Learn the 7 critical steps you need to take in order to create a book launch page that converts.
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In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- Where you should host your book launch page.
- The 7 elements you should include in your book launch page.
- Resources to use for your book launch page.
Enjoy the podcast! It’s my hope that these episodes are bring you on step closer to reaching more people with your message.
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Godly Gain Segment:
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Today’s scripture: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:33-34 (NKJV)
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Can’t listen right now? Read the transcript below:
Here’s an outline of the show and the full transcript is below.
Where will you host your book launch?
1.) Dedicated launch page for your book Blog post Book landing page (update after launch)
Resources:
- Page on your site – I use the my BookTable Plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/mybooktable/
- LeadPages (my favorite if you can afford it)
- Book Launch Page – Free to get started
- Launchpad plugin
2.) Direct people to Amazon sales page
NOTE: Use a smartURL to direct to specific countries and track statistics. See a step-by-step tutorial here: https://www.trainingauthors.com/are-you-losing-customers-over-this-common-problem/
7 Critical Steps to Creating a Book Launch Page That Converts
#1: Headline – Draw them in with your headline to keep them reading more.
NOTE: if you are a yearly member of Author Audience Academy then I recommend using the TitleWave tool in your member’s area to help you coming up with a headline.
#2: Book cover and description – I like to use 3D covers or covers on an iPad/Kindle. I use eCover Authority for this and like it so much I purchased rights to the software for my yearly members.
Places to create FREE mockups:
#3: Call to action – Click here to buy on Amazon, use images
#4: Opt-in for bonus gifts – use your email provider to automate this process.
Resources:
- Aweber
- MailChimp
- GetResponse
- TrafficWave
Or
Have them forward their receipt to you and copy/paste the message for them. I recommend using canned responses if you use Gmail. Here is a tutorial: trainingauthors.com/gmail-canned-responses/
#5: Timer to create urgency and scarcity
Resources:
#6: Powerful endorsements/reviews
#7: Share buttons
Take Action: Decide WHERE you will host your book launch.
Read the FULL Transcript Below:
I have so much to teach you that’s not just about books, but books are powerful. Today’s podcast is episode 10, “Seven Critical Steps to Creating a Book Launch Page that Converts.” I get tons of questions about book launch pages, and it can get kind of technical and a bit confusing, but I want to give you the nuts and bolts in this podcast on creating a powerful book launch page. If you like all the links and the resources that I’m sharing, you can get those on my show notes at authoraudience.com/10. We’re going to be covering a ton of information, and you may want this checklist for your future book launches. This will bring you one step closer to getting your book to your audience, and so I’m really excited to share this training with you. Be prepared to shine.
So before we get into the seven critical steps to creating a book launch page that converts, I want to first talk to you about where you will host your book launch.
This past month, in the “Take Action Workshop” at authoraudienceacademy.com, I shared the five W’s of planning a book launch. We went in-depth, and I helped everyone to take action steps toward planning their book launch. It’s in the Members area, and you get instant access to it when you sign up to our program.
One of the things I talked about is one of the W’s: where will you host your book launch? First of all, I recommend you have a dedicated launch page for your book. Now, I know we’re all in different places in our businesses, we all have different resources, so this could be something as simple as a dedicated blog post for your book launch. It could also be a book landing page. That’s really what I recommend. This book landing page could be a page on your site.
Now, I’ve done this for many book launches, simply used a page on my site that’s already set up for my book, and then I add some elements that I’m going to talk about later for the book launch. Then I update it, change it back to an evergreen page after the book launch. Then that page has gotten shared, it’s gotten likes, all that social proof, and I continue to use it after the launch.
One of the things I’m experimenting with using right now on my website at shelleyhitz.com is my book table plug-in that creates book pages for me. That’s something you could look into as well.
I absolutely love using lead pages to create my landing pages. Lead pages do so much. I’m so thankful that I took the leap and invested in lead pages last year. I use it every single day in my business to grow my email list and to sell my products and my books. It is incredible. I use it for webinars, for sales pages; I use it for landing pages; I use it for opt-in pages, so many things. So powerful. If you’re interested in checking it out, my affiliate link is shelleyhitz.com/leadpages. You won’t be disappointed.
Another resource to check out—it’s free to get started—is book launch pages. You can check this out at shelleyhitz.com/booklaunchpages. I’ve not used this tool myself, but it is something else you can get started with, and it’s free to get started. So that’s really good.
However, the free version does not allow you to add an email list which is something I highly recommend so that you’re building a list of customers, and we’ll talk about that in a minute.
Then another plug-in I just learned about that you can check out is launch pad plug-in. You can find it at shelleyhitz.com/launchpad. I’ve not used this plug-in either, but it’s free to get started with and so something else that you can try.
The other option for hosting your book launches is simply to direct people to your Amazon book sales page. That is probably the easiest way to get started, but it’s also an option, and if you do that I recommend using a smart URL to direct your customers to the specific countries. For a smart URL, you can go to smarturl.it and get started. That way you can direct them to the different Amazon bookstores for the different countries depending on where they are accessing the internet from. If you’d like a tutorial for smart URL, you will find it in the show notes at authoraudience.com/10.
Let’s get into the seven critical steps that you need to have a book launch page that converts. We all want our book launch page to convert, right? We want to sell more books.
The first component is a headline. You need to draw them in and create a headline that’s catchy, that shares benefits, and that will really get them to continue to scroll. If you’re a yearly member of Author Audience Academy, I had a developer create a tool, tidal wave tool. Go into your Members area and use the TitleWave tool to come up with a really catchy headline.
The second component for a book launch page that converts is your book cover and description. Now, it’s absolutely necessary that you already have a catchy book cover and that you have really spent time writing your description.
