What is Your #1 Marketing Outlet?

Over an average day, I get 60-80 emails in my in-boxes.  (Yes, I have more than one email account.)

Obviously, not all of those emails are from friends or family.  (I am a member of a large family, but they don’t send that many emails out everyday.)

The majority of the emails are asking me to buy something.  How did they get into my email in-box?  That’s easy to answer:  I asked for them.

However, advertizing is not always an offer to sell something, but could also be an offer to provide a free service.

How many of you, the readers of The Author’s Club blog, also have blogs?  How many people do those blogs reach?  Have you ever sent out a blog, but had no shares, no likes, no comments?

The first question is simple:  do you want more followers of your blog or additions to your contact list?   How do you get them?

The answer is simple:  ASK.  There is a sign-up on The author’s Club blog (near the bottom of the side-bar.)  That location will be changed.  However, there are no sign-ups on the website or the affiliate blogs.  Here are a few places to install a sign-up offer:

1.  On your website or blog home page 2.  On your postscript 3.  On Twitter4.  On Facebook

The second method to increase your followers is to offer something for free. 

Do you have an eBook you could offer?  Do you have a checklist?  Do you have an email course?

My pamphlet “Avoiding The Pitfalls of the First Novel” will be offered as a free sign-up reward in PDF format soon.

There are many offers you can make for someone to opt-in to your email list of become a follower.   If you have had success in getting followers on Twitter, offer your steps to gaining more followers.  (check out eWeber, an email marketing service.)

The third way to increase your followers/email list is a contest or give-away.  However, don’t skimp on the prize.  For example, you could provide a book review for the author who wrote the best 250-word explanation of why he or she deserved a free book review.

If you have a local business that would like free advertizing, ask them to donate products or gift certificates you can offer your subscribers.

I plan to initiate a program to provide a free Premium membership each month to a free member of The Author’s Club who has followed the club on Twitter, has signed up for the soon-to-be coming Author’s Club Monthly Newsletter, and has submitted a 250 word treatise on how membership in The Author’s Club has helped them become a better author.  The exact details of the offer will be published on the website soon.

You can always use a pop-up box to solicit sign-ups, but I find those aggravating, and will personally not use them.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the key to sales is numbers.  If you have 10 followers, only 10 people will have the potential to see your marketing.  What if you have 1000 followers?  Would the sales go up by 100 times?  Perhaps not, but a 50x increase would be significant.

Check back later for news on the pamphlet and premium membership offers.

#RClintPeters #TheAuthorsClub