6 Steps to Launching Your Product to Amazon's Best-Seller List You can launch even before your product goes on sale, without buying any ads.
By Kim Walsh Phillips •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Have you had one of "those moments" in business yet? That fist-pump-in-the-air moment of joy when something happens and you know right away, "This is going to be big"? For many small business owners, this is that pinnacle moment of assurance that they weren't wrong to go into business. That all that money and hard work, not to mention those hours, weren't wasted. That the naysayers were wrong. It's a moment of confirmation and relief.
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For me, that moment occurred when Dan Kennedy, the author of multiple best-sellers, asked if I would co-author the next title in his series of No B.S. books. For me, this meant not only my first book deal, but the chance to work with a marketing icon. So, I was ecstatic. I immediately began to not only write, but promote our book and map out a plan to make it a best seller.
That plan is working: Our book won't go on sale until November 10, but it has already made several best-seller categories on Amazon. Here's the six-step formula I followed -- one that can help you, too, launch your book or product:
1. Build social media sharing into your product or book.
This will give your customers/readers the tools they need to help spread the word. Set up a hashtag. For our book launch, we used #NoBSSm.
2. Post early.
Post early, using your designated hashtag and tweet call-outs from the book, or messages related to the problem your product solves.
3. Write blog posts.
Post about the book or product, with useful content that includes great takeaways for the reader, such as:
4. Seek reviews.
Seek reviews of your product or book from well-known individuals in your industry. Reviews build credibility and social proof, and are an important step to getting your book to the best-seller list and your product in front of customers. For the reviews we were able to secure, check out the book listing on Amazon.
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5. Share your Amazon product page with Facebook fans.
Your fans will be one of the most critical parts of the promotion since they are a) a qualified market for the subject matter; b) more likely to share with their friends and family because they are hearing about your book/product through a medium that's share-friendly; and c) they have been "warmed up" over time from a consistent stream of valuable content (see Step 3). A good rule of thumb for any self-promotional post I run: At least 10 others should be pure content.
6. Share posts on your personal Facebook page, as well.
I don't post a lot about business there, and mostly use my personal page to share/brag/make fun of my moments of motherhood with friends and family, but on occasion, when I do ask for friends' support, they show up, big time. Be sure to include a link where readers can buy the book, and make your copy more personal. These are your friends and family after all, not your customers.
Some of them will buy the book more out of love (hi, Mom!) than business strategy. But the good news is that when it comes to Amazon rankings, their purchases matter just as much as those who buy it for business.
Our book made it to best-seller status for several categories after just those two posts. One reason I believe this happened is that we thanked everyone for helping to promote the book, with another post on my personal and business page with another link to the book's Amazon page.
There are additional strategies we are pursuing that are media-focused and are providing better results than we could have imagined. Which of these strategies will you use to bring your own book or product to best-seller status? Share with me in the comments section below; I'd love to interact with you there.
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