Tuesday 17 January 2012

How to Sell Books Through Google Adwords


The self-published writer could get better sales of novels through the use of Google Adwords. With tactical use of keywords and ad placements on SERPS pages and websites, your books could be seen after relevant search words have been placed in the Google bar. In other words, your product becomes visible to one who is looking for a product like yours. But how does Adwords work for the author?

Using Keywords to Increase Book Sales and Downloads with Adwords

The writer would be wise to use every sales strategy available to increase sales of books; Google’s Adwords is one such method. To clarify, Adwords are small ad boxes exhibiting blue links advertising services or products. These Adwords can be seen to the right of SERPS pages (search engine results page) after a search term has been put into the Google toolbar.

These small ad links will also appear on relevant websites and blogs. So if someone was browsing on an ebook store for a cheap kindle thriller, he/she might see a list of relevant adverts on that website. See screenshot to view an Adword advertising Kindle art books on a SERPS page. As you can see, the search term used in the tool bar was ‘oil painting books.’ These words triggered this Adword. Such an advert could also show up on a website on oil painting.

How to Sign up for Adwords to Sell Online Books

In order to create your own Adwords campaign for your ebooks, you will need to sign up for an Adwords account with Google. You will need to put some funds into your account to pay for ad clicks first. This is the cost to you each time someone clicks upon your Adword advert.

Having said this, Google occasionally issue a free Adwords coupon worth between £50-£100, which enable the writer to use Adwords for free. Either way, the small expense could be worth it if the customer clicks upon your ad link and makes a purchase worth more than the cost of the click, (for instance if your book is worth £20 and the click cost 20p). A high purchase rate per click is more likely if you write a great Adword that fulfils what the Adwording implies. In other words, don’t promise something that cannot be delivered, or you could end up paying for clicks without a purchase.

Once you have signed up for Adwords, think about how you want to pitch your Adword campaign, which should be informative, enticing and accurate. An example of an Ad campaign by a writer might be: ‘Buy thriller ebooks for £1’. The link to your website/blog selling the ebook will be shown beneath.

Qualify this ad title with a little more information, which might be: ‘Save up to 50% on kindle bookstore,’ or ‘gripping thrillers with good reviews.’ Get to the point and be sparing on words.

Selling Your Books Online with Keywords

Getting your Adwords to show up when it is supposed to could be helped by using Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool, which informs on what search terms people are actually using to find products or information. This tool will also inform on monthly search volume of search terms, whether locally or globally (whichever market you are trying to reach). An author selling ebooks, might want to reach a global market.

In the Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool, put in some relevant words, which might be ‘Kindle thriller, ‘Ebooks,’ ‘cheap fiction,’ etc. The results this tool will bring up may offer keyword suggestions and synonyms you may never have thought of. Make a list of these keyword terms with the highest volume. The word ‘ebook’ for example may have a higher search volume than ‘Kindle book’ or ‘digital book.’ In your Adwords campaign, prefer the keywords with the highest volume. This list of keywords will come in useful not only for your Adword itself, but for getting your ad to display when it should.

Create You Adwords Campaign to Sell Ebooks

Make a list of all suitable keywords and search terms that could be used in your campaign. Try alternative search terms in the Keyword Tool and add to this list.

Think carefully about the wording of your Adwords. This is crucial. Remember to be informative, enticing and accurate. You do not need to use a keyword term to title your Adword; you can use whatever title you like, so long as it fulfils what it promises. Follow this title with a little more information (as previously described).

You will need to link your Adword to a ‘landing page’, the page where the ad links to, which might be your own website, estore or blog. Google has to approve your landing page, so ensure it does not contain affiliate links, spam, viruses or poor content.

Mine was a special case, as I could not sell my ebooks from my blog, but to link my books from Amazon. I could not create an Adwords campaign that linked to a website that was not mine, so my landing page had to work like a ‘bridging page’ (a page that redirects to another website) containing information about my ebooks. A bridging page is not normally approved by Google.

However, if you are selling your ebooks directly from your own website or blog, you will not need to worry about this, but do ensure your landing page is of good quality and meets Google’s standards.

Using Keywords to Make Book Sales

Once you have created your Adword campaign, you will need to type in the list of keywords suggested by the Keyword Tool. This list of keywords will trigger your ad to appear if someone uses those keywords in the Google search bar. Some will have a low search volume, others will have higher. But every keyword will count. You can add more search terms at any time or some of your own.

