The great thing about today's tip is that I actually walk my video tips subscribers through how to do this, step by step, in three different videos, exploring three different ways. If you join my free Video Marketing Tips for Authors Newsletter this week, (the first week in March), then you will be able to see this tip demonstrated for you. If you are reading an archived version of this newsletter, then there is another weekly video tip in its place that's worth checking out.
OK, how would you like to be able to create a pic of your book cover that you can post anywhere that accepts HTML (Blogs, web pages, Social Networking sites, etc...) and send the visitor directly to your shopping cart to purchase your book when they click on it? Or how would you like to be able to give that small code to your friends and have them post it on their pages?
Well, today's tip tells you how to do just that. Now, don't be alarmed if you don't know a lot of HTML. I am by no means a web designer, but this little code snippet is an easy one to create for your book. I will tell you that there are many ways to accomplish what I am about to share with you, but this is the one I use, so therefore, it's the one you get to learn today.
Here is what you will need:
1. A Flickr Account: Flickr is a free photo sharing site that allows you to upload and share photos with anyone you want.
2. Pic of your book cover: This is to upload to Flickr for use as your clickable image. I would recommend loading various sizes of your cover so you can pick the best one for the location you chose to put the HTML code on.
3. A Shopping Cart Product Link: This is the link that people use when they are taken to the order form to purchase your book. You can use the Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com link (any online bookstore), your publisher's link to your book, your own shopping cart link (PayPal, Google checkout, EBay, etc...). It doesn't matter what link you use as long as it takes your visitor to a place to purchase your book.
4. Notepad or any text editor: This is so you can paste and manipulate some basic HTML code that you will need to retrieve. Like I said, please don't get worried if you don't know HTML. I will show you exactly what you need to do or you can watch me do it on my video tip.
OK, once you have these items ready, upload your book cover pics to Flickr. When you have chosen the pic you want to link to your shopping cart, click on it. On the upper right hand corner of the next page, you want to click on the link that says "Share This."
When your choices appear as to how to share it, click "Embed It." It will give you a paragraph of code that may look Greek to you. That's fine if it does. For example, the code for one of my book covers looks like this:
Let me break this code into its two basic parts. By doing that, you can see how this code works and how to manipulate it to create your clickable book cover. (Note: This blog is syndicated to many sites. If you are having trouble seeing the code on your reader, please click to my original blog post to see the HTML code. You can find it here:)
http://marketingtipsforauthors.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-link-your-book-cover-pic-to-your.html
1.
The above code (first part of the whole code) tells your web page where to send people when the image is clicked. In this case, it is telling the web page to send the visitor to the flickr page with your book cover. This is the part of the code you will want to change. You will want the web page to send visitors to the shopping cart page where they can buy your book.
2.
The above code (second part of the whole code) tells your web page to grab a copy of your book cover from Flickr and display it. We will want to leave this part of the code alone.
As an example, I will use the Amazon.com page that my paperback copy of The Samson Effect is listed on. The code looks like this:
Now, I will want to copy this whole link and replace the link in the first part of the Flickr code we originally captured. HTML is a sensitive animal, so listen to this part carefully. Copy the whole shopping cart link (ie, my Amazon.com link) and replace the HTML link in the first part of the original code. Only replace the link between the " "'s marks. Leave everything else in the first part of the code as-is. If you do it right, the code should look like this:
The final code will render an image of my book cover that will send people to my Amazon.com page if they click on it. Let me paste the actual code below. Go ahead and click the link to see if it takes you to the paperback version of my book on Amazon.com (While there, feel free to pick up a copy of this riveting read).
Once you have this code, you can place it on your website, on your blogs (you may need to place it in a text widget), your e-mail or anywhere that allows you to place HTML codes. You can even sent it to your friends and ask them to place it on their pages as well.
If you need more help doing this and want to see me actually creating the code and placing it on a blog, then make sure your sign up for my free video tips. In fact, this is just 1 of 3 videos viewable this week that show you three different ways of placing a clickable pic of your book cover on your blog. This is also the only one of the three video tips that has you using HTML.
I know that there are many other ways to accomplish this and I encourage you to share your ideas with me. Remember, I am not a web designer. I am an author. I market on a shoestring budget. I like things to be as simple as possible so I can move on and write. If this is the kind of author you are, or the kind of marketer you are, then I hope this tips helps you find an easy way to turn more visitors into readers of your book.
Tony Eldridge
1 comments:
I am enjoying your blog so far. You have some really good tips. I particularly like the linking of the book jacket and will do that with mine. You have got my mind working in overdrive, thanks
Janine
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