Tag: marketing strategy

Introduction to Squidoo

I have a problem. I have recently become an addict. I discovered Squidoo and now I can’t leave it alone. Not only is it free and simple to use but it is perfect for driving traffic to your blog/website or author pages. In brief, it gives you more exposure (the virtual variety) and if you want, you can even earn money from it.

It isn’t difficult to use, however, you will require some time to set up a good Lens which is essentially a very interesting page, consisting of sections, called modules. (Mine took four days to set up, but I am a slow learner!) You can use Squidoo’s templated platform to create a Lens on any topic you’d like. You can create as many Lenses as you want. Once you build your Lens you can publish it to the web. You even get to pick the URL. For example: http://www.squidoo.com/spicing-up-your-life. My other Lens is http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-do-a-successful-book-signing

Benefits of Using Squidoo
There are undoubtedly many benefits of using Squidoo. I wouldn’t be talking about it otherwise! There are millions of Squidoo Lenses, many of which can be found at the top of Google searches for their given topic. You should build a Squidoo Lens because: it’s free, you can make money through affiliate links and banner ads on Squidoo, it is simple (there are easy tutorials, a wizard and an eBook to assist you) and finally, SEO tools are built-in and easy to use, which allows you to rank higher on search engines for your topic. Continue reading “Introduction to Squidoo”

How To Make Your Book A Chart Topper

Have you ever wondered how those lucky authors get into the top one hundred on Amazon and yearn to join them? If only you could get a break, your book would break free from the pack and become a best-seller.

Just how many sales do you need to rise in the charts? 2,000? 200? Using Novelrank, I discovered that even two or three sales seemed to get my books to move quite significantly up the charts – admittedly, it was still lurking about in the thousands—however, I had a theory that might ensure it a place in the hundreds. Continue reading “How To Make Your Book A Chart Topper”

Exploiting the Subcognitive Brain

In my last post, I discussed the concepts of unconscious or subcognitive influence on the decisions people make. The hard-wired brain appears to be involved in a much wider array of skills and decision-making than science had previously thought.

People can catch a ball without consciously doing the complex trigonometry required to calculate angle, arc, and rate of speed. When the person fails to make the catch, it is more likely a result of the conscious mind intruding on the process—i.e., fear of being hit by the ball. If we don’t get in our own way, our brains work all that out lightning-fast without any fancy book-learnin’. Continue reading “Exploiting the Subcognitive Brain”

You Asked For It–Building Your Platform

In my last post I talked about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and into a visible venue, someplace where your readers can see and meet you. There are so many different events where you, a published author, are seen as a rarity and even a bit of a celebrity. Here at Indies Unlimited many of us are published authors, and it is easy to forget how impressive this is to non-writers. Remind yourself every day that you have done something many people just dream about. Then, find those local events where you can strut your stuff.

Anyone who asks me about Pinterest will quickly realize that I am smitten. It is a brilliant concept based on the idea that one of the three founders is a prodigious collector. Pinning to your boards is like collecting in a virtual sense. I did research for this post in order to back-up my Pinterest obsession with solid facts and statistics so that you can understand why I spend any time on the site. I believe that time spent on Pinterest is an investment, and another creative way to build my marketing platform by branching out beyond the Facebook and LinkedIn groups I belong to.

Pinterest is now the third largest social media site behind Facebook and Twitter. It is, reportedly, 65% women and 35% men. This is a huge shift from January 2012 when it was over 90% women. I’ve found different numbers as to how many millions of pinners there are. Suffice it to say there are millions. And many of them are avid readers. Continue reading “You Asked For It–Building Your Platform”