Writing is by nature a solitary profession and more than occasionally frustrating. This is especially true when it comes to marketing yourself as a writer, pitching a book proposal or article or promoting something you've already published.
A network like this is a great place for writers to hang out and exchange information, tips and generally rub elbows with other writers. I's often said that misery loves company but, just being part of a supportive network might in fact make one…
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Posted on May 6, 2008 at 10:30am — 1 Comment
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Bert Martinez
www.bertmartinez.com
Because I am a marketer I've been researching various ways that blogs can be used for product promotions. Here's what I've found so far.
Blogs fall into roughly 2 categories, personal and business (commercial) The blogging communities tend to be oriented toward personal and non-commercial use of the medium. Non commercial / personal online journaling was the original intention for blogs. Many bloggers feel, often passionately, that blogs should not be used for commercial purposes. Some in fact rail against commercial or promotional blogs at some length.
Bloggers in fact tend to gather around specific topics and become loose communities. The objectives of such communities can be very tightly focused however from a commercial perspective they don't generally represent well qualified perspective buyers. This is a broad generalization but it holds true in most cases.
According to everything I have learned however a blog can be effective as a promotional platform provided you can attract, targeted traffic into the site through typical marketing methods which do not rely simply on other bloggers.
As I see it now promoting a book through a blog is kind of a unique / hybrid marketing challenge. Attracting readers or prospective readers to the site and then converting them to buyers might require some creative marketing.
The way in which you market your site would be dictated by what you want the site to accomplish. a site created to build a fan base would be different from a site where you intend to sell books directly or even via a third party.
I can see that both things might be accomplished using a non sales-approach. Most people are put off by sites that simply push a product. Because you are an author, which is a natural attraction for readers blogging in an indirect way about your writing process might be a way to attract and enamor readers. Kind of a preternatural meet the author format.
The trick I imagine for doing this would be to write a blog that is highly engaging for readers, (think teasers), personal (think social media) with an element of marketing which is not obvious but still very much a part of the underlaying concept.
Apologies for being long winded in my response but, I felt I couldn't do justice to your question with a very simple answer.
I will be expanding my blogging efforts as I bring new products online , including books and information products. I'll be pleased to share with you any of the techniques which work for me in the future.