But for your book cover I love using 3-D covers or you can use your cover like in an image of an iPad or a Kindle; things like that really help it pop instead of just having the 2-D image. I personally use and recommend eCover Authority, and I love that tool so much I actually purchased rights to that software.
Again, for my yearly members of Author Audience Academy, I wanted you guys to have these tools, but there are a lot of different ways to create these images, and I’ll put a couple of resources in the show notes for you guys to check out.
The third thing that I recommend including on your book launch landing page is a “call to action.” That’s just a basic thing that every sales page should have.
So your “call to action” could be “click here to buy” on Amazon. I like to have images or buttons when possible, and you can have different calls to action: “Click here to claim your launch-only bonus,” and then in parentheses, “Valued at $37” or whatever it is. So you can have different calls to action, but you need to have a call to action on that page.
The fourth thing is an opt-in for the bonus gifts. You want to give them a reason to buy now. During your book launch. What I recommend doing is having a special bonus or a special offer that they can only get for the few days of your book launch. I usually recommend making it two or three days.
And how you can automate this is by using your email provider to set up an auto responder. I do this all the time, and what I do is simply add an extra field for their Amazon receipt number so that way they enter that in and then they can get access to those free gifts.
The fifth thing to have on your book landing page is a timer to create urgency and scarcity. There is something psychological, when you see those timers ticking down, that you realize you have to buy now or this offer is going to end. It’s really smart and strategic to have a countdown timer on your page. I also recommend having one in your email if you’re sending an email out to your list, which I highly recommend, even if it’s a small list, to have that countdown timer in your email as well as on your website page. I give links to a couple of resources for timers in the show notes.
The sixth thing I recommend having is powerful endorsements or reviews, so your most powerful endorsements or your most powerful reviews, post those on your book landing page.
Now, you have to be careful with Amazon. You can post a snippet from a review, but I wouldn’t copy and paste an entire review from their site as technically Amazon does own those reviews from their site, but it’s powerful. It’s social proof, and use the ones that show people that have had the biggest life change or the biggest results, that sort of thing, or the biggest players in your niche that have endorsed your book, put those on your page.
And then the seventh thing I recommend having on your book launch page that converts are share buttons so people can share on their social media sites. Maybe you’re having a discounted price or you’re having a special gift during that time and they want their friends to not miss out on the deal either. If I go to a store and I see an amazing deal, I’ll tell my friends because I want them to cash in on that deal, too. So it’s the same thing. People are going to be more interested in sharing your book launch page when there is a reason to share it. So don’t forget to put the share buttons on there.
So a quick recap. The seven things to include on your book launch page: A headline, a catchy headline that will draw them in. Your book cover and description, and if possible, use 3-D images or mock-ups that can show your book in an iPad or a Kindle or something like that. Make sure you have a call to action, and you may actually have two or three calls to action on your book launch page. Create an opt-in for your bonus gifts so you’ll have an email provider to automate the process or at the very least have them simply forward their receipt to you and then you can copy and paste their bonus into an email. I love canned responses for that. I also will put a link to a tutorial on canned responses for you in the show notes. Number five is a timer to create urgency and scarcity. Number six is powerful endorsements and reviews, and number seven are share buttons.
So we’ve covered a ton of information. Take a deep breath. Don’t feel overwhelmed. This is just simply a blueprint for you. It doesn’t mean you have to do every single thing. These are just simply the steps that I recommend that you implement.
Now, if you use a tool like lead pages or book launch pages, they will have a lot of these things written out and created for you. You don’t have to come up with it from scratch when you use tools like that. And so I hope you’ve gotten a lot of value out of this episode and that you put it to action.
Speaking of action, are you ready for this week’s Take Action Tip? My Take Action tip for you this week is to sit down and decide, where will you host your book launch page? So will it be on a specific landing page, will it be on a blog post, a page on your site, or will you use a landing page tool like lead pages, or will you simply use your Amazon sales page to direct all your traffic there?
Write it down, what you’re going to do, and then get started on creating those different elements and putting the different things in place so that you can have a book launch page that converts.
Also, make sure to get the show notes and all the resources from today’s episode because there are tons of links and resources that I just couldn’t share on this podcast that I really want you to have, so make sure to go to authoraudience.com/10. Now, you can get all the resources from today’s podcast.
Before you end, I want to give you a backstage pass in this week’s Godly Gain Segment, which is all about keeping Christ at the center of all we do. I know the excitement of a book launch and the details that go into it, and it is so easy to simply get caught up in the moment, to get caught up in the details, and sometimes stress out about the details. However, I want to share Matthew 6:33-34 with you. It says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow.” Or do not worry about your book launch for tomorrow your book launch will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. And so we have enough to think about today, and yes, we need to plan, yes, we need to take those steps, yes, we need to start working on the book launch, but I encourage you to seek first the kingdom of God and then everything will be added to you. I’m not saying that we’ll necessarily have X amount of sales or you’ll have all of this earthly success. But God will reward you when you put Him first. Even in these details of your book launch.
It’s my hope and my goal that these episodes are bringing you one step closer to being able to shine and reach more people with your message. I’m so excited to hear about your book launch successes. Please let me know. I would love to hear from you. I believe in you and know that you will do what it takes one step at a time. I would love for you to join me on my next webinar. You can sign up at authoraudience.com/webinar. We can spend some time together and feel free to ask whatever questions you want at the end, at the Q&A.
I love spending that time with you, and so definitely, check it out and sign up at authoraudience.com/webinar. Don’t miss next week’s episode, which is all about getting booked on podcast.
I have an expert interview series where I interview Carey Green, and we’re going to talk about how you can get exposure for your books on podcast. This is a key strategy that I recommend you try to use during your book launches, so make sure to catch the next episode. And I’ll see you next time.
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