Finding a Balance with Online Publishing – The Free vs. Paid Conundrum.
Your book is done. Your website is up. How do you build book sales and web traffic simultaneously? How do you determine how much of your book is available online without purchasing it? After all, this is a business not a hobby, right?
There is a happy medium for your online publishing efforts. Finding that balance can transform your online publishing company into a highly profitable internet-centric company.
We’ve been singing “make your content free” from the rooftops for a long time now, and Jon Wuebben author of Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web
“The other great thing about growing your content and continuing to write, write, write is that the search engines love it. You will absolutely, without a doubt, get a boost in search engine rankings when you make a commitment to write more and follow through with it. If you are a small online retailer or mid-sized manufacturer with a web presence, this is a fantastic way to go up against larger competitors and win every time. You can and will out-write them!”
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Write, write, write.
Unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all” rule here. This process will requires constant reassessment. At some point, most of your online publishing efforts will be converted to free content.
Don’t become disheartened. When done properly and purposefully, this process will generate more revenue.
How?
In the beginning, let’s assume this is not your first book, your efforts are focused on book sales.
You begin with an email campaign and a blog that includes excerpts from your book. You may add some additional editorial comment or a positive book review. If the reader is interested, they will follow the links back to the site for purchasing options.
All the while, your previous books are partially available online. Possibly, the first few pages of each chapter. Or, maybe something similar to the preview option at Amazon.com.
Sometime later, after you’ve published another book, more content from your previous books could be converted to free content on your website. Simultaneously, you should be archiving email campaigns, newsletters, press releases, external reviews and web blogs into an online library.
As each new book is published the cycle continues.
Adding more content for search engine optimization (SEO) allows Yahoo!, Google and MSN to send you more traffic to your online publishing site, thereby, increasing revenue. It’s a never-ending cycle, as long as you continue creating new content.
For more, read Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web