Getting Your Adwords Approved

Once you have gone through all the steps, you will need to wait for your Adword campaign to be approved which could take a few days or weeks. If you are aiming for a Christmas market, create your campaign well in advance. You can pause your campaign if it gets approved early, and then activate it when required.

How to Read Adwords Reports

Once you are up and running, you will see the following Adword terminology:
  • Clicks: The number of times someone has clicked upon your Adwords ad.
  • Impressions: The number of times your Adword displays on SERPS or a website/blog.
  • Click through rate (or CTR): the ratio of click occurrence compared to ad impressions.
  • Cost per click (or CPC). The cost to you each time someone clicks upon your ad.
Making Adwords Sell your Books

Adwords could be a great tool to help sell your books. By signing up for a Google Adwords account, your book advert will show every time someone puts in a search term that relates to what you are selling. You just need to learn about key words and creating a great Adword. Campaign. You can control your budget and pause whenever you like. If a cost per click is less than the profits for your books, you are on to a winner, particularly if you get lots of purchases per click (or high click through rate).

Useful Tips for Writers

19 comments:

  1. Nice blog & nice information shared by you .
    Oil Painting

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  2. Wow!!your blog is very informative
    This is what i was looking for...i will keep reading your articles!!
    Thank you!!

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    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful blog & good post.Its really helpful for me, awaiting for more new post. Keep Blogging!



    Google Adwords

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    1. So pleased you found this helpful. Reading all the Google tutorials can be a bit of a chore. I just put on what I learned in a way that I could understand (and hopefully others). Good luck!

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  4. I am in the same situation as you. I am selling my eBook on Amazon. You said that Google does not normally allow web sites that do not belong to you to be used as a landing page but you implied that they allowed it in your case.Can you elaborate on that?

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    1. Hello and thanks for your comment. Yes, I had some problems setting up a Google adwords ad where the product is available only on another website (in my case, Amazon). As you can see, I have an amazon estore on this site, where customers would be able to purchase my books through my blog. However, Google viewed my blog as a mere bridging page into another website and I was a affiliate. But, after communicating with Google about the fact that my amazon store is selling my products, not someone else's, Google allowed my adwords ad. The trouble was, every time I started a new adwords campaign, I had to communicate with Google again to clarify that the product I was selling was my own. As it has been some time since I have run my last Google adwords campaign, cannot guarantee what Google's final decision will be. However it is worth pursuing the matter with them. Be prepared for some explaining. Do come back and let me know your experience with Google when running a campaign with them. Something might have changed since my last communication with them.
      Good luck!!

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    2. Thanks for your help. You would think that given the prevalence of writers selling their books on third party sites that Google would make it easier for them to take advantage of Ad Words.

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  5. I sell my 10 eBooks on Amazon only. I have a website that describes each eBook and all the displayed eBook covers are linked to Amazon. I have never used adwords and I would like to give them a try. Will I have trouble approving this arrangement with Google?

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  6. Can anyone point me to one or more good examples of Adword use by eBook authors?

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  7. Please view the website I use for my eBooks. I am concerned that Google will disapprove of 'my bridge' because of its direct links to Amazon. http://awesome.webplus.net/AwesomeHilleBooks/page1.html

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    1. Hi there is no harm in trying. I had the same problem, but after some communication with Google, got my Adwords approved.

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  8. Thanks for giveng us usefull information about how to sell books

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    Replies
    1. So glad to be of help! Will add more information in due course
      r

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  9. Thanks for giveng us usefull information about How to sell Books online.

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  10. I have 10 books in print. I use AdWords to send people to each book's landing page, which I also built. All the buttons on that page take cutomers to Amazon or BN. That is the only way to stay clean with Google. Put Google tracking code in the landing page, and you will know your audience better. If you are not a website builder, you're pretty much toast these days.

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  13. Nice Article!!
    Not only books selling, you can expand your business by using google adwords. Adwords for Google is very important. It is an investment in your business and a good way to save your time and money on your business marketing.

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  14. Google Adwords can be a powerful tool for selling books online. Target specific keywords related to your book's genre and audience for effective results.Atrend Advertising Agency

    ReplyDelete