you can leave if you get their answering machine. Be sure to start with your name, title of your book, and your phone number. Then leave a short pitch. A real short pitch.

Time to carry out this task: less than 1 hour each day. Write the email and send it. Or write the answering machine script, pick up the phone, and make the call.

Week 6: Respond Right Away

When they respond to your email or phone call with a positive request to see more or hear more, send them more. If they ask questions, respond to those questions. If they ask to see your blog post, write a blog post. If they want to set up an interview, schedule an interview. Respond that same day.

Time to carry out this task: generally less than 1 hour per day.

Week 7: Follow Through

Once they’ve interviewed you, featured your blog post or article, assigned you an on-going Q&A column, or whatever, thank them. Then share the news on your blog and social networks. Spread the word about your connection. Be sure to link back to your content on their website.

If you share what they’ve done for you, you will send more traffic to their website. That’s the beginning of a real relationship, where you both share each other’s content. The sharing sets the table for you to ask for another feature a month or two later.

Time to carry out this task: generally less than 1 hour per day.

That’s my I-Don’t-Have-Any-Time Hour-a-Day Marketing Plan. Simple, isn’t it? Now, rinse and repeat. That means start at Week 1 again and follow each step. This strategy will reliably develop your relationships with other people who share your interests. It will get you more links to your website. It will get you more traffic to your website. It will generate more Google juice (a better ranking on Google search results, better page ranks, and more traffic sent your way). And it should generate more book sales.

Alert: Any content you share with other websites and blogs must be top-notch valuable content. That’s the only way you’ll get Google love. That’s the only way you’ll be invited back to share more content. That’s the only way you’ll develop fans of your own. And that’s the only way people will come to your website hungry for more content from you. And that’s the key reason people will buy your book.

Now, isn’t your book worth an hour a day?

John Kremer

(Re-blogged with permission from an original article on John Krarmer's website)

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About John Kremer

John Kremer is author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, the Relationship Matters Marketing program, and many other books and reports on book marketing, Internet marketing, social media, and book publicity. For more information see John's websites http://www.bookmarket.com 

and http://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com. You can also find John on Facebook and on Twitter @JohnKremer