Thanks to guest blogger, D’vorah Lansky
You may have heard the term, “Book Tour” but in case you have not heard of the term “Virtual Book Tour” I’d like to explain what that is and share how you can use this process to promote a book, a blog, a business, or anything you’d like.
With a traditional book tour, authors travel from venue to venue to talk about and sell their books. The thing is, there is no way to know how many people will show up or how many books you will sell there. Additionally, with an in-person book tour, you only have access to the audience for a specific window of time.
Five Benefits of a Virtual Tour
During a virtual tour, whether it be for your book, blog or business, you:
- Are able to get in front on your niche audience, in real-time as well as into the future.
- Gain exposure to other peoples’ audiences while getting endorsed by leaders in your industry.
- Have the opportunity to share written content via blog posts and audio content via podcast interviews. This provides you with wonderful opportunities to get the “thumbs up” from blog owners and podcast hosts, who attract your niche audience.
- Can grow your list and your sales.
- Build your brand, increase your visibility and become known as an expert in your field.
The primary activity of a virtual tour is to “travel” from blog to blog and podcast to podcast, where you contribute blog posts as a guest blogger or share knowledge or an interview as a guest speaker. Participating in a virtual tour increases your credibility as you share your expertise and are endorsed by blog owners and podcast hosts.
Since 2006 I’ve participated in 6 “virtual tours” and not all of them have been for my books. My first virtual tour was designed to promote my blog, my next three virtual tours were designed to promote a new or previously published book and then the next two virtual tours where designed to promote my upcoming courses. Now, in this 7th virtual tour, I am sharing my new Action Guides for Authors series.
Identify Your Target Audience
An essential component of your virtual tour is being clear who your target audience is. Then, you can find blogs and podcasts that cater to that audience and contact their hosts. The best blogs and podcasts to “travel” to are those that attract members of your niche audience.
Ask yourself: “What are the biggest challenges that my audience faces?” “Who would be most interested in what I have to say?” and “How can my knowledge and experience help them?”
Next, search Google as well as the iTunes and BlogTalkRadio.com podcast libraries for people who host podcasts on topics that your target market is interested in. These hosts are always looking for guests, so let them know that you share a common audience and what you bring to the table.
Join in the Conversation
How would you describe your niche audience and what do they most want to learn more about? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below because I’d love to hear from you. Thanks a million!
To take your book (or business) marketing or to the next level, check out The Busy Author’s Virtual Book Tour Journal at www.ActionGuidesForAuthors.com/tourguide
About Guest Blogger D’vorah Lansky, M.Ed.: D’vorah is the bestselling author of more than 20 books including the Action Guides for Authors series. She is the founder of the Annual Book Marketing Conference Online and the creator of over 25 successful, online programs.
Since 2007 D’vorah has taught online book marketing to thousands of authors across the globe. She specializes in helping authors to build a business around their books. D’vorah loves working with authors as they grow their reach and share their message with the world. Click here to check out the series on Amazon.
