7 ways to use pay per click marketing to promote books

You can do rather a lot to promote books on-line without spending a dime. So why would you pay for advertisements? Because they’re cost-effective – and so they work. Pay per click (PPC) marketing is the most typical type of promoting on-line. You solely pay when somebody clicks your advert, can restrict your spending and goal your advertisements. So you may attain area of interest audiences for area of interest books with out spending a fortune.

But since books (particularly e-books) are not often high-priced, watch out when setting budgets that you just’re not spending greater than gross sales are value. However, direct gross sales aren’t all the time the actual prize. Even a couple of PPC clicks can increase a e book’s Amazon gross sales rating – which can lead to greater visibility and elevated natural gross sales. Think long-term. Ads can be used to develop social media followings and electronic mail lists. But with so many choices, the place do you start?

Search Marketing

PPC for search works as a result of your advertisements are proven to people who find themselves actively in search of what you’re promoting. They ‘seize intent’ when persons are prepared to purchase. They don’t care who you might be: solely the search phrases you use.

1) Google. Google is the largest PPC platform. Google Ads are triggered by the key phrases you select, plus the relevance of your advert, and the associated fee per click is set by a stay public sale: the extra aggressive the key phrase, the costlier. Choose area of interest key phrases for area of interest books: they’ll be cheaper and more practical.

2) Amazon. You can even use PPC on the world’s largest search engine for books. There are three choices obtainable: sponsored merchandise, headline search and product show. The first two seem in Amazon search outcomes, focused by key phrase. Product show advertisements seem instantly on product pages. Does your e book have a powerful competitor? Place an advert on their product web page!

Social Ads

Social advertisements goal folks based mostly on who they’re: demographics and pursuits. They work due to this ‘microtargeting’. You can attain a small variety of folks cheaply – however they’ll be the fitting folks. User intent is totally different right here: folks aren’t essentially in ‘shopping for’ mode – so that you’ll have to work more durable to interact them, maybe with a giveaway. Seasonal promotions additionally work effectively.

3) Facebook. Ads are extra essential than ever for visibility on Facebook. You can use them to ‘increase’ an present put up to attain a wider viewers; or create an advert with a particular supply. Contests and giveaways work effectively, and can be utilized to collect knowledge.

Don’t let the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal put you off: you’re not making an attempt to undermine Western democracy – you’re simply making an attempt to promote some books! But do watch out the way you deal with knowledge, significantly because the EU’s GDPR got here into power in May 2018. If you accumulate electronic mail addresses in alternate for a obtain, or ship folks to a particular net web page that has the ‘Facebook pixel’ embedded (a little bit of code that tracks visits), you may use that knowledge although solely with specific consent to present ‘remarketing’ advertisements to these folks.

Go additional with customized audiences and lookalike audiences. A customized viewers may be constructed from a listing of emails you add to Facebook (a lot of whom may have Facebook profiles); or a gaggle of people that have visited a particular web page in your web site (with the Facebook pixel); or engaged along with your Facebook content material. A lookalike viewers takes this knowledge and extrapolates it to comparable, wider group of individuals, growing your target market. Similar instruments can be found for many social advert platforms.

4) Instagram. Facebook owns Instagram – so that you simply set these up in the identical advertisements supervisor and tick an additional field. ‘Learn More’ tends to work higher than ‘Buy Now’ as a name to motion, because it sounds much less salesy. Aim to make your advertisements really feel like a pure a part of your viewers’s Instagram feed.

5) Twitter. The real-time nature of Twitter means you may attain folks at simply the fitting second for a date and even time-specific topical promotion. Targeting works in another way: you may attain folks based mostly on pursuits, but in addition on which Twitter accounts they comply with. Want to attain individuals who comply with a competitor? Target them with an advert!

6) LinkedIn. LinkedIn is an important place to be in the event you publish enterprise books – but in addition books aimed toward any skilled group. It’s additionally good for lead era. It tends to be the costlier possibility – but in addition has the next conversion fee. Options embrace sponsored content material, textual content advertisements and sponsored InMail (‘value per ship’ relatively than ‘value per click’).

7) YouTube. 18-34 yr olds are the age group most affected by YouTube – so it’s an excellent place to be in the event you’re making an attempt to attain younger folks, akin to college students. Google owns YouTube, so in the event you’ve acquired to grips with Google Ads, it’s the identical advert platform. The trickier half is creating video advertisements within the first place. But if you have already got a e book trailer, creator interview or different promotional video, don’t go away it by yourself YouTube channel: use it as a ‘skippable’ video advert.

Finally, measure the whole lot you do, from value per click to click-through fee to conversion fee. Use that knowledge to refine, enhance and optimize your subsequent marketing campaign. Use split-testing to enhance your advert copy. PPC marketing is a dynamic medium. Start small, assume long-term, and also you’ll reap the rewards in consciousness, viewers progress – and e book gross sales.

Jon runs in-house coaching on Pay Per Click for Publishers. He can also be operating a one-day convention for writers on How to Get Published on ninth February 2019 at Foyles in London.